How does a sweaty hand affect your stroke?

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wambamcam

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was playing a match last night and for some reason I my hands were sweating more than normal. The problem was that I play with a wrapless cue (have been for over 10 years), and my cue/grip hand really started to stick. I was missing left and right and became extremely frustrated. Later that night when I calmed down a bit, a friend offered me his linen wrapped cue and immediately I started to shoot better.

Has this ever affected anyone else? It could have been that I was having a bad case of the nerves during the match, but I couldn't help and think it had something to do with the cue and my sticky hands.

Thoughts?
 
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wambamcam said:
I was playing a match last night and for some reason I my hands were sweating more than normal. The problem was that I play with a wrapless cue (have been for over 10 years), and my cue hand really started to stick. I was missing left and right and became extremely frustrated. Later that night when I calmed down a bit, a friend offered me his linen wrapped cue and immediately I started to shoot better.

Has this ever affected anyone else? It could have been that I was having a bad case of the nerves during the match, but I couldn't help and think it had something to do with the cue and my sticky hands.

Thoughts?
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Yeah thats just nerves. If even washing em wont help, you might have to resort to a glove, powder, or some other remedy. I like finger slides a little better than the glove.
 
Bambu said:
Yeah thats just nerves. If even washing em wont help, you might have to resort to a glove, powder, or some other remedy. I like finger slides a little better than the glove.
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I can see how the finger slides help with the bridge hand, but how does it help with the cue/grip hand?
 
wash hands with cold water, dry well with towel, use damp towel to wipe cue, chill out, shoot well.

That is what I was told back in the 60s, still works for me.:grin:
 
I too suffer from sweaty hands. I stayed away from wrapless cues. Recently read that others with sweaty hands actually prefer wrapless as it wipes dry easier. I tried a wrapless and nope, I don't agree. Wrap it is for me.
 
Grip hand never bugged me either but with the bridge hand it can be horrible. Chafing, with a squeaky noise, you feel like you can't accelerate quickly or hit hard.

I wore a glove for a while, eventually I found I just didn't sweat as much playing pool and stopped. Maybe it was nerves before, and you gradually lose the nervousness as you get more experienced. On the other hand, plenty of pros with tons of experience use gloves daily.

I think a glove is the best fix, and I could swear that the nicer your cue or shaft is, the less you'll have to deal with it. It seems like cheap cues load up on the shiny varnish on their shafts, which causes a ton of friction. A recently cleaned cue with a nice shaft and it's basically not a problem.
 
Never had an issue with the grip hand, but several times in tournaments it's gotten pretty warm and I have had several shots go bad because (I hope! hehe) the shaft was sticking to my bridge hand.
 
Bambu said:
Yeah thats just nerves. If even washing em wont help, you might have to resort to a glove, powder, or some other remedy. I like finger slides a little better than the glove.
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What is finger slides? I have played in a few places lately that are so humid that powder doesn't do much good. I would like to try something, maybe a two finger glove if one was made of the color of skin.
 
thommy said:
wash hands with cold water, dry well with towel, use damp towel to wipe cue, chill out, shoot well.

That is what I was told back in the 60s, still works for me.:grin:
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What do you do in a place where it is so humid that this only works for a few shots and then back to sticky fingers and shaft again? I have had to use a open bridge for every shot in certain places I've played lately. I am ready to try a glove or something.
 
wrapless vs wraped

wambamcam said:
I was playing a match last night and for some reason I my hands were sweating more than normal. The problem was that I play with a wrapless cue (have been for over 10 years), and my cue/grip hand really started to stick. I was missing left and right and became extremely frustrated. Later that night when I calmed down a bit, a friend offered me his linen wrapped cue and immediately I started to shoot better.

Has this ever affected anyone else? It could have been that I was having a bad case of the nerves during the match, but I couldn't help and think it had something to do with the cue and my sticky hands.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Thats why I use a linen wraped cue :-) & under extream Humidity,
I use a Glove & (I hate gloves) but it's better than shooting without them :-)
 
Sweaty handed people such as my self should have the following rules to their game:

Rule #1 Never play with wrapless cue.
Rule #2 Never play with wrapless cue.
Rule #2 use powder in both hands, the palm area, it helps, act like your powdering your shaft, but you are putting some in your palm.

I am a guy who sweats alot specially in the palm area, and when I was shooting with a wrapless meucci back in the days when I was younger I remember how bad it was for me, but i kept going, Dunno why maybe I like the looks of the cue, then after yrs i swtiched to wrap cues and my game has changed dramastically.
 
sticky hand.

thommy said:
wash hands with cold water, dry well with towel, use damp towel to wipe cue, chill out, shoot well.

That is what I was told back in the 60s, still works for me.:grin:
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Best answer yet. Works for me too. As a last resort I put on my glove.

Dave Nelson
 
backplaying said:
What is finger slides? I have played in a few places lately that are so humid that powder doesn't do much good. I would like to try something, maybe a two finger glove if one was made of the color of skin.
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Not sure what colors they come in, but yeah its like a smaller glove alternative. You can still feel the table, and most of your hand.

img262464a820adbdb2a2.jpg
 
Always carry a clean towel with your case. Slightly dampen one end at the beginning of play and wipe hands frequently. Wipe down cue and shaft at least once or twice a night. Don't forget to thoroughly dry the shaft immediately after cleaning.

I do this and my 8 year old Mezz still looks and plays like new. :cool:
 
If your grip hand is sliding on the wrapless cue, you may be unconsciously gripping the cue too tightly due to it sliding in your hand from the sweat.

The other hand, your bridge hand could be moist and the cue shaft kind of sticks occasionally to your fingers as you are stroking and this causes unwanted decelleration of the cue as you complete the stroke.

If washing your hands doesn't dry them up enough for a long enough period of time, use a glove or finger slides.

Even when I travel to non-humid areas of the country, I still use the glove. I guess I've just gotten use to it as I know that even if my hands start sweating, the shaft will still slide smoothly through my fingers.
 
Pee in your pants and then try to slide down a banister...you'll see why right away.:rolleyes:. Sorry, the devil made me write it. Johnnyt
 
Sorry Johnnyt, that's a FAIL.

Johnnyt said:
Pee in your pants and then try to slide down a banister...you'll see why right away.:rolleyes:. Sorry, the devil made me write it. Johnnyt
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While I haven't quite reached the stage of pissing in my pants and sliding down the banister, I have to imagine that the pissy pants would help to make your body stick to the banister rather than slide.

Now if you took off your pants and your drawers (down here, we call them drawers) and pissed on the banister just before taking a ride down it, I think you would slip rather well where the banister was quite soaked and then you would peel a little skin when you quit sliding (stick). ;)

I doubt that the poster is having trouble with the cue sticking to his grip hand when he sweats but I could be wrong. I bet the cue is sliding out of his grip hand when his grip hand sweats and then he tries to grip the cue to keep it from flying out of his hand and that is what makes for his errant stroke.
 
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