Low deflection back to solid maple? Have you?

john coloccia said:

I'm sure it's been discussed somewhere, but does anyone have any idea what most pros are shooting....or put another way, what most pros would shoot without endorsements?

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I think I read about 50 pct but I believe that number will rise dramatically in the next 10 yrs

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Another thing I noticed switching between the two types of cues is that a level stroke works better with LD shafts, whereas for standard shafts shooting with slight elevation greatly increases consistency, especially on shots with sidespin. (Maybe it's just me, though.)

Shot with an ob1 for a few years. After a cracked ferrule, cut off carbon pad during a tip replacement, and other issues I have gone back to standard shafts that come with the cue. Right now I use a JD cue with a standard maple shaft and love it.

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nj82tj said:

I guess switching back to solid maple. I feel like I want to use the LD but I shoot just as well with solid. I suppose that kind of answers my question. Maybe I never needed any LD shafts in the first place. You have to try it to know though I guess.

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And people should try them! All of them!

They do help a lot of people, and I think new players who are addicted to pool could do a lot worse in their ramp up and learning curve.

But, for those that try them and don't get anything from low squirt cues/shafts, there should be no regrets about going back to normal shafts.

Freddie

I'm wondering if it's just because I play on a bar table, but hitting so many slow spin shots, I feel like you almost want more deflection to cancel out the swerve you're going to end up getting. I also use backhand english, so the shorter pivot length is also a big plus.

But yeah I went from a Venom2, to a 314-3 to a 314-2, to a maple shaft and I'm back to a Venom2

I feel like there should be 3 categories:

Legit Low Deflection: Z2, Obs, 314s

Maple Shafts

And "Low Deflection" which is essentially a maple shaft with slllightly lowered deflection: Venom's, Vikings, HXT's. Pretty much a slightly whippy maple shaft will be about as low deflection.

Took me a while to switched to solid maple, but when I do. I'll never turn back to LD.

I started shooting pool w LD shafts and never felt confortable spinning the ball. Switched to a Barnhart one day bc my OB had a cracked ferrule. Never looked back.

I think it's bc there's a lack of info on how to play w an ld shaft. A solid maple shaft has a good amount of deflection which gives you a bigger target when ur adjusting ur aim. Ld shafts require a smaller target when making adjustments for deflection. Just mho.

Since only 2 out of the last 10 US Open winners used non-ld shafts I have to admit you are on to nothing.... They still sell hickory golf club shafts as well.....

I'm on to something here...

I switched from a huge and expensive 12,75 Tiger LD (5 laminates) to a solid ash cheap small 9mm Cuetec Fusion snooker shaft. It cost about 1/5 of the Tiger.

Boy, is there more feeling and even less deflection. And tip changes are just sooo easy with the brass ferrule. Haha, cheers! :grin-square:

The Renfro said:

Since only 2 out of the last 10 US Open winners used non-ld shafts I have to admit you are on to nothing.... They still sell hickory golf club shafts as well.....

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If you are referring to the last 10 individual winners and not the last 10 years, wouldn't the non-ld winners account for 5 out of 10? I'm including SVB because he won the first one with a solid maple shaft, proving he doesn't need an ld shaft to win it. Jones, Owen, and Schmidt won playing with non-ld shafts. The only one I think I could be wrong about is Cheng Yu-Hsuan. I know the vast majority of Taiwanese players shoot with solid maple, so I'm just going on an educated guess with him.

Even after Schmidt made the switch to an ld shaft and fully adjusted, he said the best pool of his life was played with his Bobby Hunter solid maple shafts. Champions are simply champions.

I played with a Tige X Pro and the. A Predator Z2 S-Tuned for a while but have since gone back to standard maple.

For me it was about finding that sweet spot that just felt right. I was missing some shots with LD because it deflected too little and my mind just kept wantin to compensate more than I needed in some shots. Going back to thick maple shafts I was missing on shots with spin though. Tried a 12mm maple shaft and found what fits me best. It just seems to deflect exactly as much as my mind thinks it should making me naturally compensate for the most part.

nj82tj said:

Can you elaborate a little on this? Rise dramatically in favor of which?

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In favor of LD shafts

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PocketSpeed11 said:

Even after Schmidt made the switch to an ld shaft and fully adjusted, he said the best pool of his life was played with his Bobby Hunter solid maple shafts. Champions are simply champions.

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Anyway, the correct comparison is between cavity backs and blades, not hickory shafts. That's just meant to put people down that aren't using LD shafts and fairy dust chalk. About a 1/3 of pros play with blades. It's preference, and nothing more.

M.G. said:

I'm on to something here...

I switched from a huge and expensive 12,75 Tiger LD (5 laminates) to a solid ash cheap small 9mm Cuetec Fusion snooker shaft. It cost about 1/5 of the Tiger.

Boy, is there more feeling and even less deflection. And tip changes are just sooo easy with the brass ferrule. Haha, cheers! :grin-square:

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A snooker shaft is illegal in some pool leagues so just be careful as you wouldn't want to have to switch to a regular shaft after getting used to that pencil.

I used to be a giant advocate for ld shafts. I swore by them and swore that my game jumped a few balls because of them. Then somewhere along the way I got a cue with a very very old growth solid maple shaft. I didn't have any ld shafts that would fit the joint so I ordered one of the new OB shafts (the maple ones) and played with the old growth shaft until the OB arrived (a few days).

By the time the OB arrived I couldn't switch back and I haven't touched a ld shaft since. They just don't hit the same anymore to me- maybe it's because of how whippy and hollow feeling they are. Maybe it's because of the "plastic" feel the new OB has compared to the old growth shaft.

I haven't really had to compensate for the squirt either. I think a lot of stuff is in our heads when it comes to shooting pool. Until you get to a certain level you don't really know why you miss and I think that level is much higher than the majority of players think it is.

The human body is pretty remarkable and if you rely on it to make adjustments it's usually spot on. More often than not we look for the fastest way to get good at something and we forget that the equipment doesn't really matter. It really all boils down to hitting balls and seeing scenarios.

I'm rambling but I think ld shafts are just different from regular maple shafts. They reduce a certain thing from a shot but that has advantages and disadvantages. It makes it easier to aim but it also takes a tool away.

Got a new cue. Came with two maple shafts with triangle tips. Love the combo. May never go back. Think trying different tips and hardness screwed me up more than LD vs maple.

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I go back and forth whenever I feel like it. Switching is not as big of a deal as most make it out to be. Give me half an hour with either kind of shaft and I'm adjusted. Every solid maple shaft deflects differently due to the density of the maple, so you might get a solid maple shaft that has fairly low cueball squirt and another that squirts the cueball way offline when English is used. You can probably get two different 314's and one will squirt more than the other to some degree. Some days you may play your best with an LD, other days you may play great with a solid maple. Pool is funny like that.

nj82tj said:

I would definitely scratch my head if I saw you switch for one shot. Ha.

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A player in my Mega Bucks league would grab a house cue every time he used a bridge. I thought it had something to do with his shot, like holding his cue felt funny when using the bridge, turns out he was just protecting his shaft from the bridge.

nj82tj said:

Good points thanks. I'm by no means a pro player but I'm decent. I tried LD shafts and I really want to like them but I feel better with a solid maple and a nice tip. I'm not really a power stroke shooter, maybe that's why I like maple? I dunno. Again, just looking for some insight from others on here. Thanks!

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I play with alot of power, and love solid maple shafts. I play with a very dense, heavy shaft and the cue is very forward balanced. I'm not against low deflection shafts in the least (although I dislike people telling everybody that led deflection makes any of this inherently easier, but that is for a different thread) I've just learned and know how to shot with alot of end mass, which is the opposite of low deflection technology. You will learn to shoot with whatever you are using it you use it long enough, the real thing that matter is what do you like to hit with?