Mackey on the jump shot

L.S. Dennis

L.S. Dennis

Well-known member
The other evening I was watching an interview on the pro billiards tour website with Don Mackey, Kim and Reed in which the subject of the jump shot and its all too pervasive use in today’s nineball events. Mackey offered this interesting idea on its reform, and that would be it could only be used if you were to hook yourself and not it you were to hooked on a safety play by your opponent. In that case you would have to kick your way out of trouble alla Efren! I for one would like to see this change.
 
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Are these guys getting some sort of cut from some invisible price pool hidden from the public or something? I only ask because isn't Don Mackey the guy who was the commissioner of the old Pro Billiard Tour who basically stole all the money and disappeared without telling anyone anything?
 
Positively Ralf said:
Are these guys getting some sort of cut from some invisible price pool hidden from the public or something? I only ask because isn't Don Mackey the guy who was the commissioner of the old Pro Billiard Tour who basically stole all the money and disappeared without telling anyone anything?
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i haven't figured it out. last i checked their website was littered with crypto news of scam character. they sit on youtube and ramble about the good old days
 
L.S. Dennis said:
The other evening I was watching an interview on the pro billiards tour website with Don Mackey, Kim and Reed in which the subject of the jump shot and its all too pervasive use in today’s nineball events. Mackey offered this interesting idea on its reform, and that would be it could only be used if you were to hook yourself and not it you were to hooked on a safety play by your opponent. In that case you would have to kick your way out of trouble alla Efren! I for one would like to see this change.
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Try adding a poll to your thread.
 
L.S. Dennis said:
The other evening I was watching an interview on the pro billiards tour website with Don Mackey, Kim and Reed in which the subject of the jump shot and its all too pervasive use in today’s nineball events. Mackey offered this interesting idea on its reform, and that would be it could only be used if you were to hook yourself and not it you were to hooked on a safety play by your opponent. In that case you would have to kick your way out of trouble alla Efren! I for one would like to see this change.
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I think you are, like many people, lumping the jump shot and jump cue in the same category. A jump shot with a normal playing cue is a very skilled and tough shot, and is OK to do IMHO at any time. A jump shot executed with a jump cue is the actual issue that should be discussed. Jump Cues are great for extra sales for equipment companies, impressing chicks and allowing everyone that can hold a cue to jump over a ball without much practice. It's like racing a car with an automatic transmission, all you need is to stomp on the gas at the right time and pay enough for a big engine. Those guys "racing" their Teslas are hilarious with how cool they think they are beating real cars, which is about how I view the skill level of using a jump cue.

The whole thing is pretty much a moot point at this time, every cue maker makes jump cues, everyone is used to seeing them used, and any rule put against them would be very unpopular with the sponsors. It's like trying to make LD shafts illegal at this point in time, half the companies would go out of business. It still won't change my mind that a jump cue is a gimmick to lessen the effectiveness of a safety or a mistake and make the shot easy for beginners more than a way to improve the game of pool.
 
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hang-the-9 said:
It still won't change my mind that a jump cue is a gimmick to lessen the effectiveness of a safety or a mistake and make the shot easy for beginners more than a way to improve the game of pool.
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It certainly lessens in the effectiveness of a poorly played safety…
 
David in FL said:
It certainly lessens in the effectiveness of a poorly played safety…
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If a poor safe is not having the ball 1/4 in inch from the other ball and behind maybe 3 others, then I guess so. To me, a good safe is you can't see the ball and with possibly long distance between them. There are very good safes played with 20 feet of ball movement that take 5 years to learn that are made ineffective by a C player buying a $50 stick. I don't think anyone can argue that is progress or good for the game.
 
hang-the-9 said:
If a poor safe is not having the ball 1/4 in inch from the other ball and behind maybe 3 others, then I guess so. To me, a good safe is you can't see the ball and with possibly long distance between them. There are very good safes played with 20 feet of ball movement that take 5 years to learn that are made ineffective by a C player buying a $50 stick. I don't think anyone can argue that is progress or good for the game.
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Maybe it’s time to rethink your definition of a good safe.

C players that think thatsimply putting another ball between the cue ball and the object ball is a good safe, quickly learn otherwise.
 
I always thought for tournaments they should try…whatever cue you come to the table with…that’s what you use for your whole inning.
 
In many of the 2022 pro tournaments I've watched, the jump cue was only effective (made the ball) 50% of the time at best. The other 50% was a hit, but sold out by leaving an easy cue ball position.

I think it was this years Mosconi Cup where a player couldn't get over the obstructing ball and gave ball in hand. The jump cue is not the magic wand many of you make it out to be.

And, I want to see those of you that use a soft tip on their player jump with a full length cue. That should be hilarious.
 
buckshotshoey said:
In many of the 2022 pro tournaments I've watched, the jump cue was only effective 50% of the time. The other 50% was a hit, but sold out by leaving an easy cue ball position.

I think it was this years Mosconi Cup where a player couldn't get over the obstructing ball and gave ball in hand. The jump cue is not the magic wand many of you make it out to be.

And, I want to see those of you that use a soft tip on their player jump with a full length cue. That should be hilarious.
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Yep.

I won two games in the last tournament I played a few weeks ago because of the jump cue. Both times it was being used by my opponent. 😁
 
hang-the-9 said:
There are very good safes played with 20 feet of ball movement that take 5 years to learn that are made ineffective by a C player buying a $50 stick.
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a) Oh come on now--everybody can see that even a J&J jump cue is now $90.

b) If the thing that was previously a good safety is not not--then it was not all that good a safety to begin with.
 
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