In regards to your sand wedge analogy, I look at that more along the lines of a jump cue. Im a golfer too and I'm in the beach a lot, so I use my sandwedge to get out. Im a bad poolplayer so I hook myself a lot and use my jump cue for good contact.
With the golfers bag there are 14 clubs but the player could have the opportunity to use all 14 of those clubs more then once.
With a lag cue you will be using this cue just to lag... once, in a set, and a lag is nothing but hitting the cueball into the rail. Hell I know I can do that with my playing cue. LOL.
I really dont see a need for a pool player to have more then 3 cues when playing pool. Playing, break, jump.
Thanks for the civil argument
Icon,
You are more than welcome to a civil 'discussion'.
My point is that times change & we should maintain an open mind.
Heck, Earl would prefer that jump cues would not even be legal.
One pocket has come up. There are many shots that are similar to a lag, so the cue could have more than just one purpose.
Personally, I have a number of shafts that I would prefer to use for different games, one for one pocket & a different one for 9 or 10 ball. But there are one pocket type shots in 9 & 10 ball & there are 9 & 10 ball type shots that come up in one pocket. Having two different cues might be advantageous.
If SBV comes out with a combo lag/break/jump cue & it's 13 oz. & he starts winning EVERY lag & breaking even better than he is now & he starts using it for certain shots during the game & he wins even more & more easily than he does now & he says that the cue just makes them all easier, then what?
Roy Hoobs had 'his' bat but it broke. He told the bat boy, 'Go pick me out a good one Bobby.' If one has a high talent level the implement does not really make THAT much difference BUT one would certainly like to have what is more comfortable & perhaps makes the task at hand a bit easier to accomplish well. I know, the Natural was just a movie.
Bobby Jones never liked his 7 iron. When technology was able to analyse the clubs they found that the 7 iron's shaft was different than all of the rest. The point is he could feel it. He probably hit some shots with his 6 or 8 iron because of that fact, when he should have hit the 7 iron. Did those shots come off as well as if his 7 iron's shaft had matched & he had hit those shot with a matched 7 iron? I don't know but I'd bet he had wished that that 7 iron had matched the others.
Phil Milkelson sometimes carries four wedges. He can hit all of the different shots with any one of them but each one makes a certain shot a bit easier to hit & gets better results more consistently with out him having to change the force of his swing & use as much feel for each of those shots. He did a similar thing once where he carried two drivers, one for a fade & one for draw. He can hit a fade & a draw with one driver but those made hitting the one it was designed for easier to do with the same swing.
Personally, I think & feel that playing with different cues from time to time helps enhance one's ability to fine tune & enhance one's feel.
Will different cues for different shots ever replace the need for a good stroke & feel? No.
But if employed properly, different cues could make certain shots a bit easier to get very good results without having to make as much or as many modifications dependent on feel.
I am not a mechanical player, I am very much a feel player but I don't want a 25 oz. cue to hit a delicate shot. I'd much rather have a 15 oz. cue. But if all I have is the 25 oz. cue I will do the best that can with it.
As it always will be, it is up to each individual & everyone should make their own determinations.
I just think everyone should keep an open mind.
Sorry for the rant Icon. All of that is not directed toward you. I was just speaking in general.
Regards & Best Wishes,
Rick