Gotta Hand it to Them

So, I considered trying out a glove a while back. I thought to myself, "hey, what's them all about? I should give them a try." I searched comments on the internet and then bought two recommended gloves to try.

My friend Tony has tried a lot of gloves and also Fingerslides and so he gave me a lot of great, very helpful information to help me in my decision of what to buy/try. :)

He did not like the Fingerslides for him because they were too thick. He said if I didn't mind my fingertips being covered, he highly recommend the Pooldawg brand (with the Pooldawg logo) as they are inexpensive, durable, tight-fitting, and very comfortable. The only drawback I found was that they don't come in more than one size. :( The Sir Joseph gloves come in many sizes and play well, but he thought their durability wasn't like the PoolDawg glove. I actually preferred the Sir Joseph glove when I tried it though. The Spandex on the Pooldawg glove is tight and durable - IF it fits; since it only comes in one size...that hurt my chances.

The best bet to getting a glove is for it to fit your hand tightly/snugly with a good material. Sure Shot glove is another glove with great material but the Sure Shot doesn't come reversible or for a right hand. Since I am left handed, another frown from me. :(

Tony wanted to "size up" my pool glove experience because I bought the PoolDawg and Sir Joseph gloves to try and he gave me all the above advice (which was VERY nice of him, btw!). He wrote to me and said:

"Do they suit your needs as you had hoped? If you don't mind, I'd like to hear your opinions of both the gloves you purchased and your overall opinion on the subject of wearing a pool glove in general. Personally, I have never understood why the pool glove is so reviled in the pool shooting community. In no other sport (baseball, football, golf, water skiing, cycling, weightlifting, etc.) are players/competitors condemned for the wearing of a glove/gloves as they are in pool/billiards. "

Well, 7 months later I can finally report back! Yes, it took me that long to try them. Right after they arrived in the mail, my Mom went in the hospital for 6 weeks and I lost track of the package. I searched for it just last week to try them out at my tournament over the weekend.

I pulled them both out Sunday morning to hit a few balls before the tournament began and one of my friends said a few times, "I'm going to make fun of you if you wear that." Well, I didn't care. If it helped the cue shaft in my hand, who was I to care? I admit, though, the tanned one was less obvious than the black one, lol.

A practice table was open and I tried the PoolDawg one on first and it "bunched" a little on top of my hand - it was too big. :( I still tried it out though on a few shots and the material felt good, but I couldn't really feel the cue in my hand because the glove was too big. Then I tried the Sir Joseph glove and it also bunched! :( I preferred the material better at that point because it "seemed" a tad thinner. But, because it was too large also, it just didn't feel right against the shaft when I stroked. When I switched back and forth both gloves, I found I actually liked the material of both of them, but because they were too large, it just wasn't helpful to me at all. :(

I would also have to cut the finger tips off because of my nails, but I wouldn't have cared, lol.

While I had them on, I also noticed I "tightened" my the butt and shaft of my cue out of habit a few times during a game but the cloth material of the glove got in the way of that. :(

Well, I tried them out, even though I didn't wear either during the tournament. However, I am happy I finally did test them out, though. I was willing to risk any snickers I might hear. :) I doubt I would use one even if they were the right size, but if I run across someone who has a smaller size, I will definitely ask to try theirs.