Why do snooker cues have a flat end on the butt?

[Dahu]

Wikipedia tells me that:

Snooker butts are usually flat on one side so that the cue may be lain flat on the table bed and slid along the baize under a cushion to strike the cushion-ward side of the cue ball when it is frozen to the cushion (such a shot is not legal in pool or carom games under most rulesets).

There no cite for this and I don’t recall ever seeing a snooker shot where this would have helped. A more appealing explanation (gleaned from a forum, again no cite) is this:

When billiards was first played on a table there
were no cushions/rails and the balls were struck
with a mace. Obviously they soon got fed up
with balls running off the table and cushions
were soon introduced. Striking a ball that lay
close to the cushion with a mace was then
difficult and the mace was turned around and
the ball struck with the thin end. Women were
not allowed to though as it was thought they
would tear the cloth. As the cue replaced the
mace the flat was on the cue butt purely for
women who would strike the ball with the butt,
the flat letting it slide along the cloth without
damaging it.

A good story! But what’s the straight dope on this?

[bob_2]

I found a site that has a great deal of information, but don’t have the time or patience to find the answer.

http://users.skynet.be/billard.billiards/index.htm

[Colibri]

Moved to the Game Room.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

[Asympotically_fat]

Interesting question, I’ve never really thought about it too much. If anything I just assumed it was to aid gripping, not that it actually makes any real difference in this respect.

The most plausible answer I can find is:

@wordlsnooker.com

By then the mace [precursor to the billiards cue] was obsolete, and manufacturers were making a kind of transitional cue with leather tips. At first they would have tip sizes of 14 or 15 millimetres, and at the thick end they would be 35 or 36mm. And they would have a flat part at the thick end, six or eight inches long with a leather pad underneath, and some people would still use that to push the cue ball along; a throw-back to the mace. Even today’s cues still have that flat part – the only feature that remains from the old mace. These days it is just a place for the manufacturer to put his badge, although some players use the flat part to line up the shot as the grain in Ash shafts has an arrow configuration and can be an aid to sighting.

http://www.worldsnooker.com/the-history-of-cues/