Snooker Tip Shapes – What do the pro’s use…

Well I’ve been changing snooker tips for over 34 years now and people are still trying to find that perfect shape and get the edge on the opposition. Is there a perfect shape? Well we could debate that all evening and after discussing this with many players, conversations can get quite heated when discussing what constitutes the perfect strike from the best surface and that’s even without discussing which chalk should be used.

I watched this years World Snooker Championships and decided to observe a few of the tips on show and tried also to see if I could see what makes of tips the players used and how they had shaped them. One thing I did see was that not only did Stuart Bingham change his tip for the world’s but it was a completely different shape; was this because the old one had worn out or because he wanted to totally change the look and feel of it? Did this affect him going out in the first round? Well let me know what he says if you have the gumption to ask him; I wouldn’t and he’s a lovely guy by all accounts.

So, what tips do people ask for?

Snooker Tip – Domed

Very common tip and has a nice large dome on the top of the tip, this is certainly the tip shape I get asked for the most.

Snooker Tip – Mushroom Flat

This is just a tip that is a size up from the ferrule diameter and fitted in the usual way.

Snooker Tip – Coned Mushroom

This is an over-sized tip with the sides sliced diagonally to meet the ferrule diameter (see Barry Hawkins tip below).

Snooker Tip – Flat

This also a very common tip where the edges are sanded off but the top surface is pretty much flat.

So…

Take a look at some of the professional players tips below which I collected just prior and during and after the 2016 World Snooker Championships, why do you use the shape you use and do you need a change?

Barry Hawkins Snooker Cue Tip

I’m not so sure on the coned mushroom tip myself as it’s certainly way out there but it looks like it would have plenty of feel. Barry’s tip does look nice though and probably not too old I would guess?

Ding Junhui Snooker Cue Tip

Well this is more of a conventional snooker tip, I certainly fit a lot of these. It’s got a slight dome at the top and it’s not to high so another nice tip.

Ali Carter Snooker Cue Tip

Well this one looks a bit of a cross between a mushroom and a domed tip, either way, this doesn’t look too old so how old was this when he started this years world finals?

Martin Gould Snooker Cue Tip

This looks like more of a conventional tip, very close to the standard flat tip. The tip looks like it’s a nice shape and one I prefer, especially the height.

Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Cue Tip 1

Looking at the bottom edge of this tip of this tip, Ronnie uses the domed tip. It looks quite high off the ferrule but who’s gonna argue with that!

Ronnie O’Sullivan Snooker Cue Tip 2

Well Ronnie seems to have a different size cue tip and also the shape is now a little more standard and domed. The height is certainly a lot less and there is a slight cone where the tip is larger than the ferrule but nothing to write home about.

Mark King Snooker Cue Tip – Early 2016

Now there’s a mushroom tip without any depth to the ferrule. This is certainly an unusual one that I’d like to try for feel.

Mark King Snooker Cue Tip – Late 2016

As we can see here, Mark King’s snooker tip shape did not change from the Pre – 2016 World Championships to when he won the 2016 Northern Ireland Open.

Anthony McGill Snooker Cue Tip

Again, this is more of a conventional flat tip. A reasonable amount of depth with very little dome on the surface. Sits nice on this cushion.

Mark Selby Snooker Cue Tip

Well this is a nice big tip that is very domed. It almost looks like a slight mushroom but what sticks out for me most is the huge depth of the tip! I think he did ok with it though!

Judd Trump Snooker Cue Tip

Not the best picture but the tip is certainly domed without any real depth underneath the surface area. I like to see a little depth before the surface shape.

John Higgins Snooker Cue Tip

Well we’re back to that conventional shape for one of our established pro’s. Nice depth and average shape, tip looks a little hard, I wonder if it is?

Stuart Bingham Snooker Cue Tip

Just Prior to the 2016 World Finals, Stuart’s tip was borderline, this is where I love it for feel on the tip I use but maybe a bit close to the ferrule when defending your world title, was there a replacement for the first round.? Looks that way to me!

Stuart Bingham Snooker Cue Tip

This looks like a larger tip than a few weeks previous to the World Championships or maybe it’s just the angle? The tip certainly looks a lot deeper and domed. Always difficult to decide the best time to change your tip!

Stuart Bingham Snooker Cue Tip

Well here we are in the 2016 China Championship and the tip looks similar to the worlds so I don’t think Stuarts undecided on tip shapes, the tip just wears like the rest of us and like us, he’s probably a bit apprehensive at changing it!

Jimmy White – Old Snooker Cue Tip

Well here is an old cue tip shape that Jimmy White used. There aren’t many defining lines but he plays the shots so well off the cushions so stable grip. Not a usual shape nowadays but who can argue!

Kyren Wilson Snooker Cue Tip

Well the snooker tip of Kyren Wilson looks like a standard domed tip in shape although at first glance the whole tip looks a bit miss-shaped. Looking closely, it seems that he may actually favour chalking the top part of the tip a little more?

Kyrom Wilson Snooker Cue Tip – Different Angle

Well considering that the first picture of Kyrom’s snooker tip looked miss-shaped, this second picture shows that it wasn’t the picture angle, he does actually seem to prefer chalking the top of his tip more, would this be for screw and stun shots?

Mark Williams Snooker Cue Tip

Well this looks like a very tidy domed snooker tip shape. Giles Martin fitted this for Mark and has made a very neat job of burnishing the tip edges to protect the shape of the tip and help prevent mushrooming.

Anthony Hamilton – Snooker Cue Tip

Again we can see that this is s standard dome type snooker tip shape. On the side the tip has been burnished to prevent mushrooming and it does make the tip look neater. It shows how small the tip playing area is when you look at the chalk.

Mark Allen – Snooker Cue Tip

At first glances this looks slightly like a mushroom tip but that’s because the top of the ferrule is darker. It is actually a standard domed tip shape with burnished edges to help protect the tip from mushrooming, looks like a nice size snooker tip.

David Gilbert – Snooker Cue Tip

Not a great deal of tip here which is how I like it. Burnished well on the edges and just maybe a tad mushroomed but not much. I’d say overall it is pretty standard as tips go.

Marco Fu – Snooker Cue Tip

This a standard dome shaped snooker tip for Marco here; nothing out of the ordinary and a reasonable distance height from the ferrule. This is the tip he won the Scottish Open with in 2016 so i’m sure it’s not doing him any harm!

Want to see all the tips used by the pro’s in the 2017 World Snooker Championships, well we got 21 of them and you can see them here:

Professional Snooker Player Tip Shapes

If you would like to take a look at our tip fitting accessories then click this link.

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