Cue Pivot Point

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A number of guys (and women) here on AZ are pro's, former road players, and accomplished amateurs and gamblers whose opinion I'm seeking as opposed to the wannabes and daydreamer elementary students that are learning the game by reading instead of actually having accomplised any real success by doing, and it has to do with cue pivot point. How many of you, in your lifetime of playing, have concerned yourself with what the pivot point of your cue is and factoring that into the squirt aspects of shots? As far as you know, how many of the top male and female pro players care about this measurement and use it to play with a certain cue or shaft or change their bridge length due to it? How would you rank the cue pivot point in importance to the weight of the cue (butt and shaft), balance point, taper, or just understanding how the cue will respond through experience?
 
I've never bothered to find out my cue's pivot point, and I don't think I need to learn where it is. I've probably found it unconsciously through years of shooting with it. It's not something I want to know consciously because it'll be just one more thing I'll have to think about when I shoot. I want to limit the things I think about while shooting, and I doubt that the pivot point is anywhere near important enough to add to my list of thoughts I rank as being necessary.

There gets to be a point where too much "knowledge" can destroy a person's pre-shot, shot, and post-shot routines. I don't want to think about dominant eye (which is another thing I think is BS), backhand english, dropping or not dropping the elbow, squirt, etc. I concentrate on the contact point and that's it. I was a baseball pitcher for a long time, and there's a difference between AIMING at the mitt and THROWING at the mitt. Too many thoughts lead to AIMING at the mitt. I apply the same thinking to pool. I try to leave out all extraneous thought and concentrate on that mitt (contact point). I try to allow my body to do what comes naturally - I don't want to force or control any muscles or thoughts. When I threw a baseball, I didn't think about humidity, temperature, sea level, variations in ball weight, grip pressure, etc. I just threw the damn ball. Why can't pool players just shoot?

So I guess in answer to your questions, pivot point doesn't factor at all in my decision to play with my cue. The other things you mention (balance point, taper, etc.) are all far more important to me. Plus, I've played with my cue for so long that I don't think I'll ever want to change. I don't buy all the technology crap that promises to make your game better (they don't - heart, desire, and pride make your game better). I don't need a cue with super-exotic wood costing tens of thousands of dollars. My cue is my comfortable pair of old jeans - sure, there are better looking, more expensive jeans out there, but none are gonna feel like those old jeans.

-djb
 
Good question longball. I agree with doomcue's response. But just because you don't constantly and consciously think about the pivot point, that shouldn't mean that don't care about buying a low-squirt cue right? I figure that once you have a cue that you like, you just learn how it plays, and that's it.

cheers,
jer9ball
 
DoomCue said:
I've never bothered to find out my cue's pivot point, and I don't think I need to learn where it is. I've probably found it unconsciously through years of shooting with it. It's not something I want to know consciously because it'll be just one more thing I'll have to think about when I shoot. I want to limit the things I think about while shooting, and I doubt that the pivot point is anywhere near important enough to add to my list of thoughts I rank as being necessary.


That was superbly stated and mirrors my own feelings about the subject, however, I was kinda wondering in the back of my mind if other good players MIGHT be measuring it and I was missing the boat somewhere. Since there have been so few posts on this thread from other good players here, it tells me one of two things: they either don't know what the pivot point is and how to measure it (according to the scientist pool players that obsess over it), or, they could care less, which I really thought would be the case. Maybe one of the reasons why the science geeks obsess over it so much is because it just gives them another reason to showcase their blackboard formulas to compensate for their lack of actual playing skills, which I've found to be somewhat slim.
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Or there aren't many good players here. Or that only the players who think they're any good responded. Ha! :)

jer9ball
 
jer9ball said:
Or there aren't many good players here. Or that only the players who think they're any good responded. Ha! :)



Or maybe they just like to gamble regardless of their abilities. Hey...I can string together at least a 3 ball run almost every game that I play. Can I get the 5 and the break? ;)
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Accuracy

I tend to agree with DoomCue. It stills comes down to the player and how the cue is just an extention of themselves. In the old west guys used to be able to shoot anything that walked or crawled with ungawdly accuracy. It wasn't that the weapons were that good, (that has been proven) it was just that the users were so good. They knew how to use what they had. Same with a cue stick. So you find a cue that fits and feels right and use it to the best of your ability. That's the way it has been and and always will be. imo.
 
drivermaker: I'd give efren the 5 and the break, if only he'd play cheap. Say, $50 a set, race to 9? Best lesson I'd ever get. :)
 
BooBoo said:
In the old west guys used to be able to shoot anything that walked or crawled with ungawdly accuracy.
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That's hollywood hype. In the old west most gunfights were a joke. The guns were emptied and if anyone was shot it was some bystander. YMMV
 
jer9ball said:
drivermaker: I'd give efren the 5 and the break, if only he'd play cheap. Say, $50 a set, race to 9? Best lesson I'd ever get. :)
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Then you should be able to give me the break and 3 and out. Pick a place and we'll play. It'll still be a good lesson.
 
drivermaker said:
jer9ball said:
Or there aren't many good players here. Or that only the players who think they're any good responded. Ha! :)



Or maybe they just like to gamble regardless of their abilities. Hey...I can string together at least a 3 ball run almost every game that I play. Can I get the 5 and the break? ;)
Click to expand...

Ok you got me there, I spend too much time building and selling computers and do not get to play pool all day long and I am not a pro. So I called a pro, my pal the Rapido one who I take lessons from. He said this, he don't know what a pivot point is and does not care to. He said he ran 274 balls not knowing, why does he need to know now. He said the people who worry over this are a bunch of egg head phd's who cant run 3 friggen balls. He said go buy a Meucci, put red red dot up on each shot, aim and shoot, that is all there is to it. He said it dont go no deeper than that.
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pocoloco12003 said:
Ok you got me there, I spend too much time building and selling computers and do not get to play pool all day long and I am not a pro. So I called a pro, my pal the Rapido one who I take lessons from. He said this, he don't know what a pivot point is and does not care to. He said he ran 274 balls not knowing, why does he need to know now. He said the people who worry over this are a bunch of egg head phd's who cant run 3 friggen balls. He said go buy a Meucci, put red red dot up on each shot, aim and shoot, that is all there is to it. He said it dont go no deeper than that.
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ROTFLMAO...you sure he didn't say Predator instead of red dot or am I getting that mixed up with the teachings of the esoteric ones who won't take your response as a funny yolk.
 
Watching these slide rule PHD pool players play pool against a natural rhythm pool player is the equivlant of watching a wheelchair basketball team compete against a ghetto ball team....LOL...
 
jer9ball said:
Sure Schitz. Do you really have game, or are you just another poser?
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You've probably seen me play a few times before. Do you watch ESPN?? But I can't beat Efren...consistently. That's why you have to give me more.
 
BooBoo said:
I tend to agree with DoomCue. It stills comes down to the player and how the cue is just an extention of themselves. In the old west guys used to be able to shoot anything that walked or crawled with ungawdly accuracy. It wasn't that the weapons were that good, (that has been proven) it was just that the users were so good. They knew how to use what they had. Same with a cue stick. So you find a cue that fits and feels right and use it to the best of your ability. That's the way it has been and and always will be. imo.
Click to expand...


That is the nick name of the new wonder dog 4, boo boo. He is a Lhasa Terrier from Tibet,17 lbs: our 2nd terrier, Wonder dog 3 is a East Tennesse Mountain cur which is like a miniature pocket pit bull, 45 lbs. Her name is Abbey. She be bad, very bad. Baddest dog on planet.

Per your above pool comments, right on dude, you know. Dont make something simple into rocket science, unless your one of the phd doe doe's who can't run 3 friggin balls, post hole diggers is what they are. These guys could not blop their baloney or whack their weenie with out mis cueing. They would get all hung up about what the angle of their thumb is at, how many fingers are on the instrument and what degree of angle is in the stroke and how many pounds of force and what the PSI is on the outer surface. They do the same thing on the pool stroke, I won't read hardly anything these guys write because it has nothing to do with putting the ball in the pocket. If I read what these guys were writing and began following them, I would be like them, could not run 3 friggen balls and in total paralysis by anaysis. :D

May God bless and peace be with you. May the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall. VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all. Yes I really did do it all and you can believe it, or not. If you don’t believe it, C’est La Vie. A prophet is not recognized in his own land. Rack em sausage, Go play fast and loose. In time, it’s all dust in the wind anyway
 
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