I was just wondering what people in general think about what tip is best for straight pool and why?
I am going to be changing my tip soon and looking for advice, I think I have an elkmaster medium tip but really am not sure.
Thank you,
Stephen Hathaway
That's an interesting question as it's tempting to say it doesn't much matter, but I've lately been wondering about the exact same. I've always tried to use the best all-around tip I could find (Kamui, G2, take your pick…). But it's true that in Straight Pool, a type of shot that comes up more often, at least when I play, are kill shots - extremely slow ones with e.g. a maximum of draw, at least relatively speaking, and closer to a miscue than just about any other type of shot that I could think of (usually comes up when one has too much of an angle - or any angle when one doesn't want nor need any). The type of shot one tries to avoid in all the other games, and particularly Straight Pool. So part of the question may be, which tip do you figure to miscue least? I rarely do, but I seem to get the best grip on the cue ball for this type of shot with Tom Hay's UltraSkin Pro. It's not just the surface (how well the tip holds chalk), but the way the tip keeps its "bounciness" or elasticity (which to me greatly improves the "feel" for slow draw, i.e. making it easier to judge, without the need to aim higher and hit harder, or accelerate more, which at some point, shooting slowly, would seem an impossibility). I also like the UltraSkin Medium, but I've come to the conclusion that is closer to another favorite tip of mine, Kamui Black S, which in turn lasts longer, both in "bounciness" and overall durability (still plays well down to only a couple layers, by which time the UltraSkin M tends to feel dead). Kamui S has been my favourite all-purpose compromise for years (there's no such thing as the "perfect" tip), but this also depends on shaft type and tip diameter (in general, the smaller, the softer, as the tip is going to harden more quickly with use, and in turn, lose that "bounciness"). But for Straight Pool it has nothing on the UltraSkin Pro, plus I've had bad batches ("cardboard" feel, little or none of that elasticity or "bounciness") of the much more expensive Kamui, so I'm currently considering a switch altoghether…
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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