td and all about equipment
TD, first with a mind like a steel trap, usually closed, I am going to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas before it sneaks by me!
I always liked to make the sorry equipment look good too but I never wanted a full time effort with it. When my circle track car won I didn't do any wild celebrating, I had just done my job and I was satisfied. When I drove for somebody else and pushed what was affectionately known as a shltbox four to six places closer to the front than it was supposed to be, why that tickled me! I still might not jump up and down but it meant a lot more than winning with my own car.
The same with my other competition equipment, even the tools of my trade. All the best, because I laid out the cash to make it so. The best is the "best" for a reason and when you don't have it handy you find out the difference in a hurry!
Moving on, I think there may be some overlap between the best spliced wooden shafts and the CF shafts, there really isn't a huge gap. Not in cost either when we take the long view.
However, lets suppose the average beginner has been directed to the best in all the land and a very cheap beginner cue. Not terrible but a plain maple shaft, decent but not great joint, solid butt. At this point, or as soon as they get away from hitting very near center ball all the time, he or she will play better with a low deflection shaft. No way around it. A lot of balls will go in the hole if they are hit in less than the optimum place. Think of a ball a few inches from the pocket, there is a wide range of tolerance that is good enough for the ball to fall. Then we have two shafts. One will have the cue ball two inches off it's path with the same error that the other puts the cue ball a half inch off it's path. Which one will the beginner pocket more balls with?
The second issue, in six months or a year the guy with the fifty to a hundred dollar cue is going to start thinking they need a better tip. Out fifty bucks and he has to relearn what works. Another six months down the line he has the itch for a fancy shaft with or without a new butt attached. If he gets a new shaft that maple is kindling. The whole cue might go for half what he paid for it if he is lucky. Now he has to learn where to aim all over again.
The easiest way to learn how to play is with low deflection equipment to begin with. As a plus, he only has to learn where to aim the cue ball once. If he makes a mistake, he doesn't pay as big a price as if he made the same misjudgment with a plain maple shaft.
If money is the main decision maker, that I can understand. The nice cue can be sold with little or no loss later if somebody decides pool isn't for them but maybe cash up front is a decider. What I can't agree with is the rationale that somebody isn't good enough for the best playing equipment yet! Having competed at many things I can plainly state it is much easier to get started on top quality equipment than crappy or lower quality equipment. That doesn't mean a person has to spend a lot of money. A thousand dollar cue including CF shaft will play as well as any cue.
Let's assume for the moment that both shafts cost the same to take dollars out of the equation. It would make far more sense to start with low deflection equipment and only after mastering low deflection equipment tinker with higher deflection shafts to go around interfering balls easier. Starting a beginner with a plain maple shaft is starting them with the tougher equipment to play on, it makes no sense.
I have watched beginners struggling with poor equipment many a time. Loan them decent equipment for a little while and the sun comes out. A plain maple shaft isn't poor equipment but it is poorer equipment to learn on.
Hu
TD, first with a mind like a steel trap, usually closed, I am going to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas before it sneaks by me!
I always liked to make the sorry equipment look good too but I never wanted a full time effort with it. When my circle track car won I didn't do any wild celebrating, I had just done my job and I was satisfied. When I drove for somebody else and pushed what was affectionately known as a shltbox four to six places closer to the front than it was supposed to be, why that tickled me! I still might not jump up and down but it meant a lot more than winning with my own car.
The same with my other competition equipment, even the tools of my trade. All the best, because I laid out the cash to make it so. The best is the "best" for a reason and when you don't have it handy you find out the difference in a hurry!
Moving on, I think there may be some overlap between the best spliced wooden shafts and the CF shafts, there really isn't a huge gap. Not in cost either when we take the long view.
However, lets suppose the average beginner has been directed to the best in all the land and a very cheap beginner cue. Not terrible but a plain maple shaft, decent but not great joint, solid butt. At this point, or as soon as they get away from hitting very near center ball all the time, he or she will play better with a low deflection shaft. No way around it. A lot of balls will go in the hole if they are hit in less than the optimum place. Think of a ball a few inches from the pocket, there is a wide range of tolerance that is good enough for the ball to fall. Then we have two shafts. One will have the cue ball two inches off it's path with the same error that the other puts the cue ball a half inch off it's path. Which one will the beginner pocket more balls with?
The second issue, in six months or a year the guy with the fifty to a hundred dollar cue is going to start thinking they need a better tip. Out fifty bucks and he has to relearn what works. Another six months down the line he has the itch for a fancy shaft with or without a new butt attached. If he gets a new shaft that maple is kindling. The whole cue might go for half what he paid for it if he is lucky. Now he has to learn where to aim all over again.
The easiest way to learn how to play is with low deflection equipment to begin with. As a plus, he only has to learn where to aim the cue ball once. If he makes a mistake, he doesn't pay as big a price as if he made the same misjudgment with a plain maple shaft.
If money is the main decision maker, that I can understand. The nice cue can be sold with little or no loss later if somebody decides pool isn't for them but maybe cash up front is a decider. What I can't agree with is the rationale that somebody isn't good enough for the best playing equipment yet! Having competed at many things I can plainly state it is much easier to get started on top quality equipment than crappy or lower quality equipment. That doesn't mean a person has to spend a lot of money. A thousand dollar cue including CF shaft will play as well as any cue.
Let's assume for the moment that both shafts cost the same to take dollars out of the equation. It would make far more sense to start with low deflection equipment and only after mastering low deflection equipment tinker with higher deflection shafts to go around interfering balls easier. Starting a beginner with a plain maple shaft is starting them with the tougher equipment to play on, it makes no sense.
I have watched beginners struggling with poor equipment many a time. Loan them decent equipment for a little while and the sun comes out. A plain maple shaft isn't poor equipment but it is poorer equipment to learn on.
Hu
