I'd like to hear what happened next for you

book collector

book collector

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've been struggling this year trying to get some game back after many years of playing 10 or 15 times a year , some less. I never tried any of the new shafts and I heard so much about them I decided to try 1. I picked the Predator Sneaky Pete with the 314 Z shaft and a wrap. I also never played on Diamonds but a few times and thats what I am playing on most of the time now. It's been a nightmare first I am overcutting balls then undercut then throwing them with spin and generally looking like I never played. I blamed the tables I blamed the cloth I blamed the stick and finally today I realized what the problem was. I NEEDED TO PLAY HARDER.
I was so used to playing on looser equipment, and slower cloth that I wasn't really aiming at a part of the pocket I was aiming in the direction of the pocket. Also these shafts and cues won't play better for you, but they will let you dial in and be more precise , same with the table. Diamonds play different than GCs. I need to adjust the banks, my kicks are coming along great with running or no english but the reverse english banks I am still banking too short. I can see that it will come though and that in the long run I will be able to play better than I ever did if I put the effort in. I am ecstatic about how close to center cue ball I can play and transfer english to the balls, I can control the cueball a lot easier now and I am getting dialed in on the speed of the 860 cloth it's just a treat to be able to move the cueball around with so little effort. It just all happened at once , I was playing rat pool and then I started playing like an A player which I never did before. I imagine there are lots of you that have had similar experiences I would like to hear them all and how fast your game improved from that realization and what other things you did to accentuate it. For example {specific practice or}? I play 1 Pocket almost exclusively but I do practice shot making.
Thanks in advance
 
Book Collector for what it's worth here's my story:

I started playing snooker many years ago (I was born and lived in England most of my life) to an ok standard in League and tournament play. Finally work and in all honesty boredom with snooker had me finally put my cue away about 15 years ago. Married a Georgia Girl and moved here to the States in 2004, had a lot to do as you can imagine what with finding a job, getting my Citizenship which I did last year :smile: My youngest Stepson started playing Pool earlier this year with some friends and wanted me to go along and play with them, I had never played pool previously, so I did. It took me about 5 mins to realise what I had missed and have been hooked ever since, that was in March this year.

I found it difficult to transition to a Pool cue having played with Ash cues all my life and a 10mm tip. I first bought a McDermott with the G Core Shaft as it got great write ups, but it just didn't feel right. I ended up going to Ozone Billiards who are close by me in Kennesaw GA, they let me try out a few on a table they had. As soon as I picked up a Viking G27 it just felt right, it's nothing fancy, but it felt good and hit really solid. I have been playing with it ever since. I joined a League (TAP) and am having the time of my life, I love it and am playing some ok Pool. My Handicap has gone up and I am playing a few local tournaments too, won my first one a couple of weeks ago, which was nice and placed 4th in another. I am trying to improve my knowledge of the game, which is where I fall down a bit ocassionally. What I have tried to do is go back to basics, getting my cueing right has been a challenge but it's working slowly. I have also worked on my stance and worked on the mental side too which has been a real challenge. Coming from Snooker which is played in absolute silence to Pool has been a big change. I try to block out the noise by concentrating hard, even when not at the table, it's slowly getting better to the point now where I don't even hear my team mates, even when they try to call a time-out! I have changed my tip to a Moori Medium and that feels better than the LePro the cue came with, but again took a little time in getting used to a layered tip. I believe it is all down to practice, not just shooting balls, but every part of the game until you do it without thinking about it. I am 5-6 months in and am pretty happy with where I am now, but know it's going to be a while until I can put everything I practice into my game without having to stop at times and re group.

I have tried a few of the LD shafts but they just don't feel right to me, however the ones I kinda liked were the OB2 and the Tiger X Shaft. I really disliked the Predators and just found them to be almost unplayable, for me, on a Predator Cue, but I haven't played with one on something else so thats possibly a bit misleading. I will keep trying until I find something maybe a combination of cue and shaft that suits me, I actually believe that may have to be a Custom Cue built to my specs for playing. It doesn't need to be anything fancy, doesn't need 8 points and lots of inlays, just needs to feel good in my hand and hit really solid.
 
I tried a predator shaft on a Joss Sneaky Pete butt for three months of regular play. Never got comfortable with it, even after making all kinds of adjustments. I finally sold the cue with the predator and the original shaft and made a bit of money as I got the cue cheap before I moved from New York. I'm open minded enough these days to be willing to try a LD shaft again but I don't see it happening in the near future.
On the other side of the coin, I bought a Meucci with a black dot shaft just to compare the two shafts. No problem at all playing with the Meucci but, in all honesty, it didn't perform any better than my Dishaw with standard shafts. I sold the Meucci also.
 
book collector said:
I've been struggling this year trying to get some game back after many years of playing 10 or 15 times a year , some less. I never tried any of the new shafts and I heard so much about them I decided to try 1. I picked the Predator Sneaky Pete with the 314 Z shaft and a wrap. I also never played on Diamonds but a few times and thats what I am playing on most of the time now. It's been a nightmare first I am overcutting balls then undercut then throwing them with spin and generally looking like I never played. I blamed the tables I blamed the cloth I blamed the stick and finally today I realized what the problem was. I NEEDED TO PLAY HARDER.
I was so used to playing on looser equipment, and slower cloth that I wasn't really aiming at a part of the pocket I was aiming in the direction of the pocket. Also these shafts and cues won't play better for you, but they will let you dial in and be more precise , same with the table. Diamonds play different than GCs. I need to adjust the banks, my kicks are coming along great with running or no english but the reverse english banks I am still banking too short. I can see that it will come though and that in the long run I will be able to play better than I ever did if I put the effort in. I am ecstatic about how close to center cue ball I can play and transfer english to the balls, I can control the cueball a lot easier now and I am getting dialed in on the speed of the 860 cloth it's just a treat to be able to move the cueball around with so little effort. It just all happened at once , I was playing rat pool and then I started playing like an A player which I never did before. I imagine there are lots of you that have had similar experiences I would like to hear them all and how fast your game improved from that realization and what other things you did to accentuate it. For example {specific practice or}? I play 1 Pocket almost exclusively but I do practice shot making.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
One pocket will not get you back into stroke.Too many safeties and easy short shots. 9 ball will get you in stroke much faster. Personalty, I refuse to play and watch one pocket. It's more boring then watching paint dry. Just my opinion.
 
I'd like to hear

measureman said:
One pocket will not get you back into stroke.Too many safeties and easy short shots. 9 ball will get you in stroke much faster. Personalty, I refuse to play and watch one pocket. It's more boring then watching paint dry. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

I understand completely , I love to play pool but if all you could play was 8 ball I would stop playing tomorrow. If I am missing balls I should make, I practice shot making until I am right again. My ball pocketing never went down much {except with the new cue and table change} when I don't play , just my ball speed and confidence.
Thanks for replying
 
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