Go to O'reilly's. Ask for a HD Truck mud flap. There are two thicknesses of rubber on it.
At 5 inches, you can use the thicker portion. The flap will cost a whopping 10 bucks. Cut the rubber to fit your pockets. The other alternative is like 4 shims on each side, which makes the points play like Doo-Doo. (at 15 bucks PER SET x4!!!) Or getting all new rails, installing them, using a rubber knife and refacing each one using a pocket jig.
All in all, the cheapest way out of this is actually the best in the long run, I discovered this trick in 2006-and the facings from the mat are intact at each recover.
Use rubber or contact cement and wait til it is real sticky to put it on, rough side in. Blow two staples or nails into the wood, LOWER than the height where a ball contacts. That trick alone is pretty useful. If you lay them out where they go, apply glue to each, then apply glue to the rail/wood in the pocket facing itself, start back at the first one you glued and it is about ready. In case you are wondering, do away with your old facings, this material does not require a facing, it is a bound backed double layer industrial strength compound, good to go for commercial use on 6 tables for over 5 years now!!
You should have roughly 4-1/4 inch pockets when you are done. You will need new rail cloth.
Jim Pengra said:
Thanks guys. I knew I could count on you. My pockets are 5". Too sloppy. Going to get new rails to make the pockets 4 1/2". Cost shouldn't too bad if I can salvage the Tour Edition cloth covering the rails now. Had an interesting discussion with a co-worker yesterday about my dilemma. He's a competition pistol shooter (and a bar box owner). He asked why on earth would I want to make my table harder. LOL. I asked him if he would become a better competition pistol shooter if he practiced cowboy reenactment shooting. He laughed and understood. But that discussion belongs on another forum board.