how it works
Gravity Cue
The patented Gravity Cue is a multi award winning breakthrough that represents the biggest legal leap forward in cue technology for over 200 years. The Gravity Cues patented strong bias effect reduces both lateral and rotational movement in the player’s action. This is achieved from the built in predetermined resistance created through the cues scientifically developed split keeled weighting system. On average the Gravity Cue resists rotation by an incredible 300 times more than that of a standard cue and resists out and out lateral movement by an average 15%. This provides the player with a cue that carries a proven mechanical advantage over any cue gone before. By excepting what the cue is constantly encouraging you to do, you will be instantly on the way to a straighter, smoother, more powerful, consistent cue action.
360-PureCue Action Trainer
The 360 PureCue Action Trainer is without doubt the most effective cue sports training device ever produced. Not only does it diagnose all the individual flaws in every players cue action, (including snatching), it will, with practise iron them out. The secret lies in the patented self centring spring mechanism. The ingenious yet simple invention acts much like any normal cue when you execute the shot to the best of YOUR technical ability but will bend and cause you to lose complete control of the stroke when you don’t. This level of instant feedback provides the most comprehensive personal development process available to the modern player and will help train a near perfect relationship between yourself and the cue. Quite simply to master the 360 PureCue Action Trainer is to master and unlock the finest playing version of yourself.
1: What is the Gravity Cue
The Gravity Cue was invented as a result of my experiences over many years as a professional snooker coach working with players of all ages and all levels of skill. A 3 year development phase involving contributions from scientists in the field of boat making, aeronautic designers, bio-mechanic engineering, mathematicians and of course cue makers; has all culminated into the finished product.
The Gravity Cue is already considered to be the biggest leap forward in cue technology for over 200 years. It has won 6 awards for innovation and is now being produced by a growing number of cue makers who have signed legally required licensing agreements with the Gravity Cue Company to make it.
The Gravity Cue features the patented active, split keeled weighting system creating the two most effective forms of stability; primary and secondary stability. This gives the Gravity Cue an extremely low centre of gravity and produces a resistance to the two biggest cue action faults in cue sports; out and out lateral movement of the cue and rotation of the cue.
The Gravity Cue really does put “Technology in the palm of your hand” and is the most advanced legal cue ever produced. The Gravity Cue is a major breakthrough that actually encourages the player to cue straighter by constantly, subtly pulling you in to a straight line.
All of the Gravity Cue claims have been rigorously tested and verified by the Engineering Development Centre at Liverpool John Moore’s University in England. The academic team of bio-mechanical engineers who carried out the work now recognise the Gravity Cue is a huge development for the good of the game and believe that the technology will help revolutionise cue sports and enable every player achieve their full potential.
Once you have experienced the extraordinary effect the Gravity Cue has on your body and game you will realise just how little your current cue gives you in the way of assistance. The Gravity Cue is not a magic wand, the player is required to work with it and in doing so, the cue will help provide the player with a smoother, straighter, more powerful and altogether a more consistent version of you.
The Gravity Cue carries a uniquely configured duel weighting system that provides both primary stability from the scientifically developed keel and secondary stability derived from the built in hull. The two combined, give the cue an extremely low centre of gravity creating a huge bias effect that resists rotation hundreds of times more than that of any conventional cue that has gone before and just like any other object with a lower centre of gravity the Gravity Cue also resists out and out lateral movement. In essence the Gravity Cue is designed to carry a mechanical advantage that encourages smooth, free back and forth movement but resists left to right or twisting movements.
Standard Cue
Weighted at core
A standard cue is weighted to the core and relies solely on the player and offers no resistance to inaccurate movement.
Gravity Cue
Split keeled dual weighting system
The Gravity Cues dual weighting system provides the player with both rotational and lateral resistance.
On average the Gravity Cue provides 300 times more resistance than that of a standard cue and 15% more lateral resistance, effectively meaning it takes more effort to go off line with a Gravity Cue than a standard cue of comparable weight, length and balance point
What Every Player Needs To Know
Every player who has ever picked up a cue will have asked themselves at one time or another why any form of consistency with the cue can seem so elusive. The simple fact is while things like a solid stance and bridge hand etc are all very important; the secret to straighter smoother more powerful and all together more accurate cueing lies in the players cue hand. To cue the ball repetitiously well, the player is required to connect with the cue in a way that allows them to feed it through the hand without interfering with or pulling on the cue line. To achieve this, the player must not rotate or move the cue from side to side. Perfect harmony of the wrist, hand, fingers and cue are required to avoid all of this. Unfortunately where wielding a straight cue is concerned, the bio-mechanical make up of the hand is a fundamentally flawed one, four fingers on one side of the cue and only the thumb on the other creates a huge natural imbalance of forces acting on the cue from the one area of the body responsible for driving the cue towards its intended target. Twisting or turning of the wrist and failure to feed the fingers through a true cue line in your most economical manner creates these uneven forces resulting in a constant battle between the player and the cue from the moment you take hold of the cue through to the completion of the shot. A conventional cue offers virtually no resistance or feedback to any of the most important aforementioned technical flaws that we have all inherited.
3: Why Is The Gravity Cue So Much More Effective Than A Conventional Cue?
The Gravity Cue has been developed to physically resist the most undesirable voluntary and involuntary movements that contribute more than any other to inconsistent, inaccurate play. The Gravity Cue’s physical attributes are down to the cues active response system that balances out the natural imbalances in players make up. It does this by constantly attempting to stabilise itself in its predetermined state. The mental feedback provided to the player is supplied by sensory assisted feedback. This combination of factors stimulates not just the “basic motor skills” but also the players “fine motor skills” leading to a more finely tuned version of each and every player. These physical and mental signals the Gravity Cue provides to the player are powerful enough to encourage the player to comply with what the cue is instructing them to do resulting in a much more harmonic relationship between the player and the cue.
Lateral Resistance
Just like any other object with a lower centre of gravity, for example a racing car, The Gravity Cue holds its line far more readily than any other equivalent standard cue with a higher centre of gravity.
Standard Cue V Gravity Cue
Step 1 – Pre-shot Routine
A conventional cue requires even the best of players to fidget around with the cue in an attempt to locate a common starting point to refer to. This often leaves the player still rotating their cue and searching for the cue to be the right way up when down on their shot. Something as simple as this is often enough to make the player either play the shot before they are ready or lose concentration of the shot itself.
The Gravity Cue supplies the player with two levels of feedback at this stage, not only does it encourage and remind the player to relax the hand from the start, it also provides the player with a physical repeatable reference point on every shot. This leaves the player only to decide where they will place their hand along the length of the cue resulting a quicker more consistent set up and more concentration on the shot itself.
Step 2 – Cueing Up
With its limited feedback the conventional cue offers the player very little assistance, effectively going where the player makes it go.
At this stage with its active response system, the Gravity Cue is already pulling the player towards it by constantly attempting to fight deviations from its predetermined location, resulting in a smoother straighter more stable cue action. The better the cueing up phase, the better prepared the player is for the shot itself.
Step 3 – Take Back and Follow Through
This all important stage again gets same limited feedback calling for the player to try to avoid all the interference that the hand and body exerts on the cue line.
At this stage the Gravity Cue really comes into own. Constantly attempting to break through the imbalances and sticking points exerted on it by fighting through them regardless of how far the player brings their cue back and through the ball.
Step 4 – Rest Play
As with all the above a conventional cue will go where the player makes it go when using the rest.
Even though the player at this point is holding the cue in a different fashion, the same principles apply. The fact that you are building yourself around a predetermined resistance point, results in the promotion of more accurate movements.
Most people would have heard the saying “Let the cue do the work”, this is because the more it does the less the player is interfering with the line. This is the whole object of the Gravity Cue to encourage a pure, undisturbed true line. Most players would speak of the importance of a straight cue but what use is a straight cue when the player is constantly fighting with a straight line. By responding to what the cue is constantly guiding you towards, will guarantee a more accurate version of yourself.
4: Gravity Cue Effect on the Player
Short Term
An almost inevitable initial failure to build yourself around the pre-determined way that the cue is set up, results in a pulling sensation on the players body starting with the hand. At this stage the cue is telling you a number of things.
Example
- You are holding the cue too tight or indeed too loose.
- You are holding the cue inconsistently and too firmly around the radial axis.
- You are twisting your wrist.
- You are cueing with some sideways movement.
- You are generally interfering with a pure line.
This level of feedback can feel a little strange at first but is something that you should welcome. For this is the whole point of the Gravity Cue, to seek out and smooth over these imperfections so that you are personally made conscious of what YOU need to do and unconsciously work towards more accurate movements.
You will also notice a difference in wear on your tip. The Gravity Cue tip will wear down on one side more than on a standard cue doe to the fact that you will be striking the cue ball more constantly more of the time, this is something that you should welcome because this is providing you with further evidence and in turn confidence that you are developing with the Gravity Cue. The very top cueists get this a lot as the better you cue the more uneven the tip wears; it is for this reason the Gravity Cue Co. recommends a more modern tip like the Talisman soft. This tip is designed to hold its shape better than a standard tip.
Long Term
The longer that you play with the Gravity Cue the more than you will conform to what the cue is designed to do. Firstly the hand will become far more educated to working through a straight line, then due to the fact that the rest of the body is all linked together, you will experience a more harmonic coming together of the whole body and the cue line. Effectively, the Gravity Cue begins to drive the hand and your body follows what the hand does and therefore the whole body and Gravity Cue begin to work more like one single unit.
When the player no longer feels the sensation of the Gravity Cue pulling against any part of their body, the player is at this point genuinely cueing through a much more productive line and functioning more accurately, smoothly and more powerfully.
In extensive tests ran over a two and half year period at the Liverpool Academy of Snooker Excellence, Liverpool John Moore’s University - Engineering Development Centre and with the integral assistance of engineers in the field of boat building science, aeronautic design and bio-mechanics we found that there wasn’t one single player who failed to cue consistently straighter, smoother and with more natural power. The time-scale that these positive affects the Gravity Cue has on the player varied anything from after only a few shots and up to 3 weeks practise.
5: What is the 360-PureCue Action Trainer
The patent pending 360 Pure Strike Action Trainer has been developed by professional coach and Gravity Cue creator Neil Johnson and is a huge technological breakthrough in cue sports training. The training cue incorporates a specially designed self centring spring loaded section that flexes/bends when any uneven distribution of pressure is applied by the player. This forces the player to attempt to balance out the imbalances in their action in the playing position, through 360 degrees. The 360 will not only highlight every flaw in each and every individual’s action, it will with practice, train them flaws out, including the flaws you didn’t even know you had. The cue does this by challenging the player to not only further develop their basic motor skills but also their fine motor skills. Just by attempting to develop a full repertoire of shots with the 360 PureCue Action Trainer whist trying to avoid any flexing/bending of it gives the player an absolute means to developing the very individual mechanics they should be adopting that are personally suitable to them if they are to achieve the very best version of themselves
The 360 Pure Strike Action Trainer will help you to:-
- Minimise or even eliminate twisting and turning of the wrist.
- Train away lateral arm and shoulder movement.
- Get on and stay on the correct plain.
- Virtually eliminate snatching through the development of perfect tempo. Perfecting the transition in the action is the key to perfect timing.
- Develop a full, smooth, even delivery.
- Become like one with the cue
- Develop a seamless shot routine.
- Develop the perfect rest play action.
The 360 Pure Strike Action Trainer has been designed to help each and every player as individuals and with regard to technique, cut through the often conflicting opinions of players and coaches alike. From one shot to the next, whether in isolation or combination, you are either applying an uneven distribution of forces on the cue line through pushing, pulling, pressing, twisting or turning or you’re not. The 360 PureCue Action Trainer has the capability to diagnose and train out all the flaws that cause a player so much frustration by simply providing them with the answers to their individual needs.
