cue/shaft orientation as you shoot, facing one way every single time!

[Jerry R]

Sounds more like his compulsory habit. Good luck w it.
Who writes that well on a small shaft?? Mine would be unrecognizable.

When I talked to him in SD he signed my case. Took him a few minutes to do it because he was very careful and I think like most things he wants/expects perfection.

 

[Mensabum]

When I talked to him in SD he signed my case. Took him a few minutes to do it because he was very careful and I think like most things he wants/expects perfection. View attachment 893894

I wish more players took the time to do that. I have a few signed cues that are damn near illegible.
And Earl is nothing if not a perfectionist.

 

[iusedtoberich]

I think shaft orientation is one of the biggest crock of bs out there. If it made any difference, no one would have made a ball before the radial laminated shafts came out.

 

[Johnny Rosato]

TL;DR: IS POSTED AT THE END (For people who don't want to read long posts).

I looked this one up and searched for it. I haven't seen a post or anything about it, and I was very interested in this topic, so I made this post.

Pool is a game of consistency, repetitiveness, and timing. Honestly no matter how much you aim or focus, ultimately it's all about you repeating yourself in every possible way, in terms of timing, eye coordination going back and forth the same way every single time! If your eyes or hands did one little thing new, you'd miss a shot very easily. That's why it's best to do the same shot routine & same strokes before shooting, doesn't matter if it's a hard shot or an easy shot.

One thing I feel would add to that consistency is your cue, to add a cheery on the top, which is the main topic of this thread is, how would you orient your cue while playing, 99% of the people, including myself would say "oh I don't care how the cue is oriented, i just shoot." Well, I do too, but the past few weeks I've been thinking about it.

Some disadvantage to this tho is you have to look into your cue every single time to see a mark or something where you would face that mark up or down depending on your own orientation that you're used it, but I feel if you get used to one orientation, it's possible that it will benefit your game ever so slightly, because you'd have the exact same feel every single time. And yes I know maybe I am overexaggarating on this, but I think there's something into it.

Another disadvantage I also think is that the TIP shape, there's a good chance that if you shoot with a cue facing up every single time, maybe the tip will deform, or rather maybe lose its shape and wont be even, the shape would wear in a non-uniform way.

I know snooker players do it a 100%, this is a fact coming from some pro players, I've seen one time Berry speaks about it, it is said that most snooker players have their cue butt non-rounded, which means they have one flat side, one round side and it is for a reason. That reason is this topic exactly, these pros keep that flat side on the top while the rounded side on bottom, they get used to holding the cue like that and with this comes the cue orientation naturally. While in pool we use rounded butts all the time, but this still can be achievable if you mark the tip or mark the shaft.

Pool "Case study" which I noticed myself years ago, and haven't gave it another thought until today. Earl the Pearl Strickland, I think he had times in his prime where he oriented the cue a certain way every single time, you can clearly see him looking at his shaft after each shot if he chalks to see that DOT or Mark facing up. And if he doesn't chalk and doesn't move his butt, then he'll just be on his 2 stroke shot rhythm/timing and keep that cue facing the same way, here i''ll show some examples and please note him tilting his head down to the start of his shaft to perhaps find the mark and leaving it upward then proceed to shoot.

Earl checking his shaft after each shot to align it facing up,

Here ill give you the exact time/second so you dont have to watch the whole video "but he does this almost every shot",

That said, I think later in his career Earl Strickland stopped doing that, he doesn't look at his shaft anymore, probably from 1995+, maybe he developed a way of telling orientation by just holding the cue? I don't know.


I think there's something to this, and I am actually going to try it, but I'm worried about the tip wearing in a non-uniform way. I'll follow the advice of Barry on this here,

TL;DR

Having your cue facing the same way can be an advantage as I've seen some players do it and speak of it, snookers players does it using the flat side of their butts. I also noticed Earl Strickland does it. There are also disadvantages to this, such as tip shape, but Berry a snooker legend, says its good to have it deshape to where you shoot from the same orientation everytime!

Check the vids above proof of Earl doing it, also check Berry vid where he talks about it!

Gobbledygoop

 

[straightline]

I wish more players took the time to do that. I have a few signed cues that are damn near illegible.
And Earl is nothing if not a perfectionist.

Now I'm wondering if he can write.

 

[Inferno]

It's always been a secret as to why I could shoot great with my cue and nobody else could.
I had a 1969 Adam cue. It has a logo on the butt.
I learned pretty quickly that my cue tip was a little bit warped. When I first got it, I'd hit a great shot, and then a crappy one. And another crappy one. And then a good one. It was just odd as I had been playing pool since I was 10 years old. I was never that inconsistent.
Rolling my cue didn't really show the small warp because it was right at the end.
It didn't help that my cue shaft was well-worn (I found it in a parking garage) by the previous owner(s). It was 12.5mm at the ferrule but 11.5 six inches back.
Well, one day I realized it had a warp. I set the warp so it curved up and took the shots. I was doing pretty good with it like that. So, I looked at the butt and saw the logo was at 10:00. So I every time I shot, I just had to set the logo at 10:00 and the warp was up.
Hand my cue off to someone else and they couldn't get a consistent flow. It made me look like a much better player.
Once I told my pool buddy about it, he tried lining up the logo and he could shoot much better with it.

That cue was stolen about 20 years ago and it really pissed me off. At the time it was only worth, maybe, $150 but it was the cue I knew. I've bought a couple replacements and someday I'll get out there and dial them in. One of the replacements has a slight warp just like my old one. The logo clocks different, though.