Stiff Cues v Whippy Cues

The acid comments of the Editor concerning my whippy graphite cue (BQR. No.16.P21) reminded me of a short article of Riso Levi's in, "Billiards and Snooker Strokes," which is, incidentally, quite a rare book.

Levi stated, not surprisingly, that cues should be stiff and weigh about 16 or 17 ounces. Some play with 18 ounce cues, Clarke McConachy played with a 19 ounce cue, and as his suffering from Parkinson's Disease grew progressively worse, he increased the weight finishing his playing career with a 26 ounce cue. It is quite common these days for players, and especially snooker players, to have cues which are considerably heavier than was once the fashion Levi writes how he was one day entertaining Sydney Smith in his billiard room when the discussion turned to the question of screwing an in-off the spotted red from hand. Levi, who was then 75 years old, found great difficulty in scoring the shot and put it down to his age. Smith examined Levi's cue which was a very stiff one, played with it and scored the stroke, but surprised Levi by reckoning that the cue was really too stiff for big screw strokes. Riso then attempted the stroke using Smith's cue, less stiff than his own, and got the shot at the second attempt.

After some further discussion, Levi took from the rack a cue which he had used years before, and with which he had brought off some very big screw strokes, but had abandoned it as being too heavy and rather short. To his astonishment he found that he could not only get the screw in-off quite easily but that he could overscrew by as much as ten inches. He concluded that it was possible for a cue to be too stiff for big screw strokes but could not offer any reason why this should be so. Levi did not advocate that players should use less stiff cues than normal. On the contrary he recommended good 18 once, stiff cues, and declared that whippy cues were a billiards abomination, he did say that it seemed that for certain big screw strokes a slightly less stiff cue seemed to be more suitable.

As regards my own cue, it is of graphite, weighs over 18 ounces, and is the stiffest cue I have ever had. I selected it because I thought that the extra weight might help me keep it on line and therefore be an aid to better cueing. Whether my reasoning was sound I cannot really say. What I can say is that with this cue, I can screw back further, I can follow through better, and I can impart more side than with any other cue I have ever used. It's bad points are that it becomes very sticky in humid conditions, and its aesthetic appeal is just about nil. For all that, it has earned positive comments from such great players as professional snooker champion Ray Reardon, and amateur billiards champion Martin Goodwill.