Do you adjust your bridge hand on draw shots?
- Thread starter alstl
- Start date
If Mr Mosconi would've used a proper bridge (not that crazy wrap-all-the-wrong-fingers-around thingy) there would be little need to adjust the bridge hand 
But yes, sometimes you will move (unconsciously) the hand farther so get more speed on the cue upon impact.
But yes, sometimes you will move (unconsciously) the hand farther so get more speed on the cue upon impact.
As others have also pointed out, PJ and Frio were correct, and your "correction" of that is incorrect. In regards to draw, accelerating or decelerating has no meaningful affect whatsoever, nor does follow through, or what your wrist is doing, the "type of stroke" you use (there is no such thing as different types of strokes as far as the balls are concerned), etc. For any given set of equipment (table, balls, cue), all that matters in regards to how much draw you can get is:
1) the speed of the stick at the moment of impact with the cue ball
2) how low you hit the cue ball
3) the angle of the stick
That's it. Nothing else you do makes any noticeable, meaningful or measurable difference whatsoever. None. However, variations in equipment can also affect how much draw you get such as:
4) the weight of the cue stick
5) the weight of the cue ball
6) the weight of the cue ball in relation to the weight of the object ball
7) the frictional properties of the cue ball (how friction free it is or isn't due to its smoothness or anything on it such as dirt, silicone spray, wax polish, etc)
8) the frictional properties of the table cloth (nap, dirt, how much wear it has, wetness/humidity, etc)
9) the rail properties (profile, composition, covering, etc) since a cue ball with very much draw will end up hitting one or more rails
For full disclosure and just to be very technically correct on some things that make no practical difference at all (and this may only be important to the physicists out there), things like accelerating/decelerating, the weight/mass of your stroking arm, how tightly you grip the cue, how dirty or "unsmooth" the object ball is and possibly a thing or two else may minutely change how much draw you can get by some stupidly small amount that could never be noticed or probably even measured (there would be no way to discern the one thousandth of an inch or whatever stupidly small difference in draw distance one of these things caused). For all practical purposes nothing comes even remotely close to making any real world difference whatsoever aside from the things numbered above.
Attempting to accelerate through the cue ball and following through after contact can however indirectly help in some other ways, namely with speed and accuracy which in turn can affect spin. They can help to ensure you are hitting with a fast speed (by definition if you are decelerating at contact you are certainly hitting at less speed than you could have, and probably less speed than you intended to), and faster cue speeds obviously translate into more spin (if you hit at less speed than you intended you will get less draw than you intended). Acceleration and follow through can also help with accuracy in helping to ensure you are hitting the cue ball exactly where you wanted to (instead of higher than you intended which would also result in less draw than you intended), but in and of themselves accelerating and following through do not in any way whatsoever contribute to more draw. Only the things numbered above do, and without making changes to equipment, the first three are all that matter and all that you have to worry about--cue speed, cue angle, and the contact point on the cue ball.
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I will typically switch from an open to a closed bridge for draw shots.
Some close without a lot of speed I will leave open, any that are long that require a hard stroke I change for sure.
Absolutely correct for the amount of spin you get (assuming a well chalked tip), but for the amount of draw you have to include the relative weights of the CB/OB and the relative slipperiness of the equipment on your list of things that matter.
pj <- so many nits to pick; so little time...
chgo
Absolutely correct for the amount of spin you get (assuming a well chalked tip), but for the amount of draw you have to include the relative weights of the CB/OB and the relative slipperiness of the equipment on your list of things that matter.
pj <- so many nits to pick; so little time...
chgo
Absolutely correct. I was talking about draw for a given table and set of balls but should have been more careful in my wording and specifically noted that. Should have also mentioned that the balls and table do make a difference. Terrible oversight. Thanks for pointing that out, will update my post.
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Duplicate post...
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A lot of people do that on power shots. I asked Appleton about it because he seems to use the open bridge almost exclusively.
Sometimes for draw shots but not very often.Obviously generate more power with closed bridge.. but i rely on timing with my open bridge for power. but I'm working on using a closed bridge more in the future its a slow process but it will come in time. i just can't get comfortable with it at the moment but i know the benefits so i will work on it.
darren
Whatever gets you to where you need to be.