Are LD Shafts Needed On A 7' Table
- Thread starter Johnnyt
- Start date
I find an LD 11.75 mm works best for me on a diamond bar box because of the speed of the table. I get more acute English off this set up and let a softer hit with English get me to where I need to be rather than letting my stroke out like I would on a 9 footer even though I rarely play bar box.
If you like to aim close to the real contact point with spin, then yes they are.
Soon as I changed my stroke to stop swiping to the right and to find the center of the cueball better I started missing with my higher deflection Players HXT shaft. Tried an OB1 with less deflection and was making more shots.
They are not needed if you play fine with a regular shaft, but then again, maybe someone can play even better with an LD shaft but they just don't know it yet since they never tried. Or vice-versa.
So you are making more shots with your OB1 shaft, since you started to find the center of the cue ball better (versus the Players HXT shaft(. Are you playing shape the same, worse or better with the OB1 shaft?
I don't want to influence your answer in any way but after you answer this I will put in my two cents of experience and perspective about LD shafts on 7 foot & 9 foot tables.
JoeyA
I don't want to influence your answer in any way but after you answer this I will put in my two cents of experience and perspective about LD shafts on 7 foot & 9 foot tables.
JoeyA
I can't think of any reason one kind of shaft would work better or worse than another on different size tables.
pj
chgo
pj
chgo
Yes I'm making more shots with the OB after changing how I line up and aim. But I went back to the Players for a few weeks while the OB was getting fixed and played pretty well with that shaft as well, just not quite as good. Position is better but only because I fixed quite a bit of my issue with using left spin which was unpredictable with me swiping my stroke to the right.
The shots I started to have issues with were cut shots at about 20% or more. Working pretty well now though, I can make really sharp cuts over longer distances now if I can keep myself from aiming the old way again.
exactly what he said, LD = snake oil.
LOL, hogwash. Some like them, some don't, but you cannot deny that they work as intended.
I'm guessing the answer is no. But I'm also in the camp that they're not needed at all....unless of course your style of play and your feel just prefers it.
"If you believe that you're playing well because you're getting laid, or because you're not getting laid, or because you wear women's underwear.....then you are!!!" --Sorry I couldn't resist.
Not to hijack the thread, but what percentage of current pros use LD shafts? Is it the new standard of play nowadays?
Nobody needs anything but a house cue, yet, we all have our own cues, with our own tips and even our own chalk
Some things are just better. If this were not true, we'd all be driving Yugo's Nobody needs it, but it sure is easier for folks to make shots using English. Not sure why folks think that is bad?
oh, and Lou Gehrig use to play first base with a glove that was NOT the same size nor quality as the gloves made today. Could someone still play with Gehrig's glove? Yep. Would most folks chose something else? Yep. Does it make it bad that some like it "old school" and some don't? Nope.
If you like to do something, that's more a like than a need.
People have played very good game on 7 8 9 10 and 12 foot tables long before LD's were even invented.
It wouldn't matter to some - but not all. Some of them would have played even better with less squirt. Some would have played better just knowing what's known now about squirt/swerve, pivot points, BHE, etc.
You could say the same about advances in technology/information in any sport - performance was fine without them and even better (for some/many) with them.
pj
chgo
I think that a 6x12 snooker table calls out for as little squirt as possible.
And just as many folks played a real crap game on 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 foot tables before LD's were invented.
That's not what the OP was asking about.
He asked if one needs an ld for a 7 foot table.
Besides what you're saying is completely unprovable.
Many top pros today refuse to use LD shafts.
Efren is only one. Bustamante is another. Strickland is one more.
All three seem to be doing ok with their poor old ld shafts.
And I bet none of them would change their shafts from traditional to LD if they had a match on a 7 foot table.
Really, you don't think there were BANGERS and APA 4's around before LD shafts. C'mon dude, put down the pipe.
That's great that Earl would NOT use an LD. What exactly does the prove? Nothing. And many pro's play with LD shafts, including the best woman player to ever walk the earth
How come baseball players, who actually get paid in $100M contracts, and really only played with bats made of Ash decades ago, can now play with Bamboo, and many other woods. Nobody sits around going, "well, you know Poindexter, Babe Ruth hit plenty of home runs with Ash bat, why would anyone use anything else"
Just silly anyone would care that others use diff kinds of shaft?