PoolCueSickness said:
I’ve been trying to get used to playing with a predator shaft now for
Two months.
PCS,
You neglect to mention what your level of play is. I can only assume that you are having trouble with inside and outside English (since on center ball shots it is your stroke, NOT the cue that makes the difference).
There are many threads on this matter; I will add some links to the end of this post in a little while.
Here is what it takes develop a passing proficiency with inside and outside English; I copied from a previous thread. My comments on adjustments work the same with Predator and OB-1 shafts. I have only ever played with these 2 shafts, and I find no difference in deflection between them.
"I'm not a world-beater, but if someone had explained this to me 35 years ago I would be giving Efren the 7. If you want to master English (and you MUST if you want to be a top player), then you have to practice extensively until it becomes natural. My practice routine below is how I learned, takes 3-6 months. The only type of English I use is parallel English (with some exceptions I won't go into here) - where the cue is always parallel to the intended line of travel of the cue ball.
Set up an object ball about 2 feet from a corner pocket. Set up the cue ball about 2 feet away from the object ball, so that you have a cut shot. Now shoot the shot 5 times at a slow to medium speed with a small amount of inside English, and 5 times with outside English. Then shoot 5 times with a hard hit with inside, and 5 hard hits with outside. Do this at about a 20 degree cut angle, then a 45 degree cut angle, then a 65 degree cut angle. Do these shots every day for 2-3 months and you will be tremendously improved.
What you will find is that when you aim the cue ball, you will then move your body and cue an inch or so to the right or left so that the cue is parallel to your initial setup. When you stroke the cue ball with right English, it will initially: squirt to the left, then curve to the right, then "throw" the object ball to the left. The harder you hit the cueball, the more it squirts, the less it curves, and the less it throws the object ball. The further you cue towards the edge of the cue ball, the more it squirts, the more it curves, and the more it throws. The softer you hit the cue ball, the less it squirts, the more it curves, and the more it throws the object ball. The fuller the cue ball contacts the object ball the more throw occurs; the thinner the cue ball cuts the object ball the less throw occurs.
Knowing these principles, you will gradually be able to adjust your aim to allow for these factors, and to allow for the deflection characteristics of your cue (cues DIFFER from one another).
For me, with a low deflection Predator or OB-1 shaft, here is the way I end up aiming:
With mild and moderate inside English and a soft to medium hit, I aim to allow 1" of squirt (in other words, I aim using center ball along a path one inch to the left or right of the path I would normally use to pocket the ball, then additionally move a little to the left or right of the center of the cue ball to move the cue parallel to this new path) and hit just hard enough that the curve of the cueball does not occur. With very heavy inside English I allow for about 2" of squirt (a little more if I'm hitting it very hard).
With outside English, there is much less difficulty because the squirt and throw tend to cancel each other out, as long as you hit hard enough to avoid cue ball curve. At soft speeds, the throw of the object ball is much more pronounced. Therefore at any medium to firm speed, my aim when using outside English is EXACTLY THE SAME as with no English at all (in other words the cue is parallel to the path I would use with no English, just a little to the left or a little to the right) - no matter how far from the center of the cue ball I choose to cue. If I am going to hit the shot slow with outside, I allow for a fuller hit, because the throw of the object ball is very pronounced. If you are trying to hit an outside English shot brutally hard, then allow for some squirt; and aim a little thinner."
I hope this saves you a bit of time.
