Martin Gould Cue

[strobbekoen]

It's amazing how much talent some players have and how much more they could achieve given some very strange habits. Proper glasses or contact lenses and a proper cue and Gouldy would be quids in and winning more. Why struggle to overcome a sight deficit, how about solving it, laser surgery would sort it for a pro at this level, two grand. Advancing to just one extra round at one tournament would pay for a new cue and laser surgery, it's a no brainer.

So now you are an expert on eyes too ?
You have a lot of opinions sir, and seem to think everything is just simple logic.
Eye surgery has risks, needs to be followed-up, could have side effects etc..
Who are you to say it's so simple.. idiot.

[Master Blaster]

So now you are an expert on eyes too ?
You have a lot of opinions sir, and seem to think everything is just simple logic.
Eye surgery has risks, needs to be followed-up, could have side effects etc..
Who are you to say it's so simple.. idiot.

The only idiots are people who call others names! lol

Would he drive down the road peering over the top of his glasses, squinting at the oncoming traffic, I don't think so! So given this is his living maybe being able to focus on the balls properly, not seeing them as fuzzy shapes in the distance might be logically sound? So a pair of snooker specs can be made inside a week, contact lenses tried the same day as a sight test and laser surgery is a good long term answer requiring less hassle (than either type of lenses). Were those ideas simple enough for you? Even Dennis Taylor worked this one out and he's only marginally brighter than you...........

[culraven]

The only idiots are people who call others names! lol

Would he drive down the road peering over the top of his glasses, squinting at the oncoming traffic, I don't think so! So given this is his living maybe being able to focus on the balls properly, not seeing them as fuzzy shapes in the distance might be logically sound? So a pair of snooker specs can be made inside a week, contact lenses tried the same day as a sight test and laser surgery is a good long term answer requiring less hassle (than either type of lenses). Were those ideas simple enough for you? Even Dennis Taylor worked this one out and he's only marginally brighter than you...........

You seem to failing, as usual, to grasp the basics here? Read more type less, he is long sighted, meaning the balls in the distance are not the issue!

[mikeyd100]

Gould uses a Parris cue and like Bingham had the sightright retro fitted, not sure on the tip size though

Maybe I'm being naive here but do you reckon Bingham and Gould have just had these sight right things just implanted into their cues for advertising / sponsoring purposes ?

[Master Blaster]

You seem to failing, as usual, to grasp the basics here? Read more type less, he is long sighted, meaning the balls in the distance are not the issue!

hahahahaha, that makes his even more daft! Take the effin glasses off Gouldy! What, you're telliing me he's got to read the Financial Times when he's not at the table? I don't think so!

[timcunnell]

Maybe I'm being naive here but do you reckon Bingham and Gould have just had these sight right things just implanted into their cues for advertising / sponsoring purposes ?

Yes mate there's no way those guys - or anyone who has already achieved that level - is getting any benefit from the SightRight alignment thing. For those who don't know how it works (and are interested!) the idea is that you stand on the line of aim (in an upright position) and lay the cue down on your line of aim. The SightRight widget has three broken lines, and when you position your own line of sight with correct eye dominance, the three lines join up. That way you know you're then sighting the shot correctly with your eyes positioned correctly above the cue. The trick is then to get your chin down onto the cue without swaying off line.

The WPBSA (or whoever it was that allowed them - think it was them?!) determined that they were legal because you cannot see the lines when you're down on the shot. Of course, they could probably deign something that worked similar which was in view while your chin was on the cue, but that would have been illegal for use in tournament play.

So really the only use for SightRight is to help you learn how to get yourself onto the line of aim correctly, and also understand where your own eye dominance is. So like I say, players like Bingham, Gould, Rory McLeod and also Barry Pinches - they all know this stuff already. And like others have said, you don't ever see them using it during a game.

[mikeyd100]

Thanks for that.
Just what I thought, why the heck would a pro need something like that ?
A newbie to Snooker might benefit but not these guys.
The videos I've seen on the SightRight dont look very convincing either, the players promoting look almost guilty and ashamed when being filmed haha.

Oh well, guess it comes down to £'s in the bank really.

[timcunnell]

...the players promoting look almost guilty and ashamed when being filmed haha.

Hahahaha!! Mate that is so true - I've thought the exact same thing!

I can tell you those guys get a fair bit of stick on tour for it! Snake oil if you ask me!

[mikeyd100]

Hahahaha!! Mate that is so true - I've thought the exact same thing!

I can tell you those guys get a fair bit of stick on tour for it! Snake oil if you ask me!

Ha, glad you agree, I browsed through Mark Williams twitter account once and he made some jokey remarks about it too.

By the way, are you like involved in the World Snooker scene in an official capacity ?

[vmax4steve]

hahahahaha, that makes his even more daft! Take the effin glasses off Gouldy! What, you're telliing me he's got to read the Financial Times when he's not at the table? I don't think so!

Do you really believe that Gould deliberately makes the game harder for himself or that he couldn't possibly be aware that the object ball is always out of focus. How do you suppose he plays at the great standard that he obviously does when according to you he can't see anything clearly.

You post as if you know about long sightedness, yet can't grasp the simple fact that those who are long sighted have no problems with their distance vision; and long sightedness isn't a black and white issue about only needing glasses for reading, there are variations regarding just how near or far an object needing to be clearly focussed on has to be for the vision to be corrected.

Gould has his vision just as he needs it, who are you to say otherwise, you can't look through his eyes.

You say you have an IQ of 150, which just happens to be the figure needed to join MENSA, so you're calling yourself a genius

right up there with Stephen Hawking

[timcunnell]

Ha, glad you agree, I browsed through Mark Williams twitter account once and he made some jokey remarks about it too.

By the way, are you like involved in the World Snooker scene in an official capacity ?

Lol yeah Williams and also Joe Perry normally have quite a bit to say about it!! I do think it is probably useful stuff for players who are beginner/intermediate maybe. But once you've sorted your sighting that's it really. And obviously you can sort your sighting without the use of gadgets just as effectively if you ask me.

And yeah, sort of involved I guess in a loose sense - I work for one of the players so get some interesting insight into the goings on at times!

[mikeyd100]

Lol yeah Williams and also Joe Perry normally have quite a bit to say about it!! I do think it is probably useful stuff for players who are beginner/intermediate maybe. But once you've sorted your sighting that's it really. And obviously you can sort your sighting without the use of gadgets just as effectively if you ask me.

And yeah, sort of involved I guess in a loose sense - I work for one of the players so get some interesting insight into the goings on at times!

I can imagine, funny banter that goes on.

Ok thats cool, bet you seen / heard some stuff then... not all that can be mentioned in TSF lol

[Dave Walton]

I was wrong! Martin does use a sightright cue now and hasn't used a Parris previously, Parris just did some work on his old cue.

[Byrom]

Lol yeah Williams and also Joe Perry normally have quite a bit to say about it!! I do think it is probably useful stuff for players who are beginner/intermediate maybe. But once you've sorted your sighting that's it really. And obviously you can sort your sighting without the use of gadgets just as effectively if you ask me.

And yeah, sort of involved I guess in a loose sense - I work for one of the players so get some interesting insight into the goings on at times!

Some pro's will endorse anything if they get paid enough - cant say I blame them - some are funnier than others.

[j6uk]

I was wrong! Martin does use a sightright cue now and hasn't used a Parris previously, Parris just did some work on his old cue.

oh so parris done work on a sight right cue about a few years maybe 10yrs ago on martis cue, are you sure??