Hi, thank you for visiting my website, my name is Danny Douane and I have been involved in snooker since the age of 8. I am a ex semi professional player, I grew up playing in the same tournaments and practicing with some of the best players in the world including Kyren Wilson, Anthony Mcgill, Judd Trump and plenty more.
When I was 16 I made a competitive 147 break making me the third ever youngest to do it behind Ronnie O'Sullivan being the second youngest and Judd Trump being the youngest, so I am in extremely good company and very proud of this.
The whole idea of me starting my academy is so I can help youngsters and people of all ages and standards get the best out of their game and improve at something they enjoy, if I can help you do that, it would be fantastic and to see improvements would be a great thing.
I coach people of all abilities from beginners to century breakers.
I can help you with your safety play, break building, shot selection and keep an eye on your cue action and tell you what you are doing wrong, I have a very strong eye for detail.
Prices and special deals are at the bottom of the page, please feel free to have a look.
A soft tip compacts more into the cue ball when you make contact and its going to grab it more. if you have a harder tip its not going to grab the cue ball as much and its going to come off the tip much faster.
With a softer tip you get more spin than you do with a harder tip, but with a harder tip you get more feel as you go through the cue ball. Personally I like a softer tip because I like to be able to get as much spin on the cue ball as and when I need to. Elk master could be a good choice for this, its a nice soft tip and the reason it is blue is because it is bedded with chalk which means you don't have to chalk it as much, another small positive.
Once you start taking the game more seriously, you'll need to invest in your own cue, a good quality cue is a great investment, if you look after it, it should last you a lifetime.
So what is the best cue to get? well to be perfectly honest there isn't a right or wrong answer other than it depends on what you feel more comfortable with, how it feels and what sort of budget you have, normally the more expensive the cue then the better quality of wood it is.
So what should you look out for when buying a cue and how will it effect your game? cues are made up of three parts, the butt, the shaft and the tip. Most cues these days are made out of ash, its ideal to make cues from because its a very ridged wood. When it comes to the grain, then the finer and straighter it is then the less likelihood of it warping over a period of time.
The butt is the thick end of the cue what you hold on to when you play the shot, there are a range of woods they use to make the butt, the more expensive cues are normally made from ebony as its a heavy wood and it looks nice.
I've already spoken about soft and hard tips but let me come on to other aspects of the most important part of anybodies cue. The tip is attached to the cue normally by being glued to the feral which is the band that goes around the end of the cue. In snooker the feral is normally made of brass.
The size of the tip is normally what causes the most anxiety when picking out a cue, most cues from the shelf will have a tip size from nine to ten millimeters, the general idea is the bigger the tip then the easier it is to his the cue-ball where you want, the smaller the tip, the more spin you can put on the ball, personally my preference is a bigger tip. A bigger tip will help you pot more consistently and above all technique is more to do with the amount of spin you can apply than the tip size. my advice is to not go smaller than nine and a half millimeters because you don't need to.
The other thing that will effect the cue-ball is the weight of the cue, cues for snooker normally weigh between 17 and 19 ounces. the lighter the cue will give you more control of the weight of the cue-ball. A heavier cue will help you play spin shots more effectively as there is more momentum in the cue during the delivery but you'll have less control over the pace.
Balance is another consideration, a better quality cue normally has a solid butt made from a heavy wood like ebony so the weight of the cue will normally come from the wood which means its distributed along the cue. If you have a cheaper cue then the wood is lighter so quite often the cue maker will weigh the cue up by filling a hole and putting a weight inside, this means the cue will have a lot of weight towards the rear of the cue so the front is more likely to fly up during the follow through which is the last thing you want if you want to cue the ball in a straight line.
These are just a few things to look out for when purchasing your new cue and I hope it proves to be useful information.
I will be doing my coaching at hurricane club in Colindale, North West London which is a great venue. It boasts 1 star table, 4 match tables and 10 standard club tables. if you are not familiar with the club then feel free to google it.
Email: info@dannysnookeracademy.com
Mobile: 07961999370