Nice Video Thanks Dave,
i noticed that when you got to your power break shot, you let your cue ride on the cushion, I think so you get your cue lower than if you were to bridge on top of the rail.. The ergonomics might not be as good with your hand closer and on the table itself, where it would also be lower,so the cue would be more flat to the table. buthat would shorten your bridge length ( to put your hand beyond the rail and on the table itself shortens your bridge. )
Ive been experimenting a little abd foud that using that technique I have a different feel as I gues Im partly using sight but also the feel of my cue between my left and the cue.. It seems handy to do that if the CB is near the rail.
I think I'm finding that as you mentioned near the beginning the longer bridge helps you view the cue's direction better but my point is that when I put my fingers overtop as you did in your break shot, I have less of a view..of the cue as they are somewhat blocked by my fingers.
I'm thinking both techniques are valid but I guess wondering where you'd choose to support the cue by the rail, and when you would choose not to. It seemed a bit related.
of course as you change something like that, and you have a completely different feel, then for the first while, you make less good shots until you start to acclaim better aim with the new technique.
I think sometimes I choose to bridge on top of the rail just because it's a more natural stance, but if doing so means I can't keep my cue low, then there is a disadvantage.. so I'm weighing that up.. i do shot like that sometimes it's just not my favorite way to bridge beacuse it seems to reduce my accuracy. now some of that (admittedly) may be practice , and not only technique..
I play more snooker but most of this still applies, just the balls are smaller, so the contact point on the CB is also a bit lower.
more often I'm bothered by not having a place to put a bridge hand due to traffic in the area , and then there are other ways of forming an appropriate bridge when shooting over a ball.. we all encounter that a lot, and it often means shooting downward and accepting the reduced accuracy,, but maybe that's a further subject.
some that I play with use the bridge ( the one on the side of the table) to help bridge on a cushion because it's more comfortable ( due to physical disabilities) so what those players do is use the bridge for shots when its not just needed for distance, ( because they can't reach) but rather, for ergonomics or to overcome physical disabilities.
I haven't yet found a bridge-stick that is really suited to having "one foot on the rail and one on the table", as one may use on a awkward left handed shot along a rail for example.. we seem to have a number of bridges for shooting over balls and such and in various styles, but none seem made for this task , or really very suitable...
maybe the array of fixed bridges could be another topic, there are a number of them on the market with varying styles.
