Diamond league vs pro cut pockets for 9ft pro am

Nyquil

Nyquil

Well-known member
When I put in my order with Manning I elected for the league cut 4.75 vs the pro 4.5. My thought was guests may have more enjoyment but realistically I will be playing by myself a majority of time at least for now. I do have a 5 year old daughter that seems intrested in playing and I hope as she gets a bit older we will play together on this table alot which was another reason I leaned to the league cut. I did some digging it seems like most have elected for the pro cuts. Does anyone have the league cut? Does the .25 make that much of a difference? I am in a 16 week que for build so I am fairly certain I could change over to the 4.5's. On the fence on this. I suppose I could start with the leagues and move over to pro's later or just get em out the gate. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
League cut plays good. You can play any game on them. The larger size will have all the benefits you listed along with the confidence you need when working on your game. If you need a challenge pick a specific part of the pocket to hit the object ball with on EVERY shot. No need for pro-cuts that I can see.
 
I got the league cut on my new Professional last year, as my wife and I are not top level players anyway, and we have a lot of company over to play, that are just casual players. To be honest, not really sure that it made it that much easier to play. It's only a quarter inch, and what is never mentioned is that to get that quarter inch, I think they just reangle the corner facings to get the corner opening for the league cut, as my pocket angles are 2 1/2 deg different than what everyone quotes for Diamond pocket angles. I could be wrong but I feel this increased angle actually helps to make the balls rattle in the corner pocket compared to what you would get with the standard 4 1/2" pockets and angles. Pockets are bigger at 4 3/4, but you actually have to be more accurate with your shot. One of my wife's female friends who is a past state champion, has started to come over to practice, as she doesn't get much practice on a Diamond table except for tournaments, and had a really tough time against my wife and I for awhile. She was really rattling the balls in the corner pocket, but honestly didn't take her too long to adjust. If I were to order again, I would just go with the standard 4 1/2" pockets as I don't feel that it would be any tougher to play given the pocket angles.
 
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For a home table for practice or sparring with others that want to practice outside of a tournament or something, tougher pockets are best.

Really for a table for non-players, as long as it's not crazy like a 4" pocket, tighter pockets are fine. They won't even know the difference and if anything after a while they will learn to aim. Sure larger pockets = easier shooting, but the players won't even know why they are making the balls vs missing them on a tighter table and they are so used to missing that another miss every few shots won't matter.

If you don't care much about the practice then you may as well stick to the larger pockets to make it easier on you along with others. If you actually want to play on it and get better to play with other players, I would go with a tighter setup.
 
Nyquil said:
When I put in my order with Manning I elected for the league cut 4.75 vs the pro 4.5. My thought was guests may have more enjoyment but realistically I will be playing by myself a majority of time at least for now. I do have a 5 year old daughter that seems intrested in playing and I hope as she gets a bit older we will play together on this table alot which was another reason I leaned to the league cut. I did some digging it seems like most have elected for the pro cuts. Does anyone have the league cut? Does the .25 make that much of a difference? I am in a 16 week que for build so I am fairly certain I could change over to the 4.5's. On the fence on this. I suppose I could start with the leagues and move over to pro's later or just get em out the gate. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
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I would inquire with Manning or Diamond as to what thickness of pocket facings are used for the league cut rails/pockets? If they use 1/8” facings, you could easily at a later date replace those facings with either 3/16” or 1/4” pocket facings to achieve tighter pockets. Under no conditions do you ever want to use any thicker than 1/4” pocket facings and still have a good playing table/pockets.
 
if you are buying a home table and asking questions on AZB
it means you are at least somewhat serious about your game
the tighter the pockets you practice on and get used to
the easier it will seem when you play your matches on bigger pockets
all those rattled balls or "just misses" at home
will fall in the bigger pockets... 😀
jmho
icbw
 
bbb said:
if you are buying a home table and asking questions on AZB
it means you are at least somewhat serious about your game
the tighter the pockets you practice on and get used to
the easier it will seem when you play your matches on bigger pockets
all those rattled balls or "just misses" at home
will fall in the bigger pockets... 😀
jmho
icbw
Click to expand...
Ya the plan is to get into a league after a year or so. I will never be a pro that's for sure but I do want to join a league. Where I live it's almost all bar boxes all the nice pool halls that had 9ft GC's have closed down several years ago unfortunately. So any play outside my home will almost for sure be on 7ft'ers.
 
Nyquil said:
Ya the plan is to get into a league after a year or so. I will never be a pro that's for sure but I do want to join a league. Where I live it's almost all bar boxes all the nice pool halls that had 9ft GC's have closed down several years ago unfortunately. So any play outside my home will almost for sure be on 7ft'ers.
Click to expand...
Got it
good luck with your game👍
 
Nyquil said:
When I put in my order with Manning I elected for the league cut 4.75 vs the pro 4.5. My thought was guests may have more enjoyment but realistically I will be playing by myself a majority of time at least for now. I do have a 5 year old daughter that seems intrested in playing and I hope as she gets a bit older we will play together on this table alot which was another reason I leaned to the league cut. I did some digging it seems like most have elected for the pro cuts. Does anyone have the league cut? Does the .25 make that much of a difference? I am in a 16 week que for build so I am fairly certain I could change over to the 4.5's. On the fence on this. I suppose I could start with the leagues and move over to pro's later or just get em out the gate. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Most Diamonds around here are league cuts. I've played on a pro-cut and there is an obvious difference. However, I wouldn't call the league cuts buckets by any means and if you dont hit the balls correctly (on most shots) they wont fall. If I were you I wouldn't change the order.
 
I had new cushions installed when my old 9’ Diamond Pro was recently recovered. The originals were the larger pocket size, but the new ones really bring home the riskiness of side pocket shots. Soft shots into the corners almost always drop nicely, but I’m now missing 2-3 times as many side shots. Go figure.
 
I've played on both league and pro cut and both are perfectly acceptable. Most unaltered Brunswicks have bigger pockets than league cut so it's really not *that* big. That said, the pro cut isn't that small either. Honestly, if you never tell anyone you have league cut, even top players probably won't notice.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
I've played on both league and pro cut and both are perfectly acceptable. Most unaltered Brunswicks have bigger pockets than league cut so it's really not *that* big. That said, the pro cut isn't that small either. Honestly, if you never tell anyone you have league cut, even top players probably won't notice.
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As far as I’m concerned, 4-1/2” Diamond’s have virtually become the standard these days for anyone considering themselves as a serious pool player. Most players these days consider 4-1/4” or 4-1/8” as a tight pocket table.
 
ChrisinNC said:
As far as I’m concerned, 4-1/2” Diamond’s have virtually become the standard these days for anyone considering themselves as a serious pool player. Most players these days consider 4-1/4” or 4-1/8” as a tight pocket table.
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I think this is just your experience in your corner of the world. In places like New York City where 14.1 is more frequently played on Brunswicks, 5" pockets are very common.

And, as I mentioned previously, I've played on both. It's not that much different. The table will still have the feel of pro caliber equipment, as opposed to many non-commercial home tables that can play super loose.

Last, I consider myself a serious player and my home table has 5" pockets. It's not ideal. I do plan on getting a Diamond with pro cut pockets once we move to a bigger house but for the time being, I've managed to somehow keep my FargoRating around 650.
 
I used to have a GC III with 5 inch pockets. When I decided to buy a Diamond I got the pro cut pockets. At first I could tell the difference in the amount of shots I missed or hung up. After I got used to the pro cut pockets I would never go back to 5 inch. It’s easier to adjust when you go somewhere to play and the pockets are bigger than it is to adjust to tighter pockets.

If your going to be playing mostly by yourself I would definitely go with the pro cut. If your daughter plays as she gets older it will also help her to play on equipment like most places have.

When casual players play on my table they don’t have a clue what size the pockets are nor do they care.
 
muskyed said:
I got the league cut on my new Professional last year, as my wife and I are not top level players anyway, and we have a lot of company over to play, that are just casual players. To be honest, not really sure that it made it that much easier to play. It's only a quarter inch, and what is never mentioned is that to get that quarter inch, I think they just reangle the corner facings to get the corner opening for the league cut, as my pocket angles are 2 1/2 deg different than what everyone quotes for Diamond pocket angles. I could be wrong but I feel this increased angle actually helps to make the balls rattle in the corner pocket compared to what you would get with the standard 4 1/2" pockets and angles. Pockets are bigger at 4 3/4, but you actually have to be more accurate with your shot. One of my wife's female friends who is a past state champion, has started to come over to practice, as she doesn't get much practice on a Diamond table except for tournaments, and had a really tough time against my wife and I for awhile. She was really rattling the balls in the corner pocket, but honestly didn't take her too long to adjust. If I were to order again, I would just go with the standard 4 1/2" pockets as I don't feel that it would be any tougher to play given the pocket angles.
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An important point made here. It's how they enlarge the pockets is the question . The angles need to be correct. I had my Diamond only slightly enlarged to 4 5/8 and I feel sometimes that the balls may rattle a bit more than they should.
 
robertod said:
An important point made here. It's how they enlarge the pockets is the question . The angles need to be correct. I had my Diamond only slightly enlarged to 4 5/8 and I feel sometimes that the balls may rattle a bit more than they should.
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As a general statement, the wider the pockets are, the more likely a ball shot down the cushions, with any pace, will rattle. Some of the most penalizing tables I’ve ever played were Olhausen commercial model tables with 5” pockets they had in the middle of the room at The Poolroom, later called the Marietta Billiard Cluc, owned by Kim Davenport and Johnny Archer, in the northern suburbs of Atlanta. At a tournament they had there I certainly learned the hard way that 5 inch pocket tables don’t necessarily play easy.
 
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Do not overlook this small but significant aspect in your decision:
You can puff your chest and with a great sense of pride proclaim, "Pro cut pockets!"
 
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