Inches Either Way

[sixofclubs]

No smirking, but how important is length?

I read somewhere that Stephen Hendry reckons the tip of your cue should be level with your shoulders. Why?

I am finding myself wanting to try a longer cue but have no scientific basis for why, other than I seem to cue better when I grip my current cue right at the end.

I am 5ft 11 and my cue is 58" to the top of the tip and comes up level with the top of the sternum just below the manubrium (i.e. about 2 inches below shoulder level)

[SouthPaw]

Inches Either Way

I believe your arm span has a lot to do with an ideal length of a cue, height alone is not a good indicator. If you can upload a photo of you in the address position... I'm sure the experts on here could gauge whether you need a longer cue, or if your fine with your current cue.

[ongkia]

I used to play with a cue that's only 55.5" long but when I tried a cue which is 57" long, I found that I played better with it. So now, all my cues are 57" in length................... I'm five feet seven and a half.

[billabong]

I used to play with a cue that's only 55.5" long but when I tried a cue which is 57" long, I found that I played better with it. So now, all my cues are 57" in length................... I'm five feet seven and a half.

When you say you used to use a cue 55.5" long, was that before you bought the 57" long JPU #985, 7 years ago ?



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[Bigmeek]

I believe your arm span has a lot to do with an ideal length of a cue, height alone is not a good indicator. If you can upload a photo of you in the address position... I'm sure the experts on here could gauge whether you need a longer cue, or if your fine with your current cue.

Agreed. Length of arms is more relevant than height. Also whether you play with bridge arm straight or bent and how many inches you like past bridge hand can affect length of cue you feel comfortable with. A good coach would be able to advise.

[alabadi]

i'm not sure that the bridge length matters, but what most would say, when you are in the address position your forearm should be perpendicular to the ground and your grip hand is directly above your foot/heel

[vmax4steve]

No smirking, but how important is length?

I read somewhere that Stephen Hendry reckons the tip of your cue should be level with your shoulders. Why?

I am finding myself wanting to try a longer cue but have no scientific basis for why, other than I seem to cue better when I grip my current cue right at the end.

I am 5ft 11 and my cue is 58" to the top of the tip and comes up level with the top of the sternum just below the manubrium (i.e. about 2 inches below shoulder level)

It's all about being able to sight along the line of aim, which of course your cue is part of if you're sighting correctly. When close in to the shot you want to make, ie a couple of feet in and around the black and pink spots, then the line of aim is shorter than when the shot is further away.
Putting the cue on the line of aim and seeing and checking that it is in fact on the line of aim has everything to do the the length of cue sticking out over the thumb of your bridge hand in relation to your head position/eyes.

For example, when using the rest the whole of the cue can be seen to enable it to be put on the line of aim, making rest shots very easy to sight, yet when the cue ball is frozen to a cushion only a small length of cue can stick out over the thumb of the bridge hand. This is what makes cueing off the cushion more difficult, the eyes cannot be as certain that the cue is on the line of aim because the eyes don't have enough cue in sight, same as when bridging over another ball to address the cue ball.

It's important also to have a cue long enough to allow you to be comfortable in your stance with your bridge arm as straight as you want it to be and your cue arm at the very least vertical in relation to the floor when at the address position. For the cue arm to be forward of vertical means that the shoulder will come into the shot before the cue ball is struck which will take the cue off line.
Behind the vertical is OK but forward of the vertical is not.

Therefore when playing long shots you will need more cue over your thumb to be able to sight the line of aim without taking your cue arm forward of the vertical at the address position.

All the best players have cues that are long enough for this and in fact move their grip hand along the butt depending on how far away or close the object ball is. The only top pro I've ever seen that had his cue arm forward of the vertical was Willie Thorne, a tall man with a standard length cue who somehow got away with it, but only in practise, and that speaks volumes. There is not a single top pro today that cues like this, Mark Williams is very close and at times does and that's why he is so inconsistant. To have a cue action like his means that it's very easy for it to go wrong and his timing has to be spot on at all times.

Length of arm span is what determines this more than anything else. I'm six foot two and have a cue of 62 inches which when touching the floor comes up to an inch below my chin. I only hold my cue right at the end when playing long shots, and seeing as the width of my grip hand is about 3 & 1/2 inches that equates to 58 & 1/2 inches of cue beyond my forefinger, straight bridge arm, and cue arm a little behind the vertical at the address position.

I know I said that putting the cue on the line of aim for rest shots is easy, and it is, but for those of you who struggle with the rest, then it's purely your delivery of the cue that is failing.

[grey]

I'm 5'10'' and use a 54'' cue for English 8-ball, and 57'' for snooker. Both cues are a similar weight (but totally different balance)

I feel the overlap of the cue (behind the cueing hand) helps deliver the power (unnecessary for 8ball). The shorter the overlap, the less power but more agile a cue feels. This course depends on the balance of the cue - the more overlap, ideally, the more weight forward the cue need to be.

My brother (also 5'10'') has a more compact style, so uses a 56'' cue for snooker despite having exactly the same prefered overlap as I.

So, in conclusion: I suspect best length of cue depends on your, span, style, balance of chosen cue and what you want to get out of your cue. I believe a player's height is only a rough indication of required cue length.

[itsnoteasy]

Nice post Vmax, I'm 6 ft 1in, play with a 57.5in cue ,bridge 10inch from tip ,bend in cue arm,held just above the badge, say a couple of inches from the end.

[Byrom]

I believe your arm span has a lot to do with an ideal length of a cue, height alone is not a good indicator. If you can upload a photo of you in the address position... I'm sure the experts on here could gauge whether you need a longer cue, or if your fine with your current cue.

I agree - some people have longer arms so the shoulder thing is not such a good guide but some people prefer a longer bridge than others so its as broad as long

I was taught once how to fit to a cue and keep it consistent naturally.

Cue up untill your tip touches the brown on its spot place your V over the edge of the D and get in shape with your forearm vertical if you like sightly more or less at the front adjust accordingly until it feels right. Then place some tape around where your grip is to help remind you where to hold the cue consistently.

This is how I learned exactly what cue size suited me.

[vmax4steve]

Neil Maxman explains it very well,

[Byrom]

Measuring with your shoulder is an incorrect way of doing it because you can be shot with long arms or tall with long legs but a short reach -

The long or short back swing also plays a part as does your preference of holding the cue the bend in your cue arm to get comfortable and compact and your stance - therefore I still think my way of fitting a cue that I was taught that I explained earlier is much the better way v-max.

The shoulder height thing in my opinion is a slightly flawed method and the equivalent of rolling a cue on a table to see if it is straight.

[vmax4steve]

The shoulder height thing in my opinion is a slightly flawed method and the equivalent of rolling a cue on a table to see if it is straight.

If you bother to watch the whole video he goes a bit deeper into it than that.

[Sidd]

the actual answers are given above ... I will reply to the joke only ...

its not the size (length) dude... its always how you do it applies here too yeah

[mythman69]

the actual answers are given above ... I will reply to the joke only ...

its not the size (length) dude... its always how you do it applies here too yeah

My friend always says "it is not the size of the wand but the magic in it that counts".