19 oz. vs 21 oz.

Steve Stough

Steve Stough

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What ever happen to the days of players using 21 ounce cues, mostly every cue made or for sale today is a cookie cutter 19oz cue. I'm curious to why the transition went from 21 to 19, was the cue to heavy, did it hurt a person's stroke, or couldn't people get the ball speed down...we make so many adjustments with are stroke/stance/dominent eye/etc.but what about the weight...give me your best input!

What I am looking for is a positive input on converting to a 21 ounce cue//does it improve your stoke(being straight) eliminate turning your wrist, more power on draw or follow or side spin.
 
I've only known a very few people who played with 21 oz. or heavier. When I started playing, 19.5 or 20 oz. was the norm. 30+ years.
 
My opinion

I think alot of the difference in cue weight today has to do with the cloth type. Back in the day when the cloth was thicker or at least nappier (is that a word?) the ball was harder to move over longer distances. To achive the movement needed the cue was weighted heavier.

In this day and age of higher speed less nap cloth (Simonis) I think that the cue weight can be less and still achive the easy movement of the cueball due to less drag from the cloth.

I used to use a cue that weighed between 14-15oz and was very comfortable with the weight of the cue. It actually felt like it would have been made of bamboo it is so light. I still have the cue and occasionaly switch back to it for a day or two if I find myself struggling with my game. My current playing cue is 19.? oz and forward weighted due to the piloted stainless steel joint. A few years back I hated the piloted stainless joint. Now it is what I have become accustomed too. Just last night I had tried out a new cue from the same cuemaker of my current playing cue. The new cue is an entirely different setup including joint and joint pin. The hit of the cue is very nice as is my current player but it was just a totally different feel in a balance oriented way. I got off on a tangent here so forgive me for that.

I think the bottom line is for you to continue to try out different weights and setups until you find the one that feels best for you.
 
I seem to remember reading something that said a heavier stick tended to help straighten your stroke. I am not sure though, I'll have to dig through some articles when I get home.

FWIW, I had always used a 21 oz cue until about 5 years ago when I switched to a 19 oz cue. I don't know what happened or why, but I was instantly much more comfortable and consistent with the lighter cue. Also, I wasn't over-running my position very much any more.

My 2 Abe's
Craig
 
I think

this has come about because many more players now like a forward
balanced cue, and it is pretty hard to have a 21 oz cue forward balanced
unless it is done by a custom cuemaker.

Plus the fact that more women and kids are involved in Pool today, and I think their preferences run for a little lighter cue.
 
Steve Stough said:
What ever happen to the days of players using 21 ounce cues, mostly every cue made or for sale today is a cookie cutter 19oz cue. I'm curious to why the transition went from 21 to 19, was the cue to heavy, did it hurt a person's stroke, or couldn't people get the ball speed down...we make so many adjustments with are stroke/stance/dominent eye/etc.but what about the weight...give me your best input!

What I am looking for is a positive input on converting to a 21 ounce cue//does it improve your stoke(being straight) eliminate turning your wrist, more power on draw or follow or side spin.
Click to expand...


Why because people like them. Heavier eliminate turning your wrist...Hell no. More power? probably not. Part of the equation of power is speed, so having a lighter cue might even increase your strokes power
.
 
Steve Stough said:
What ever happen to the days of players using 21 ounce cues, mostly every cue made or for sale today is a cookie cutter 19oz cue. I'm curious to why the transition went from 21 to 19, was the cue to heavy, did it hurt a person's stroke, or couldn't people get the ball speed down...we make so many adjustments with are stroke/stance/dominent eye/etc.but what about the weight...give me your best input!

What I am looking for is a positive input on converting to a 21 ounce cue//does it improve your stoke(being straight) eliminate turning your wrist, more power on draw or follow or side spin.
Click to expand...

While it's true that a heavier cue would have more inertia in the forward direction of the swing, I am not sure that necessarily translates into less lateral movement. If it does, I would think the effect would be pretty minimal considering you are only talking about increasing the overall weight of the cue by around 10%.

I used to shoot with a Pechauer cue. I don't if you are familiar with them, but they feature an adjustable weight bolt system. They use a color coding scheme so that you can tell how much weight you are adding or removing when changing them. I tinkered around with this for a while, going from no weight bolt at all to one of the the heaviest. Based on the sales tag indicating that cue was a little over 19 oz when I bought it, I would guess that I experimented from around 17 to over 21 oz. I don't remember seeing any dramatic improvement in my potting by going heavier, but it did have a negative impact on my speed control.
 
My take on this is it reguires more energy and creates more inertia to move a heavier object. It is therfore going to be more difficult to control. My everyday bar box cue is very light. Weight bolt out it is under 17 with stainless joint it is forward balanced. I feel it is easier to control on the confines of a small table. My tournament and big table cue is a 19oz.
 
I've been banging balls for over 45 yrs now and when I read the post, the first thing that came to my mind was that I like my 19.5 because anything much heavier while playing long sessions begins to make me tired. Of course getting out of the car to walk to the poolroom gets me tired also. :)
 
Nobody can tell you what cue weight to want or like.

I'm not a very good player, but even I can tell you very quickly what feels correct. It's just something that you develop over time.

If your not sure, get a 20oz (21 is too heavy for most and rare to find a player who uses this weight) and from there you can remove the weight bolts and find out for yourself what you like.

On my Viking, I can change it from a 20 to a 19 oz with tool in hand in under a minute.
 
I find that a 19 is much smoother I think they tend to be balanced better for me. I can realy tell the difference when I am using a heavy cue.
 
Steve Stough said:
What ever happen to the days of players using 21 ounce cues, mostly every cue made or for sale today is a cookie cutter 19oz cue. I'm curious to why the transition went from 21 to 19, was the cue to heavy, did it hurt a person's stroke, or couldn't people get the ball speed down...we make so many adjustments with are stroke/stance/dominent eye/etc.but what about the weight...give me your best input!

What I am looking for is a positive input on converting to a 21 ounce cue//does it improve your stoke(being straight) eliminate turning your wrist, more power on draw or follow or side spin.
Click to expand...

I used a very heavy stiff cue with a wide tip for a long time to help with speed control on soft rolling shots (easier to have a smooth slow follow through when nervous without having to push the shot) and hitting straight on fast slippery cloth but then went back to a flexible lighter cue with a smaller tip. A lighter cue is probably harder on your arm and shoulder, but can give you more power and english more easily when you learn to let it flow through the ball with enough initial speed of stroke to not have to feel like you must accelerate through (or push) the shot.

I like the lighter cue because it deflects more easily, making it easier to get more english on slower softly hit shots where you must follow through all the way (push?) to keep the cueball on line without overpowering them, while also giving more english and power for harder hit shots. But I also avoid using no english and don't try to keep my wrist straight.

unknownpro
 
Steve Stough said:
What ever happen to the days of players using 21 ounce cues, mostly every cue made or for sale today is a cookie cutter 19oz cue. I'm curious to why the transition went from 21 to 19, was the cue to heavy, did it hurt a person's stroke, or couldn't people get the ball speed down...we make so many adjustments with are stroke/stance/dominent eye/etc.but what about the weight...give me your best input!

What I am looking for is a positive input on converting to a 21 ounce cue//does it improve your stoke(being straight) eliminate turning your wrist, more power on draw or follow or side spin.
Click to expand...

I have a few friends that play with 21oz. cues and they fell HORRIBLE! I like the feel of 19.oz cues because they just feel balanced. It totally depends on what you like, but alot of people like a well balanced cue, and I just have to say that the 20+ oz. cues feel a little too imbalanced.
 
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