Tip size for UK 8 Ball?

[el nork]

I have played 8ball for about 8 years now. When I started I used an 8mm tip, but over the years have found that I personally get the best performance with 9mm.

My partner uses a 7mm *cough*knitting needle*cough* - and she is a bloody surgeon with it. Give her my cue and she is hopeless.

I have a mate who uses a 10mm ferrule and puts massive squishy tips on there... (I think he shaves down a 12mm tip). Unorthodox sure, but he can get more action on the white ball with that mushroom then most people I know.

Get whatever is comfortable for you and work with it. Well that’s my 2 cents (for what it’s worth).

[opoole]

I use a 9.5mm tip for pool and snooker. To be fair, this took me to a respectable last 64/400 in the BUCS Student Nationals at Yarmouth and played me into a captain's role for the team next year, so I think it's personal preference. I have no issues with spin and can easily spin the length of the table with a 9.5 too! :-)

[mike.crowe]

8 - 8.5mm. offers a little more control over the cue ball but not enough to have to worry too much about concentrating on where you hit the cue ball

[the_paz]

i use the same butt for both snooker and pool.

but i've 2 different shafts, one is a 10mm tip that i use for snooker and to break at 8 ball, the other is an 8mm tip for pool.

this way the cue pretty much feels the same all the time.

hope this helps.

[Wright Cues]

Hi Bulkie
I played 8 ball pool at a top level for years, ive tried different size tips, as i am a cue maker "Wright Cues" i started with 10mm, went down to 7mm then 8mm then finished with 9mm.
then smaller the tip the more side bottom, top you will get, BUT remember long shots you will get movement on the ball, because no matter what you do with a small tip, the ball will move. i found that small tips is amazing what you can do with the cue ball but it has its downfalls, movement of the cue ball, over hitting, to much side/top/bottom, which all lead to one thing, LOOSING POSITION, thats why i went back to 9mm its accurrate.
Hope this has helped you.

[DocJ]

I agree 100% with the post above. I too started with a 10mm tip, which was fine when playing at a lower level when any mistakes you make aren't punished like they should be. As I got better though, I decided to downsize to a 8mm tip, simply to be able to control the ball more and get that extra movement for those tricky positional shots, which is a prerequiste when trying to outdo some of the top players. I've just moved back up to a 9.5mm, and now that i've learned all about ball mechanics, I find that I can do everything I could with an 8mm tip without having those nasty miscues, which can be so costly.

Typical though......in what was due to be my last game with my 8mm tip, I played some of the best pool i'd ever played.......perhpas I won't shelve that cue just yet

[james250t]

I think you are all right!

I have been playing pool for years and used to play with an 8mm tip, I have recently started playing county pool and have ended up with a 9mm tip. I think the main difference is the long potting, with the tiny tip it's very easy to apply a small amount of side without trying!
I find with the 9mm you have less miss cues and better long potting consistence. Even with the 9mm I can still screw back 3 lenghs of a pool table no problem!
As for the tip itself let's not get started on that one!!!
I have to say elkmaster give more feel and control than anything else I have tried, just a shame they wear out so quickly!

[jhr145]

The way I see it, the main advantage of a small tip is that you can see more of the cueball, and see exactly where you're making contact. Not so with a big tip although players tend to be able to get enough spin on the white, it just doesn't seem like you've got the same precision. I like the butter/steak knife analogy though

Mr O is on the money but I add its not the size of the tip but the shape of the tip that dictates how much spin or how much control you have over the cueball the smaller the cueball the rounder the tip has to be.

[james250t]

Mr O is on the money but I add its not the size of the tip but the shape of the tip that dictates how much spin or how much control you have over the cueball the smaller the cueball the rounder the tip has to be.

This is 100% true, try a deep screw with a flat tip...........................lol

[BoBnoGG!n]

Mr O is on the money but I add its not the size of the tip but the shape of the tip that dictates how much spin or how much control you have over the cueball the smaller the cueball the rounder the tip has to be.

nah. i think its down to cueing. when a tip compresses, most of the time the same amount of surface area makes contact anyways. i have a mate who can backspin lengths of the table, from one end to the other, and he plays with a 10mm flat pro granite. I think it just comes down to cueing. like hitting hard doesnt get as much work. you know when you see beginners just hit the bottom of the ball as hard as possible and sometimes send the white jumping. personally, i think its all about timing, and getting the contact timing right to cue through the ball but keeping contact with it, so it grips. not the tip size, or shape, or hardness of the tip. although i think its harder to get the timing right on a hard tip, but when you do work it out, you get more work on the ball if need be.

[Dixon80]

definately 8 to 8.5mm m8 :snooker:

[gus]

It's rare to see a really good pool player with a tip any bigger than 9mm.

[tonybevins@googlemail.com]

played pool all my life and struggled to play decent pool when using a tip bigger than 8.5 mm !

[ger]

8.5 +/-. . . . . . . . . teeny weeny tips below 8 are great fun for 8ball, especially on better tables, but you'll end up having a suitcase full of cues with you to each match, like a 9ball player, what with a break cue plus a spare cue plus another cue for potting the black (yes I HAVE seen this!!) plus a special cue for Wednesdays. . . . . . . lol

Larger tips over 9 can make it slightly more difficult cueing from under the rails or bridging over colours to get at the cueball.

The smallest I've used was 6mm but the 5mm I saw mentioned earlier might have a danger of putting a hole through the cueball. . . . !


:snooker:

[ger]

. . . . . and yes, I also own the said 'suitcase' full of cues and shafts for 9ball.