Are there any misunderstandings when purchasing billiard cues?

The following is taken from the official website of Snooker Star

Myth 1: Maple cues are easier to use than pewter cues

I often encounter this problem, and many friends They all believe that maple clubs have greater elasticity, stronger plugging force, and better performance than white wax clubs. In fact, this is not entirely the case. Ash wood has always been the main raw material for making sticks in the cold weapon era of ancient my country. The reason is that ash wood has good elasticity, toughness, stability and is not easy to deform. Everyone still remembers Wu Song in "Water Margin" When I went to Jingyanggang drunkenly, I was holding an ash whistle stick in my hand (although it was not used for hunting tigers). This shows that at least in the Song Dynasty, the application technology of ash wood was quite common and mature. I do not deny that the elasticity of maple clubs is indeed good, and it is indeed better than ash in some aspects. However, this does not mean that the performance of any maple club is better than that of ash. Maple is affected by the weather. To a greater extent, it is not as adaptable as the white wax pole. In different temperature and humidity environments, the performance has some slight fluctuations, and the difficulty of controlling it also increases accordingly. Here, I am not trying to differentiate between these two clubs, but the point I want to make is that maple clubs are easier to use than pewter clubs, which is definitely a misunderstanding. The simplest example is that among the masters, Jimmy White, who is recognized as having the strongest bat spin, uses ash clubs.

Myth 2: Wood grain determines the performance of the club

This issue is also a very common misunderstanding. Many friends use wood grain as the basis for choosing clubs. The first criterion is that some friends say that if the wood grain of a club is not correct, the club will deform along the wood grain in the future. I think this is incorrect. The texture of the club is actually determined by the angle at which the whole material is cut. The larger the cutting angle, the straighter the arrow. We know that the material selected for a club may come from the trunk, bark, and roots of a tree. , crown part and even branch part. Why are famous brand clubs much more expensive than unknown brand clubs of the same material? Because famous brand clubs are very picky in selecting materials, they usually only use the part in the middle of the trunk close to the bark, commonly known as the "second bark". The wood in this part has the greatest balance to meet the requirements for the club's hardness and elasticity, and is not easy to deform. . Low-end clubs are not so strict. So, if unfortunately you choose a club made of wood from tree branches, no matter how good the texture of your club is, it will be difficult to avoid deformation. Many friends now say that the texture of the clubs of some foreign brands such as JP is not good. In fact, this is because they have lowered the cutting angle of the wood in order to save precious materials. Friends who have the conditions can also give it a try. JP with bad texture will feel very transparent and complete when you hit the ball. This proves that texture does not determine the performance of the club.

Misunderstanding 3: Misunderstanding about small brass tips and mushroom-shaped tips

This is also a very common misunderstanding. Many friends like to choose smaller diameter clubs when choosing clubs. The most common copper nozzles are 9.5mm and 9mm. Some people even ask for a smaller copper nozzle. After buying it, they have to repair a mushroom tip. Why bother? In fact, many friends think that the smaller the club head, the more accurate the ball will be. In fact, this is not correct. The smaller the club head, the easier it is for the white ball to spin, because it is difficult for you to stably hit the center of the white ball. , and the rotation of the white ball will definitely have an impact on accuracy. The mushroom head is actually a technology invented to make up for the small club head. I personally do not recommend the mushroom head, because the mushroom head has insufficient congenital conditions ( The head is big and the bottom is small), in terms of force transmission performance, especially the force-returning performance, it is not as good as the traditional leather head. In layman's terms: it just doesn't work hard. Therefore, it is recommended that friends choose a 9.8mm or 10mm club head. As long as you get used to it, it will be of great help in improving accuracy, and most of the club heads of professional players are actually in this range. Everyone’s favorite Sullivan , his club head is 9.8mm.

Other Myths:

Other common myths include: The heavier the club, the stronger the plug. The longer the club, the more stable the shot will be. The weight of the club can indeed increase the momentum of the club hitting the ball, but the strength of the spin depends more on the integrity and penetration of the force, rather than how hard you use to hit the ball. Too heavy The club will affect the stability of the hand when exerting force, reduce the accuracy of the shot, and make it difficult to control. In fact, a club that is too long will not only fail to improve the stability of the ball, but will reduce it, because the longer the club, the greater the torque of the forward and backward movement, and the greater the possibility of deformation. The International Taiwan Federation stipulates that the clubs used in official competitions cannot be shorter than 135mm, but the length is not limited, which fully illustrates this point. The problems in this area are more related to the technical level.