In my opinion, snooker was never evolved as pool when it comes to equipment and cue tips are not different.
For years when pool players were already all over layered tips and finding tips that do not mushroom, hold shape and more consist, snooker player just kept using the good old Elk Master which is a soft tip that mushrooms a lot so they stopped bothering with grooming it every five minutes like a pool player would and accept it as it is. getting used to it is a lot less fuss over the tip, just like snooker players fuss less about equipment in general.
These days with new young players, you see more players care about what they play with and more tips options that mushroom less.

Mensabum said:

Let me add something to this.
Idk if this is what they were looking for when they developed these shafts, but it played more like a wooden shaft than any other CF I've tried. Perhaps due to the density of the foam.
Y'all know I'm not partial to CF shafts, so if I say it plays well, nuff said.

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my guess is that the CF shafts market is heading into two directions:
1. The custom made route - for those who seek "wooden feel" and used to play with standard solid wooden shafts, so higher deflection is not a big issue, these guys look for feel over performance, they fall into the category of "can't teach new tricks to old dogs"

2. The performance route - here you'll find the big manufacturers, it all about performance, power delivery and deflection reduction, you just get used to the feel with time and practice.

Pretty much like the world of pool was 30 years ago when Predator came out with the 314 shaft, it gave performance yet many old timers didn't like how it felt... few years later and other companies jumped the low deflection and performance wagon and most serious players adapted to performance shafts. Same today, the serious players will go with performance shafts, old dogs and collectors will go with the "feel" route.

I'm disregarding the 3rd route - the cheap crap that doesn't give performance or feel...

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fastone371 said:

Flipping thru screens in a digital format just isn't the same as turning pages of a magazine. Searching thru digital catalogs is also much more time consuming than flipping thru a catalog. Its pretty easy to bookmark a few pages for reference when searching or comparing items vs flipping thru screens.

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True. But I can read the magazine digitally at night with the light off and my wife asleep without disturbing her.

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sjm said:

Of these, only Chua would be considered a top 9ball player. Cannot blame any of them. If they can make a good living at home, why travel? Where's the problem?

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Agreed. More players from Taipei and the Philippines will go there because the money is good, but so far only the Ko brothers and Chua were major contenders for a WPA-WNT title.

I don’t think Chua is entirely done with traditional 9-ball. He was messaging FB supporters to watch the U.S. Open on ESPN. I would be surprised if he doesn’t play in the Philippines Open. Doesn’t look like there’s a competing Duya event.

Very few Westerners will defect to Duya, though.

It will be interesting to see what young Asian stars do, namely Januarta and Manas. Pool variants in China don’t the same historical prestige as the U.S. Open and WPC. Someday it will if it maintains popularity and big prizes, but that day is far off.

In any case, the WNT and WPA tours will be fine, even if their prize funds pale in comparison.

Meantime, Duya should make their tour super easy for Westerners to access via YouTube and FB, in English. I’d definitely be interested in watching Chua play.

I think this 'Drill/Test' is an example of using 'Soft Hands'!

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td873 said:

Glad you made time to report! Excellent as always. Thanks!

-td (great to catch up with you, even though it was brief!)

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Yeah, we didn't have much time, but it was nice to see you.

more a case of soft hands versus hard hands. you see construction workers and many labor persons get hard hands and callouses. this makes it hard to hold the cue softly.

this is why so few pro pool players have a job as they know that keeping your hands soft is paramount to playing well.

I reached out to Mike Panozzo with BD and he explained the following...

HUGE printer fail with mailing labels for that issue, with hundreds returned to us. Didn’t know for weeks. Resending them along with letter about free digital access for current subscribers.

SVB, Styer and Gorst are probably the auto-qualifiers once the Philippines Open is played. After that it's not so simple, but the only other American hopefuls who had a high finish in even one WNT major are Billy Thorpe, who was ninth at the US Open 9ball, and Thorsten Hohmann, who was ninth at the Florida Open.

While I'd love to see him on the team, the case for Bergman is super-weak, as he sat out the first four and a half years of the WNT, came back for five weeks to play five events, and never finished in the Top 16 in any of them. Justin is still very sharp in his decision-making skills and plays very solid defense, but his long-term absence from top level 9ball has certainly shown up in his inconsistent pocketing on the four-inch pockets that are the norm in Matchroom events.

It was an off year for Woodward, but his third-place finish in the WPA World Team Championships was a significant accomplishment.

Johan has some tough choices to make.

Bump

"Soft hands" is a tennis expression. John McEnroe was famous for having soft hands. It just means good control and "feel" for delicate shots.

It goes the other way too. Lots of sportsmen who are popular and act the part on TV are horrible behind the scenes.

To the moon, Alice!!