360 pure cue trainers

[Chris Bedford]

Are they any good and what improvements have you noticed using one? Did it improve your overal game? Are you making bigger breaks and more importantly has your consistency gone up. I will be buying one in the future when funds allow. At the moment I have an john partis ultimate being made so need all funds to that first but I've seen the videos on the pures and the demonstrations I just wanted some feedback from here, see what gives?

Chris

[nrage]

I reckon my 360 cue has helped my cue action. But, that won't necessarily translate into big breaks, especially if you - like me - lack the touch/break building knowledge and skills required to actually construct a break. My potting and consistency of cueing has improved, but now I need to work on controlling the white as well.

I think a 360 cue is probably most useful for a beginner or someone who believes their cue action could use some work. Then, useful to go back to every now and again to check you haven't "slipped" into bad habits.

I have a friend who cannot get on with it however, as he uses a large amount of chest contact pressure - which immediately bends the spring and makes the cue unplayable for him. IMO, the chest contact pressure he uses is too much, and he'd actually be better in the long run learning to cue with less - using the 360. But he's not interested.

[Terry Davidson]

For an experience player the 360 will tell him he has primary grip problems if the cue breaks before he hits the cueball. For instance, I had a student here who runs centuries in practice every now and again. I gave him the 360 and told him to just shoot the cueball over the spots so it just came back to his tip. No problem, he did it every time.

Now I asked him to hit the cueball to get 4-5 lengths of the table and he couldn't hit the cueball as the tip of the 360 was going over the top of it. The fault was on any shot above medium pace he was closing his grip at the start of the delivery in order to get the acceleration he needed and this was causing the 360 to break. It was so ingrained that he couldn't break the habit while he was in the coaching session unless he gripped the cue with his fingertips.

He immediately went out and bought a 360 and taught himself to use a longer backswing on higher power shots and to not close the grip on the butt of the cue and leave it the same pressure through the cueball.

I haven't seen him again to check on what he's doing now

Terry

[Chris Bedford]

360 pure cue trainers

Please let me know how he gets on Terry.

[Terry Davidson]

Chris:

I can tell you right now as I have one here at my facility and I use it all the time to check my stroke. With the 360 you get instant feedback (from the spring breaking) on just how good you are delivering the cue on the same plane and whether you are tightening your grip prematurely.

The instant feedback is the great thing about it and you soon learn how to use the 360 to deliver the cue straight and to keep the grip the same throughout the delivery. It will also teach you a long and level but slow backswing really helps in delivering the cue better.

Terry

[lennon11]

i have had one a while now( about a year)...i find it very good,it forces you keep the cue on the same plane and also encourages your transition to be smooth and not jerky or fast which is the cause of most cueing problems.

[alabadi]

I had a coaching lesson with Nic Barrows about 6 months ago and during our session he introduced me to the 360 Pure cue, i had read and seen these on the web and assumed that i would not be able to use one because of flaws in my technique that still exist today.

i was very suprised when i took some shots with the cue, i was very comfortable with it and never miss-cued once, i played a variety of different shots, stun deep screw, various power. i was expecting the spring to break at some point however it didn't, in fact i played better with it than my own cue.

Even Nic himself was suprised, i was really thinking of getting one because of the reviews i had heard, however after using it i wasn't sure.

i don't know if it was a fluke or that i tried harder when i used it and concentrated more, but i wasn't expecting that i could handle it the way i did especially when i see the some of the errors i still have now with my cueing.
i have heard that it helps i dentify any kinks in your cueing, any pressure would make the cue break so i guess it would help anyone who is trying to perfect their cue action.

all i'm saying here is that when i tried, it was as though i had perfect cue action.....I wish!

Alabbadi

[nrage]

I had a coaching lesson with Nic Barrows about 6 months ago and during our session he introduced me to the 360 Pure cue, i had read and seen these on the web and assumed that i would not be able to use one because of flaws in my technique that still exist today.

i was very suprised when i took some shots with the cue, i was very comfortable with it and never miss-cued once, i played a variety of different shots, stun deep screw, various power. i was expecting the spring to break at some point however it didn't, in fact i played better with it than my own cue.

Even Nic himself was suprised, i was really thinking of getting one because of the reviews i had heard, however after using it i wasn't sure.

i don't know if it was a fluke or that i tried harder when i used it and concentrated more, but i wasn't expecting that i could handle it the way i did especially when i see the some of the errors i still have now with my cueing.
i have heard that it helps i dentify any kinks in your cueing, any pressure would make the cue break so i guess it would help anyone who is trying to perfect their cue action.

all i'm saying here is that when i tried, it was as though i had perfect cue action.....I wish!

Alabbadi

I had a very similar experience the first time I used one, in a lesson with Terry in Gloucester at the SWSA. I went knowing I was struggling with things and assumed my cue action was to blame. First ball I hit with it was a long blue from baulk and it went into the middle of the pocket. I then immediately repeated that. I didn't keep on getting them, but I got more with the 360 than I did with the new cue I had just purchased from Terry

Terry was a bit surprised, and said so, he was expecting the cue to pick up an obvious flaw (from my description of form and the shots I missed with the normal cue). Despite the cue seemingly having "solved" or lessened my cueing problems, it didn't immediately translate into bigger breaks or more consistency, because...

I don't believe the 360 can pick up all types of flaw, for example:
- It cannot ensure you're striking the middle of the white.
- It cannot ensure you're not cueing across the ball.

What it can do is ensure you're not putting unnecessary pressure on the cue in any direction other than along the line of aim/travel which is definitely beneficial but it's not everything. It also encourages a nice loose grip - simply because you treat it with more care knowing it can bend. It encourages a smooth cue action, because otherwise it will bend. So, regular practice with one will probably help ingrain these good features in your cue action.

This is why I bought one, and did practice with it regularly for a month or so. Despite that, my game did not see any significant improvement which tells me I probably have other faults or problems I need to solve, which cannot be helped by the 360. The main ones for me seem to revolve around cue ball control, and as the 360 is much lighter and a completely different balance to my playing cue I think it hinders me rather than helping in that area.

All in all I am still happy I bought one, and I am certain it has helped my cue action (several people have independently commented on how smooth my action is when I'm playing well) but it's not a silver bullet or a cure-all. So, given your experience with Nic's 360 I suspect you're in the same boat as me, and have a problem or need to develop an aspect of your game which the cue cannot help with.

My 2c.