Snooker table spots

[nocciola]

Also, what happens in the long run if you don't use these table spots?

Will the spot wear the cloth out so much that it will create a hole and tear the cloth at some point?

Or is it just more of an inconvenience with balls rolling of slightly, and that it's not pretty to look at?

[mikee]

If you don’t use spots the cloth wears very fast ,a ball rolling slowly over it will roll into the dip and settle ,balls will jump like a kick when it gets worse .It is a bit of a pain re spotting balls on spots ,but that is the better alternative than dints in the table baize .

[DeanH]

Also, what happens in the long run if you don't use these table spots?

Will the spot wear the cloth out so much that it will create a hole and tear the cloth at some point?

Yes.

This usually happens by the way that balls are spotted, by being placed directly onto the spot and often pretty hard; the best method is to put the ball to the side of the spot and gently roll it onto the spot. Not 100% the cause but the main cause - IMO

[nocciola]

OK thanks for the info guys, I'd better order me some table spots then.

Better to have the ugly spots protect the cloth and prolong the cloth's life.

But still undecided which spots to get...

[Danger Steve]

Don’t go for the white ‘lick n stick’ spots! There absolute crap! I have them now and nothing but a pain in the bum.... I’ve just ordered 10mm green self adhesive paper spots from Amazon, you get like 2000 for a few quid. I can’t comment on how good they are though because they haven’t arrived yet! But I can tell you those white spots in the brown packet with ‘USA’ written on, are total rubbish!

[nocciola]

In the end I went with these black spots: https://mcbillard.de/product_info.ph...ables-50-sheet

They seem to stick really wel and are very thin, also not too big so it looks neat.

[Danger Steve]

Yeah they look good! I have some 10mm green stickers that actually work very well and being green makes them less noticeable which I like. The ball now stays put when I re-spot a colour instead of rolling off one way or another..

[vmax]

Will the spot wear the cloth out so much that it will create a hole and tear the cloth at some point?

If your club can't afford regular re-clothing then yes this will happen. Our club is run on a shoestring budget and can only afford re-clothing it's three tables when finances dictate. In the past it's been known for the pocket jaws to wear down to the rubber and all spots worn down to a small hole and I feel that when the club does re-open, it's finances will be pretty dire and this may happen again. If you've never played on a table with bare rubber pocket jaws then you have no idea just how tight a pocket can be, bloody nightmare

[mikee]

The ball sticks to a worn rubber pocket jaw ,rather than slide and flow along it ,any contact throws it out anywhere ,sometimes even off the table .Played on a few of those .

[inevermissblue]

If you use spots you are just encouraging the inpatient ones to continue to bang the balls onto that area as we all know how difficult it is to get any ball to sit on a spot.
I have an ex TV #10 bed cloth which has had no more than a weeks wear. Plus I've had it for nearly a year already. With no spots on it ever! I spot the balls correctly and take care of high traffic areas such as cushion tracks and also leading into the pockets. I have to say, it still looks like new.
All wear is down to insufficient brushing to remove the Chalk anyway. As this is the main culprit for damage to your cloth. So the correct spotting and regular brushing does remove the need for hopeless spots.

[mikee]

I have small 8 mill spots ,and I change them every couple of weeks ,but as said by Inevermissblue regular brushing and blocking with more attention paid to the spotted area and the inner pockets where tracking marks build up is very important .My cloth has been on since February last year and still looks good round those areas .If your cloth does get a small wear area round the spots you can put a needle in the area and move it round under the cloth to break up chalk or dust hard areas .Taum. Chalk is also very good to use as it doesn’t leave chalk dust that builds up under the table like normal chalk does ..I don’t cover my table very often but clean it ever day it’s used and there is pretty much zero dust /chalk under the cloth and on the slates .

[Danger Steve]

If you use spots you are just encouraging the inpatient ones to continue to bang the balls onto that area as we all know how difficult it is to get any ball to sit on a spot.
I have an ex TV #10 bed cloth which has had no more than a weeks wear. Plus I've had it for nearly a year already. With no spots on it ever! I spot the balls correctly and take care of high traffic areas such as cushion tracks and also leading into the pockets. I have to say, it still looks like new.

Totally disagree I’m sorry but that just isn’t 100% correct and I can’t believe as a coach your even suggesting it is??. As you may know I have my own table at home which I completely refurbished myself to a very high standard, the cloth I used was 6811 29oz tournament. At first I just had a white pencil to carefully mark out the spots & D, within a month of maybe 2 hours a day practice I started to notice a slight dish on the black spot, not visible, but as you rolled the black towards its spot it would re-spot itself!!.... Now I NEVER once banged a ball onto it’s spot, I always place it near the spot and roll onto the spot exactly as the ref’s do on TV. In addition I would very regularly brush, nap & iron the table, the table would also be covered when not in use. Even still with all this care taken this still happened within a month and my cloth would have a thicker nap than no.10. So how has this happened? Well it’s down to repeatedly potting the black off it’s spot, when two snooker balls collide before they move across the table there is a moment of downward impact, this downward impact wears the cloth beneath the black! I’ve also noticed very small marks appearing in a circular pattern around the black spot, this pattern is the white balls downward impact into the cloth causing the same type wear...

So should you fit spots? Well if you want to avoid the black jumping out of a pot hole when you play the shot I would say absolutely essential! The thin paper spots I’m now using are excellent, you can re-spot the balls as normal and they stay put, as if they aren’t even there, yet when I now play shots the object ball doesn’t jump off it’s spot!

[mikee]

I damaged an old cloth by not having spots ,it will wear quick as Steve says .While you can’t do a lot about the circular marks around the black you get after time ,not using spots is not an option ,but each to their own .

[itsnoteasy]

If your club can't afford regular re-clothing then yes this will happen. Our club is run on a shoestring budget and can only afford re-clothing it's three tables when finances dictate. In the past it's been known for the pocket jaws to wear down to the rubber and all spots worn down to a small hole and I feel that when the club does re-open, it's finances will be pretty dire and this may happen again. If you've never played on a table with bare rubber pocket jaws then you have no idea just how tight a pocket can be, bloody nightmare

A few years ago nearly every table in our club was worn through to the rubber around the pockets. Touch the rubber at pocket weight and the ball would kind of stick on it and not drop, looking back now it was hilarious but there were often heard a few sweary words at the time.

[nocciola]

Totally disagree I’m sorry but that just isn’t 100% correct and I can’t believe as a coach your even suggesting it is??. As you may know I have my own table at home which I completely refurbished myself to a very high standard, the cloth I used was 6811 29oz tournament. At first I just had a white pencil to carefully mark out the spots & D, within a month of maybe 2 hours a day practice I started to notice a slight dish on the black spot, not visible, but as you rolled the black towards its spot it would re-spot itself!!.... Now I NEVER once banged a ball onto it’s spot, I always place it near the spot and roll onto the spot exactly as the ref’s do on TV. In addition I would very regularly brush, nap & iron the table, the table would also be covered when not in use. Even still with all this care taken this still happened within a month and my cloth would have a thicker nap than no.10. So how has this happened? Well it’s down to repeatedly potting the black off it’s spot, when two snooker balls collide before they move across the table there is a moment of downward impact, this downward impact wears the cloth beneath the black! I’ve also noticed very small marks appearing in a circular pattern around the black spot, this pattern is the white balls downward impact into the cloth causing the same type wear...

So should you fit spots? Well if you want to avoid the black jumping out of a pot hole when you play the shot I would say absolutely essential! The thin paper spots I’m now using are excellent, you can re-spot the balls as normal and they stay put, as if they aren’t even there, yet when I now play shots the object ball doesn’t jump off it’s spot!

Totally agree with you. I also have my own table at home with a Hainsworth cloth (don't recall which exactly), and just like you I take good care of it: always covered when not in use and a weekly brush + blocking (don't have an iron). and I also make sure no one bangs the balls when respotting.

The table gets used quite a lot at ~ 10 hours a week minimum, and after a few months the white circular marks around the spots appeared, and around the same time, maybe a bit later, the spot area itself started to fade quite quickly and the respotted ball wobbles a bit and 'respots itself' as you say.

so I decided to fix the spots to slow down further wear and prolong the cloth's life as long as possible to push back reclothing as far as possible. I'm thinking about fixing spots immediately after a recloth in the future.