Hitting the "zone" related to cue just feeling right

S

StuartTKelley

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I know it's always overwhelmingly generalized that it's the Indian and not the arrow when it comes to playing well and I don't dispute that but certainly there are factors that could make that Indian play a little better or worse.

I've had too many cues over the years and some I still regret selling. It seems like some of those were cues that just felt "right " and I could easily get in to "the zone" with. The feel and the hit.just helped the game flow.

Does anyone think this way? I can shoot with any cue but it's hard not to think there's one for me that's going to work for my game for one reason or another..balance, weight, feel, etc. I've had some that I feel as I said, helped me get in the zone and stay there. Could a cue hold you back some? Not arguing it's the only factor, but a contributing factor..

Just a thought I've been trying to articulate..sort of intangible I know.
 
StuatTKelley - I didn't sell a cue; but rather, had it stolen and have never been able to recapture the unique feel of that cue in over 20 years. I've chased and chased and chased finding THAT HIT again and chased it with other cues - some close, but no cigar - even identical models from the same maker - to no avail. Whatever it was about that SP cue, it literally 'spoke' to me, hit like butter, and felt more like an extension of my finger than a 58" piece of wood in my hand.

I guess in life we get one really great cue; shame when it becomes: "The one that got away." - GJ
 
GentlemanJames said:
StuatTKelley - I didn't sell a cue; but rather, had it stolen and have never been able to recapture the unique feel of that cue in over 20 years. I've chased and chased and chased finding THAT HIT again and chased it with other cues - some close, but no cigar - even identical models from the same maker - to no avail. Whatever it was about that SP cue, it literally 'spoke' to me, hit like butter, and felt more like an extension of my finger than a 58" piece of wood in my hand.

I guess in life we get one really great cue; shame when it becomes: "The one that got away." - GJ
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A handful of top billiard players retired after losing their cue one way or another. One of the Davis guys lost his cue on a train. He hunted two years for it or another cue. Found another cue, it was a fairly cheap cue that belonged to a friend in his home town. He said if he ever lost it he would retire himself.

I have held pistols, shotguns, a pool cue or two, things that were just an extension of my arm or body. I was as quick as a snake and more accurate with a shotgun from the first time I picked it up! There is a cue I badly want but it is a family heirloom, not my family's unfortunately for me.

Hu
 
Fatboy said:
The more I play, the better my cue feels
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Very true, I think, on two levels- the more one's game improves through proper play, the less the cue is a considered the culprit of poor play; and secondly. the more one plays with cues of varied playability characteristics, the more discerning one can become as to particular nuances of a cue that feel most comfortables to the player - such as weight, length, tip, ferrule type, shaft diameter, shaft taper, shaft choice, joint type, cue butt woods, wrap, balance points, etc.

Most excellent players usually have at least one cue that just feels right in every aspect of playability and if they are paid/sponsored to use a certain cue, they learn to adapt their game to it, as well as having it as customized to their liking as possible.
 
mikemosconi said:
Very true, I think, on two levels- the more one's game improves through proper play, the less the cue is a considered the culprit of poor play; and secondly. the more one plays with cues of varied playability characteristics, the more discerning one can become as to particular nuances of a cue that feel most comfortables to the player - such as weight, length, tip, ferrule type, shaft diameter, shaft taper, shaft choice, joint type, cue butt woods, wrap, balance points, etc.

Most excellent players usually have at least one cue that just feels right in every aspect of playability and if they are paid/sponsored to use a certain cue, they learn to adapt their game to it, as well as having it as customized to their liking as possible.
Click to expand...
I agree.

I’m very sensitive to cues. If it’s a cue I can’t make work, it really really takes me down a notch or 2 or 3. I’d rather not be that player-but I can’t seem to change that.

The arrow never makes the Indian, but give me a bad arrow and I’m really a mess.

I’m not sure if the reason, it’s always been like that. Unless I’m dead out of stroke like right now, then the cue doesn’t matter. But when I’m playing and dialed in then the cue I’m using matters a lot.

Best
Fatboy
 
Patrick Johnson said:
I think playing good pool, especially playing in the zone, is such a head game that any distraction can hold you back - so how your cue feels to you is clearly important. I also think familiarity is the biggest factor - you like what you know.

pj
chgo
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I'd add that for many, playing well is such a refined system that the cue becomes indispensable. Well actually you do need a cue but most don't need to be reminded. I think people who can play off the wall do so in a high percentage zone that diminishes the requirement for exacting cue tolerances.
 
I gambled nightly for over ten years. During some of that time I had a table at home that led to some testing too. I played with a cue from 15 ounces to 26 ounces in small steps then jumped to 32 ounces. No real surprise, most comfortable play was from about 18 ounces to 20, very common weights to play with. However, the lightest cue offered the most control.

A few years after my testing which had included adding weight at the joint and right at the buttcap, I started playing with a twelve ounce one piece snooker cue on mostly bar tables with the heavy cue ball. That stick was hell to learn to shoot. It was extremely low deflection, at least in memory lower deflection than any of today's cues. It took several months of play to play well with this cue but then pure magic took place.

While I owned cues they stayed home and I gambled off the wall. Part of the schtick, and I wasn't particularly handicapped as long as a cue had a tip and the weight wasn't broken loose. I could play with a loose weight but it was awkward and impossible to shoot with any rhythm to my stroke.

Back to the twelve ounce cue: It was uncomfortable to shoot, I relate it to being like trying to drive a twelve penny or bigger nail with a tack hammer. However, I developed very close to perfect speed control with that stick, angles too. After a few months I had cue ball control down to a level few would believe with that stick. A few more months and that level transferred to the sticks I could usually find playing off the wall. Nineteen ounces or less and I was golden. For the next few years I played road players and all off of the wall.

The cue became just another variable to adjust to like the table, lighting, smoke, noise, any other conditions where I was playing. Just one more adjustment to make. A nice straight cue with a smooth surface where it glided through my hand was nice, nice to find a fifteen to nineteen ounce cue too but none of these things were a must. I grabbed the first cue I saw a decent tip on off the wall, shook it as I took it out of the rack, and took it if it didn't rattle, Most places with the neglected cues a decent tip generally meant a badly warped cue. I would roll it on the table next, usually with my opponent watching. Often the tip moved up and down a half inch to an inch or more. "Good enough for me!" and I would use it. Index the warp to vertical and it worked just fine.

A nice cue that you use all the time is nice. Not a must when playing well over forty hours a week. The one time I fell into the zone for hours playing pool, the longest I have been in the zone doing anything, I was playing with a piece of crap off the wall in a small town country honky-tonk.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
I gambled nightly for over ten years. During some of that time I had a table at home that led to some testing too. I played with a cue from 15 ounces to 26 ounces in small steps then jumped to 32 ounces. No real surprise, most comfortable play was from about 18 ounces to 20, very common weights to play with. However, the lightest cue offered the most control.

A few years after my testing which had included adding weight at the joint and right at the buttcap, I started playing with a twelve ounce one piece snooker cue on mostly bar tables with the heavy cue ball. That stick was hell to learn to shoot. It was extremely low deflection, at least in memory lower deflection than any of today's cues. It took several months of play to play well with this cue but then pure magic took place.

While I owned cues they stayed home and I gambled off the wall. Part of the schtick, and I wasn't particularly handicapped as long as a cue had a tip and the weight wasn't broken loose. I could play with a loose weight but it was awkward and impossible to shoot with any rhythm to my stroke.

Back to the twelve ounce cue: It was uncomfortable to shoot, I relate it to being like trying to drive a twelve penny or bigger nail with a tack hammer. However, I developed very close to perfect speed control with that stick, angles too. After a few months I had cue ball control down to a level few would believe with that stick. A few more months and that level transferred to the sticks I could usually find playing off the wall. Nineteen ounces or less and I was golden. For the next few years I played road players and all off of the wall.

The cue became just another variable to adjust to like the table, lighting, smoke, noise, any other conditions where I was playing. Just one more adjustment to make. A nice straight cue with a smooth surface where it glided through my hand was nice, nice to find a fifteen to nineteen ounce cue too but none of these things were a must. I grabbed the first cue I saw a decent tip on off the wall, shook it as I took it out of the rack, and took it if it didn't rattle, Most places with the neglected cues a decent tip generally meant a badly warped cue. I would roll it on the table next, usually with my opponent watching. Often the tip moved up and down a half inch to an inch or more. "Good enough for me!" and I would use it. Index the warp to vertical and it worked just fine.

A nice cue that you use all the time is nice. Not a must when playing well over forty hours a week. The one time I fell into the zone for hours playing pool, the longest I have been in the zone doing anything, I was playing with a piece of crap off the wall in a small town country honky-tonk.

Hu
Click to expand...
Hu,
Nice read, I enjoyed that. I bet you develope a good knowledge of what, the right one feels like,interesting waight range. I remember back in 2001 at the worlds,Chris Melling was playing with an old, 12oz Burroughs and Watts snooker cue. If anyone is lucky enough to find one, that suits them. Keep it. You might not find another!
 
Cue Alchemist said:
Hu,
Nice read, I enjoyed that. I bet you develope a good knowledge of what, the right one feels like,interesting waight range. I remember back in 2001 at the worlds,Chris Melling was playing with an old, 12oz Burroughs and Watts snooker cue. If anyone is lucky enough to find one, that suits them. Keep it. You might not find another!
Click to expand...


It was funny to discover that the most comfortable cue to play with, the one that felt most natural in my hands, wasn't the best cue to shoot with. My current cue is sixteen ounces. I would like lighter but that is where I am at. Plays easier than a twelve anyway, although not better. Similar deal I built myself a balls to the wall all out speed shooting pistol in 38Super. Unfriendly basset to shoot with but I set three local records with it, only one with my sweet shooting forty-five.

Probably never happen because of my cue equipment in storage until it is sold somewhere down the line but I have plans to try to make a 12 ounce cue with a G-10 pin and just a couple of phenolic rub rings rather than a joint collar.

One of the all around good guys on the forum, CueBuddy, helped me hunt a twelve ounce cue for close to a year then shipped me one in his collection to take measurements off of and keep. Too badly warped to make a player out of. Still a very generous move and much appreciated!

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
A handful of top billiard players retired after losing their cue one way or another. One of the Davis guys lost his cue on a train. He hunted two years for it or another cue. Found another cue, it was a fairly cheap cue that belonged to a friend in his home town. He said if he ever lost it he would retire himself.

I have held pistols, shotguns, a pool cue or two, things that were just an extension of my arm or body. I was as quick as a snake and more accurate with a shotgun from the first time I picked it up! There is a cue I badly want but it is a family heirloom, not my family's unfortunately for me.

Hu
Click to expand...
There's house cues that way... One might try a million before finding one... but with all that a custom made makes us have a pride that gives us confidence... And needed for many players... Guy
 
mikemosconi said:
Very true, I think, on two levels- the more one's game improves through proper play, the less the cue is a considered the culprit of poor play; and secondly. the more one plays with cues of varied playability characteristics, the more discerning one can become as to particular nuances of a cue that feel most comfortables to the player - such as weight, length, tip, ferrule type, shaft diameter, shaft taper, shaft choice, joint type, cue butt woods, wrap, balance points, etc.

Most excellent players usually have at least one cue that just feels right in every aspect of playability and if they are paid/sponsored to use a certain cue, they learn to adapt their game to it, as well as having it as customized to their liking as possible.
Click to expand...
I concur, very well said Mike.
 
Fatboy said:
I agree.

I’m very sensitive to cues. If it’s a cue I can’t make work, it really really takes me down a notch or 2 or 3. I’d rather not be that player-but I can’t seem to change that.

The arrow never makes the Indian, but give me a bad arrow and I’m really a mess.

I’m not sure if the reason, it’s always been like that. Unless I’m dead out of stroke like right now, then the cue doesn’t matter. But when I’m playing and dialed in then the cue I’m using matters a lot.

Best
Fatboy
Click to expand...
I know one thing the pink 12 sure don't help anything... Guy from another viewer...
 
You know, It was a sad day when they started putting tappers on shafts, I think it was a major change for the pool games... Guy
 
GentlemanJames said:
StuatTKelley - I didn't sell a cue; but rather, had it stolen and have never been able to recapture the unique feel of that cue in over 20 years. I've chased and chased and chased finding THAT HIT again and chased it with other cues - some close, but no cigar - even identical models from the same maker - to no avail. Whatever it was about that SP cue, it literally 'spoke' to me, hit like butter, and felt more like an extension of my finger than a 58" piece of wood in my hand.

I guess in life we get one really great cue; shame when it becomes: "The one that got away." - GJ
Click to expand...
I had Schon R 6 with snooker 32 inch shaft , stollen , out of car . Thats what I am chasing . My cues I build , are close . I have one I been shooting with for 12 years , closest .
 
I think with enough time with a cue you can get in the zone with anything half decent. "The zone" is a hazy term but at least for me, being in the zone means execution is pretty much automatic with no thought given to it. This requires a level of familiarity with the cue so that you aren't second guessing what you have to do in order to shoot the shot you imagined.

That said, I have one cue in particular that just feels like home for me, making it so much easier to just go on auto pilot and play pool rather than play stroke. It is a back-weighted Falcon with a 11.5mm custom bowling alley maple shaft. Weirdly enough it feels heavier than it's 16.5oz weight and I almost never prefer to play with a cue under 19oz....but this one is special. So special in fact, that when I bought it off a guy, I used it right away in a match against him and won enough to cover the cue, drinks, and the table. The thing just felt right from the get go and to that point was the lightest cue I ever played by at least 2oz. Was kinda like definitely having 'a type' and then madly falling in love with someone that was anything but that.
 
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