In one old book that described aim-and-pivot, a 14mm shaft was recommended and if they had ivory ferrules, fronthand would not have been useful.
Buddy Hall talks "Deflection"
- Thread starter Matt_24
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That to me is too global a statement.
There is so much to be said for "helping english" to get a ball to go into corner pockets off the facing, negating contact induced throw and avoiding skids not to mention there are many shots that can't be made with throwing the ball. I know the benefits of the whole touch of inside english on some long shots....it's a skill that is worth having.
I've always "aimed" with the english applied.
I always begin aiming in my PSR, while standing behind the shot line, chalking. I ALWAYS start assessing the center of the cue ball, to the center of the object ball, center-to-center (while standing). Then I add the pocket into my eye movement equation which allows me to more easily adjust for the thickness of the hit or cut on the object ball. Starting center-to-center makes the required adjustment more obvious. (Often you can have some angle and still just require a center-to-center aim to execute the shot). Then I decide what english I'm using, and if said english will require me to adjust that aim. At that point I'm locked in, and get down on the ball aiming my tip at the final point of impact on the cue ball (no pivot necessary). This all happens really quickly, but I'm pretty sure this is the order in which things happen for me. It seems to work.
I always begin aiming in my PSR, while standing behind the shot line, chalking. I ALWAYS start assessing the center of the cue ball, to the center of the object ball, center-to-center (while standing). Then I add the pocket into my eye movement equation which allows me to more easily adjust for the thickness of the hit or cut on the object ball. Starting center-to-center makes the required adjustment more obvious. (Often you can have some angle and still just require a center-to-center aim to execute the shot). Then I decide what english I'm using, and if said english will require me to adjust that aim. At that point I'm locked in, and get down on the ball aiming my tip at the final point of impact on the cue ball (no pivot necessary). This all happens really quickly, but I'm pretty sure this is the order in which things happen for me. It seems to work.
I remember hearing somewhere that Danny DiLiberto used a 14mm shaft originally, and was a great player with one, but when someone convinced him to switch to the 13mm or lower, his game elevated even more.
I kinda do same thing but i start at center to edge and then adjust/air pivot from there.
Not me - Mike’s a good guess.
My two cents: (moving the) “backhand” is for shafts with their pivot point nearer the bridge hand; (moving the) “fronthand” is for shafts with their pivot point nearer the grip hand. Neither method works for all shots without user input (slight adjustments).
pj
chgo
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That's something I wrote. Danny played with a big shaft for years. Then one day he comes in and decides to sand down his shaft to a 12.5 on my lathe. He said and I quote that Lassiter used to say he could not see how players played with those fat shafts.
Danny did say later that it improved his game.
At the old Congress billiards in Miami golf on the 6 x12 was the big game. Rex Williams was in town and hung around for a while. He played some golf when he was there. Surprisingly he was world champion snooker player
But could not beat the golf players at the Congress. As you know golf tables have roll offs that have to be memorized.
Point is though, the players got fascinated with his snooker cues. It was not long before they were using these weird cues with the tiny tips playing golf.
I always found it interesting how billiard players hitting those big balls use those short cues with like 10 mm tips. I wonder what the physics of that is. I knew Bob Byrne. He in his books he shows playing pool with a billiard cue. I always thought that was a mistake and was giving the wrong info to the reader trying to learn pool.
Ray Schuler made me a cue once for pool. Unfortunately it had too many billiard aspects to it. From butt to shaft taper you could not play good pool with it.
Now we have CF that not too many years ago would have sounded ridiculous to players.
The game after a century plus from the first custom built cues is still evolving.
I remember seeing pictures of pool tables in old western photos from the eighteen hundreds. Could not imagine what it must have been like playing back then.
I don't know where I am going with this. I should just get out of bed and do something useful.
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3c players these days are around the 12mm diameter.
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Is that the world's class players?
I remember being at a three cushion tournament and the program had profiles of all the top players. I was shocked at the cues they I played with and the dimensions.
Yes...current top pros.
I don't have a starting aim line, but if I did that'd probably be it - centered among the available cuts.
pj
chgo
middleofnowhere
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That still relates back to what I was saying. Cue dynamics are interesting. Billiard players hitting big balls use smaller shafts. Often shafts with wedge like tapers. This must have evolved from something. Do any 3c players now use CF?
The old matches showed them choking up on their bridge, 6" from their hand to cut down on deflection...just on certain shots.
A lot of old school players used shorter bridges. Earl's was the exception, really long. Buddy used a pretty short bridge.
Yes. Caudron uses a Longoni cf LunaNera with 11.8 tip.
I've been watching Earl's matches from the mid-80s until now. His technique and bridge length was ALWAYS evolving. Look at some of his earlier matches when he played with Meuccis. His bridge length was SHORT! Not super short, but much shorter than later. Then he switched to CUETEC, and his bridge length started to lengthen out significantly. I think Efren influenced him. He was also careful about where he gripped the cue. He would always look down at his grip hand before shooting. This was when he dominated 9 ball.
There were plenty of great players with shorter bridges. I doubt it was about deflection, but more about control and accuracy. Look at photos of that early 20th century champion Ralph Greenleaf who ran hundreds on the 5 x 10, while drunk, with a broomstick, and clay balls. His bridge was like 3 inches, LOL. Watch Irving Crane run 150 against Balsis on Youtube. Also a super short bridge. It is very interesting how techniques have evolved.
14.1 is basically a half-table game and they rarely ran whitey very far. 9b changed a lot of that.
Good point! You can watch these legends play 9 ball later on in the early 80s, when ESPN (I think) had all of the old champions playing each other. These are all over YOUTUBE. Most of them looked a bit lost trying to play 9 ball or this weird 7 ball variation they were playing. I enjoyed watching Irving Crane play. Even playing those goofy games, he was ALL business in his tuxedo, and Balabushka, and serious as a heart attack about winning. At one point he found a sweet spot that allowed him to make the 7 ball on the break. I forget how many consecutive games he repeated that same break with quick wins.
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Yea, Hopkins, Diliberto, Lassiter, Grady, Balsis you could go on and on. Today they bridge like 18 inches off the rail. The Filipinos all have long bridges. Also now almost all players have opened hand bridges. They all look like snooker players now. Not bad, just interesting.