i read online years ago an article pertaining to this
the author calculated the range of cue length one should use based on height and wingspan and referenced other stick sports like golf and baseball
too lazy to google now, if I'm not mistaken, he proposed for the avg player cues alot shorter than 58",
heaven forbid we as pool players should use science and reserach to determine such a thing, lol
regarding snooker players, we're simpy obsessed with "gear:
the pool gear market here compared to the snooker gear market overseas has a gap as large as we do to golf gear
those guys could care less about much other than a straight cue (most of which look like crap and have two ton brass ferrules carried in hideous box cases)
imo it speaks to a north american attitude, let's all get the latest trendiest gear to do the work for us.....I've been t the uk many times and can attest that players over there straight up practice....as in real practice...as in drills....ALOT more than we do here, gear is secondary...a distant second at that