Cues and Throw.

[golferson123]

if you can play, you can play, and you will learn the throw of the cue you are using and play the shot accordingly.

not so, a cue that throws excessively will be lacking in other ways why would you limit yourself and your game when there is no reason to do so.

[Benno]

throw is a bit of fuss over nothing. ALL cues throw to some extent, the trick is to learn the throw of your cue and forget about it!

Deflection is only one of the most important concepts in cue sports, and one of the reasons some people never get past a certain level. Lots of them are using rubbish cues that will only ever allow them to play 85% of the shots. If you don't believe me, start trying out some different cues, especially 'cheaper' cues. Which I'm sure you already have. Also considering why people change cues, I find it amusing you'd even make such a statement. Or you're joking.

[ADR147]

not so, a cue that throws excessively will be lacking in other ways why would you limit yourself and your game when there is no reason to do so.

I am not sure I agree, as long as the cue will perform the same shot consistently the same way i fail to see why it matters, it is easy to make a cue throw less just by making the last 8 inches a straight taper yet very few people choose to do that. what do you mean by lacking in other ways?

[ADR147]

Deflection is only one of the most important concepts in cue sports, and one of the reasons some people never get past a certain level. Lots of them are using rubbish cues that will only ever allow them to play 85% of the shots. If you don't believe me, start trying out some different cues, especially 'cheaper' cues. Which I'm sure you already have. Also considering why people change cues, I find it amusing you'd even make such a statement. Or you're joking.

i think the game is about the ability to recreate the same response from your cue every time you play the same type of shot and yes you are right many cues will not do that but nearly all well made cues will, as long as the feel and reaction is the same when you play the shot the same way the rest is practice surely?

[Terry Davidson]

I have seen what I call a 'dead cue' where it was difficult to play a good deep screw for instance. Perhaps because of my cueing technique I found these cues are usually too stiff.

The trend these days from both the Asian and British cuemakers is to make stiff cues unless you custom order and specify the shaft flex you want.

I have even tried different cues using the same shot, for instance a straight-in black off the spot with deep screw and side and have noticed a big difference between the cues even though they all had the same type of tip. I have a 21oz stiff cue here and I can't get the same cueball reaction with it when compared to my medium-flex MW cue and that's with the same tip size too. The MW cue is 18.3oz.

Let's face it, there are some cues which just do not suit the cueing technique of a particular player and I went through about 3 years of trying to find a cue that suited me. Even though I had ordered medium flex everyone's concept of what medium is can be different as I found out to my sorrow. When I started playing with my MW I realized right away it was exactly what I was looking for whereas the 20 or so custom cues I had ordered previously were all decent cues I knew there was something better for me out there.

That said, almost every player who has tried my cue has really liked it, especially the reaction they get with any type of spin and to the point where some have ordered cues from MW with the same shaft specs as mine.

Terry

[ADR147]

i have owned a few 'dead' cues sometimes i wonder now looking back if it was a lifeless tip on a cue or just a feel that did not suit me.

[golferson123]

I am not sure I agree, as long as the cue will perform the same shot consistently the same wmay i fail to see why it matters, it is easy to make a cue throw less just by making the last 8 inches a straight taper yet very few people choose to do that. what do you mean by lacking in other ways?

a cue that throws badly does so because it fails to apply spin to the ball it just pushes the white sideways, many reasons for that, too stiff, too tip heavy and also too whippy, the flex of the shaft should give just enough to enable the tip to bite and apply whichever spin is applied if its throwing badly with left or right hand side then its failing to apply spin top or bottom also

[vmax4steve]

a cue that throws badly does so because it fails to apply spin to the ball it just pushes the white sideways, many reasons for that, too stiff, too tip heavy and also too whippy, the flex of the shaft should give just enough to enable the tip to bite and apply whichever spin is applied if its throwing badly with left or right hand side then its failing to apply spin top or bottom also

A cue doesn't fail to apply spin to the cue ball and push the cue sideways unless the cue ball is struck off centre, that is purely down to a players technique if they can't cue straight or a bad tip or both when using side. Strike the cue ball well with any cue with a good elk on it and you will create spin.
There used to be a player in our league who used an aluminium cue, absolutely no flex going on there, and he was a century break maker and one of devons top players. I watched him play several inter league matches and saw how his opponents smirked when he got his cue out of its case and then drop their heads when he got in and make a frame winning break.

All this talk about anti throw and low deflection is just smoke and mirrors from marketing men trying to sell something; how a cue behaves (as long as it has a good tip on it) is down to the bloke holding it.
Too many poor players around who talk down decent cues and continually swap around because they aren't good enough players in their own right, and deep down they know it but hide the fact behind cue characteristics, tips, chalk and even cases. Any excuse apart from themselves failing to deliver.

I've had my 62 inch ash cue for thirty years and last week I knocked in a 50+ with a 60 inch maple chinese cheapie I got for £30. I missed a black off its spot when using check side, the cue ball didn't deflect like it does with my ash cue. That is only to be expected, it's a different cue, but the cue isn't to blame, and despite the fact that it's a chinese cheapie I wouldn't put it down as a bad one, just one that I'm not used to. All the straight cueing shots went in and anyone who used it would simply get used to how it played when using side and they would have a very nice cue for £30.

[golferson123]

Cues and Throw.

the topics about off centre striking and sorry to disagree but cue flex is a contributer to throw.

[Byrom]

Well I have thrown a few

[ADR147]

the topics about off centre striking and sorry to disagree but cue flex is a contributer to throw.

that i would agree with although not sure to what extent - gosh have we not gone technical for this thread!

[golferson123]

well its something to talk about, smiley. since thaigate things are a bit quite

[ADR147]

well its something to talk about, smiley. since thaigate things are a bit quite

throwgate...

[trevs1]

There used to be a time when I'd have given my views on a thread like this, but those days are pretty much behind me.

I will say (or type) this though...

For ANY PLAYER, a cue which is soundly predictable will always be better than one which is not so predictable. A cue which throws (deflects) the white less, or virtually not at all, is ALWAYS an advantage. That does not mean that such a cue is magic and will improve the game of a person, that's down to ability and experience more than anything else.

As for the tip thing.... Well, if anyone is suggesting a cue throws or not is simply due to the tip, or that throw / deflection can be totally eradicated by using an alternative tip, that is utter garbage and needs to be ignored, no matter who tells you it's true.

Tips can make significant differences to cues yes, but on their own do not cause a trustworthy cue to become untrustworthy.

[eaoin11]

I agree with ADR's first post, if you have a cue you like just learn to use that and forget throw. When you evaluate a cue think more about what you can do with it. Being able to impart a lot of side and still make shots consistently is just one of the things you might want from the cue. If you can do that then throw isn't an issue, but I think being able to play stun accurately and measured screw shots that let you stop the ball where you want it are more important.

Peter Ebdon won the WC with a cue that he says throws a lot, so the argument that it will hurt anyone's development isn't convincing. Maybe it's better not to use too much side anyway?

On tips, I don't see anything wrong with suggesting that tips might influence throw. I don't know if the hypothesis has been tested, but wouldn't be surprised if it has been by someone in the US. But I would have thought that elks being softer (on average) than a laminated tip would have thrown less for the same reason that whippier cues do.