Appearance of Fast Cloth

[maxeypad2007]

Growing up I didn't see simonis used at least in my area until 98-99, which was obviously behind the curve in southeastern kentucky.

When did the usage of fast cloth become widespread. Was it available in the 60s and 70s?

I'm just curious because of some of the old videos i've seen show the cloth looking VERY slow.

 

[Tom In Cincy]

The first time I saw Simonis was at the Lexington KY ALL Stars Pro event in 1989 with the introduction of Diamond tables by Greg Sullivan.

Stepleton tables (out of Louisville) were very popular in KY during that time, and they used the slow nap cloth.

Growing up I didn't see simonis used at least in my area until 98-99, which was obviously behind the curve in southeastern kentucky.

When did the usage of fast cloth become widespread. Was it available in the 60s and 70s?

I'm just curious because of some of the old videos i've seen show the cloth looking VERY slow.

 

[Jude Rosenstock]

The first time I saw Simonis was at the Lexington KY ALL Stars Pro event in 1989 with the introduction of Diamond tables by Greg Sullivan.

Stepleton tables (out of Louisville) were very popular in KY during that time, and they used the slow nap cloth.

The first time I saw Simonis was in the early 90s at Chelsea Billiards in New York City. Not long after that, all the other rooms followed suit. Prior to Chelsea though, many rooms were experimenting with faster cloth. Mali cloth was used at a few places. After Simonis took over, rooms would occasionally try something else like Championship or Granito only to go back to Simonis in the end. Back then though, there were TONS of rooms in New York so room owners went out of their way to attract players. If a room didn't have new cloth, they usually had very cheap rates. If they had neither, they usually didn't last more than a year.

 

[maxeypad2007]

This is all really good info.

So would it be safe to say that fast cloth really only was prevalent after 1980? What about even in professional tournaments and in exhibitions?

Tom, the first time I saw the cloth was at a lexington all-stars event as well...man those were good tournaments.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Growing up I didn't see simonis used at least in my area until 98-99, which was obviously behind the curve in southeastern kentucky.

When did the usage of fast cloth become widespread. Was it available in the 60s and 70s?

I'm just curious because of some of the old videos i've seen show the cloth looking VERY slow.

In about 1985 Simonis introduced 760 to be used on the pro tour. It turned out to be too fast (especially when brand new) so the tour went to 860 fairly quickly. See for example the ad on page 9 in the Accu-stats newsletter at: http://www.sfbilliards.com/accustats/V2_N01.pdf

I think that was pretty much the start of fast, worsted cloth for pro pool.

 

[jay helfert]

Growing up I didn't see simonis used at least in my area until 98-99, which was obviously behind the curve in southeastern kentucky.

When did the usage of fast cloth become widespread. Was it available in the 60s and 70s?

I'm just curious because of some of the old videos i've seen show the cloth looking VERY slow.

Simoniz cloth has been around forever, except it was traditionally billiard table cloth. In the early 90's, Don Mackey who was the commissioner of the mens pro tour made a deal with Simoniz to provide the cloth for the men's pro tournaments. It was a major change from the Stevens and Forstmann cloth they had been using up till then. All the power stroking pros had to develop a soft touch, like Efren.

Notice also that this coincided with Efren's rise to the top of the pool world. His game was really suited for the fast cloth. So to answer your question, Simoniz cloth became the cloth of choice in the 90's, not before then. Unless you are talking billiards.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Simoniz cloth has been around forever, except it was traditionally billiard table cloth. In the early 90's, Don Mackey who was the commissioner of the mens pro tour made a deal with Simoniz to provide the cloth for the men's pro tournaments. ...

It's Simonis, with an "s" at the end.

But 760 had already been tried on the pro tour and abandoned for 860 by 1991, I'm pretty sure.

 

[av84fun]

In about 1985 Simonis introduced 760 to be used on the pro tour. It turned out to be too fast (especially when brand new) so the tour went to 860 fairly quickly. See for example the ad on page 9 in the Accu-stats newsletter at: http://www.sfbilliards.com/accustats/V2_N01.pdf

I think that was pretty much the start of fast, worsted cloth for pro pool.

Which shows that, contrary to some opinions, fast cloth makes the game more difficult, not easier...just like fast greens and/or downhill putts in golf.

Regards,
Jim