To answer your question, I think shots hit with sidespin are going to take some time to adjust. You might try stroking the ball quite firmly from different angles and with different english over and over for one day and figure out how much you need to adjust. When I got my 314-2 shaft, I adjusted after a week. After a while, I noticed that I was able to deliver down the line with more certainty. I was able to poke my stick at whatever point I wanted and the ball would just go in. I thought that this was my holy grail. Then, I realized that there was something missing and I couldn't figure it out until Buddy Hall introduced me to custom cues. That was a scary day, cause I have been blazing down that trail in search of my 'holy grail cue' ever since.
There is a similar idea about skill and ball manipulation in golf. There are regular flex, stiff shafts and there are xtra stiff shafts. There are muscle back and cavity back heads. You will see that golfers (like tour pros) with the most correct and pure swings can manufacture enough velocity to travel through the ball and hit the club head in the sweet spot with extra stiff shafts with a muscle back or blade style club head on it. With blades, you must also be more accurate than with cavity back clubs, if you don't, you'll get nothing but a clanking vibration that travels up your arms and sends you home wanting to quit. Weekend golfers who most likely won't put the practice in are the ones you see using all the latest technology including special torque shafts (fat shafts), and multi-kick pointed shafts and multi-adjustment weighting system on the club head like you see in the Taylor Made R series Drivers. Also, there are those who can't hit the ball unless they use cavity back clubs, and then, even on to those who use over sized clubs ie Callaway's versions. There is the inevitable aid of technology that helps a player 'get there'.
Anyone who is a true player with a true swing will more than enjoy playing with any Mizuno MP muscle back because they provide a buttery soft feel that can't be reproduced with a cavity back and lets you manipulate the ball better strictly because of the 'natural construction' of the club head. Here's the main point >>>>>>>>That's only when the ball is struck correctly with precision and skill. It's is simply made from a forged piece of steel, not hollowed out in the back so you can be forgiven for your misses. With blades, you can fade the ball better, draw the ball better, and do more with your ball because the club head is not manipulated by the maker, that's where the true beauty of the game comes into play, is when the player ultimately learns how to manipulate the ball at his command. I think that's how a pool player should play, or learn how to play, with a good, custom cue.
I believe that low squirt shafts are all shafts that take the feel out of the game from a 'feedback' point of view. For me, I get my enjoyment from 'feeling' my cue through the shot, not muscling it through, or demanding that it do something. I play on triple shimmed tables everyday and have no problem running out using my custom-made shafts made by Eddie Farris or Pete Petree. These are cues that when made properly, you don't need to get laminated shafts. The entire cue for that matter is solid and will therefore play well. If the butt is made like crap, the shaft will hit like crap too.
I think the laminated shaft is a perfect alternative to any production cue shaft, maybe that's why there's such a big market for them? Maybe it's because the shaft maker can use crap wood and assemble a useful product out of it. When it comes to my custom made cues, I want a custom made shaft made to echo with feedback and resonate confirmation of the shot I just hit. That's pool.
When it comes to laminated shafts, are they more consistent? Yes. Do they help a person make the ball more often especially when using english? Yes. It simply commands what demand it to do. Here's the final question>>> Do I play better with a LD shaft? Yes. I am more guaranteed to make the ball on an extreme english shot. If you say left, it goes left. If you say right, it goes right. However, that's not pool. Pool is played with a manipulation of the balls and equipment.
"That's the trick is in the fine adjustment in your stroke and knowing how to estimate what the cueball will do in relation to how you hit it. Some call it luck, I call it true skill. The same is evident in the way a master uses his sword, or an artist his tools, or even a driver racing his car when getting sideways on the track. Skill is in the ability to manipulate your medium at your will."
When I play with a low deflection shaft, I get very little or no feel. It's like hitting with a block of iron. The next thing we know, we're going to be using a made for pool rifle scope to aim with too!
"I am in no way tearing down or bashing anyone's product including OB Cues or Predator, Tiger shafts, Mezz WD700 (which my top pick would be), Universal Smart Shaft, or even Sharp Shooter shafts."
Everyone has their opinion, and I think experienced players will agree with me. There is a point at which there can be too much stiffness. That is where I backed off and went back to normal playing shafts. As a player, you should be able to get the job done without the assistance of a LD shaft. There's more honor in that.
Going back to golf, I'll compare the two illuminating my viewpoint. In golf, it started with solid, muscle back-type clubs. Either you knew how to play, and could hit the ball, or not. Nowadays, especially with the less skilled, you see people using assistance from technology via cavity backed clubs making the sweet spot larger and allowing for more room for error. That is the same thing I see with low deflection shafts. They do create the less skilled player to get away with more error, and I think that is not the right way to play. I believe that for me, and a offsetting number of people, a true custom made shaft made properly will not only deflect properly, but will feel good as well.
Any good player with high skill and enough knowledge who knows their equipment, and knows how to play will agree that deflection is part of mastery and is fun to use on occasion. Too much of it is is not good, but for me, and a good amount of the top, top players I know, normal, custom made shafts made to hit with feedback are made correctly, and have the PROPER amount of deflection necessary to get the job done. I think that those who stroke the ball harder need a LD shaft more than those who finesse the ball.
People like Buddy, or Efren don't use LD shafts, because they understand how to play and don't need technology to help them. Efren even uses Elkmaster tips cause he wants his 'feel' his shot.
