Myths and lies

[itsnoteasy]

God bless Fred England and Hotpot. Had a message from Throtts the other week (hope you don't mind me saying mate) he's doing well and still playing. Byrom why am I still here? Can someone rub the lamp and let the Geni escape please.

Byrom pops on YouTube video comment sections every now and again. Geordie and me have had a little chat a while back with him. I still have no idea why he's not on here. Nice to hear Throtts is still playing.
Aye Fred and Hotpot bit of a tear jerker.

[vmax]

Whatever it is what Taom has used in their chalk is working and for me it has nothing to do with friction or balls etc but just down to what residue is left on the balls from traditional chalks.

Next time you play take note on how many balls you miss thick compared to those you miss thin.

[Starsky]

Next time you play take note on how many balls you miss thick compared to those you miss thin.

I can’t count that high 🤣

Seriously though , you are correct when you say you tend to miss thick when experiencing a kick .
Unless like me you have spent hours solo practicing and playing matches using both chalks in all conditions I think it’s hard to comment on whether it’s due to a particular chalk or not.

[vmax]

I can’t count that high 🤣

Serious question though mate. My regular practise partner is the same age as me and like me learned to play with SC balls. When we play each other with the clubs aramith balls we both miss on the thick side twice as much as we miss thin, with my SC balls it's the other way around.
It's not obvious kicks or bad contacts, it's just that it's mostly missing thick and it's surely not the reason that using one set of balls over another means sighting the shot wrong in one particular way, it has to be the contacts.
Ronnie did the same when he won the world title in 2020 in august in hot humid conditions, missed thick an awful lot more than thin and on such simple shots, mostly easy 3/4 angles, he even tried a block of Taom and miscued a few times and went back to Triangle. Moaned about his cue action all the time during that championship, the pros are unaware of the deficiencies of these balls.

[itsnoteasy]

Serious question though mate. My regular practise partner is the same age as me and like me learned to play with SC balls. When we play each other with the clubs aramith balls we both miss on the thick side twice as much as we miss thin, with my SC balls it's the other way around.
It's not obvious kicks or bad contacts, it's just that it's mostly missing thick and it's surely not the reason that using one set of balls over another means sighting the shot wrong in one particular way, it has to be the contacts.
Ronnie did the same when he won the world title in 2020 in august in hot humid conditions, missed thick an awful lot more than thin and on such simple shots, mostly easy 3/4 angles, he even tried a block of Taom and miscued a few times and went back to Triangle. Moaned about his cue action all the time during that championship, the pros are unaware of the deficiencies of these balls.

Do you clean your balls regularly Vmax? We have a ball cleaner and there is definitely a difference in contact between super clean balls and dirty ones you may use in the club.

[Starsky]

Serious question though mate. My regular practise partner is the same age as me and like me learned to play with SC balls. When we play each other with the clubs aramith balls we both miss on the thick side twice as much as we miss thin, with my SC balls it's the other way around.
It's not obvious kicks or bad contacts, it's just that it's mostly missing thick and it's surely not the reason that using one set of balls over another means sighting the shot wrong in one particular way, it has to be the contacts.
Ronnie did the same when he won the world title in 2020 in august in hot humid conditions, missed thick an awful lot more than thin and on such simple shots, mostly easy 3/4 angles, he even tried a block of Taom and miscued a few times and went back to Triangle. Moaned about his cue action all the time during that championship, the pros are unaware of the deficiencies of these balls.

I used to play with SC balls as a kid in the 80’s and we got kicks all the time. I mean the ones you can tell are a kick straight away and not just missing thick . Then when I started playing again with Aramith it’s was the same thing until I started changing the chalk .
Now here’s the thing, I actually changed back to Triangle from Taom as the previous version of Taom was giving me too many miscues and it was playing on my mind. The kicks started again but the miscues stopped and I was sort of happy with that at the time. Then Taom released the latest version which has solved the miscues and I no longer get kicks since using Taom again.
Now this has all happened using the same Aramith balls so it’s not the balls in my mind .
When I miss thick now it’s normally to do with my alignment before I get on the shot . When I readjust and take the shot again I pot it (practicing by myself ) .

[Starsky]

Do you clean your balls regularly Vmax? We have a ball cleaner and there is definitely a difference in contact between super clean balls and dirty ones you may use in the club.

That’s a valid point INE.
I have access to a ball cleaner and how those balls play when cleaned is a big difference to when they’re not .

[mikee]

I played someone the other day and he was using triangle pro ,there were at least 6 kicks that evening compared to the odd one when both players used taom .Strachen cloth is 100% wool ,Hainsworth has a 5% at least nylon content,no difference in amount of kicks on either surface .I shall have to dig my set of super crystalite balls out for a run one night and see how they go ,unfortunately there not in the best of condition any more .Taom chalk certainly helps reduce kicks as does a new set of balls as seldom used new balls don’t mark up as much as an older set..People forget kicks were around years ago it’s nothing new ,the current modern conditions wether it’s just the chalk ,heaters. Thin cloths , more emphasis on cleaner conditions these days ,but there now appears much less kicks than any other era .

[Starsky]

I played someone the other day and he was using triangle pro ,there were at least 6 kicks that evening compared to the odd one when both players used taom .Strachen cloth is 100% wool ,Hainsworth has a 5% at least nylon content,no difference in amount of kicks on either surface .I shall have to dig my set of super crystalite balls out for a run one night and see how they go ,unfortunately there not in the best of condition any more .Taom chalk certainly helps reduce kicks as does a new set of balls as seldom used new balls don’t mark up as much as an older set..People forget kicks were around years ago it’s nothing new ,the current modern conditions wether it’s just the chalk ,heaters. Thin cloths , more emphasis on cleaner conditions these days ,but there now appears much less kicks than any other era .

Did you notice marks on the cue ball and table with the Triangle pro version ?
On the odd occasion when I play people who use Triangle I’m constantly having to clean marks of the CB. The days before Taom marks on the cue ball was a common occurrence and most of the time it was accepted. Now it’s a rare occurrence to see marks on the CB and because of this it when it does happen I notice it more (if that makes sense).

[Starsky]

The subject on kicks and Taom deserves a thread of its own tbh as it’s such a contentious subject .

[mikee]

Yes Starsky ,the balls had more little dull round chalk marks all transferred from the cue ball ,the triangle pro was not as dirty on the table as normal triangle but marks on the balls were bad .

[mikee]

When you think about it kicks are just part of our game ,tennis players get courts with odd low bounces and flyers ,golfers get greens with spike marks and grass growing during the day with the nap of the greens following the sun around ,cricket gets balls that move around and swing ,sometimes when the new ball is taken or the old one is replaced it behaves totally differently and test sides can get shot out for a ridiculous low score just due to a ball on occasions .I’m sure some snooker venues with different weather conditions outside at certain times get more kicks no matter how clean the table .

[Starsky]

When you think about it kicks are just part of our game ,tennis players get courts with odd low bounces and flyers ,golfers get greens with spike marks and grass growing during the day with the nap of the greens following the sun around ,cricket gets balls that move around and swing ,sometimes when the new ball is taken or the old one is replaced it behaves totally differently and test sides can get shot out for a ridiculous low score just due to a ball on occasions .I’m sure some snooker venues with different weather conditions outside at certain times get more kicks no matter how clean the table .

Completely agree about weather conditions .
Before when kicks were more prevalent you would notice that it seemed to happens more on certain occasions than others . That’s the same with the pro game as well.
I would say that it’s a combination of both residue and certain conditions that make it worse . Now one of the main elements has been taken away ( residue as you can’t take away weather !) it’s made a massive difference .

[Starsky]

Yes Starsky ,the balls had more little dull round chalk marks all transferred from the cue ball ,the triangle pro was not as dirty on the table as normal triangle but marks on the balls were bad .

What’s the ‘pro’ part of the chalk then ?

[mikee]

No idea ,Dave was using it this week ,it seems company’s always call something pro to sell more stuff ,I phone pro for example ,is there such a thing ad a professional cell phone user ? .I’ve even seem a BBQ model called a pro ,really is there such a thing as a professional BBQ user ffs .Bit ironic calling triangle chalk pro considering none of them use it .