Lack of form is it my new cue or just bad luck

[ardvark66]

Lack of form or is it my new cue or just bad luck I have been using my new cue for the last 4 weeks and my game has gone I used to regularly get 35/45 breaks now I have not even got 16 in the last week or so and its not just that its my safety play is not good either. Can a new cue have such a drastic effect on your game the only difference between my old and new cue is the weight the old being 16oz and the new being 18.5oz the tips are the same. The lads have said that I seem to be striking the ball a lot harder than I did and loosing position very quickly and I have also had a load of in offs as well. Has anybody any suggestions as to why and remedies to this drop in form.

[jrc750]

Well a 2.5 oz jump in weight is pretty major !!

[tony9ball68]

I also have a new cue, it is about 1/2 to 1 oz lighter than my old one, which I am struggling with, I appear to have no power with it, although I thnk it may be the tip, using a med talisman but it has no "bite" at all, can anyone recommend a laminated tip with some bite, tempted to try an ADR tip.

[itsnoteasy]

Lack of form or is it my new cue or just bad luck I have been using my new cue for the last 4 weeks and my game has gone I used to regularly get 35/45 breaks now I have not even got 16 in the last week or so and its not just that its my safety play is not good either. Can a new cue have such a drastic effect on your game the only difference between my old and new cue is the weight the old being 16oz and the new being 18.5oz the tips are the same. The lads have said that I seem to be striking the ball a lot harder than I did and loosing position very quickly and I have also had a load of in offs as well. Has anybody any suggestions as to why and remedies to this drop in form.

Well I know this sounds obvious, but dial back the power on each shot when practicing and see if it helps, so black off the spot to stun up, you will know how you hit it before just adjust down a notch and see if you get the right reaction. Or dial it back a bit more and hit the white just a bit lower or higher depending on the shot, to get the white to move.
Why did you go for such a big jump in weight on your new cue?

[ace man]

Many players think that their best game is their "normal" average game. Well it is not.
I bet you had the same bad spells with your previous cue too.

[rightoncue89]

I have also just changed my cue, iv gone from ash to maple (because iv used maple in the past and prefer it)
Iv also jumped from 16oz to 18.5oz,
The cue length from 57.25 to 58.
The shaft is stiffer and im currently using a mw supertip which came with the cue rather than ADR tip i had on my old cue.

And my first night with it was shocking, i only played 2 frames but my high break was 18 and i just couldnt make anything, im not one to normally blame my cue but this felt very strange and i just couldnt get comfortable with, and out of all the changes i made the one that stood out was the weight, i was over hitting shots constantly and it went from bad to worse.

So i would say the change in weight is more than likely the problem in this case aswell.

But on a good note, i have been playing for hours and hours on the pool table to get used to the feel and iv got as much snooker in as i can and it has got much better, the weight doesnt feel as strange now, im still occcasionally putting too much power into some shots but im getting used to it and im very happy with it.

Iv never thought too much about the weight of my cue, after all what difference can a few ounces make?? Well now i know the answer lol

But just put in as many hours as you can, even at home i was just holding and cueing over my dining table for a while every now and then to get used to it.
Now im getting used to it im seeing results and im feeling confident again.
Strangely my rest play has improved straight away, infact i have not missed a pot with the rest yet! Which is bizzare because it was a flaw in my game before, but hey ho i cant complain.
But iv got no idea why its improved with this cue, i cant see how it can make any difference but maybe somebody here will have an idea?!?

Anyway, id just keep trying with it and see how you feel after a while, if you dont feel comfortable and confident with it then possibly try your old cue if you can and see what happens.

[thelongbomber]

Lack of form or is it my new cue or just bad luck I have been using my new cue for the last 4 weeks and my game has gone I used to regularly get 35/45 breaks now I have not even got 16 in the last week or so and its not just that its my safety play is not good either. Can a new cue have such a drastic effect on your game the only difference between my old and new cue is the weight the old being 16oz and the new being 18.5oz the tips are the same. The lads have said that I seem to be striking the ball a lot harder than I did and loosing position very quickly and I have also had a load of in offs as well. Has anybody any suggestions as to why and remedies to this drop in form.

A change in cue weight can cause you to accelerate and decelerate the cue differently from your previous cue. Cue balance can also play a role. Physics 101 would indicate that with a higher weight, you need more overall strength to achieve the same cue speed which could be seen as hitting harder. Physics 101 would also indicate that with a higher weight, there could be more cue ball "push" (think of a Hummer hitting a Mini vs a Mini hitting a Mini - the Hummer will "push" the car further, even with a lower speed). Hitting harder is also highly subjective as it could just be the sound of the tip hitting the ball. Also, consider changing the tip before you give up on the cue as you might just have a bung, unresponsive tip on the new cue.

I wrote an article about cue characteristics here that might help: http://snookerdelight.com/snooker-ar...r-snooker-cue/

You might think at first glance, that the new cue isn't better, but if it's an overall better cue, then stick with it and perservere. It's important with a new cue to go back to basic practice routines like the lineup and such so that you can become re-associated with your cue and cue action and understand how to cue properly. After all, a century runner could probably pickup your cue and still run a century. Why is this? Cause they understand its the cue action that delivers the cue and they are able to adjust quickly to a new cue.

To answer your question, can a new cue have a drastic effect? If you don't have intimate control over your cueing, then yes, it can.

It's the indian, not the arrow.