deflection

What I don’t understand is when I read about players who use multiple playing cues, different shafts, tips … etc. some depending on what game they’re playing, others just seems to depend on their mood that day. More power to ya if you can do this but my consistency would suck!
 
What I don’t understand is when I read about players who use multiple playing cues, different shafts, tips … etc. some depending on what game they’re playing, others just seems to depend on their mood that day. More power to ya if you can do this but my consistency would suck!
VERY few good players do the cue 'switcheroo'. Hurts more than it helps.
 
By saying they know things they can't describe?

pj
chgo
The old-school Taiwanese players considered "deflection" to be the cue ball "deflecting" away from the cue tip, not the modern way of thinking where it is used as the tip deflecting away from the cue ball.

Squirt.

They tended to play close to vertical centerline and they wanted a stiff shaft because they thought it provided more power.

There is a video of Kevin Cheng somewhere explaining how he viewed it.

If I can find the video, I will post it.

I can't remember if it is in English or Mandarin.
 
The old-school Taiwanese players considered "deflection" to be the cue ball "deflecting" away from the cue tip, not the modern way of thinking where it is used as the tip deflecting away from the cue ball. Squirt.
To my way of thinking it's both - action/reaction - but the important result (what I call squirt) is the cue ball's motion.

They tended to play close to vertical centerline and they wanted a stiff shaft because they thought it provided more power.

There is a video of Kevin Cheng somewhere explaining how he viewed it.

If I can find the video, I will post it.

I can't remember if it is in English or Mandarin.
Thanks for the info (I knew you had it in you :)).

pj
chgo
 
To my way of thinking it's both - action/reaction - but the important result (what I call squirt) is the cue ball's motion.


Thanks for the info (I knew you had it in you :)).

pj
chgo
The cue ball's "motion" and path of travel is the ONLY thing I am concerned with when I shoot a shot (to include spin for position, speed, etc.).

I don't care what the shaft does.
 
and with deflection there are lots of shots that you aim for something other than a thin slice so you can aim for say the center of the ball and let the deflection make the ball with the big spin needed.
but you have to know it and not fight it. and dont hit shots that are going to deflect to where you have no idea whats happening.

same as using english. balls go in different directions depending on the amount of english you used..
doesn't everyone learn to adjust for that.
 
Having had my snooker and UK pool playing cues for well over 10 years now, I can confirm, after upgrading around 8 months ago to titanium ferrules, deflection is slightly less...looks way nicer too!
 
and with deflection there are lots of shots that you aim for something other than a thin slice so you can aim for say the center of the ball and let the deflection make the ball with the big spin needed.
but you have to know it and not fight it. and dont hit shots that are going to deflect to where you have no idea whats happening.

same as using english. balls go in different directions depending on the amount of english you used..
doesn't everyone learn to adjust for that.
This is something that was learned long before anyone ever thought of a "low deflection" anything.
 
Density of:
Brass 8.4 to 8.73 g/cm³
Titanium 4.5 g/cm³
Ivory 1.7 to 2.0 g/cm³
Paper micarta 1.34 to 1.5 g/cm³
Do you happen to know the density of Ivorine? I had a shaft with an Ivorine ferrule and it deflected more than any cue I've ever tried. It was a heavy 13mm shaft, though.
 
This is something that was learned long before anyone ever thought of a "low deflection" anything.
You notice they are called LOW deflection shafts not NO deflection shafts, EVERY shaft that strikes the cue ball off center will cause some deflection, some more than others, physics sucks !!!!😁😁😁
 
Given deflection is a component of the cue ball line, a player can use it (deflection) to fine tune the available angle.
You have to fine tune your aim to include deflection, but it's never useful, always an added complication. Aiming would always be easier without it.

pj
chgo
 
  • Like
Reactions: SSP
You have to fine tune your aim to include deflection, but it's never useful, always an added complication. Aiming would always be easier without it.

pj
chgo
Some people have no problem doing complicated things routinely at a high level easily.

Some people can't juggle two tennis balls no matter how hard they try.

Somebody else may be able to juggle the tennis balls, a chain saw, and a table chair at the same time.

Don't limit yourself.
 
How can deflection be used to advantage?

pj
chgo
A higher deflection shaft will generally jump better. It can also be of some advantage to someone who happens to use back hand english and the appropriate bridge length for that shaft to most take advantage of the squirt cancellation effects (has to be a fairly high deflection shaft to have a chance of helping in this regard), and there are several other benefits that I have thought of and posted in the past (many years ago) but that escape me at the moment.

That said, for the most part they were fairly minimal benefits so I'm not really arguing with the spirit of your inquiry. On the flip side, I haven't seen any good evidence for lower deflection being of much if any consequential advantage either. I know all the theories/arguments, and some even sound fairly intuitive, but I've yet to see any good evidence to support that there is any actual consequential advantage in reality.

In fact, the best evidence we have pretty solidly supports that it makes little difference in how well we can/will play with either (or how fast we will get to a certain level with either), and that we must obviously be adjusting for low or high squirt fairly equally well even if that wouldn't have been our intuitive guess about the matter (talking about/within the spectrum of the most commonly used shaft types out there, not something crazy).
 
Last edited:
A higher deflection shaft will generally jump better. It can also be of some advantage to someone who happens to use back hand english and the appropriate bridge length for that shaft to most take advantage of the squirt cancellation effects (has to be a pretty high deflection shaft to have a chance of helping in this regard), and there are several other benefits that I have thought of and posted in the past (many years ago) but that escape me at the moment.

That said, for the most part they were fairly minimal benefits so I'm not really arguing with the spirit of your inquiry. On the flip side, I haven't seen any good evidence for lower deflection being of much if any consequential advantage either. I know all the theories/arguments, and some even sound fairly intuitive, but I've yet to see any good evidence to support that there is any actual consequential advantage in reality.

In fact, the best evidence we have pretty solidly supports that it makes little difference in how well we can/will play with either (or how fast we will get to a certain level with either), and that we must obviously be adjusting for low or high squirt/swerve fairly equally well even if that wouldn't have been our intuitive guess about the matter (talking about/within the spectrum of the most commonly used shaft types out there, not something crazy).
Some people are stubborn and will say that the "best" way for everyone is ALWAYS the textbook or pool scientist way.

I don't subscribe to that theory.

If that were the case, Keith McCready would never had made a ball.

Keith did it "his" way and kicked ass.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top