Do Diamonds actually play "correct" or do they play to the new industry standard of "correct"? I have only been playing pool for 4 years now, but when you see old tables the cloth seems to be much thicker or "piled", kinda like they need a shave, causing them to play slower. You hear some of the guys who have been playing pool forever talking about how fast the tables play now and that you do not need a stroke to play pool like in the old days. Are these the same conditions Mosconi played on? 4 1/2" pockets are the norm now but it seems many of the older tables came with pockets close to 5", is this part of a newer standard that goes with faster tables? When did the 4 1/2" pockets and fast tables become "correct"? Dont get me wrong, my GC is set up with tight pockets and cloth to play fast and I like it, I am just curious about when the standard began or changed to what is considered correct today.
I don't know that "playing correct" would be the term I'd refer to when I'd describe the changes in this industry that have been taking place over the last 30+ years. I look at it as more of an evolutionary change. Pool players, cloth, cushions, table designs....have all evolved, partly due to the fact of changes in this industry production wise. Cushions designed to play on tables 30+ years ago are no longer made today, yet the tables are still in service, but are for the most part in bad need of repair.
A good example of old vs new was when Dodge first produced the Viper, they wanted it to be a throw back car to the muscle car era when cars were all compared as ground pounding, quick as hell thrill rides off the line, but someone at Dodge also had the bright idea that not only should the Viper have the horse power of the good ol' days, the care should also handle like they did back then, so they opted to install drum breaks all the way around instead of disk breaks, only to find out later that was a mistake, seeing how everyone driving all the other muscle cars at the time, could stop them in half the distance needed to stop the Viper...without break fade. The public had spoken with their complaints and safety concerns, and Dodge redesigned the break system and brought it up to date with disk breaks.
This industry has changed, customers have decided to start using cloth to recover their pool tables with that for a little more expense, would outlast what they had been using by 2-3 times longer, so the math worked out to use longer lasting, better playing worsted woolen cloths instead of the woven cloths of normal use. Not only did the tables play faster, cloth last longer, but the.players were liking the fact fact that they didn't have to have such a big stroke to get the cue ball around the table. But, this change was only the beginning. Because tables were becoming much easier to play on, being so much faster and all, the players didn't have to shoot as had to pocket the balls, so balls missing the pockets started to decline, players were becoming better and better all the time. I still feel to this day, the players were always much better at the time than they realized, but couldn't reach their full potential because the equipment they were playing on at the time was in fact holding their game back from better than they currently were.
But, making balls much easier brought about players complaints that the pockets were to big, 5" and bigger corner pockets were the norm back then, but the players with the big strokes were no longer staying ahead of the competition, because it wasn't taking a big stroke to win anymore, all a player had to do to win was make the easy shots, which were being made much easier by the cloth being played on.
It only takes one person to start a change in this industry, if they can gain the backing of the public to support that change. Sure tight pocketed tables have been around for years and years, but only here and their, someone's home, one or two tables in a pool room here and their, but never has a manufacturer stood up and asked the question of all manufacturers like Greg Sullivan has, and the question was....why can't we have a standardized set of pocket specs to play Professional pool on, instead of every tournament being played on equipment that can vary by so much, from location to location! No one wanted to hear what Greg had to say, and could care less, so...Greg was forced to bring about change on his own, so he started Diamond Billiards Manufacturing on his own, by the way, that's the short version:thumbup:
