So a few months ago after reading all the hype about radial consistency and 29% less deflection you sold your old favorite cue that you've used for a long time and bought a new Predator. At first everything was great but ever so slowly you game has gone downhill. You've lost that confidence that you once had in your hard earned abilities and sometimes you're frustrated enough that you even think about giving up the game. You still make most of the shots that you used to but not the more difficult shots or the ones that require finesse especially when using english. Worse yet you have to struggle to beat players that used to be no problem.
The good news is that you can get your game back and bring it to new heights if you understand the differences between your old stick and your new Predator.
First let us review some principals on deflection. Anytime the cue ball is struck to the left or right of its vertical center both the cue ball and cue stick veer away from each other away from the original point of aim. That is to say if you strike the cue ball to the right of center the tip end of the cue stick will veer to the right after contact and the cue ball will veer to the left. This of course will cause the cue ball to impact the object ball to the left of the point of aim requiring you to adjust you aim to the right. The harder you shoot the greater the deflection of both the stick and cue ball requiring you to aim further in the direction of the engish that you are using. If you shoot hard enough you will have to aim well outside the object ball into thin air to make up for the deflection. To make matters worse when shooting soft or very soft the deflection is neglible on both the stick and the cue ball and you will need to compensate heavily for object ball throw. This requires you to compensate in the opposite direction than you would for deflection. If you are using right english and are shooting softly it will throw the object ball to the left and you will need to adjust your aim to the left.
At this point you should begin to see a pattern. When shooting softly with english compensate your point of aim on the object ball in the opposite direction of the applied english. As your speed increases to just above soft don't compensate at all (as deflection and throw cancel each other out) and as your stroke speed increases beyond that adjust your aim in the same direction of applied english.
Now that you understand how deflection works you can begin to make the right adjustments when using your Predator. Since the Predator deflects less you simply compensate less than with you did with your old stick when your cue ball speed is above a soft speed. If you have to compensate 1/2" to right of the object ball contact point with your old stick you would aim something close to 1/4" with the Predator. The Predator puts more spin on the cue ball when using english as the tip stays on the cue ball longer because of less deflection even when the deflection is neglible. Because of this when shooting at a soft or very soft speed you would compensate your aim more in the same direction that you did with your old stick as it will throw the object ball more. One last point is that the stroke speed where the throw and deflection cancel each other out is going to be a little higher with the Predator.
These same principals apply to any changes in your stick selection. There is a wide variety in stick deflection between the various makes and types of cues. You may use a stick that is much closer to the Predator in the amount of deflection that it has. In this case the compensation for the point of aim would be much smaller but would still apply. It should also be obvious that any change you make to your cue whether switching to a new cue, new shaft, vibration damper, new bolt or other changes will affect the amount of deflection that your brain has learned to compensate for. Understanding how these principles work will allow you to adjust to the changes you have made. My advice is that if you find a cue that you shoot well with don't ever change it. The longer you shoot with the same cue the more your brain will adjust to it and make changes down the road more difficult to adjust to. In a stressful moment your brain will revert to the muscle memory for the old stick and cause you to blow your shot.
