I am the first man to advocate longer cues
for taller players online in 2002. I was heckled and laughed
at by, mostly the forum bully crowd led by Lindsey David
- who has never really made a cue. I have heard that
he will build you a long cue now. Nothing like money
to change some people's morals. :-)
A Call For Fair Treatment To Pool
Players Who Are Taller
You know sometimes I just want to say to
the cue-length rule-makers this:
Hosea is 5 foot 1 inch tall
and he shoots with a 58 inch cue. Why can't you understand
that a male player who is 6 foot 5 inches tall needs a cue
longer than 63 inches!
Lets re-word that another way.
Hosea is
61 inches tall and uses a 58 inch cue. Then to have a height
to ratio comparison that would mean a man that is 75 inches
tall would use a cue that is 71.311475 inches long? Yet that
6 foot 3 inch tall (75 inches) man is restricted to using
a cue that is 63 inches long! But guess what? Just so Hosea
has to "use
a bridge" he
can shoot with that same 63 inch cue and it is legal! Heh,
heh, heh.
If the same rule for Hosea is applied to
me, at 6 foot
1 inches in height, then I would be using a cue
also that is 12 inches longer than I am tall, just like Hosea!
That would be 85 inches long! So . . . see what I mean?
It
is fair for the short players to shoot with a cue that is
too long for them but it is not fair for a tall player to
shoot with a cue that is ... say up to his upper lip? Where
is the common sense to this 63 inch IPT rule? One of the
men that helped to make that rule is a carom player and
these men hardly use any cue over 56 inches in length.
Alex Pagulayan's cue comes up to his eyes!
If my cue came up to my eyes I would be shooting with a 69
1/2 inch cue! Where is the fairness and equal treatment for
taller players?
You may say that my comparison was extreme.
Yes, but so is the IPT 63 inch cue-length rule! But if Hosea
is allowed a 63 inch cue (and according to the new rule he
is) then what? See the mess? Thus the shorter players gain
even more of an advantage while the tall players are handicapped
.... normal, huh?
Efren Reyes had me build him a cue that
comes up to his lips. Then if the IPT wanted a cue length
rule that was fair for everyone then make the length of approved
cues to be in proportion to the man's height, i.e., up to
his upper or lower lip. That would be fair for everyone,
wouldn't it? And the taller players would not be
penalized because of their genetic propensity for extra
height. But even that does now take into account the width
of the chest and shoulders nor the arm length.
Deborah Schjodt was fitted by me and uses
my cue. She is the tallest player ever in women's professional
pool and also holds the world championship for women's speed-breaking.
You can read what she has to say on my Accolades page.
She has a second QP Custom Cue she will be the owner of about
August 2008. It will be scrimshawed.
Even up-to-the-lips does not take into account
other governing factors, but there is a very easy common
sense rule to follow to get you the correct cue length in
only 30 seconds. :-) Or you can listen to one Filipino carnival-barker
as he takes you through a 30 minute complicated-hard-to-follow
spiel which is purposely worded by him so he can show his
superiority over you of other races. He has a image problem
and is always trying to measure-up, and recently copied me
again, to show you his race is superior, after all.
We cannot help being tall or short, so
lets have a rule that makes the cue length in proportion
to the players' height. Now that is fair. If Efren Reyes
has set the standard for many shooters in the game (And many
say he is the standard) let us allow him to set the standard
also for the length of the cue in relation to the players'
heights. Just be honest about this. Stop dumb rules that
do not allow the taller players to reach their full potential.
These rules are making pool even more of a game for men and
women shorter in stature.
Then this would allow most players who are
6 foot 4 inches tall to use a cue that is more approximate
to their height, which would vary but be in the neighborhood
of 63 to 67 inches in length.
Instead of this normal cue length being
according to their height, the rule really gives greater
advantage to the shorter players, especially the ones under
5 foot 8 tall, while greatly hindering the taller players.
Some folks don't have a clue, do they?
I would guess the rocket scientist that
made this cue-length rule is someone under 5 foot 11 tall
or the rule-maker consulted a cue maker who has been making
midget cues all his life and is going to continue on just
like his daddy and grandpa did. "That's the way we have
always done it." Heh, heh, heh. Or he is a carom player
where they are hooked on using short cues and do not need
the greater accuracy of a longer cue or a cue that actually
fits them.
A tall player cannot follow through correctly
with a midget cue. A cue that fits him allows him to follow
through correctly. Very few Pro players are over 6 foot
2 inches tall. Short players have dominated the game for
over 100 years and they should not because they must use
the bridge more. Why? Very few tall players can become world
class. Some can, but very few do because they cannot follow
through properly in their strokes!
If you are 6 foot or taller (there are some
players as short as 5 foot 10 inches tall that do need a
cue 63 inches long because of extra long arms and a wide
chest) then you are at the web site of the man that first
advocated longer cues for taller players...just like golf
or any other sport. Of course some high (?) IQ folks laughed
at me years ago over this. It should be noted that some of
the ones that laughed on the gossip forums, will now make
a long cue. Nothing like money to make some men (some men,
and certainly not all men) compromise their principles.
Some of the well-meaning leaders (while
they know how to use the equipment - cues - they do not really
know how to build the equipment) in this sport want to make
sure taller players have to also use the bridge (said to
me in an e-mail by Mr. Deno Andrews of the IPT) so they limit
cues to 63 inches in length. By this manner they keep out
millions of players 6 foot 2 and taller. Are they smart or
what?
Every pool-room owner wants more players
in their pool rooms, cuemakers want to sell more cues, but
most seem deaf-and-dumb when told how they can put millions
more into pool by making longer cues! Can you believe that?
Place a few cues in your pool-rooms that are 60 to 64
inches long. Then advertise in the local media asking for
taller players. Simple, huh?
What they are doing is to allow short men,
like Hosea, to hardly ever have to use a mechanical bridge.
i.e., a 63 inch cue could be bought to use ONLY on shots
they would normally have to use a bridge for. All the 63
inch rule has done is help a few taller players a little,
but has given more of an advantage to the shorter players
who, formerly through many cuemakers' lack of knowledge and
concern for taller players - and now through the IPT (If
it ever gets going) length limit, to dominate pool for another
100 years!
I have the most experience
in the world in making longer cues which are designed to
fit the person based upon their height, shoulder width and
arm length. No other cue maker in the world has my years
of experience. When I came on the internet scene advocating
this some fools (Mostly from The Philippines, well, we know
what kind of cues they make, don't we?) criticized me. Now
some of these very ones say they now will also make a long
cue. But they do not have experience! Heh, heh. Wait till
their extra long cues start warping and they are called to
replace them.
I mean like.... REALLY!!!!....Where is the
common sense of some people? Seems like too many think this
way, "Well, my cue making buddies says we have made
them 57 and 58 all our life and we are just going to continue." Heh,
heh. Due to me advocating longer cues in 2001 some cuemakers
now will make you a cue up to 60 inches long. A very few
say, "Any length".
I started building cues in a remote mountainous
area of China in the 1990s. I had a huge generator brought
in to run my equipment and to keep my home running. I did
not know another single cue maker, did not know of gossip
forums, did not know that there were magazines dedicated
to the game of pool.
I did not know that the cue makers were
building 57 to 58 inches as their standard. I was not influenced
by their thought, their standards or their inlay patterns.
It was obvious to me, from the get-go, that a taller person
needed a longer cue. I studied and thought about this for
over a year as I slowly cut the woods for my first cue. I
built that cue 64 inches long. Now years later, I see that
I built it one inch too long.
Many cue makers just do not have the experience
in building cues for taller players. In addition they are
hampered by the lathes they bought, which limit their
production to short cues. The wood sellers, especially the
shaft sellers rarely cut wood for cues longer than 60 inches.
Many good cue makers are hampered in this manner. I am sure
that most any International
Cuemakers Association members
can build you a long cue. I cut my own wood from boards and
am not hampered by the length cut by many wood sellers.
The case makers make cue cases for
the standard 57 - 58 inch cue length and that further hampers
taller players. They also are geared-up to making cases for
people under 6 foot tall. I am sure some of them will and
can make a longer case. Not bad-mouthing them, just
stating a fact.
Taller people need longer pants, longer
sleeved shirts, longer beds, and then you guys are going
to make them a 58 to 59 inch cue? If golf club making companies
thought like you guys then there would not be any tall men
playing golf and what would have happened to golf-club sales
if you "Cue-length-rule-makers dominated golf like you
do pool?
I have my system down for fitting the correct
cue length to any player.
If you order a cue from me, then I will
ask you to take a few measurements and then I will know the
cue length you need. If you do not order a cue from me,
then get someone else to attempt your fitting.
You can always go to someone else that does
not know what they are doing, get their cue, then still be
hampered after paying a grand or more or you can get your
information from me. Or maybe they will get it correct. :-)
I am sure many American and Western cue
makers agree with me that taller players do need a longer
cue. It's just common sense. Only the willfully ignorant would
think otherwise.
Most Western cue makers are level-headed
and I am sure can make a good long cue. Having said that,
I have more experience in building long cues than any cue
maker in the world.
