I dont think this system is 100% accurate
Ok, here is my personal experience with TDF and two tables I have shot a lot on:
I have access to two tables:
1) An oversized 8 foot table with 4.25" corner pockets and 4.75" side pockets and TDF=1.03
2) A 10 foot table with all pockets 5" except one corner which is 4.5" and TDF=1.02 (with all corner pockets rated at 5")
On the 8 foot table very often I can throw out 7 balls and fairly consistently run them out with ball in hand. Sometimes, if I'm playing good, I can do so with 8 balls. Playing 6 ball on an average day I win about 75% of the time in a race to 7.
On the 10 foot table its another story. I've never really been able to consistently run out 7 balls with ball in hand for an extended period of time. I even have trouble beating the ghost at 6-ball at all.
I recently spent about 5 days straight playing on the 10 footer and I did see gradual improvement (I don't play on it very often and when I do its normally just for 2 days over a weekend).
Basically, from what I can see, the difficulty of table size has much more to do than just pocketing. Yes, overall the 10 footer's pockets are easier as they take balls not hit cleanly down the rails easier (except on the 4.5" pocket...) and allow more cheating of the pocket but when hitting the same shots on both tables on the 10 footer the shots need to be hit MUCH harder for shape which makes cueing accurately much harder. Also, speed and direction control are much harder on the 10 footer when one considers the shots are hit harder and that direction errors increase as the distance the cue ball travels increases.
This isn't even taking into account the biggest problem which is reach. I am only 5'8" which means that on the oversized 8 foot table I can reach 99% of the shots without stretching. On the 10 footer at least 10% of the shots I'm putting a good stretch into the shot which often causes a miss. The more I play on the 10 footer the better I seem to be getting at avoiding these reach shots, but the solution is often to take an even longer shot which doesn't make things much easier.
A solution to this reach problem problem seems to be to play center table shape much more often than I would on the 8 footer.
So, from the TDF scores, the tables should play almost exactly the same difficulty, but they don't. The 10 footer is MUCH more difficult (at least for me).
Ok, here is my personal experience with TDF and two tables I have shot a lot on:
I have access to two tables:
1) An oversized 8 foot table with 4.25" corner pockets and 4.75" side pockets and TDF=1.03
2) A 10 foot table with all pockets 5" except one corner which is 4.5" and TDF=1.02 (with all corner pockets rated at 5")
On the 8 foot table very often I can throw out 7 balls and fairly consistently run them out with ball in hand. Sometimes, if I'm playing good, I can do so with 8 balls. Playing 6 ball on an average day I win about 75% of the time in a race to 7.
On the 10 foot table its another story. I've never really been able to consistently run out 7 balls with ball in hand for an extended period of time. I even have trouble beating the ghost at 6-ball at all.
I recently spent about 5 days straight playing on the 10 footer and I did see gradual improvement (I don't play on it very often and when I do its normally just for 2 days over a weekend).
Basically, from what I can see, the difficulty of table size has much more to do than just pocketing. Yes, overall the 10 footer's pockets are easier as they take balls not hit cleanly down the rails easier (except on the 4.5" pocket...) and allow more cheating of the pocket but when hitting the same shots on both tables on the 10 footer the shots need to be hit MUCH harder for shape which makes cueing accurately much harder. Also, speed and direction control are much harder on the 10 footer when one considers the shots are hit harder and that direction errors increase as the distance the cue ball travels increases.
This isn't even taking into account the biggest problem which is reach. I am only 5'8" which means that on the oversized 8 foot table I can reach 99% of the shots without stretching. On the 10 footer at least 10% of the shots I'm putting a good stretch into the shot which often causes a miss. The more I play on the 10 footer the better I seem to be getting at avoiding these reach shots, but the solution is often to take an even longer shot which doesn't make things much easier.
A solution to this reach problem problem seems to be to play center table shape much more often than I would on the 8 footer.
So, from the TDF scores, the tables should play almost exactly the same difficulty, but they don't. The 10 footer is MUCH more difficult (at least for me).