soft tip hard tip one pocket again

[one stroke]

Im not a seasoned one pocket player but now at 56 I'm starting to play a lot of it last 6 months , Iv played with hard tips all my life I liked them best just before I needed a retip infact I always had my tips cut down half way when I put them on cause I liked the feed back ,,
I decided reading some posts I would try a softer tip , my choice was a Kamui SS clear
I jumped right in just after I had it put on playing a real seasoned player had mixed feelings trying to adjust ,
Played a couple nights later in a 8-9 ball turny started getting the feel of it cost me some games with speed control and over spinning the ball then over estimating it

Today however back in one pocket against a different player but one who plays one hole several times a week and I started to get the feel of it and hit some soft spin shots into spots with controll I never could with a hard tip without fear of miscue , this led to more confidence in those shots and I hit then time and time again along with long bank attempts drawing the cue ball back out of trouble made some missed some but my cue ball was on a string at times
I ended a couple of games up after a few hours big win for me

I have to say I realy liked what I could do with this tip the fact I never had to worry about a miss cue out on the very edge of the cue ball added even more confidence to my strokes
Stopping it killing it spinning multiple rails there wasn't anything I felt I couldn't do
I have to say this tip is by far the best I ever have played with

1

 

[mortuarymike-nv]

Soft layered tips

Im not a seasoned one pocket player but now at 56 I'm starting to play a lot of it last 6 months , Iv played with hard tips all my life I liked them best just before I needed a retip infact I always had my tips cut down half way when I put them on cause I liked the feed back ,,
I decided reading some posts I would try a softer tip , my choice was a Kamui SS clear
I jumped right in just after I had it put on playing a real seasoned player had mixed feelings trying to adjust ,
Played a couple nights later in a 8-9 ball turny started getting the feel of it cost me some games with speed control and over spinning the ball then over estimating it

Today however back in one pocket against a different player but one who plays one hole several times a week and I started to get the feel of it and hit some soft spin shots into spots with controll I never could with a hard tip without fear of miscue , this led to more confidence in those shots and I hit then time and time again along with long bank attempts drawing the cue ball back out of trouble made some missed some but my cue ball was on a string at times
I ended a couple of games up after a few hours big win for me

I have to say I realy liked what I could do with this tip the fact I never had to worry about a miss cue out on the very edge of the cue ball added even more confidence to my strokes
Stopping it killing it spinning multiple rails there wasn't anything I felt I couldn't do
I have to say this tip is by far the best I ever have played with

1

I think kamui makes a good tip.

 

[Skratch]

Im not a seasoned one pocket player but now at 56 I'm starting to play a lot of it last 6 months , Iv played with hard tips all my life I liked them best just before I needed a retip infact I always had my tips cut down half way when I put them on cause I liked the feed back ,,
I decided reading some posts I would try a softer tip , my choice was a Kamui SS clear
I jumped right in just after I had it put on playing a real seasoned player had mixed feelings trying to adjust ,
Played a couple nights later in a 8-9 ball turny started getting the feel of it cost me some games with speed control and over spinning the ball then over estimating it

Today however back in one pocket against a different player but one who plays one hole several times a week and I started to get the feel of it and hit some soft spin shots into spots with controll I never could with a hard tip without fear of miscue , this led to more confidence in those shots and I hit then time and time again along with long bank attempts drawing the cue ball back out of trouble made some missed some but my cue ball was on a string at times
I ended a couple of games up after a few hours big win for me

I have to say I realy liked what I could do with this tip the fact I never had to worry about a miss cue out on the very edge of the cue ball added even more confidence to my strokes
Stopping it killing it spinning multiple rails there wasn't anything I felt I couldn't do
I have to say this tip is by far the best I ever have played with

1

Just my thoughts on this, softer tips in general provide a more forgiving result from a bad stroke and speed control. What I mean is that the softer tip will allow you to hit closer to the edge of the cue ball without a miscue because of its "sponginess" allowing the ball more time to "stick" to the tip until it gets enough forward momentum to keep the ball from taking a different line than your aiming line. Most shots dont require a hard stroke and a softer tip lends itself better to these shots. Harder tips are more for shots like break shots where you want to transfer all that speed into the cue. As you can imagine, this means you cannot hit the cue ball close to the edges. Try it with a phenolic tip and you'll see what I mean. As an advantage of most harder tips, is that you dont have to worry about the tip mushrooming as much as a softer tip. I normally play with a medium layered tip. I've tried many brands. I probably should play with a soft, but they also wear down quicker and harden up as they close to being replaced. With tips today costing $20+ (not including labor) it just gets to be more expensive than I like to pay to replace.

If you play 1P where speed and control are more imperative to the game, you can see from my experiences above, that a softer tip makes more sense. If you dont mind the maintenance and hassle, you really cant go wrong with a soft tip.
Good Luck.

Adding: Just wanted to add an analogy. What tires you have on your car wont help your driving skills, but it is the part of the car that touches the road. Do you want bald tires in wet conditions? Do you want street tires on off-road? I think this should make my point clearer about how tips affect the performance of a cue. If you dont think a decent tip will change anything, try not having a tip at all on your cue. LOL!

 

[Tramp Steamer]

You will not play better One Pocket by simply changing the tip on your cue. It doesn't work that way. Use the tip that you've become accustomed to and play One Pocket until the cows come home.
Go over to OnePocket.org., click on Forum, and do a search for tips. You'll find a cross-section of types and brands that the guys use.
Also, Doctor Dave has some good information on tip hardness and how it effects the cue ball.