Recently moved here to Florida- been playing at a room called Diamonds in Cape Coral which features Diamond pool tables- my first real experience with these tables. they are nine footers, probably fairly old, look like 4 1/2 inch pockets ( 2 cue balls will not fit into them side to side) shelf depth seems rather deep. these tables seem to play much, much tougher than Gold Crowns that I have played on most of my life. pockets reject anything that touches a rail even slightly, and hitting a pocket point is pure doom!
So far still trying to adjust my game to these tables, but my initial observations are that the pockets seem to reject balls that REALLY should be a score given a REASONABLE allowance for aiming. any time the object ball needs to travel more than six feet to the pocket, only a slow to moderate slow speed seems to pocket a ball. Straight pool runs are a disaster on these tables, as balls that are run down along the cushions to the pocket are rejected with even the SLIGHTEST amount of off center clearance. Also break shots in 14.1 cannot be hit with the correct speed to open up balls, as most are rejected from the pockets. As for bank shots- these tables seem to bank much shorter than Gold Crowns or Olhausens - I need to ADD angle to side pocket bank shots to make a bank.
Is my experience unique, I doubt it as I am a fairly good player and am really struggling to make balls that previously required no thought. I can see these tables causing young people to forget about pool and try another sport as the difficulty factor would keep player satisfaction to a minimum. I look around me and see lesser players come in and seem to miss 75% of their shots - not good for their confidence or enjoyment of time spent on these tables. Curious as to what experienced players feel about these tables compared to "old standard" Brunswicks etc. BTW- I am up for this challenge, but at times I know that i hit a ball "right" and these tables still reject- a bit frustrating, to say the least. Is this really good for pool?
So far still trying to adjust my game to these tables, but my initial observations are that the pockets seem to reject balls that REALLY should be a score given a REASONABLE allowance for aiming. any time the object ball needs to travel more than six feet to the pocket, only a slow to moderate slow speed seems to pocket a ball. Straight pool runs are a disaster on these tables, as balls that are run down along the cushions to the pocket are rejected with even the SLIGHTEST amount of off center clearance. Also break shots in 14.1 cannot be hit with the correct speed to open up balls, as most are rejected from the pockets. As for bank shots- these tables seem to bank much shorter than Gold Crowns or Olhausens - I need to ADD angle to side pocket bank shots to make a bank.
Is my experience unique, I doubt it as I am a fairly good player and am really struggling to make balls that previously required no thought. I can see these tables causing young people to forget about pool and try another sport as the difficulty factor would keep player satisfaction to a minimum. I look around me and see lesser players come in and seem to miss 75% of their shots - not good for their confidence or enjoyment of time spent on these tables. Curious as to what experienced players feel about these tables compared to "old standard" Brunswicks etc. BTW- I am up for this challenge, but at times I know that i hit a ball "right" and these tables still reject- a bit frustrating, to say the least. Is this really good for pool?