I play pool to have fun, but also to compete... My local room has old Gold Crowns with shimmed pockets. Hard to make a ball down the rail straight in. Pockets are 4.25 inches and the tables play tough.
Last night I watched a guy and his lady friend struggle for 30 minutes to clear a rack of 8 ball. They were not inclined to play a second game. This is a player's room, but they want to grow their biz.
Here is my question: are 9 foot tables too tough (especially with shimmed pockets) for the average playing public?
In my opinion, bar boxes with the large pockets are what average people want to play on, just so that they can make balls. Pool rooms with 9 foot tables and tight equipment are starting to become relics. Pool is a great game but it is not easy, especially on tight equipment.
I just want the great game to prosper and be fun for the future players. Opinions appreciated.
First of all (a little nitpick), shims are applied to rails and cushions, not pockets. (I say this, because you use the phrase "shimmed pockets.")
Second, while shimming is a common practice, it's not what makes pockets "play tough" -- rather, the "cut" of the pockets do. I think it's entirely possible to have a table with tight but "accepting" pockets, as long as the pocket cut allows the pocketing of a ball that enters the pocket's aperture.
And, to be honest, the best practice to making pockets tighter is to extend the rail/cushion into the pocket, not by shimming it. RKC (realkingcobra) has posted much of his work in this regard to these forums, and it makes sense to extend the rail and cushion into the pocket, not by installing a shim that pushes the cushion further into the table's playing surface.
What does this have to do with the playing public? I think certain rooms have lost sight of how to market their business to new customers. The room you describe above is a good example. Rooms and room owners fixated with what they perceive to be problems amongst their more experienced clientele (i.e. pool room regulars), think they have to "shim, shim, shim" those tables because "they're too easy." They like to advertise, "we have 'double'- and even 'triple'-shimmed tables!" Big whoopie. They're going in the wrong direction for a couple of reasons, not just the technically-correct reasons I describe above. For one thing, I agree with you that having shimmed tables with pocket cuts that jar and hang up balls (especially on a Gold Crown) is not the way to go. It alienates a lot of new customers that would normally warm-up to the sport.
I think a room owner has to have a selection of equipment available that fits the needs of a wide range of customers. Not this "one size fits all" or "you can have any color you want, as long as it's black" mode of thinking.
I remember growing up and going to a poolroom nearby, the gentleman that owned it asked me if I've ever played before, and I said, "a little." He put me on a table that was generous, and the experience of successfully pocketing balls set the hook into me that will last my entire life. Nowadays, I like to play on the tightest tables available (12-foot snooker tables), but I remembered my roots and what set the hook -- a pool room owner that was knowledgeable about "customer experience," and I will never forget it.
-Sean
