That interesting because when someone asks me to estimate the weight of a cue, I usually swing it a bit like a pendulum clock, holding on to the ferrule with just two fingers (index and thumb). Also, I happen to find all well-balanced cues feel lighter or heavier than they are respectively (because they feel well-balanced regardless of their weight), whereas all ill-balanced cues feel lighter or heavier than they are respectively (because they feel ill-balanced regardless of their weight), merely vice versa. In other words, an ill-balanced heavy cue feels too heavy, whereas a well-balanced heavy cue doesn't etc.
Greetings from Switzerland, David.
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„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
Hi Dave,
Your points are well taken and are very true if one uses "well balanced" as the ideal. I for one believe that stiff hiting forward balanced cues is an aproach that has significant merits for a lot of people but certainly not all users.
If you were to build a battering ram would you want it to be well balanced or would you like it to have more weight up front. In my view, a cue is not that different than a battering ram on a smaller scale.
Many pool instructors teach the pendulum notion when describing the swing of the hanging arm that is holding the cue but the grip is nowhere near the balance point of the cue. In fact the moment arm of the grip is at least a foot behind the fulcrum depending on the players height. Not to mention that the bridge hand the guides the tool is 30" forward of the GC. The best players I have seen and known all seem to keep the cue as close to parallel with the table at the bottom of the arc of the hanging arm. Is this not in effect the motion of a battering ram. Players who jack up and/or stroke the cue like a piston have other things to worry about other than weight and balance functions.
Sometimes engineering designs push envelopes from an accepted criteria within an industry standard or norm. When these new design envelopes become available to professional users and they see significant paradigm shifts in performance , the expectations change in that direction.
Golf is a great example where equipment engineering and the golfer's reaction to it has forced architects to change the dynamic environment where the game is played and also to redesign old courses to meet modern era expectations. Directional pool cloth with grain gave way to non directional cloth and players became more consistent because all shots were the same as far as grain is concerned. Less variables to discern.
Our ideals for building a cue should never become static and we should always experiment with new ideas and approaches. The only way to do this is through beta testing and tracking results that are objective and definitive as well as subjective concerning the "feel" of a component by a given user. Only by raising the bar of expectations can cue makers change the way the game can be played. We do have that power. If you don't believe that, then you will never have it.
Rick Geschrey