Rotate Shaft

3

3RAILKICK

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
WHAT'S HAPPENING? Sometimes I'll see a good player (eg. Santos Sambajon) get over a shot (often using extreme inside english ) and rotate the cue before shooting. A visual thing? A speck of chalk on the tip that bothers him? A shaft deflection/stiffness thing related to alignment of grain of the shaft?

Anybody else notice players doing this? Why do they do it?

I know for me that if Iv'e over chalked and leave a little chunk exposed at the tip, it bothers me sighting down the shaft. I'll spin the cue so I don't see it or wipe it off.

Is something else going on with purposeful rotation of the shaft on certain stroke shots?

Opinions?:confused:
 
It's not done on purpose. When you re-adjust your grip on the butt the cue spins. Most commonly when you cradle the cue or grip it lightly and the butt does'nt feel right sitting in your hand when you adjust your hold the cue inadvertently spins. I was unaware I did this too until someone pointed it out to me. I've seen a few people exaggerate spinning the cue though as they've associated it with good players. Not necessarily true like in my case.
 
I do that because my cue is so crooked i have to rotate it to where i cant see the bend. But i doubt that is the case with the pros.
 
Two reasons

There can be many reasons for rotating a stick but one is it is an easy way to get a nice light soft grip. Another reason is to index the shaft for consistency.

Gambling with house cues I almost always indexed the shaft. It was one of the keys to learning a stick fast and shooting with a less than perfect stick.

Hu
 
I do it sometimes with certain shafts that have a mark or grain in the wood that distracts me.
 
3RAILKICK said:
WHAT'S HAPPENING? Sometimes I'll see a good player (eg. Santos Sambajon) get over a shot (often using extreme inside english ) and rotate the cue before shooting. A visual thing? A speck of chalk on the tip that bothers him? A shaft deflection/stiffness thing related to alignment of grain of the shaft?

Anybody else notice players doing this? Why do they do it?

I know for me that if Iv'e over chalked and leave a little chunk exposed at the tip, it bothers me sighting down the shaft. I'll spin the cue so I don't see it or wipe it off.

Is something else going on with purposeful rotation of the shaft on certain stroke shots?

Opinions?:confused:
Click to expand...

Some players have a certain spot on the cue that they are most comfortable with. This mainly is a certain feel when they stroke the ball, if they are not comfortable, they will rotate the cue to their comfort zone. Another factor that applies with certain players is the so called sweet spot of their shaft. Over the years I have found a number of old cues that had a small tic mark near the joint collar. These marks were designed to give a form of consistant hit. Now is there anything to this, I do not know, but some players do beleive that it give them an advantage on tough shots.

Just some thoughs!!!!!!
 
I have read reports that the shaft is less subject to bending on CB impact when the most obvious "arrows" that appear in the grain of the wood are oriented on the top of the cue.

I also seem to recall that the instructions with the Meucci "dot" cues advise keeping the dot on top of the shaft...possibly for the above reason.

But I have not seen any scientific tests so it might just be urban legend.

Archer seems to pay particular attention to the butt of his cue before every break shot. I haven't noticed him do that so much on other shots.

Regards,
Jim
 
JoeyInCali said:
When Santos shoots, try to close your eyes.
Click to expand...
Joey, maybe that is the best approach-don't watch. Have you seen him do what I'm talking about? BTW I like your constant stream of 'one-liners'. Any buckhorn guru updates/stories of late to share?

Take care. (keep Hottie Avatars coming)

3railkick/Bill
 
The shaft will bend differently when you hit it due to the grain. While people may rotate the shaft out of habbit, the reason to do so is to line-up the grain the same way for each shot for more consitancy. That is a reason why there are multi part shafts, they are cut up and the grain is running in a different formation, sometimes against the grain of the other piece, causing more stability no matter where you rotate it. I know on the Predator site, at least a while back, they talk about this.
 
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