Years ago, there wasn't a whole lot of choice when it came to rope selection. When I was a kid, you either headed with a soft-lay head rope or heeled with a hard-lay heel rope. I can only remember a couple rope makers when I was a kid, so there weren't many choices. We used our ropes forever. We'd use each rope up, then tie a Honda in the other end of it and use it that way, a lot of time with a wire burner in it. That's just what people did. Nobody made money roping. It was just for fun. So you didn't want to spend a whole lot of money to do it, and made due with what you had. Until I started winning quite a bit as a teenager, and it started to become more important that I had good ropes to use, it wasn't any big deal. After that, I started thinking more about my ropes, what I liked and what worked best. That's about the time other rope companies entered the market and there started being more of a selection.
I've always used a pretty hard rope. Right now I'm using a medium hard four-strand Hypnotic, which is about as hard a rope as they make on the modern machines. Ever since I was a little kid I've used a hard rope, so that's all I've ever known. I developed a feel for a hard rope, and like that stiffness because that's what feels good to me.
I think you should use what's comfortable to you. Most of the top guys use ropes similar in stiffness to what I use, but that's not to say that's what's best for you. Generally speaking, a beginner is better off with a medium or medium soft to start off with, to learn how to swing a rope, get your slack and dally. A softer rope is easier to swing, turn over, rotate and dally with.
