teaching the closed bridge

mikepage

mikepage

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Any of us who have witnessed or helped beginners with the closed bridge know that forming a wide rock-stable bridge with little wiggle room for the cue is, well, not a piece of cake to a newbie.

There seem to be a number of approaches to teaching the closed bridge, including those that start with a palm-down fist, those that start with a palm-sideways fist, those that start with an open bridge, those that start with a thumb-index finger loop, and those that start with a palm flat down. One aspect that pervades all the approaches I've seen is the directive at some point to form a loop with the index finger and the thumb.

This appears to make sense. After all, put your bridge hand down on the table in front of you with a pencil for a cue. What do you see? There it is, plain as can be, the "cue" going through the nice little snug loop formed by your pointer finger and thumb. Every time we hit a pool ball with a closed bridge, we're staring at that nice snug loop. Case closed.

But somehow, the plebe following these directions frequently ends up with a "loop" the size of the Holland Tunnel, or at least one the size of a golf ball. And to get a small loop as well as a stable base requires stress positions that should be checked against the Geneva Conventions.

Here's another point of view.

We're focusing on the wrong loop.

Assuming you still have a pencil going through your best closed bridge, pick up the entire system and look at it from the other side. The loop you see there is between your index finger and your middle finger. Maybe that is the loop that deserves top billing. In fact my suggestion is to teach formation of a closed bridge that is stable and snug even while the thumb is still hanging free.

So here goes (assuming you are right handed).

(1) Place your left hand karate chop style on the table such that the entire side of your hand and the the entire side of your pinky contact the cloth.

(2) Without lifting off the cloth, turn your hand in the palm-down direction placing your middle finger front down, pointing to the right and stretched as far to the right as you can. (Your ring finger will automatically assume a position halfway between your pinky and your middle finger).

(3) Place the cue in the nook between your middle and index fingers, and wrap your index finger snugly around the cue. Close a loop between the left side of the tip of your index finger and the right side of your middle finger near the knuckle.

At this point, with your thumb still hanging in the air, you should have a stable bridge through which the cue has little play. Take a few practice strokes.

(4) For added stability and comfort, press the front of your thumb so that it touches your index finger, your middle finger and the the cue.


Of course this would be easier doing it live, or at least having illustrations, but I hope you get the idea. All right, I know I ain't no stinkin pool instucutor. So what do you stinkin pool instructors think?
 
Last edited:
mikepage said:
Any of us who have witnessed or helped beginners with the closed bridge know that forming a wide rock-stable bridge with little wiggle room for the cue is, well, not a piece of cake to a newbie.

There seem to be a number of approaches to teaching the closed bridge, including those that start with a palm-down fist, those that start with a palm-sideways fist, those that start with an open bridge, those that start with a thumb-index finger loop, and those that start with a palm flat down. One aspect that pervades all the approaches I've seen is the directive at some point to form a loop with the index finger and the thumb.

This appears to make sense. After all, put your bridge hand down on the table in front of you with a pencil for a cue. What do you see? There it is, plain as can be, the "cue" going through the nice little snug loop formed by your pointer finger and thumb. Every time we hit a pool ball with a closed bridge, we're staring at that nice snug loop. Case closed.

But somehow, the plebe following these directions frequently ends up with a "loop" the size of the Holland Tunnel, or at least one the size of a golf ball. And to get a small loop as well as a stable base requires stress positions that should be checked against the Geneva Conventions.

Here's another point of view.

We're focusing on the wrong loop.

Assuming you still have a pencil going through your best closed bridge, pick up the entire system and look at it from the other side. The loop you see there is between your index finger and your middle finger. Maybe that is the loop that deserves top billing. In fact my suggestion is to teach formation of a closed bridge that is stable and snug even while the thumb is still hanging free.

So here goes (assuming you are right handed).

(1) Place your left hand karate chop style on the table such that the entire side of your hand and the the entire side of your pinky contact the cloth.

(2) Without lifting off the cloth, turn your hand in the palm-down direction placing your middle finger front down, pointing to the right and stretched as far to the right as you can. (Your ring finger will automatically assume a position halfway between your pinky and your middle finger).

(3) Place the cue in the nook between your middle and index fingers, and wrap your index finger snugly around the cue. Close a loop between the left side of the tip of your index finger and the right side of your ring finger near the knuckle.

At this point, with your thumb still hanging in the air, you should have a stable bridge through which the cue has little play. Take a few practice strokes.

(4) For added stability and comfort, press the front of your thumb so that it touches your index finger, your middle finger and the the cue.


Of course this would be easier doing it live, or at least having illustrations, but I hope you get the idea. All right, I know I ain't no stinkin pool instucutor. So what do you stinkin pool instructors think?
Click to expand...
I think it's a good insight about the closed bridge (that the middle finger plays a bigger role than the thumb) and teaching it that way will pass the insight along.

But I have this (contradictory?) comment about closed bridges in general: they don't need to form tight loops to work. Like an open bridge, they can just give support from underneath and work perfectly well. In fact, I think of a closed bridge as just another open bridge, but formed by the thumb/middlefinger rather than the thumb/indexfinger - the loop formed by the index finger is irrelevant (except maybe to your confidence), whether it's touching the stick or not.

pj
chgo
 
Patrick Johnson said:
I think it's a good insight about the closed bridge (that the middle finger plays a bigger role than the thumb) and teaching it that way will pass the insight along.

But I have this (contradictory?) comment about closed bridges in general: they don't need to form tight loops to work. Like an open bridge, they can just give support from underneath and work perfectly well. In fact, I think of a closed bridge as just another open bridge, but formed by the thumb/middlefinger rather than the thumb/indexfinger - the loop formed by the index finger is irrelevant (except maybe to your confidence), whether it's touching the stick or not.

pj
chgo
Click to expand...

If that were the case, there would be no reason to use a
'closed' bridge at all.

Dale
 
pdcue said:
If that were the case, there would be no reason to use a
'closed' bridge at all.

Dale
Click to expand...

I don't think there is much reason.

If I look at my own closed bridge, my thumb is a little too horizontal to form a good vee, and when I lower my bridge, like for a draw stroke, my thumb gets even less and less involved.
 
Mike

Interesting that you posted this today. I was trying to help a friend of mine out with her bridges. She has very small hands and making a closed bridge with the loop to the index finger is almost or "is" impossible.

What would you recommend and do you have and suggestions for teaching it?

I wondered if she needed to have a little diameter taken off of her cue. Its close to 13 if not right now if its not 13. I didnt have a way to check.

She was using a glove and they really dont make one that is tight enough. I have asked her to try to play without it. Just from watching I think she bridges better and it just looks better without it.

She is not very good APA SL3 or 4 playing 8ball but is just getting started and really works at it. I have been trying to get her to really focus on the basics even though they arent very cool!
 
mikepage said:
I don't think there is much reason.

If I look at my own closed bridge, my thumb is a little too horizontal to form a good vee, and when I lower my bridge, like for a draw stroke, my thumb gets even less and less involved.
Click to expand...

Then perhaps the closed bridge is a waste for you.
Lord knows many a Brit snooker player has found a way to
live 'loop free', so to speak.

But, many players do 'squeeze?<lightly?> the shaft with all 3
digits involved in the loop. Feeling, one would assume, they
get better control.

FWIW - I have never seen a 3 Cushion player shoot
with an open bridge.

Dale
 
mikepage said:
I don't think there is much reason.

If I look at my own closed bridge, my thumb is a little too horizontal to form a good vee, and when I lower my bridge, like for a draw stroke, my thumb gets even less and less involved.
Click to expand...

My thumb plays a huge role in my closed bridge. I am able to keep about 1 to 1.5 inches of my shaft running along my thumb going into the bridge.

I would think that just due to surface friction alone a closed bridge would aid in keeping the stroke straighter.

Even watching many of the Pros they have some real quirks in the strokes straightness. However they are very very repeated quirks.
 
Neil said:
I'm not quite sure why you have such a big loop. When I used a closed bridge, my middle finger is right against my thumb. Thereby making a snug fit. The bottom of the cue rides on my middle finger. Then, just by raising or lowering my thumb, I can make it as snug or loose as I want.

The way you described, if I understood it correctly, is the way some of the Asians use a closed bridge. Either is fine. Just as long as you are stable.
Click to expand...

I don't have a big loop. I have a snug loop viewed from the front, and I have a different snug look viewed from the back. I'm not trying to form a different bridge from what most good players use or most instructors try to teach, I'm merely suggesting a different way to get there for people who are new at it all.
 
i use 2 different versions of the closed bridge. I just naturally use the closed bridge, its always felt more comfortable to me, and i have a normal closed bridge i use which doesnt use a big loop, so its a little more accurate i think. When Im trying to get maximum spin on my cueball, i will form up a closed bridge thats turned a little more sideways and has a higher loop, which allows the cue to slide thru my bridge much easier.

frankncali, try having your friend turn her bridge hand a little more in (right handed on the table, you would rotate your thumb more towards you), this might help her get the extra clearance to form up a closed bridge.
 
mikepage said:
I don't think there is much reason....
Click to expand...
There might be.

If you balance, say, a 1/2" x 4' dowel on your bridge hand, it's obvious that there is considerably more counter-torque supplied by a closed bridge than an open one. Yes, it's still relatively easy to move the the tip from side to side, but I don't think this is telling the story. It takes only a small amount of torque by the grip hand to miss a shot. The question is: is the counter-torque supplied by a closed bridge a significant fraction of this, ie, enough to make a difference?

I purchased a cheap laser with the intent of measuring this, but never got around to it. (If anyone wants it, I'll send it along and you can do the miserable tests - but I think the battery is probably near gone by now. :) )

When doing the same thing with the bridge you described (if I'm doing it right), the "tip" end of the dowel wants to move to the left, as if it were spring loaded. This might provide a helpful counter-torque for a player that naturally tends to swoop to the right. With the more traditional closed bridge, there is no tendency to move either right or left.

Jim
 
Jal said:
[...]
When doing the same thing with the bridge you described (if I'm doing it right), the "tip" end of the dowel wants to move to the left, as if it were spring loaded. This might provide a helpful counter-torque for a player that naturally tends to swoop to the right. With the more traditional closed bridge, there is no tendency to move either right or left.

Jim
Click to expand...

I must be being unclear. I'm not describing a different bridge; merely a different order of events to get to a normal closed bridge.
 
frankncali said:
Mike

Interesting that you posted this today. I was trying to help a friend of mine out with her bridges. She has very small hands and making a closed bridge with the loop to the index finger is almost or "is" impossible.

What would you recommend and do you have and suggestions for teaching it?

I wondered if she needed to have a little diameter taken off of her cue. Its close to 13 if not right now if its not 13. I didnt have a way to check.

She was using a glove and they really dont make one that is tight enough. I have asked her to try to play without it. Just from watching I think she bridges better and it just looks better without it.

She is not very good APA SL3 or 4 playing 8ball but is just getting started and really works at it. I have been trying to get her to really focus on the basics even though they arent very cool!
Click to expand...


Here's an idea that might work for her, that I did on three shafts of mine.

Figure out where the cue tends to go through her bridge. So if it starts at say 4 inches from the tip, and goes back to say 12 inches or so, that area where the shaft would slip through her fingers can be taken down, easily enough to about 11 mm or so. Plenty slim. If you keep the tip size at 13 mm, and start a gradual taper from an inch or so below the ferrule to the slimmed down part of the shaft, she probably won't even notice it. Before trying this though, check and see if she can form a closed loop around a pencil. If so, this may be the ticket.

By the way, one possible benefit might just be a slight reduction in cue ball squirt when shooting with english.

Flex
 
mikepage said:
I must be being unclear. I'm not describing a different bridge; merely a different order of events to get to a normal closed bridge.
Click to expand...
Sorry Mike. I took this:

"(3) Place the cue in the nook between your middle and index fingers, and wrap your index finger snugly around the cue. Close a loop between the left side of the tip of your index finger and the right side of your ring finger near the knuckle."

to mean that the tip of the index finger is to be placed on top of the middle finger, as several pros now do it. (But I still didn't understand how you could get it to contact your "ring" finger.)

Jim
 
Jal said:
Sorry Mike. I took this:

"(3) Place the cue in the nook between your middle and index fingers, and wrap your index finger snugly around the cue. Close a loop between the left side of the tip of your index finger and the right side of your ring finger near the knuckle."

to mean that the tip of the index finger is to be placed on top of the middle finger, as several pros now do it. (But I still didn't understand how you could get it to contact your "ring" finger.)

Jim
Click to expand...

You mean you don't put a ring on your middle finger???

(let's see how does that edit feature work?...)

thanks Jim
 
mikepage said:
Any of us who have witnessed or helped beginners with the closed bridge know that forming a wide rock-stable bridge with little wiggle room for the cue is, well, not a piece of cake to a newbie.

There seem to be a number of approaches to teaching the closed bridge, including those that start with a palm-down fist, those that start with a palm-sideways fist, those that start with an open bridge, those that start with a thumb-index finger loop, and those that start with a palm flat down. One aspect that pervades all the approaches I've seen is the directive at some point to form a loop with the index finger and the thumb.

This appears to make sense. After all, put your bridge hand down on the table in front of you with a pencil for a cue. What do you see? There it is, plain as can be, the "cue" going through the nice little snug loop formed by your pointer finger and thumb. Every time we hit a pool ball with a closed bridge, we're staring at that nice snug loop. Case closed.

But somehow, the plebe following these directions frequently ends up with a "loop" the size of the Holland Tunnel, or at least one the size of a golf ball. And to get a small loop as well as a stable base requires stress positions that should be checked against the Geneva Conventions.

Here's another point of view.

We're focusing on the wrong loop.

Assuming you still have a pencil going through your best closed bridge, pick up the entire system and look at it from the other side. The loop you see there is between your index finger and your middle finger. Maybe that is the loop that deserves top billing. In fact my suggestion is to teach formation of a closed bridge that is stable and snug even while the thumb is still hanging free.

So here goes (assuming you are right handed).

(1) Place your left hand karate chop style on the table such that the entire side of your hand and the the entire side of your pinky contact the cloth.

(2) Without lifting off the cloth, turn your hand in the palm-down direction placing your middle finger front down, pointing to the right and stretched as far to the right as you can. (Your ring finger will automatically assume a position halfway between your pinky and your middle finger).

(3) Place the cue in the nook between your middle and index fingers, and wrap your index finger snugly around the cue. Close a loop between the left side of the tip of your index finger and the right side of your middle finger near the knuckle.

At this point, with your thumb still hanging in the air, you should have a stable bridge through which the cue has little play. Take a few practice strokes.

(4) For added stability and comfort, press the front of your thumb so that it touches your index finger, your middle finger and the the cue.


Of course this would be easier doing it live, or at least having illustrations, but I hope you get the idea. All right, I know I ain't no stinkin pool instucutor. So what do you stinkin pool instructors think?
Click to expand...
--------------------------------------------------------

All I can hear is "But Mike, it feels uncomfortable". :D

JoeyA (sounds good to me)
 
randyg said:
I still like to teach Bob Jewett's "make a fist" bridge....SPF=randyg
Click to expand...
It is a good way to force almost anyone who has never drawn the ball before to get good zip on the ball, and nearly everybody can handle the finger positions.
 
Neil said:
It took some hard pushing, but I did manage to get the tip of my index finger onto the knuckle of my ring finger. Now the joint in my index finger is sore. Thanks a lot Mike!:D
Click to expand...

The good news is it'll be easier for the rest of your life ;-)
 
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