What abnormal things are the object ball and cueball forced to do by your grip?
pj
chgo
old timers using heavy cues
- Thread starter The Old Jaybird
- Start date
pj
chgo
One thing you are missing is that there is only a certain range you can compensate for. I could probably build an eight ounce cue. I suspect nobody could play with full sized pool balls or heavier with it. If you managed to generate speed, control would be long gone. I mastered a twelve ounce cue. It took several months and few people played my style of pool. I have never seen anyone else use a 12 ounce cue really well on a pool table. I was able to win weekly tournaments every week until I had to quit beating up on the regulars with one.
As I have written before, grab a sixteen, twenty, and twenty-four ounce carpenter's hammer at a do it yourself store. You can drive a six penny nail with a twenty-four ounce hammer and a thirty penny nail with the sixteen. You won't keep up either effort long!
I think it obvious that most people favor a 19 to 19.5 ounce cue. Seems to be a strong indication that comfortable stroke speeds match well with a 19 to 19.5 cue. Not the only thing that can be made to work, my cue is sixteen ounces, but few like my cue!
I have played with 12 to 26 ounce cues and with a 32 ounce cue. If I was going to hit straight in shots all day for a week I would probably choose an eighteen to nineteen.five ounce cue. Too much work with my sixteen and too much effort catching the cue with a twenty plus ounce cue.
Incidentally, hammering nails for a week or more, eight or ten penny I like a twenty, sixteen penny or larger I like the twenty-four. Twelve penny depends on the job. Back when I was young and dumb and fulla beans I swung a sixteen pound sledge with the best mechanical efficiency. Didn't stop me from using a twelve when I could, less work even if less work was done at the end of the day too. I was getting paid by the hour.
I suspect there is an ideal weight and velocity for most tasks. The further we get from that "Ideal" the harder it is to pocket balls and get shape. The further our body size and build is from the norm the more likely we are to want to go outside the normal cue weight range.
Hu
When I was at Super Billiards expo a while ago they were timing break speed, my friend Ron had a respectable 20mph speed if I remember correctly but I couldn't get any faster than 15mph, I used an 18.5oz break cue with the common logic that it would help with my stroke speed, since I couldn't change my stroke speed I decided to try a heavier cue, at 22.5oz my break improved dramatically, what works for you could be vastly different than the accepted norm
The Old Jaybird
Well-known member
a bit more info.....older baseball players used heavier bats than are in use today, Ruth, Foxx, etal swung war clubs, but they weren't trying to hit 100 mph pitches bask then either.
I'll go back to my corner now and observe.
I'll go back to my corner now and observe.
When I was doing a lot of trim work I could set the nail head on small nails or brads below the depth of the wood surface without marring the wood. The last blow had a lot of speed and a loose grip best I recall. That was using a finishing hammer, probably weighed 12-14 ounces.
My left thumb insured I would never be a carpenter. Damned thing never learned to stay out of the way. One morning when I was feeling especially stupid I had hit my left thumb twice before I drove the first ten penny nail, make that three times. The third time was deliberate. "Stay out of the way you SOB!" My left thumb throbbed every time my heart beat for the rest of the day but it stayed the hell out of the way! One of the very few times in my life I deliberately hurt myself, with another moment to think I wouldn't have.
Back in my heavy construction or auto mechanic days my break was probably very slow most of the time. I could make ears ring for anyone within twenty feet or so though. Anyway, I seemed to get a better spread with a heavy cue so my break speed, never tested back then, probably stunk!
Hu
A friend was invited to try out for the Houston Astros fifty years ago. He came home frustrated, three times through the traps at 99.8. He wanted a hundred! They wanted him, he decided home town priorities came first. No doubt the fact that he was making about four times what they paid for minor league at home had some influence. Best I recall AAA paid about a thousand a month or a bit less.
Hu
all this mumbojumbo over cue weight
So, "something" happens (or doesn't happen), but you can't say what or why.
Thanks for another insightful post.
pj
chgo
2 schools of though about breaking ….lighter and faster or heavier and more power……neither applies to a normal
pool stroke. Your stroke is what you choose it to be before you even start stroking. The cue is just an instrument.
Pick & choose what works best for you but remember every player is different so your success could be their failure.
I would love to choose a 26mph stroke speed while breaking but the reality is that 15mph is what my body is capable of doing, I agree that you must find what works for you, hope my post will help someone like me who doesn't have fast stroke speed
Willowbrook Wolfy
Going pro
all right guys. So when I broke my breaker that was 19oz. I started using a 25oz breaker as a substitute. The 25 ounce breaker feels no heavier than the 19 ounce on a break. On a regular shot though it makes a hell of a difference. So playing cue weight for sure makes a difference. Not sure about break cue weight changing break speed much though.
I’d say when it comes to breaking though. My break speed is the same with the 25 ounce as the 19 ounce and destroys the balls. It’s too much. I prefer an 18 actually.
Pretty sure this all comes down to anatomy though. On a regular shot, you’re only using one muscle group. So it’s easier to tell the difference. People say a heavier or lighter breaker is better, blah blah blah. Here is what I say. There are a lot of guys that can curl a 35 pound weight only one or two times. I know a few. I’ve done manual labor and worked out my whole life and can curl a 65 pound dumbell five or 10 times. Plus I’m 180 pounds. So a 6 oz difference to me feels about the same as a one or 2 ounce difference to somebody that can only curl a 35 pound weight one time. Plus on a break your bodyweight/mechanics come into play. so if you get a 200 pound bodybuilder and a 135lb dude both with good break mechanics and give them a 10oz heavier cue to break with that 135lb dude is probably going to have a bigger change in results then the 200 pound bodybuilder. I’m not saying that the heavier cue won’t help the 135 pound dude though. I’m just saying the Break Speed will have a bigger variance.
Sorry to sidetracked, but the whole break thing came up in this thread. I have no clue how those fast switch muscles work with heavier weights because it’s never explained. The only thing I ever see about fast twitch muscles and breaking is it’s mentioned fast twitch have something to do with breaking. Like I said, it’s never explained only mentioned.
I’d say when it comes to breaking though. My break speed is the same with the 25 ounce as the 19 ounce and destroys the balls. It’s too much. I prefer an 18 actually.
Pretty sure this all comes down to anatomy though. On a regular shot, you’re only using one muscle group. So it’s easier to tell the difference. People say a heavier or lighter breaker is better, blah blah blah. Here is what I say. There are a lot of guys that can curl a 35 pound weight only one or two times. I know a few. I’ve done manual labor and worked out my whole life and can curl a 65 pound dumbell five or 10 times. Plus I’m 180 pounds. So a 6 oz difference to me feels about the same as a one or 2 ounce difference to somebody that can only curl a 35 pound weight one time. Plus on a break your bodyweight/mechanics come into play. so if you get a 200 pound bodybuilder and a 135lb dude both with good break mechanics and give them a 10oz heavier cue to break with that 135lb dude is probably going to have a bigger change in results then the 200 pound bodybuilder. I’m not saying that the heavier cue won’t help the 135 pound dude though. I’m just saying the Break Speed will have a bigger variance.
Sorry to sidetracked, but the whole break thing came up in this thread. I have no clue how those fast switch muscles work with heavier weights because it’s never explained. The only thing I ever see about fast twitch muscles and breaking is it’s mentioned fast twitch have something to do with breaking. Like I said, it’s never explained only mentioned.
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I think it is just what you are used to. I've played with 20 ounces for 62 years. It just feels natural. I can play a lighter cue but my application of speed and spin seem off. I also like an open bridge. Lighter cues have a higher tendency to miscue too, especially on the rail.
Dizzy: "He slud into second".
The Gashouse Gang!!!Dizzy: "He slud into second".
