From Shaun Murphy RE: his cue

[jaffa.johnson]

Im sure there is other posts stating he plays with 8.75 tip but nothing better than hearing it from horses mouth.

One of the bits i liked about listening to pros talking was shauns piece saying this works for him but another cue would also work.

[willtyson]

I'm not sure where your friend gets the notion that Ronnie did not have an easy life as a youngster financially.

It's been well documented ROS' parents were in a successful business empire and were wealthy. ROS benefited from this ( being chauffeur driven to the majority of Pro-AM snooker comps until he was old enough to drive ). And even then, there were occasions here did not have to drive himself ).

Emotionally he has his demons and yes, is the greatest talent to have ever picked up a cue. But to say he came off much worse than Murphy in the £££'s stakes is just misinformed. IMHO. I'm sure however, someone will correct me ( as is the case usually lol ).

I agree with this, I was under the impression his parents were very wealthy, and that he had a snooker table at the age of ten? :snooker:

[blinky88]

I've been watching every tournament shown down-under and believed Shaun Murphy tip was one of the smallest of all the pro's. He is really a one of the great cueists and caution others who choose to use that tip size it is not as easy as he makes it look. I watched the Murphy v Judd match in the Premier League in which he only played a couple of poor shots, that said, his game was almost flawless. He carried that form over to the O'S match where he was beaten 3-1, O'S really was really on his game that night. All the best this year Shaun, I believe you are one big plus for the game.

[safe t boy]

Have a look here bud
http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...156#post614156

Cheers. I will have a look at that later

[ADR147]

Shaun Murphy... the true gentleman of the snooker game.

Growing up watching snooker I remember a conversation that took place once in my old club where someone explained why he is a fan of Ronnie and not of Shaun, who was at the top of his game back then, or of anyone else. What he said was that Shaun comes from a wealthy family and that he had his own snooker table from a very early age, whereas Ronnie is the exact opposite having to struggle and live through a much tougher childhood.

Don't know how much of this is true but it definitely had an effect on me being very young back then and new to snooker. I became a non-fan of Murphy and quite obviously grew up admiring Ronnie.

this is almost exactly 100% wrong!

[eaoin11]

Interesting, I've wondered whether both Shaun and Neil Robertson lose the white sometimes because of their cues. Neil's is an 80's or 90's Parris and when you see the incredible cue power he has, I wonder if that's partly down to the characteristics of his cue and maybe also why he doesn't quite have the same touch as Higgins, Ronnie, and Williams who are all using modern cues now. The newest cues seem very solid and that might help in fast conditions with modern cloths and balls used at tournaments etc. Maybe there's a trade off between cue power and touch? Just a theory and maybe someone has info to contradict that.

[thelongbomber]

A common scenario is that players (including amateurs) will get a more "powerful" cue to compensate for an undeveloped cue action. That can often mean a cue with a smaller tip so the player can get more spin. However, the pros have reached a level where they have developed and refined their cue action to such a degree where they can virtually play with any half decent cue and good tip. I think Shaun, Neil probably do face some challenges controlling the white and it could very well be the extra small tip size. I think Stephen Lee has a small tip though and seems to play perfectly well with it.

High end cues from Woolridge, White, Parris, Glover, etc are all solidly built quality cues and, for an average player, will produce a lot of capability and power. The problem, however, with a quality cue is that it can either prevent or promote a better cue action in the owner. Some owners with a quality cue will let the cue compensate for bad cueing - for example using more wrist on long straight shots rather than learning how to cue that shot better and more accurately. On the other hand, in a different owner, a quality cue will actually make them better players - because it might highlight issues that didn't present themselves with a less sensitive cue.

Having graduated from a very cheaply built cue 10 years back and then going through several half decent one-piece cues, and now using a professional-grade 2 piece cue (Tom Gauthier), I can tell you from experience that an excellent cue used too early can prevent a person from refining and developing their cue action. Timing is something I work on a lot because I know it's one of many keys to success in this game and I know for a fact that a better cue doesn't necessarily make you a better ball striker - a better understanding of ball striking and cue action does.

[DeanH]

Do you see Judd and the rest of the new-young-crowd who all have Parris+ type cues having problems in years to come?
From what I have seen, their cue action tend to be good, but their shot-choice could be better at times