The thing is, you cheapen the value of the safety and position play by giving relative ease to the jump. Even most mediocre players with today's jump cue, nappy cloth, and very little practice can learn to jump, and control is basically having the cue ball land that it has stopped bouncing when it hits the object ball. Even if they don't pocket the object ball, they avoid giving their opponent ball-in-hand at the very least and possibly effect a "mystery safe." At the highest level, it's almost a trivial exercise. You don't hear the crowd clapping at the sight of a jump shot, as they used to.
Cheapen? Hold on a second. When you change the rules to make the penalty for not hitting the object ball AND driving it to a rail ball in hand anywhere on the table you just made every safety incredibly more valuable. This includes all the UNINTENTIONAL safeties which happen.
We have all seen matches where the shooter misses badly and leaves the incoming player blocked with no reasonable kicking option. When the incoming player then jumps it successfully the crowd goes wild. I have seen this time and again in person throughout the world. There is no logical reason why the incoming player should be penalized so severely by the lucky roll his opponent got by cutting off legal opportunities to hit the ball. Should be ban chalk if a player plays safe and leaves an easy shallow masse' that would still be next to impossible if there were no chalk on the tip? Doesn't chalk "cheapen" the "value" of the safety if it allows for a relatively easy escape from the safety?
Or, is a safety that is easy to get out of actually already of little value?
Flip it around and try to think of it from the other perspective. Isn't it better for the game when players are forced to learn to play tighter safeties?
If the goal is actually to push humans to discover the absolute pinnacle of what's possible on a pool table then forcing them to learn to play with even greater precision does just that. If simply blocking a ball isn't enough due to the use of jump cues, masse' shot due to chalk, kicking systems that make figuring kicks easy then players MUST get better at freezing the cueball to the blocking balls to cut off all routes.
And in fact this has come to pass in exactly that way. I started playing when two-foul 9 ball was the rule. In 2 foul 9 Ball there was almost zero need for a jump cue. If the incoming player was hooked he could push out to a different position and the next player could decide whether to to take the shot or give it back. Kicking was rare and jumping was rare. It was a much more strategic game that favored the daring shotmaker. If you could not make a spot shot back then you were doomed to be broke in the pool room.
One foul 9 Ball rules changed the game dramatically. Now the shotmaker's skill was "cheapened" by the fact that a weaker player could just duck by playing dinky safeties that left positions where the shotmaker had no option but to try to make a good hit. The shot maker couldn't simply push to a shot that was makeable but tough and dare the other player to take the shot. For those who have never played both ways it will be hard to understand the difference. Those who created the one foul rules understood this and it is why they not only allowed jump cues they defined the rules and specs governing them that are still in use today over 25 years later.
The result of one foul 9 ball has been an incredible rise in the skill levels for kicking, jumping AND in safety play. Go look at the professional players of the 80s and 90s compared to the pros today. You will see the difference in skill sets.
However, not every mediocre player can learn to get good draw action, even with a good, properly groomed tip and the best chalk. Even some better players cannot draw the cue ball reliably even under ideal conditions. There's no tip or chalk that can give someone a powerful stroke; some people just have a "knack" for applying incredible spin to a cue ball. And that to me is the difference.
On this I fully disagree. Any player can learn to spin the cue ball properly. There is no such thing as a good player who can't draw their ball because being able to is simply part of what makes a player good.
And for jumping, one of the reasons I am vocal about this topic is that the idea that anyone can jump just by virtue of holding a jump cue in their hands is absolutely false. I learned this firsthand when I showed up at the VNEA Nationals with the Bunjee Jumpers and a table. Good players would try it and be unable to jump until I taught them the right stance and stroke. I would have a small crowd watching someone flail around and they would start walking away thinking that the cue didn't work. I quickly realized that I had to teach people HOW to use the tool properly which meant in some case literally rebuilding their whole stroke from scratch. I am not exaggerating here. There were league players who spent money to travel to Vegas to play in a national event who literally did not have enough of a stroke to physically be able to jump a ball with a jump cue. I gave hundreds of jump lessons to people while selling them the cue. And I allowed them to practice on my table to develop proficiency. I had to develop about six ways to demonstrate the technique to get through to people.
So, with respect, these are skills and there is no such thing as a magic device that give the skill instantly. Having the possibility to make a ball hop doesn't mean you can with any consistency just as having chalk doesn't mean you can draw consistently. But both jump cues and chalk allow you the freedom to do as much as you can learn to do.
It's one thing if you're a pro or high level amateur practicing jumps. But I'd bet 99% of people who buy these jump cues don't practice jumping, or would be killed by a proprietor if they spent hours practicing that on their tables. I think the best jumpers could do so with the slickest cloths. I'm not all against it, but when conditions are made that actually promote it, I think that's where a line needs to be drawn.
So you want to change the playing conditions for the whole planet because you're afraid of what weak players might do with the equipment? What happens when someone see Semih Sayginer do a 3 cushion trick shot exhibition with all the cool masse' shots? Do they go to the pool room and start beating up the cloth driving their 20cue vertically into the ball at steep tip offsets? Or if they don't have a jump cue and see a player doing a full cue jump on YouTube do they not run the risk of damaging the cloth trying to emulate Earl Strickland?
Isn't the answer simply more education rather than legislation?
Why doesn't every pool room address it easily by doing a couple simple things.
1. Have a couple house pros who are responsible for observing and helping struggling players. They can immediately spot the person attempting to learn the difficult shots that are dangerous to the table when practiced by those who don't know how to shoot those shots. These house "pros" don't actually need to be pros. They can be pretty good players who know enough to help lower rated players. Trade them free pool time for their help.
2. Have rules that FORBID players to use jump cues if they are not known to have the ability to handle them. This allows for patrons to understand the value of learning to handle their equipment properly AND to respect the establishment's equipment. And it helps the staff to get to know their customers even better.
3. Have a jump and masse' day or week where everyone is encouraged to go nuts learning to jump and masse'. This was a brilliant suggestion by Bob Jewett who said it should be right before the tables are due to be recovered so that the old cloth can be used to train with no fear of it getting damaged. And the bonus is that when players see what happens when intense jump and masse' training is done they will all have even more respect for the cloth. AND they will all then be diligent about watching for newbies and offer to help them out to learn the right way.
4. Have a dedicated jump and masse' table. This doesn't even have to be a full table. Just a slab of slate or marble or granite covered in cloth with something to keep the balls on the table is enough. This idea is stolen from Dale Chilton, the guy who makes the Flying Eagle jump cues. I am building one now for my training facility.
Those four simple things would solve every "problem" people have with jump cues in regards to the equipment and raise the overall skill levels even more.
You know what really cheapens the game?
The fact that pool room owners seem to have zero clue how or even any motivation to try to grow the game by growing the skills of their patrons. That to me is a much bigger issue than jump cues and a whole other topic.
