Fast Cloth I Hate You!

[golferson123]

to be honest i can play on both, but prefer a bit of nap after all its old school and thats me

[lesedwards]

Well, its basically because you like to punch and stun the ball. You can do that on a slow table because the white won't move around a lot. Problem is on a faster table, you need to be stroking the balls more.

Hi Ted, I find the complete opposite. My table is heated and very fast and I find the cue ball to slide a lot more where as slow tables there is much more nap and the cue ball grabs more. So if I play a swerve on my table I cannot get the cue ball to move as much as some of the tables we play tournaments on. All I know is my table is very fast and tight.

[golferson123]

Fast Cloth I Hate You!

never a lover of ultra fast cloths ,liked a bit of nap seeing as that is what most club cloths are

[j6uk]

for me its about pulling the rains in a bit on the white. i would move more into the center an in terms of reaction from the cue ball i would treat the off straight as a 3/4 ball, the 3/4 as 1/2 an 1/2 as 1/4.. stay down an say with the cue till shot completion

[JayUK9779]

Some excellent posts on here thank you so much, really knowledgeable about the game. My league tables range from slow to no speed haha bar one venue which is exceptionally fast and is covered all year round and used for semis and finals. So in theory I have no experience on fast cloths apart from massive high pressure semi finals and finals I have been in and been beaten. So I am delighted my club has installed the most expensive high speed cloth as I can get some much needed table time on a fast cloth. However in terms of me being a force in competitions locally im probably going to struggle for awhile if my normal game consists of punching and stunning the ball and the slow cloth helping the cuing imperfections. I will hopefully end up probably a better player as a result, or I could end up cueing like Stephen Hendry towards the end of his career and probably quit the game lol gonna dedicate a full week on the table before my next match. Will keep you posted

[HemiRR]

I play snooker with A 60.5" 19 1/2 oz and pool with a 59" 19.5 oz (extra length shaft just to get to 59) I play in one snooker league using 5 venues (all kinds of table speeds even between tables at the same club and for pool I play at 11 different venues with tables for sledge hammer slow to lighting quick. I have a standard pace stroke that I use to test the pace of the table - similar to a lag shot but I try to hit my standard pace stroke and see how far the cue ball runs. I hit a couple of those 'pace testers" and table pace - super fast or super slow is not really a problem, as my brain just seems to build the correct pace into my shots. I think the key is that I am always playing on tables with different speeds, so my brain is used to adjusting to the various speeds.

[LucLex3119]

Lennon you are bang on the money. People get used to hitting the cue ball with a certain strength when playing on slow cloths. Then when the club re-cloths a table everyone is way off.

[LucLex3119]

Another meaningless post by Leo

[vmax4steve]

No, it's simple anxiety over loss of position due to over hitting that's making you take your eye off the pot. Relax and get used to the feel of the cloth and you will be back to normal.

[lennon11]

Funnily enough I thought I said that in the last sentence, but I take it you didn't get that far.
What you actually did is say that's "utter nonsense", then agreed with me (5% cue so does play a part, the rest mental and technical).

Yeah fair point...probably not the most coherent post ever by me...haha...sorry...but just trying to emphasise how minuscule an ounce or two on a cue actually is compared to the other accepts of the game.....

[perpetualboredom]

Funnily enough I thought I said that in the last sentence, but I take it you didn't get that far.
What you actually did is say that's "utter nonsense", then agreed with me (5% cue so does play a part, the rest mental and technical).

[lennon11]

I'll throw another curve ball in on this one, I'm sure the weight of a cue plays a part also.
Fortunate enough to have table heaters on our local club table, tables ironed before a game/practise etc, so always used to play with a 16-17oz cue and move the white around no problem.
Then when we played away on turf it felt like I had to hammer the ball so much for any reaction, that I couldn't cue straight.
Last year I had my cue reweighted to 18.5oz and you guessed it, playing fine on the slow away tables, but can't string a break together on a fast one!
I'm not saying that's down to anything other than my poor technique and mental fragility, but you can't change either easily if you're playing a long time - so I've gone down a home/away cue, I'll see how it goes.

Honestly this is utter nonsense ....if you had to rate snooker problems at amateure level out of 100%,about 5% would be the cue, about 20% mental attitude and around 75% cueing technique......all fast cloths do is show up is poor cueing.

[perpetualboredom]

I'll throw another curve ball in on this one, I'm sure the weight of a cue plays a part also.
Fortunate enough to have table heaters on our local club table, tables ironed before a game/practise etc, so always used to play with a 16-17oz cue and move the white around no problem.
Then when we played away on turf it felt like I had to hammer the ball so much for any reaction, that I couldn't cue straight.
Last year I had my cue reweighted to 18.5oz and you guessed it, playing fine on the slow away tables, but can't string a break together on a fast one!
I'm not saying that's down to anything other than my poor technique and mental fragility, but you can't change either easily if you're playing a long time - so I've gone down a home/away cue, I'll see how it goes.

[piper74]

Well, its basically because you like to punch and stun the ball. You can do that on a slow table because the white won't move around a lot. Problem is on a faster table, you need to be stroking the balls more.

i second this view.

[bolton-cueman]

stick with it...

as said above, playing on a fast, tighter (possibly?) table will improve your game tremendously. Everyone's first comment is it'll improve your hit - totally true. The biggest thing you'll improve though, imho of course, is your concentration. Every time you take a shot, even the break off you'll know you're gona have to be more accurate and strike the cue ball with more 'action' and less 'thump'.