Walter Lindrum - Best Cueist Ever? - Video

Welcome back!

Good to see you've returned to Australia Colin. Perhaps one day you can visit Ballarat, and we can bust a few racks:D .

Lindrum was a hero of my father. He meet him in the late 40's when he came to play an exhibition match at my grandfathers country club in Surrey in the UK. He still has a photo with him in the billiard room pf the club, and says meeting Lindrum was one of the reasons he emmigrated to Australia:) .

Daniel:D
 
John Barton said:
If they played on a snooker table with snooker balls Stalev would get his ass handed to him. Switch to Pyramid cues and balls and Stalev probably wins.

Put them on neutral ground like a 5x10 American Snooker table with straight corners and tight pockets using 2.25 inch balls and it's probably a tossup with Stalev the slight favorite since he has been playing with that equipment.
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Stalev wins on anything...in pyramids the pockets are just about a ball's width. Regulation style english snooker table pockets would look like massive buckets to him. I don't think he would have a problem adjusting to the ball size.
 
Colin, than you so much. That is one amazing video! To be able to shoot like that while talking between shots is remarkable. And he didn't waste a moment either.

He played with ease and confidence. Another great lefty in the tradition of Sigel and Ed Kelly. What other great lefties can you think of? Swanee and Dennis Hatch are two that come to mind.

What Lindrum was doing there was not easy by any means. He is a freak, as good at that game as Efren at One Hole. And he was supposed to be a great Snooker and Three Cushion player as well. Kind of the Harold Worst of his era, able to excel at all games. Like Efren today.

Did anyone else notice when he switched hands on a couple of shots? I thought so. You missed it right. He was so fluid you didn't even notice he was shooting right handed.

This man was a serious player.

By the way, one of the best "scratch" pool players of this era was none other than Willie Jopling. I never saw anyone who could beat him at that game. And he played some top players and embarassed them. Sorry Willie, I just killed all your action.
 
cheers Colin, not bad for any Ozzie! :p

What was amazing that every time he played a canon he hit the ball full ball with the white, no matter what type of shot.

PS
You seen any Cricket lately? :D
 
Captain Dan said:
Good to see you've returned to Australia Colin. Perhaps one day you can visit Ballarat, and we can bust a few racks:D .

Lindrum was a hero of my father. He meet him in the late 40's when he came to play an exhibition match at my grandfathers country club in Surrey in the UK. He still has a photo with him in the billiard room pf the club, and says meeting Lindrum was one of the reasons he emmigrated to Australia:) .

Daniel:D
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Cheers Daniel,
I'll be at the Country Cup in Bendigo this weekend....also plan to be at the Albury tournament March 10-11 and the Geelong Open March 16-18.

And of course the Ballarat Open when it comes around.

Hope to catch you at one of those. Make sure you introduce yourself.

Colin
 
jay helfert said:
Colin, than you so much. That is one amazing video! To be able to shoot like that while talking between shots is remarkable. And he didn't waste a moment either.

He played with ease and confidence. Another great lefty in the tradition of Sigel and Ed Kelly. What other great lefties can you think of? Swanee and Dennis Hatch are two that come to mind.

What Lindrum was doing there was not easy by any means. He is a freak, as good at that game as Efren at One Hole. And he was supposed to be a great Snooker and Three Cushion player as well. Kind of the Harold Worst of his era, able to excel at all games. Like Efren today.

Did anyone else notice when he switched hands on a couple of shots? I thought so. You missed it right. He was so fluid you didn't even notice he was shooting right handed.

This man was a serious player.

By the way, one of the best "scratch" pool players of this era was none other than Willie Jopling. I never saw anyone who could beat him at that game. And he played some top players and embarassed them. Sorry Willie, I just killed all your action.
Click to expand...

G'day Jay,
I'd love to see an archive of all these old greats in action.

btw: A lefty of extraordinary skill that comes to mind is Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White, 6 times (I think) runner-up in the snooker world champs.

Colin
 
Colin,

Thanks for sharing the videos. I had never seen the game played prior to this. What amazing control of the ball.. WOW!
 
jay helfert said:
Colin, than you so much. That is one amazing video! To be able to shoot like that while talking between shots is remarkable. And he didn't waste a moment either.

He played with ease and confidence. Another great lefty in the tradition of Sigel and Ed Kelly. What other great lefties can you think of? Swanee and Dennis Hatch are two that come to mind.

What Lindrum was doing there was not easy by any means. He is a freak, as good at that game as Efren at One Hole. And he was supposed to be a great Snooker and Three Cushion player as well. Kind of the Harold Worst of his era, able to excel at all games. Like Efren today.

Did anyone else notice when he switched hands on a couple of shots? I thought so. You missed it right. He was so fluid you didn't even notice he was shooting right handed.

This man was a serious player.

By the way, one of the best "scratch" pool players of this era was none other than Willie Jopling. I never saw anyone who could beat him at that game. And he played some top players and embarassed them. Sorry Willie, I just killed all your action.
Click to expand...


Jay, the amazing thing is that Lindrum was a natural righty! He learned to play left-handed as a child because he lost the tip of his finger on his right-hand and also because his father who was right handed wanted Walter to be able to see is father's stroke at the table while getting lessons, so he would be standing at the table as a child left-handed and his father would be standing right next to right handed so they mirrored each other. Later Walter learned to play right-handed at the world -class level as well.
It's funny how 3 of the greatest all-time cueists played great with either hand: Lindrum, Reyes, & O'Sullivan.
Walter was a demon for long hard practice, he would regularly practice a single shot for 8 straight hours until he felt he couldn't miss it. His practice sessions were regularly 10-14 hours even as a child. Even when traveling to England from Austarlia by boat - a long trip in those days, he would practice in his room by putting the balls on a coffee table and just tapping the cueball against them so that he wouldn't be out of stroke when he got there to play - that's dedication!

Bobby
 
TheOne said:
cheers Colin, not bad for any Ozzie! :p

What was amazing that every time he played a canon he hit the ball full ball with the white, no matter what type of shot.

PS
You seen any Cricket lately? :D
Click to expand...
Yes mate, the Aussies had a brilliant test series. 5-0 I recall. I forget who they were playing though. Looked like a bunch of rag dolls though.:D
 
Bobby said:
Jay, the amazing thing is that Lindrum was a natural righty! He learned to play left-handed as a child because he lost the tip of his finger on his right-hand and also because his father who was right handed wanted Walter to be able to see is father's stroke at the table while getting lessons, so he would be standing at the table as a child left-handed and his father would be standing right next to right handed so they mirrored each other. Later Walter learned to play right-handed at the world -class level as well.
It's funny how 3 of the greatest all-time cueists played great with either hand: Lindrum, Reyes, & O'Sullivan.
Walter was a demon for long hard practice, he would regularly practice a single shot for 8 straight hours until he felt he couldn't miss it. His practice sessions were regularly 10-14 hours even as a child. Even when traveling to England from Austarlia by boat - a long trip in those days, he would practice in his room by putting the balls on a coffee table and just tapping the cueball against them so that he wouldn't be out of stroke when he got there to play - that's dedication!

Bobby
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Nice info Bobby!

Yeah, they sure worked hard back then, to become a pro that could make a decent living out of the game.

There's an excellent book (free to read online) by Joe Davis, that discusses his trials and tribulations as a pro back in those days, including his encounters with Walter Lindrum.

http://www.eaba.co.uk/books/davis/chapter1.html

It's a great read, and would make most wanabe pros realize that they've been lazy asses :p

Colin
 
Bobby said:
Jay, the amazing thing is that Lindrum was a natural righty! He learned to play left-handed as a child because he lost the tip of his finger on his right-hand and also because his father who was right handed wanted Walter to be able to see is father's stroke at the table while getting lessons, so he would be standing at the table as a child left-handed and his father would be standing right next to right handed so they mirrored each other. Later Walter learned to play right-handed at the world -class level as well.
It's funny how 3 of the greatest all-time cueists played great with either hand: Lindrum, Reyes, & O'Sullivan.
Walter was a demon for long hard practice, he would regularly practice a single shot for 8 straight hours until he felt he couldn't miss it. His practice sessions were regularly 10-14 hours even as a child. Even when traveling to England from Austarlia by boat - a long trip in those days, he would practice in his room by putting the balls on a coffee table and just tapping the cueball against them so that he wouldn't be out of stroke when he got there to play - that's dedication!

Bobby
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Thanks Bobby for this info. To much of the history of our sport is oral. We need more in writing like this. I've been involved for 40 years and barely knew anything about Lindrum, except that old time players who had seen him swore he was the best ever.

Other great switch hitters from the USA include Buddy Hall, Keith and Sigel. Keith used to go in poolrooms and beat good players left handed and then offer to switch hands. Nice hustle.

Sigel could and did run 100 balls with his right hand. Buddy is equally smooth shooting left handed. Just watch and you will see.
 
i read efren has got a title also in english billiards??

is this confirmed?
when this did happen
 
Colin Colenso said:
Yes mate, the Aussies had a brilliant test series. 5-0 I recall. I forget who they were playing though. Looked like a bunch of rag dolls though.:D
Click to expand...

Hehe luckily the world cup in 3 weeks will be 1 day matches only :D Otherwise we really would be up the Caribbean without a paddle lol

Great old vid though, hope you sorted out your bandwidth :p
 
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