Playing with a flat tip.

M

mantis99

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was at a party at a friend's house last night who has a pool table. All of his cues, however, were just the basic cues that came with the table, and all had flat tips. I actually brought a tip shaper with me in case I encoutered this (I did not bring my own cue as most people there do not play more than recreationally, and it was not a pool party. It was a party where a pool table happened to be). The tips were so bad that a few minutes with the shaper did very little. To my surprise, it did not affect my ability to play english at all. I actually felt that drawing the cue ball seemed almost effortless. This came as somewhat of a shock to me. Has anyone else moticed this before?
 
It really only roughed the outer edges because there was no shape what so ever to the tip.
 
Probably the tip you were using was really soft, so it kept its grip on the ball even though it was flat. Just a guess.
 
You were playing with a crappy cue. Because of that, you had no expectations of playing well. You even expected that your play would be negatively affected, and it did not bother you because it would be due to the limitations of the junk equipment.

You were also around people that did not play well, and who would not think anything of your missed shots or postition, even the silly ones.

With no pressure or expectations from others or even from yourself, you played with a stroke that was more loose, relaxed, and fluid than normal. That is why everything seemed so effortless. Just my guess.
 
mantis99 said:
I was at a party at a friend's house last night who has a pool table. All of his cues, however, were just the basic cues that came with the table, and all had flat tips. I actually brought a tip shaper with me in case I encoutered this (I did not bring my own cue as most people there do not play more than recreationally, and it was not a pool party. It was a party where a pool table happened to be). The tips were so bad that a few minutes with the shaper did very little. To my surprise, it did not affect my ability to play english at all. I actually felt that drawing the cue ball seemed almost effortless. This came as somewhat of a shock to me. Has anyone else moticed this before?
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What kind of cloth was it on this table? Simonis vs Crap. New vs Old. That can make a big difference. I have noticed that when I have gone to a friends house with a pool table, they usually do not have very good cloth on the table. Also they probably played on it a few times when they first got it so it could be called almost new, but basically it will just sit there like a piece of furniture.
 
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I was shooting on a home table with a Chinese cue on the slowest cloth I have ever seen. Low shag carpet would have been faster.

I couldn't make a shot, and miscued shooting with any type of high, low or side spin.
 
I would say that recently scuffing the tip is what gave you better draw. BTW - The edge of the tip is what contacts the ball with a draw shot.

I noticed this when I first started playing. I would scuff my tip and get better draw, then as the tip became slick with use, I would get less draw.

I wanted to be more consistent with my draw. I wanted to be able to draw back a specific distance at will. (6 inches, 12 inches, 2 feet, etc.) I learned that the way I was scuffing my tip was causing trouble. I went with a sandpaper tip shaper and now scuff my tip quite frequently (lightly). I always scuff my tip before playing in a tournament. Otherwise after about every 4 hours of play.

This of course wears out the tip faster and I need to replace my tip more frequently, but I feel cost is no object so far as the tip goes. (I feel the tip is the most important part of the cue and deserves a lot of care and attention.)

Another factor for getting better draw is a new clean shiny cue ball vs an old dull looking dirty cue ball. Also fast cloth vs slow cloth.

Note: Another thing which helped me to be more consistent with my draw shots, so far as being able to draw back the specific distance I wanted each time, was chalking well before each shot - especially the sides of the tip. I examine the tip under the light to be sure there is an even coating of chalk all over the tip. If there are dark spots, I chalk again. If still dark spots, I scuff with my sandpaper shaping tool. If slick dark spots, I scuff with my sandpaper shaping tool.
 
Which is exactly where you'd contact the CB if you were shooting draw, topspin or english. PJ was right...a little rough edge and a little chalk does wonders! :D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

mantis99 said:
It really only roughed the outer edges because there was no shape what so ever to the tip.
Click to expand...
 
Scott Lee said:
Which is exactly where you'd contact the CB if you were shooting draw, topspin or english. PJ was right...a little rough edge and a little chalk does wonders! :D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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That is kind of my point. Assuming the outer edge as the contact point when I shot, I was able to get good english. It seemed as if using the outer edge, which was a well defined point of contact created a lot of spin. When I saw the cues, I originally thought that I would miscue more when attempting english, but quickly realized that the well defined edge grabbed the ball well.

I really do not know about the type of cloth or balls. The balls looked like they were older, and the cloth did not look very worn. The tips were flat, but not mushroomed. It looked like a table someone used infrequently. I don't think the table was a huge factor.

I guess my point is really that I have always tried to make sure my tip and equiptment were set up right, and it was interesting to see how well things still worked in less than standard playing condition!
 
Pool Nut

Any guy who would take a tip shaper to a casual house party, so he could beat up on the unsuspecting ball-bangers........ is a friend of mine.

I confess to the same outrageous conduct. :)

This game gets into your blood, if not your genes.

RL
 
I could not bring myself to bring my own cue, and I really did not want to look worse than I am by miscuing due to bad tips. The table was only a 7 footer, so all the shots seemed easier, and I played pretty well, running out a few 8 ball racks. I did not know if the owner of the table was going to be good or not, so I wanted to be prepared. At least he had Masters chalk.

I just thought this was interesting with all the talk on tips and equipment on here. The flat tip seemed to create a lot of spin with such a well defined contact point. Maybe I will have to file my tips flat now :)!
 
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