Makes a big difference for me. I'm very in tune with what a cue can do in terms of moving the q-ball. I'm also quite sensitive to balance and weight. This is the reason I began building cues in the first place. I used to buy lots of cues because I was fascinated at the difference from one to the next, and then once I began building, it was like opening a can of worms. I did nothing but experiment for a couple of years, trying different tapers, weights, balance, construction techniques, materials, etc. It was all R&D based around creating the perfect cue for myself. It never happened. I actually learned as much or more about myself and my game than I did building cues, and realized myself & my game are ever changing. That's not the case for everybody. Some guys are stable as a stone. I fluctuate. Some guys are even worse than me. Point being, there's no real answer to the OP question. It's a yes and a no, determined by the individual.