I was watching Francisco Bustamante when I saw him do it in this video (it should be at the right spot in the video):
Thanks
Thanks
Why do players turn there cue to a certain spot?
- Thread starter 34YearsOfPlayin
- Start date
Indexing the grain for minimum flex usually. The snooker players using an ash cue often use the grain to aim with also I am told.
Edit: Should have said consistent flex also.
Hu
Edit: Should have said consistent flex also.
Hu
If the shaft has any amount of warpage in it, as hard as it might be to believe a good player would be playing with a warped shaft, they would orient their shaft so the warp is aligned straight up and down as opposed to side to side.
I don't think he is orienting the grain. That would need to be done before getting down on the shot, unless there is a mark on the cue to help him). I think it is just part of this stroke. I've noticed a few players rotate the cue during the practice strokes. Alex is one of them.
Or a matter of habit based on his perceived beliefs of physics.
Since I use backhand English, I have identified a spot in the grain that represents the natural pivot point. I’ll rotate my cue to make sure that point is visible whenever I use sidespin.
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Many people use the same shaft for decades and just adjust to it's flaws. The shaft I used for many years warps slightly every summer. It straightens every winter. I still use it sometimes, and I still orient it. Not too many months back I bought one of the carbon fiber shafts. I don't orient it because it is as straight as my eye can see and supposedly equal strength on all sides. Took some getting used to.
Hu
Hu
Back when I used wooden shafts, I used to make a mark on front like a gun sight so that I could orient the stick the same way every time. That was part of my shot routine. Did it help to any significant extent physically? I don't know. My stroke/speed errors were likely larger than any problem caused by asymmetry in the shaft. It's really hard to measure such things.
At one major tournament (Galveston) I was about to start a match against a top 50 player. He saw the mark and said that's an illegal aiming device. He went and talked to the TD who told him to go away. In my book, that player will always have a mark next to his name.
The other advantage of having the mark was if I was doing a shot quickly I could just turn the shaft a known amount and get a different surface (with chalk) to hit the ball. A little lazy.
At one major tournament (Galveston) I was about to start a match against a top 50 player. He saw the mark and said that's an illegal aiming device. He went and talked to the TD who told him to go away. In my book, that player will always have a mark next to his name.
The other advantage of having the mark was if I was doing a shot quickly I could just turn the shaft a known amount and get a different surface (with chalk) to hit the ball. A little lazy.
I used to do that back in the sharking days with bar cues, picking out the one with the best tip, rolling it on the table, watching it flop like a fish and noting the weight stamp vs curvature so I could use it as an index mark.
Nowadays I rotate my custom break cue because it has a couple dings in the purple heart shaft that might be hard to repair and have it look nice.
I do it every shot, habit. Forgot why, but probably to not be hitting the same spot on the tip.