Close-up of McGill’s shaft and tip

[Flakeandrun]

It's for the money.... he's not winning tournaments, so why not cause a stir in a different manner?
Naturally, he makes a bit of interest win or lose... he wins, and he's found his new 'excalibur'

As for mushroomed tips, some players like the additional 'feel' - it was a huge fad for a while. Some were playing with some insanely spread tips a few years ago... Must have had them touched up by the cue gods on the regular.

If I can find it, I will post an interesting analysis I had found about players and the tip shapes they are using. There was a blogger who made note of the styles of the top players. There is some logic behind a few of the shapes you can notice. Whether they are more than placebo is up to the player.

 

[Flakeandrun]

Less miscue with a mushroom tip form, more flexible on the edge, less sliping.

pretty much this.

 

[Flakeandrun]

If I can find it, I will post an interesting analysis I had found about players and the tip shapes they are using. There was a blogger who made note of the styles of the top players. There is some logic behind a few of the shapes you can notice. Whether they are more than placebo is up to the player.

Professional Snooker Player Tip Shapes

Professional Snooker Player Tip Shapes - What snooker tip shapes will the world professional snookers players choose for the 2017 championships?

www.snookercrazy.com

This isn't the exact one, but this one is a similar article to the one that I had found interesting before.
Growing up, I just let my dad do mine for me, and as an adult, I try to copy that.
I had a go with mushrooming for a while when I first started to do my own tips in my early 20s, but too inconsistent in shaping and the results generally varied in success even if I got it right.

(Fergal o'Brien's tip makes me want to vomit )

 

[skogstokig]

It's for the money.... he's not winning tournaments, so why not cause a stir in a different manner?
Naturally, he makes a bit of interest win or lose... he wins, and he's found his new 'excalibur'

pretty niche CF cue builder, GO custom. i don't think goran has a massive sponsoring budget, but i could be wrong of course.

 

[Flakeandrun]

pretty niche CF cue builder, GO custom. i don't think goran has a massive sponsoring budget, but i could be wrong of course.

I mean, what's budget to a middling player? It gets people talking about him... otherwise who the hell would??
I imagine there is some financial incentive based on data from sales coming his way for thinking 'outside (the accepted snooker) box' - on top of some sponsor funding.
People pay more for niche... whether it's good or bad.