Cue weight and longevity play.

Does your cues overall weight matter to you?

  • I like my cue weight around 19 oz.

    Votes: 21 42.0%

  • I like my cue weight less than 19oz.

    Votes: 18 36.0%

  • I like my cue weight 19.5 oz or more

    Votes: 9 18.0%

  • The weight of my cue does not matter to me

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • Never really gave it much thought.

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .
Dunnn51

Dunnn51

Drones? What Drones??
Silver Member
As time turns me into an elder man; I realize that I tend to fatigue more easily,(sooner). I am talking about playing deep into tournaments, or playing straight pool for hours. We talk in forum about shaft composition and length, but what about the total weight of the cue? Think about all the practice strokes in your PSR, and warm-up as well as strokes during play. Rarely do I see a PRO stroke more than 3 times before the hit.
So I ask AZB.
 
Dunnn51 said:
As time turns me into an elder man; I realize that I tend to fatigue more easily,(sooner). I am talking about playing deep into tournaments, or playing straight pool for hours. We talk in forum about shaft composition and length, but what about the total weight of the cue? Think about all the practice strokes in your PSR, and warm-up as well as strokes during play. Rarely do I see a PRO stroke more than 3 times before the hit.
So I ask AZB.
Click to expand...
i dont think the weight of the cue significantly affects fatigue
if the cue was the cause you would have arm fatigue greater than total body and mental fatigue
also the difference between most "light" cues and "heavy" cues is 2 ounces at most
i dont think that should have a major effect
jmho
icbw
 
I’ve tried a variety and settled on 19.25oz as my favorite weight. Anything 18.5-19.75 is okay though. I do notice a difference though, it’s surprising how you can feel a 1/2oz difference in cue weight. Balance point plays a factor too though.
 
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bbb said:
i dont think the weight of the cue significantly affects fatigue
if the cue was the cause you would have arm fatigue greater than total body and mental fatigue
also the difference between most "light" cues and "heavy" cues is 2 ounces at most
i dont think that should have a major effect
jmho
icbw
Click to expand...
I suppose in normal interplay fatigue cannot build but when players get hot and pretty much have their way for what hours on end (?) _now_ the weight of the cue can factor in big time. Mosconi said anything over 19 oz will paralyze your arm.
 
My last cue weighed 19.25 my current cue weighs 19.1 the balance point changed between cues. So the lighter cue is working for me .
 
I believe that if you are truly worried about fatigue during a match affecting the feel of a cue in your hands then the cue balance would be more important than a half ounce or so of weight. Most cues today fall between 18.5 and 19.5 in weight and most are not heavily rear weighted cues.

In the pre 1980s, cues would more often could be weighted 20 to 22 ounces and be much more heavily rear weighted, thus, "rear balanced". Those older cues may cause the cue tip to rise a bit too much during the final stroke as one tired and the rear weight pulled down against a tiring forearm muscle.

With your concerns, I would say strive for a neutral to slightly forward balanced cue that is comfortable to you and not much more than the 19 ounce range.

My personal choice is a very neutral balance to slight forward balance - I find that a cue in my hands that I am least aware of is the best cue for me- I don't like the cue to pull too much in one direction or another. When a cue feels like that to me, I can go on playing forever:)

Some cue makers do not use weight bolts at all - like Mike Capone ( his cues tend to play in a more neutral balance zone). Some of the newer cue companies use a very adjustable weight "system"- you may want to investigate those options as well.
 
A 18.3-18.7 cue, balanced perfectly will allow the player longevity of predicable play in long sessions.
 
I used to play long sessions and played 110 six red games in 10hours and 59 full rack games in 10 hours and never got tired. The longest I stayed up was 3 days playing and would go home, shower and change clothes. My snooker cue is 16oz , break cue 17oz and pool cue 18oz. Most of my 9 ball days were 8-10 hours and usually 7 days/week.
 
My cue weighs 24.85 oz. I can't play more than 2 hours because I'm drenched in sweat and my arm fatigue is such that I can't lift a glass of water to drink it. Even lifting the chalk off the rail to chalk my cue becomes difficult.
 
Cue weight means nothing for getting tired.
I used to play 12 hours or more and get a little tired,but now at 76 4 hours and I'm done.
It's called getting old,deal with it.
 
Zerksies said:
My last cue weighed 19.25 my current cue weighs 19.1 the balance point changed between cues. So the lighter cue is working for me .
Click to expand...
The cue I was playing was 19.6 oz with a center balance. Thing was, late in the tourney it felt like it was rear weighted. Took me a few extra strokes to get comfortable in-line b-4 my shot.
 
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measureman said:
Cue weight means nothing for getting tired.
I used to play 12 hours or more and get a little tired,but now at 76 4 hours and I'm done.
It's called getting old,deal with it.
Click to expand...
OK "Paulie" (Sopranos)
I'm tryin',...... I'm tryin'
 
mikemosconi said:
I believe that if you are truly worried about fatigue during a match affecting the feel of a cue in your hands then the cue balance would be more important than a half ounce or so of weight. Most cues today fall between 18.5 and 19.5 in weight and most are not heavily rear weighted cues.

In the pre 1980s, cues would more often could be weighted 20 to 22 ounces and be much more heavily rear weighted, thus, "rear balanced". Those older cues may cause the cue tip to rise a bit too much during the final stroke as one tired and the rear weight pulled down against a tiring forearm muscle.

With your concerns, I would say strive for a neutral to slightly forward balanced cue that is comfortable to you and not much more than the 19 ounce range.

My personal choice is a very neutral balance to slight forward balance - I find that a cue in my hands that I am least aware of is the best cue for me- I don't like the cue to pull too much in one direction or another. When a cue feels like that to me, I can go on playing forever:)

Some cue makers do not use weight bolts at all - like Mike Capone ( his cues tend to play in a more neutral balance zone). Some of the newer cue companies use a very adjustable weight "system"- you may want to investigate those options as well.
Click to expand...
I was going to bring up the issue of balance ,but thought it would make the poll less accurate.
I have shot a few forward balanced cues. Did not play it enuff to form an opinion though. My understanding is that Barnhardt cues are forward weighted. Always liked his stitch ringwork.
 
What's in your pockets all day? Keys, loose change, wallet? How bout while playing? 5 quarters weigh an ounce. Playable changes in cue weight will not create or lessen fatigue.
 
The weight of the cue has little, if not absolutely nothing, to do with fatigue.
30-50 additional grams of weight is literally inconsequential to tiring from pool.

One ounce added weight is only 28.35 grams which is genuinely insignificant.
If you’re becoming tired from playing pool, your cue weight is not the reason why.
 
Bob Jewett said:
If only that were true.

Should air stroking more than ten times be a foul?
Click to expand...
No but getting up and down on a shot more than once should be a foul.
Some of these players look like a Jack in the box.
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If you want to reduce fatigue when playing, get more exercise. Back when I was swimming nearly every day it was easy to play long sessions or tournaments. I recently saw that SVB tries to run 7 miles a day when his schedule permits. Shaw and Styer can often be found in the host hotel's workout room. Lots of the other pros exercise regularly.

I doubt that an ounce or two in the cue is going to make any difference to anyone.
 
Talking about hitting US standard cue balls here, the ideal weight of cue seems to be 19-19.5 ounces for most people, for comfort and ease of play. I think a finesse player benefits from going lighter, even much lighter. I used to search the places I played for 15-17 ounce cues and my personal cue for awhile was a 12 ounce snooker cue. It was work to hit balls with that cue. It was also jarring to my hand and arm. The return was a truly ridiculous level of cue ball control. Once achieving that level of control I was able to transfer it to heavier sticks, not over 19.5 ounces though and I was happiest shooting with sticks under 18 ounces.

The ideal cue stick weight seems to be roughly 3X the weight of the cue ball for comfortable play. I would back off 1-2 ounces for more controlled play. 19.5 to 20.5 ounces will feel like you are easily powering through the cue ball. My current cue is 16-17 ounces depending on the shaft I am in the mood to use.

Hu
 
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