I think people go way too far worrying about equipment

F

Febreze

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
This post is not meant to insult, put down or degrade anyone.

but i am amazed at how much people obsess about pool equipment and the like. They try a new stick every week, obsess over having the right chalk and whether its been soaked in milk long enough for them to be able to run out, how much the butt cap on a stick effects deflection and aiming systems and all kinds of other garbage people sit in the pool room and worry about and by the time they actually hit a ball theyre so demoralized by their obsession that they cant make a ball.

Now im not saying people shouldnt care about their equipment but we all know theres a lot of players who just take it way to far. I know guys who play great who if they dont get to use the right cueball or play on a brunswick instead of a diamond literally fall to their knees screaming because they cant make a ball. Its sickening. Pool might be the leading sport of talking and thinking about equipment and useless systems instead of actually playing.
 
Febreze said:
This post is not meant to insult, put down or degrade anyone.

but i am amazed at how much people obsess about pool equipment and the like. They try a new stick every week, obsess over having the right chalk and whether its been soaked in milk long enough for them to be able to run out, how much the butt cap on a stick effects deflection and aiming systems and all kinds of other garbage people sit in the pool room and worry about and by the time they actually hit a ball theyre so demoralized by their obsession that they cant make a ball.

Now im not saying people shouldnt care about their equipment but we all know theres a lot of players who just take it way to far. I know guys who play great who if they dont get to use the right cueball or play on a brunswick instead of a diamond literally fall to their knees screaming because they cant make a ball. Its sickening. Pool might be the leading sport of talking and thinking about equipment and useless systems instead of actually playing.
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Although I have been guilty of buying all kinds of "the new big things in pool" when I first came back to playing after 5 years...I don't anymore. I played good for years with almost any cue with a decent tip. The quote,"It's the stroke, and they don't sell them" is very true. Johnnyt
 
Some people learn to sweat the little things. It is a curse.

I escaped most of those traps as I learned to play, but I still get distracted at the drop of a hat. My teacher was that way too. It just rubbed off.

I feel bad for folks who need the next breakthrough item to make their game better. It is all in the mind.

Earl winning everything in sight with a cuetec is proof to me.
 
Febreze said:
This post is not meant to insult, put down or degrade anyone.

but i am amazed at how much people obsess about pool equipment and the like. They try a new stick every week, obsess over having the right chalk and whether its been soaked in milk long enough for them to be able to run out, how much the butt cap on a stick effects deflection and aiming systems and all kinds of other garbage people sit in the pool room and worry about and by the time they actually hit a ball theyre so demoralized by their obsession that they cant make a ball.

Now im not saying people shouldnt care about their equipment but we all know theres a lot of players who just take it way to far. I know guys who play great who if they dont get to use the right cueball or play on a brunswick instead of a diamond literally fall to their knees screaming because they cant make a ball. Its sickening. Pool might be the leading sport of talking and thinking about equipment and useless systems instead of actually playing.
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Your post has a lot of merit, but lets make a comparison with a guy going hunting in Africa for Big Game, does he need a State of the Art Weatherby Rifle, or can he get buy with a Remington?

Hell if the guy want to buy the Weatherby because he can afford it, and make him feel better about the trip, let him do it.

There are no Magic Cues, but some people are in the hunt for the Magic Cue, Case, Tips, JP , or and if they have the money let them have fun.
 
Not that I don't agree with what you're saying, but honestly people in most other sports do many of the same things. People are almost always looking for some technological advance or new technique to give them an edge over the rest of the competition.
 
I have never been much of an equipment hound because the people I grew up playing with were poor men from Mexico who couldn't even afford cues for the mostpart...

They would simply take a cue off the wall and beat your brains in until the tip fell off and then would grab another one and continue on...

Even when I was into collecting cues it was never about improving my game... I just liked the way they looked, who they were made by, etc...

If you can play, you can play...

If you can't, you can't...
 
I think you make an interesting point. Im guilty of some of those things. For instance, i never liked playing with oversized bar box cue balls, or the heavy ones. It would get in my head and i couldnt shoot as well(especially cut or draw shots.) Its easy to get caught up in some of the many different details, or options, this game offers. Its can also be fun, and learning exactly how stuff works can make you a better player. Its defiantly not necessary to have fun playing pool though.
 
If you think pool players are obsessed with finding the magic equipment then you ought to look at golfers. Golfers will give pool players the 7 out when it comes to this. I know i am a golfer and a pool player and you can either play both games well or not.Now I'm not saying that decent equipment in either games will not help but a 20 handicap in golf will not become a 5 handicap with a better set of clubs and an A player with a Szamboti cue is not going to win the US open. With that said if someone has the money and gets satisfaction out of doing this so what.
I have had cheap golf clubs and expensive clubs and i still play about the same. Same goes for pool i have played about the same with a number of cues from a cheap Dufferan to a Schon.
 
I dunno?

If I hadn't been an equipment hound all these years I would have been playing with a Meucci plain jane for the last 20 years.

I went from that Meucci to a Joss and thought the world would spin out of axis if I EVER hit another ball without the help of that Joss!

Not the case....I got a new job at the KICK ass action pool room in our area, AND they were a dealer for a little known cue maker named Black Boar?! :) ...who? Boar? my Meucci rules over n above this cue named after a pig!...AND I can have them at cost also?.....6 Boars later I sold them all to knowing people who play with Szambotis, and most likely still have them hanging on the wall in their south Philly homes with a plaque explaining how east it was to extract this world class cue from a PUTTZmeister named Gerry.....so, I'm famous for something anyway :)

From that point I tried Mottys, Richard Blacks, Phillippes, Scruggs, and a host of other little known makers....all never improved my pocketing ability....which proves I am better then my cue~!.....right??


Today I play with an LP custom which for the price is pound for pound the BEST custom maker out there IMO. That with my OB-1 shaft right now is the perfect combo. I am playing better then ever, and I for the first time don't want to change my cue!......or shaft!


I will collect cues til i die.....its just a sickness!...


G.
 
Febreze said:
This post is not meant to insult, put down or degrade anyone.

but i am amazed at how much people obsess about pool equipment and the like. They try a new stick every week, obsess over having the right chalk and whether its been soaked in milk long enough for them to be able to run out, how much the butt cap on a stick effects deflection and aiming systems and all kinds of other garbage people sit in the pool room and worry about and by the time they actually hit a ball theyre so demoralized by their obsession that they cant make a ball.

Now im not saying people shouldnt care about their equipment but we all know theres a lot of players who just take it way to far. I know guys who play great who if they dont get to use the right cueball or play on a brunswick instead of a diamond literally fall to their knees screaming because they cant make a ball. Its sickening. Pool might be the leading sport of talking and thinking about equipment and useless systems instead of actually playing.
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Actually tables, balls, tips, and humidity mean the world in how well I play. I'd say it is definitely something to obsess about. It makes a huge difference!! It's a lot easier to play perfect pool with perfect conditions by a land slide!
 
Consistency is a big part of playing good pool. Example if I changed tips and used a softer tip that is big my game would drop big time.
 
i used to think that. but actually yesterday i changed my opinion a little. i've been using the same cue for 17 years. but yesterday i gave someone elses cue a real test drive and noticed a considerable difference, related to the deflection. i'm pissed at myself for not considering a new shaft earlier, as i feel like it's really been holding back my game.
 
donny mills said:
Actually tables, balls, tips, and humidity mean the world in how well I play. I'd say it is definitely something to obsess about. It makes a huge difference!! It's a lot easier to play perfect pool with perfect conditions by a land slide!
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Maybe you could share what you consider perfect conditions.
Actually this would probably make for a good thread in itself.
 
donny mills said:
Actually tables, balls, tips, and humidity mean the world in how well I play. I'd say it is definitely something to obsess about. It makes a huge difference!! It's a lot easier to play perfect pool with perfect conditions by a land slide!
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The difference is---you are a real pool player, lol. Most people on this forum could use your cue or Efren's and if no one told them whose cues they were after hitting with them they would start critiqueing them ie, taper too short or long, tip too hard or soft, etc, but if they knew beforehand whose cues they were they would say, wow, I've got to get that cue or that tip. It's the same with everything and that's a good thing for pool. Keeps it exciting, built in excuse for losing, and the marketing folks love it. We amateurs need an excuse to keep searching for the right formula to make us equal to the pros. Because who wants to admit not having talent and being too lazy to work hard to get better?
 
Other sports are way more into being gear queers.

Life's to short to play with crappy equipment certainly "old school" thinking that equipment doesn't mean anything. I can adapt to most anything, but like I say "Life's to short to play on bad equipment".

I don't think equipment it self makes a difference, but quality (not more) equipment does make a difference.

Equipment by itself won't make you a champion, but quality equipment helps you get the most out of your ability. I'm sure Earl Strickland or Allison Fisher searched through a lot of cues before they decided on which one to play with.

If I pay $10 or more an hour its going to be on tables I like or if it's the national tournament and the equipment is below par I don't have to play next year.

Like the first cars "you can have it in any color as long as it's black".
 
I don't know if I'm gear obsessed, but I think collecting great cues and great cases is part of the fun for me.
 
Febreze said:
This post is not meant to insult, put down or degrade anyone.

but i am amazed at how much people obsess about pool equipment and the like. They try a new stick every week, obsess over having the right chalk and whether its been soaked in milk long enough for them to be able to run out, how much the butt cap on a stick effects deflection and aiming systems and all kinds of other garbage people sit in the pool room and worry about and by the time they actually hit a ball theyre so demoralized by their obsession that they cant make a ball.

Now im not saying people shouldnt care about their equipment but we all know theres a lot of players who just take it way to far. I know guys who play great who if they dont get to use the right cueball or play on a brunswick instead of a diamond literally fall to their knees screaming because they cant make a ball. Its sickening. Pool might be the leading sport of talking and thinking about equipment and useless systems instead of actually playing.
Click to expand...

So what? :groucho:
 
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