Are LD Shafts Needed On A 7' Table

Lots and lots of top players do play with LD shafts. I'll never go back to a standard shaft. And the main reason is I just understand how to use inside English so much better with a LD shaft.

I also don't understand the jerks who down people for using them. To each his own. Predator has made $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for a reason.
 
Resistance is to be expected.

People said the same thing when better golf clubs arrived, aluminum baseball bats came out, graphite tennis racquets too. Go back far enough and they probably said the same thing about forged steel being used for used for swords and armor too.

As for 7 foot vs. 9 foot, I can't see any difference unless its a big cue ball on the smaller table.
 
hang-the-9 said:
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.
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Cool. Fixing flaws in your game are the best ways to improve play but like you, I experienced an upswing with my pool game when I started using LD shafts/cues.

Now I play with an LD cue on both the bar tables and the 9 footers and have been using LD for at least a couple of years now, maybe a few years. I like the way I can "more accurately" aim the cue ball with my LD cue but I am not sure if my shape is better with an LD shaft or regular shaft. It's been a while since I used a traditional shaft and will most likely at some point, go back to the traditional shafts just to make comparisons.

Right now I am not playing very well. Recently, I joined a gym to get in shape but the additional strength is not improving my play at the moment. :D I'm sure it will balance out in a few weeks but for the moment, I don't think I have the same "touch" as I did before working out.
JoeyA
 
9Ballr said:
... People have played very good game on 7 8 9 10 and 12 foot tables long before LD's were even invented.
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Well, as far as the 12-foot tables, the design of cues used there evolved to low squirt long before we reached our present level of understanding about the causes. I suspect the players just liked cues that hit the ball straighter.
 
You can see British snooker pros who play great pocket billiards on really big tables, pushing balls around using those oddly tapered skinny ash shafts with brass ferrules and a smidgeon of knobby leather at the front.

But that does not mean LD shafts have no value...

A person should use what floats their boat. For some, LD shafts are the best thing since leather tips and rubber cushions. For others, not so much.

I like the shafts that have been lightened at the working end, with a shorter ferrule, the shaft end hollowed out with maybe some carbon fiber material inserted in the newly holy area. I just like the looks of a short ferrule, but the advantage of less deflection compared to a shaft that is heavier at the working end is nothing to sneeze at either.
 
Rude awakening

I've used LD shafts pretty exclusively, and only play on 9 footers at home. Last year at the BCA show in Vegas I tried a different LD shaft that was touted to have more feel than my old shaft.

The new shaft felt incredible. Much better response, and I was juicing the rock with insane amounts of english - I could barely miss on the barboxes. I bought the shaft and played with it all week out there.

When I got back home to the big tables, I couldn't make a friggin' ball! Let alone with any spin, I was dogging the heck out of centerball shots. I gave it several weeks but the adjustment would not come.

I learned a lesson out there never to base my opinion of cues on equipment that differs from what you regularly play on. I think you can get away with a lot more deflection on a 7 footer and still pull off shots that wouldn't go on the 9'.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
I can't think of any reason one kind of shaft would work better or worse than another on different size tables.

pj
chgo
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Me neither. Although I will add that I have had the habit of trying out shafts at many of the big events and expos...and more often than not the vendor has a 7' table set up in their booth. I bought the OB Classic when it came out based on my experience on a 7' table. I walked from the OB booth over to the practice tables. Immediately some guy approached me to play some cheap sets. We were doing races to 3. I ran a 3 pack the 2nd set and decided I loved the shaft. However, once I started playing on a 9' table, I realized that the deflection was quite a bit more than the Predator 314-2 I was used to. I stuck with it, and played well with that shaft for a while. However, when the ferrule cracked I sent it back for repair. In the mean time I pulled out my 314-2 and was like "wow"...I played the best pool of my life for a while there. I never went back to the OB Classic, but did however convert to the OB Pro, and now the Pro +.

The point of this little tale is that, as you know, error propagates over distance. As such what may be insignificant, or at least not enough to miss on a 7' table may miss on a 9' table. Thus I would conclude that table size is an important factor that determines the *amount* of benefit of a LD shaft.

That being said, if one derives a benefit from a LD shaft on a 9 footer, they would of course derive the same proportional benefit on a 7 footer, so why on earth not take advantage of that benefit.

I have played at a fairly high level in the amateur world on 7 footers, yet oddly most of my pool is played on 9 footers. I would never in a million years want to use a *different* shaft for any reason. Learn your equipment. Stick with it. That's my opinion.

KMRUNOUT
 
DJ14.1 said:
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?
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I think more do than don't. When I think of the upper echelon of pros, most are using LD shafts. Not sure about Filipinos, but definitely true for American and European players.

KMRUNOUT
 
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ChicagoRJ said:
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.
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Perfect. This is it in a nutshell. Very well stated!

KMRUNOUT
 
9Ballr said:
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.
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I have hit several balls with Earl's current playing cue. It is quite low deflection. I use a Predator 314-2 and now an OB Pro+. I had no trouble at all firing balls in with lots of english with his cue. Almost no adjustment in aim. So while his shaft may not be labelled LD, it most certainly is.

KMRUNOUT
 
KMRUNOUT said:
I have hit several balls with Earl's current playing cue. It is quite low deflection. I use a Predator 314-2 and now an OB Pro+. I had no trouble at all firing balls in with lots of english with his cue. Almost no adjustment in aim. So while his shaft may not be labelled LD, it most certainly is.

KMRUNOUT
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Very interesting... any idea what brand cue he's shooting with?
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Very interesting... any idea what brand cue he's shooting with?
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All this LD-HD, variable weight crap, is a bunch of frustrated people, who cannot seem to make minor adjustments, to ANYTHING !..Shoot with a broom for a while..Then you'll learn to appreciate what you have !..A cuestick, is just a skinny piece of wood, with a little dab of leather, or pigskin glued to the end of it...It ain't a magic wand !..You can spend $3,000, or $30 for it !..Get over it, and concentrate on learning to play the friggin' game ! (you'll sleep better at night) :)

PS..I can guarantee you, if you are shot in the heart, with a 22 cal. rifle, (2 oz. bullet) or an AK47,(4 oz. bullet) you won't be any LESS dead !..Unless of course the shooter is using 'TOI'...that may save you !.. :p :p :p
 
SJDinPHX said:
All this LD-HD, variable weight crap, is a bunch of frustrated people, who cannot seem to make minor adjustments, to ANYTHING !..Shoot with a broom for a while..Then you'll learn to appreciate what you have !..A cuestick, is just a skinny piece of wood, with a little dab of leather, or pigskin glued to the end of it...It ain't a magic wand !..You can spend $3,000, or $30 for it !..Get over it, and concentrate on learning to play the friggin' game ! (you'll sleep better at night) :)

PS..I can guarantee you, if you are shot in the heart, with a 22 cal. rifle, (2 oz. bullet) or an AK47,(4 oz. bullet) you won't be any LESS dead !..Unless of course the shooter is using 'TOI'...that may save you !.. :p :p :p
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I hear you San Jose, learning the game is far more important. But a skinny piece of wood? C'mon now. Every pro in the world cares about his equipment, and I bet you do too. Unless they're playing a blind man, nobody plays for money using a broomstick.
 
Bambu said:
.....nobody plays for money using a broomstick.
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I knew one guy that did (Mike ???- can't remember the last name). Bet a guy in the bar using the broom stick in the back. Unscrewed it and scuffed the end. Used center english and beat the guy to death.

Benny Z. plays at my local place. He will use my Jacoby heavy hitter break/jump and run out on the hardest table in the place. He actually plays quite well with it,lol. And it has a phenolic tip...
 
I'm playing close to top amateur level and yes my z2 is useful on a bar table. Long shots with a lot of english are more natural to aim with a LD shaft.

If I play with a cue off the wall, I need to stay less than 1/2 tip of english or the cue goes boing.
 
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