What to Look for in a Billiards Cue

Mike Page's Excellent Squirt Explenation

The cue stick you choose to play with will have a huge impact on how consistently you play.  Even if you’re relatively new, you’ll want to pick a cue and stick with it.  Each cue, even cues from the same manufacturer, will play differently.A big factor in this is the cue’s shaft.  Different cue shafts will create different amounts of cue ball “squirt” and “swerve”.

Cue ball squirt and swerve are a huge factor in just about every shot your shoot, like it or not.

I was wondering how I was going to convey these two crucial concepts, when I found a fantastic video by Mike Page. Mike Page is a long-time billiard forum contributor and a BCA certified Instructor.  His video does a great job of explaining the difference between squirt and swerve. It also does a good job of illustrating just how much they can affect the cue ball path.

NOTE: If these concepts are foreign to you, don’t worry, because it is possible to play great pool without understanding these characteristics of cue science.

Mike has some really good info in that video. There are a couple of key points that I think you should remember when selecting a billiards cue.

Firstly, your cue stick shaft has the biggest impact on how much your cue ball will squirt. Some shafts, such as the predator shafts, are designed to produce very little squirt.  Other cues produce much more squirt.  Therefore, it is very important to practice with the cue you will be playing with, especially the shaft.  If you have to switch shafts or sticks, you should take some shots with side-spin to get a feel for how much it squirts so you can make some adjustments as needed.  You can play great with just about any cue, but you’ll have to learn that cues characteristics.  Some will take longer than others.

Secondly, elevating your cue when using side-spin will cause the cue to swerve.  As you saw, the speed and amount of elevation both affect how much the cue ball will swerve. If you don’t stroke correctly, you can create swerve inadvertantly, so be mindful of that. That can be caused by elevating the back of your cue too much during a “normal” shot.  Also, it is possible for your cue tip to “dip” down and to the right or left during your stroke. That can cause some cue ball swerve that can affect your accuracy, especially on longer shots and/or tighter pockets.  You can see on the video just how drastic the effects can be. That is why it is so important to be aware of these issues.

Don’t ever doubt your mind’s ability to learn, its amazing. It can, unconsciously, calculate these affects and make the appropriate adjustments in your aim and stroke to allow you to play at a very high level.

Many players do it without really understanding how their doing it.

Though, it can take a very long time to “train” your brain and give it enough data through trial-and-error to become a consistent player.

As I said, one way to shorten this learning curve is to find a cue that plays consistently, then play and train with that cue.

I believe that the best cues to help in this area are low deflection cues like a predator cue.Low deflection cues help in a couple of ways.First, the pie-cut shaped laminated shaft pieces make the cue play consistently, no matter which way the shaft is turned.  Second, the low deflection helps improve accuracy and shortens the learning curve, especially for beginner to intermediate players.

One last tip…

When you decide on a cue to play with on a consistent basis, I recommend using a very structured stroke training to help you compensate for factors such as squirt and swerve.  It can really help to demistify things that go wrong.Like they commonly do in this sport.Hopefully, this will help you find a great cue and improve your game.