Break speeds

mantis99

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have been watching the generationpool 9 ball championships on my DVR, and was interested in the break speeds they clocked. Shawn Putnam put up a 25.6, which was the fastest they showed. In this thread, http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=86666&highlight=fastest+break, many people claim 27mph and above. This made me wonder if there are variations in the speed guns used. I know in baseball, some people would use "Ray" guns and some would use "Jugs" guns. The Jugs are what you see on tv, and are typically 5 mph faster than the ray guns. The big numbers people claim make me wonder if they are clocked with a more favorable gun, or if they are exaggerating some. It seems odd that so many people would be able to break faster than the top pros.

On the other hand, many people can drive a golf ball farther than top pros, they just can't do it with anywhere near the necessary accuracy. Maybe this is the same case. Either way, I am interested to hear your thoughts.
 
15-20 is the average joe.

20-25 you can hit em good.

25-30 not many get up this high, most can't control the rock at this point.

30+ your a wild animal.

I think average pro break speed is around 12mph these days :D

When they are breaking hard I would say the pros break around 23-26mph range some higher but not many.
 
Jonny archer was just over 23, an no one else shown was over that (except Putnam of course). I always thought he had one of the harder breaks amongst the pros. I know Scott Lee claims that most way over estimate their breaks. On the show, they said Jasmine Oushan's 22 MPH break was the 3rd fastest of all the people, men or women with whom they tested.
 
Numerous internet sites have them. Just goole or yahoo radar guns. They have come way down in price.
 
mantis99 said:
Jonny archer was just over 23, an no one else shown was over that (except Putnam of course). I always thought he had one of the harder breaks amongst the pros. I know Scott Lee claims that most way over estimate their breaks. On the show, they said Jasmine Oushan's 22 MPH break was the 3rd fastest of all the people, men or women with whom they tested.

One of things that must be considered is the speed of breaks in competition vs the possible speed of breaks. Most people hit their competition breaks at about 80% or even much less during competition.

A lot of people think I have a pretty big break. On a bar table, I have hit them 30.87 and stuck the cue ball with Jerrod Frideres's laser measuring machine (you may have seen this in Vegas or around the midwest). I have a feeling that machine is pretty much dead on as a bunch of engineering students did this as a senior design project. I have also used one of those cheap baseball radars and I have been in the high 20's and low 30's.

I would say my average break speed on a bar table is 24-26 mph. I am not sure how much different on a big table. If I am hitting the balls from the corners, I know my speed is much less. If I am breaking from the box, it is probably about the same.
 
It looked like they were letting them rip when measuring. The gun was right over the table, so I don't think the measurements were taken during actual competition. Did you ever get together with Scott Lee to see where your avg break was and finish that bet for the steak dinner?
 
Only ERO's said:
One of things that must be considered is the speed of breaks in competition vs the possible speed of breaks. Most people hit their competition breaks at about 80% or even much less during competition.

A lot of people think I have a pretty big break. On a bar table, I have hit them 30.87 and stuck the cue ball with Jerrod Frideres's laser measuring machine (you may have seen this in Vegas or around the midwest). I have a feeling that machine is pretty much dead on as a bunch of engineering students did this as a senior design project. I have also used one of those cheap baseball radars and I have been in the high 20's and low 30's.

I would say my average break speed on a bar table is 24-26 mph. I am not sure how much different on a big table. If I am hitting the balls from the corners, I know my speed is much less. If I am breaking from the box, it is probably about the same.
I have seen this man break and he is telling the truth. Jerrod's laser is really good but you haver to break from the center of the table. Breaking from a corner does not measure correctly because the ball travels through the measurement area at an angle and therefore takes longer to cross in front of the eye.
 
Low end radar guns are notoriously inaccurate within a few MPH which means a LOT re: break speed.

The units cops use cost several hundred dollars and even then, people routinely beat radar-based speeding tickets by going to court...especially when there are other cars moving in proximity to the "target vehicle" since comflicting motion can and does cause inaccurate doppler measurment.

Low end radar guns would be laughed out of court.

In many places, cops take visual speed measurement courses and actually get very good at it and present radar data to corroborate their visual "expert opinions."

Many breakers, like Johnny Archer, lunge their cues forward past table center and absolutely confuse even high end radar.

I think that, in truth, anything over 25 mph is pretty monstrous speed...HOWEVER...I don't know whether doppler confusion tends to result in higher or lower speed read outs relative to ACTUAL speed.

Regards,
Jim

mantis99 said:
I have been watching the generationpool 9 ball championships on my DVR, and was interested in the break speeds they clocked. Shawn Putnam put up a 25.6, which was the fastest they showed. In this thread, http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=86666&highlight=fastest+break, many people claim 27mph and above. This made me wonder if there are variations in the speed guns used. I know in baseball, some people would use "Ray" guns and some would use "Jugs" guns. The Jugs are what you see on tv, and are typically 5 mph faster than the ray guns. The big numbers people claim make me wonder if they are clocked with a more favorable gun, or if they are exaggerating some. It seems odd that so many people would be able to break faster than the top pros.

On the other hand, many people can drive a golf ball farther than top pros, they just can't do it with anywhere near the necessary accuracy. Maybe this is the same case. Either way, I am interested to hear your thoughts.
 
Back
Top