"Pushing Through" while evaluating a CF shaft

[dquarasr]

I have been considering a CF shaft. With me shooting, my Adam maple cues (two of them, circa late 80s, early 90s) both deflect about 3/4 ball on a full table-length shot from the second diamond to the far short rail on a 9-ft table. I have tried this with maximum sidespin, both left and right sides, multiple shots on each side. It is consistent that both my cues deflect nearly identically. I shoot it with parallel English, no BHE, firm speed, attempting to elicit maximum deflection.

I tried a friend's Meucci CF shaft on my one of my Adam butts. This shaft deflected about 1/2 ball.

A local well-respected cue maker let me try one of his CF shafts. (He makes gorgeous cues!) His shaft deflected a little less than 1/2 ball, maybe 1/3 ball.

He explicitly wanted to watch me shoot this test. He said I (and most amateurs) do not "push through" the shot properly, which results in the CB being pushed to the side.

I don't understand what he means. My follow through on these test shots is at least 6-8 inches, and I try to have a smooth acceleration, no "poke stroke".

He then showed me what he meant. When he shot, the CB hit the target with virtually NO deflection. I did notice, however, that at least one of his shots had significant swerve, deflecting then turning back. I did not notice this on his other shots, but it may have not caught my eye.

What does he mean by "not pushing through" the shot? Thanks.

(I assume this is the right sub-forum to post this.)

 

[Michael Webb]

Questions like these are really tough sometimes.
But
Your stroke can add or take away the way deflection.
I recently tried a production cue a friend of mine was buying. He complained about it deflecting.
I said, I think it's your stroke.
I tried the cue and it hit great, he watched scratching his head.
I said stroke thru the ball no matter what English you use.
Deflection versus swirve is still a Pain in the ass mystery.
Welcome to 2022!

 

[dquarasr]

Questions like these are really tough sometimes.
But
Your stroke can add or take away the way deflection.
I recently tried a production cue a friend of mine was buying. He complained about it deflecting.
I said, I think it's your stroke.
I tried the cue and it hit great, he watched scratching his head.
I said stroke thru the ball no matter what English you use.
Deflection versus swirve is still a Pain in the ass mystery.
Welcome to 2022!

Thanks for your response. I know my stroke is not A or even B but I don’t know how to stroke through any better or differently than I do now.

Mystified!

 

[Kim Bye]

Since there's not a fixed terminology, it's hard to say. Do you temporary stop following through after impacting the CB?

 

[dquarasr]

Since there's not a fixed terminology, it's hard to say. Do you temporary stop following through after impacting the CB?

Nope

 

[slim123]

It's called stroking and not poking, most people never develope a stroke

 

[dquarasr]

This game has an uncanny ability to pulverize egos and confidence in knowing WTF it’s all about. Just when I think I’m starting to get it, something sets me on my @$$.

 

[phreaticus]

This thread seems closely related to another similar one titled “LD Stroke” but I’ll post my question here.

When I do the standard deflection test, aiming the CB from the headspot into the middle diamond on foot rail, with max side spin, no matter what cue/shaft I use - I hit always hit the diamond (or within 1/2” from it max, seemingly experiencing little to no deflection. I do this across a wide variety of cues/shafts, ranging from ancient house cues with conical taper to modern low deflection CF shafts, and everything in between, all taper/diameter/ferrule/tip types…

I’ve asked a few folks about this, and they say “well all your cues must be low deflection then”, which is ridiculous. Or they say, I’m subconsciously using BHE to compensate, or that I’m not using enough spin - but this isn’t the case - I’m using clear crisp parallel max side spin (enough that the CB rebounds into the side rail below center pocket) and aiming directly through center CB to the center diamond - and basically hitting it.

As a side note, of course I have my own cue/shaft preferences and play with a custom butt and Cynergy CF 12.5 shaft these days - but I find it easy to quickly adapt to any new cue, and have always been comfy playing with any old house cue, as long as it has a decent tip.

Any thoughts on how this can be? My rough conclusion is that there is indeed something about ones stroke along the lines of what the cue maker told the OP, and have some of my own thoughts on it, but I’d like to first get inputs from the AZB experts.

Cheers

 

[j2pac]

This thread seems closely related to another similar one titled “LD Stroke” but I’ll post my question here.

When I do the standard deflection test, aiming the CB from the headspot into the middle diamond on foot rail, with max side spin, no matter what cue/shaft I use - I hit always hit the diamond (or within 1/2” from it max, seemingly experiencing little to no deflection. I do this across a wide variety of cues/shafts, ranging from ancient house cues with conical taper to modern low deflection CF shafts, and everything in between, all taper/diameter/ferrule/tip types…

I’ve asked a few folks about this, and they say “well all your cues must be low deflection then”, which is ridiculous. Or they say, I’m subconsciously using BHE to compensate, or that I’m not using enough spin - but this isn’t the case - I’m using clear crisp parallel max side spin (enough that the CB rebounds into the side rail below center pocket) and aiming directly through center CB to the center diamond - and basically hitting it.

As a side note, of course I have my own cue/shaft preferences and play with a custom butt and Cynergy CF 12.5 shaft these days - but I find it easy to quickly adapt to any new cue, and have always been comfy playing with any old house cue, as long as it has a decent tip.

Any thoughts on how this can be? My rough conclusion is that there is indeed something about ones stroke along the lines of what the cue maker told the OP, and have some of my own thoughts on it, but I’d like to first get inputs from the AZB experts.

Cheers

I'm no expert, and obviously there are other variables including tip shape, tip type, tip condition, did you chalk, temperature, humidity, etc, etc, but...when you stroke, as opposed to poke, there is just that micro amount of difference in tip contact to cue-ball time, that could potentially account for some of the difference. It's always just been something I've considered, and it's entirely possible that I haven't a fukn clue.