Light white

[cazmac1]

Hi all, first off I've been off work all week and have some sort of bug so haven't really been able to play, I had a game yesterday and was not at the races at all. This leads me in to the subject matter and that is I played with my mates set of ball yesterday and could not control the white ball at all, it just seemed to light to me so on cuts I was losing the whit and plain full ball shots the white was coming up short. SO I think the whit is to like and does not belong to the set. Now it could be because I'm under the weather or there maybe something in it. So I'm going down he club in a while and will weigh the balls and see if I right. The ball should weigh about 142 grams, but I think it will be around 139
will report my finding when I get back from the club.

[The Stig]

If its a light white it will be around 128g, at 139g you won't notice a huge amount of difference as normal aramith tournament champion whites seem to vary from 141 to 142g so just a 2g difference wouldn't be massive.

My mate weighed a light white recently where some low life had switched one of the aramith tournament champion whites with a light white, the lighter cue ball weighed 128g.

[Terry Davidson]

I agree with the stig. I have two light cueballs here but one is part of a set and weighs 139gms. However the other one is one someone replaced and it weighs 124gms.

I can't notice any difference at 139gm but I sure can tell at 124gm.

All the balls in the set should be around 141gm. Compare the cueball to the yellow and green when you weigh it as they are the least used balls in most sets

(or else use the yellow as the cueball)

Terry

[cazmac1]

OK I weighed the white and I was bang on the white was 139 so if you can't tell the difference how could I?! The rest of the balls were around 141/142 except and to my surprise the black which also weighed 139.

[jarcher]

Light white

Is it possible he has polished his entire set of balls? I've noticed that if I polish the white, it seems light, so just clean it with no polish applied.

[The Stig]

OK I weighed the white and I was bang on the white was 139 so if you can't tell the difference how could I?! The rest of the balls were around 141/142 except and to my surprise the black which also weighed 139.

Normal Aramith Tournament Champion balls have a tolerance of 3 grammes, so basically all the balls will be within 3 grammes of each other, as an example you may get a black thats 143g, most reds that are 142g and the white 140g. Thats fine as far as the cue ball goes as its within 3g of the heaviest ball.

So a 139g cue ball isn't going to make a great deal of difference in a normal Aramith Tournament Champion set as its virtually still within tolerance albeit by 1g less, its when you start going down to cue balls that weighs around 128g and your hitting it against balls that weigh between 140g - 143g, thats what you can truely call a light white.

Your mate must have polished them balls with something really shiny and sheeny to make the cue ball feel as though its a light white as 139g is fine imo.

[mattyshinobi22]

a tale tale sign of a small or lighter white, is screw shots seem easier, but shots with follow through ( top spin) seems to kick or not go through alot. had few experiences of this myself at working mens clubs. the reaction of one my mates was funny when he went to stun behind a ball to lay a snooker and screwed the ball back a foot lol

[cueman]

Its just so annoying isn't it? I don't see why they make sets of differing weights, given the fact the rules say what the balls should weigh. I think what happens quite often is clubs particularly replace the cueballs with the cheapest option they can find, that usually results in these light whites.

I also play at my mates club from time to time and I always complain about the cueball, other members think I'm just moaning though because I struggle to play well, they think its just an excuse. What annoys me though is when people say you just have to adapt! As if its possible to adapt to a ball which reacts differently with every kind of shot you can think of. Even rolling a ball in the ball is going to run on or slow up depending on whether you strike centre, slightly below centre or slightly above, don't even mention judging screw or top spin which are impossible to judge.

[cazmac1]

I agree with every thing you said cueman and have had the same experience. Just want to add another factor into the equation and that is a cheaper or non Aramith white ball is going to be made of a completely different material which may absorb more or less energy, so this factor can also make the ball recreate in and in consistent manner.

[jarcher]

Light white

To be honest, I don't see why everyone doesn't match the WPBSA specifications for Balls, Table height, size, pocket openings etc. If there only was the one official set of balls used that you can buy, surely they would also work out cheaper due to demand, and going from one club to the next wouldn't make a difference as all the pockets and cloth etc would play the same. This way, players could really improve, rather than play on buckets on a fast table and pot everything, then going onto a tight table that for some reason, has been fitted with club cloth and you can't pot a thing as, at least for me, makes you start to question everything in your game, from cue action, timing, stance... Basically it can ruin your confidence which takes longer to rebuild than what it does to lose.

I recently went to the Kilarney qualifiers, with my team trying to qualify to play for the All Ireland Championships, and the cloth was slow, every tables pockets were cut differently and they were using old club balls which had light whites in some, with different coloured reds etc. how on earth are the best players to be able to get on form in these conditions. It's an absolute joke!! That's just my two cents anyway lol

[Neil Taperell]

Great post ....makes sense really . Especially for the balls .

[cazmac1]

To be honest, I don't see why everyone doesn't match the WPBSA specifications for Balls, Table height, size, pocket openings etc. If there only was the one official set of balls used that you can buy, surely they would also work out cheaper due to demand, and going from one club to the next wouldn't make a difference as all the pockets and cloth etc would play the same. This way, players could really improve, rather than play on buckets on a fast table and pot everything, then going onto a tight table that for some reason, has been fitted with club cloth and you can't pot a thing as, at least for me, makes you start to question everything in your game, from cue action, timing, stance... Basically it can ruin your confidence which takes longer to rebuild than what it does to lose.

I recently went to the Kilarney qualifiers, with my team trying to qualify to play for the All Ireland Championships, and the cloth was slow, every tables pockets were cut differently and they were using old club balls which had light whites in some, with different coloured reds etc. how on earth are the best players to be able to get on form in these conditions. It's an absolute joke!! That's just my two cents anyway lol

I agree with you one hundred 100% I don't goes for this crap that it's the same for both players. As it don't work that way!
With the prices that we pay we should expect to to have as a bear minimum a decent set off balls.

[The Stig]

To be honest, I don't see why everyone doesn't match the WPBSA specifications for Balls, Table height, size, pocket openings etc. If there only was the one official set of balls used that you can buy, surely they would also work out cheaper due to demand, and going from one club to the next wouldn't make a difference as all the pockets and cloth etc would play the same. l

Unless the WPBSA have a patent on the manufacture of snooker balls then this couldn't ever happen, certainly not in the amatuer game.

Its upto the individual league's around the country to make it a rule that only Aramaith Tournament Champion balls can be used for league matches and individual competitions, i don't see that being a huge obstacle as your not asking clubs to buy brand new tables, just the correct match balls both in weight and quality..... i.e Aramith Tournament Champion.

I'm sure that the league's could get a decent discount if they bought in bulk from Saluc, the leagues could then make it a rule that all clubs in their leagues have to purchase the match balls from them.

I don't mind playing on poor tables at all that have tight pockets as you get a lot of those in various leagues, its the balls that are more important.

The standards would rise if all league players were playing with aramith tournament champion balls, peoples cue actions would have to improve as its not as easy to do a flash screw back shot with a normal Aramaith 141/142g cue ball than it is to do one with one of these comical light whites where its not far off the equivelant of playing with a ping pong ball

[perpetualboredom]

The standards would rise if all league players were playing with aramith tournament champion balls, peoples cue actions would have to improve as its not as easy to do a flash screw back shot with a normal Aramaith 141/142g cue ball than it is to do one with one of these comical light whites where its not far off the equivelant of playing with a ping pong ball

I'd say that TC balls are a lot more responsive than most cheaper sets, not the other way around. One thing I've noticed is you get far more kicks with TC balls than the cheap club balls..

[cueman]

Well you can certainly get a lot more screw with a light white and you don't even have to time the ball great to generate much at all. You certainly have to time the ball better with TC's but you get much more satisfaction that you've timed the ball better when it zips back or goes through with top. I think the only benefit of TC's with responsiveness is that the ball has more momentum so when you are smacking into the pack then the extra weight helps to split the balls open, which is the opposite with lighter balls.