A Cue Tip To Die For

A Look At Pro Billiards Cue Tips

I pursued a discussion with a pal recently on getting a tiny crown for the business end of my cue stick. When you choose for your cue tip a “real small playing surface” you are going to have a pointed, not rounded, tip. Unless the tip is flat, a bad thing as where one aims is not where the cue makes contact with the cue ball, the contact point is always very small. The difference in contact between a "dime shaped" surface and a "nickel shaped" surface is so minute that only the finest players with the most perfect of strokes can tell the difference, why I stay with a surface whose rounded edge matches the circumference of a nickel.

If you add more of a taper to the tip than the taper of the shaft, so that the diameter at the end of the tip is smaller than the ferrule, such a tip may be carved, although the more you taper the tip, the more accurate a stroke is needed. One cannot go toward extreme english as easily or be as consistent with long center strokes without much practice. As John McCain would say, "Drill, baby, drill!"

Once you’ve agreed to "nickel your tip" you have to choose what brand of tip to bear, yes? Check my notes below regarding:

• What The Pros Are Wielding In A Cue Tip

• What It Means To Have A “Pro Taper” And Why You Should Avoid One

• The Oft-Neglected Cue Ferrule And Your Billiards Game

Photo (c) 2008 Matt Sherman, licensed to About.com, Inc.