Pressure on the Bridge Hand

[Houstoer]

So I play with a predator; have a 314-2 shaft that i have been playing with and had to made to 12.5mm. Also have a Z2, 11.75 which i was keeping as backup. This weekend i made the switch to the Z2. Interesting thing occurred. The Z2 is much smaller in my hand (even though i don't have large hands). I was having trouble with the longer shots and cuts then just kind of fell into holding my bridge different. It's flatter and I apply hard pressure on the cloth and wham what a difference. I never even thought about pressure on the cloth with the bridge hand before but noticed the harder I pressed down the more accurate I was. I know you should bridge hard when you are on the rail but never thought it really mattered when you're in the middle of the table. Interested on peoples thought on this. Did I just have an ah ah moment, or am I the last guy on the planet to know this; or is it just weird? thanks

 

[Scott Lee]

Houstoer...Probably not the last person on the planet, but it is common knowledge that your stance needs to be a tripod...equal on both legs, and SOME pressure on the bridge hand to the cloth. How much pressure is up to each individual. Too much and you'll develop a sore shoulder and stiff neck, if you play for hours...too little and your bridge hand will be sloppy on the table, with speed or power stroke shots. Find a happy medium, and play that way for all shots.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

So I play with a predator; have a 314-2 shaft that i have been playing with and had to made to 12.5mm. Also have a Z2, 11.75 which i was keeping as backup. This weekend i made the switch to the Z2. Interesting thing occurred. The Z2 is much smaller in my hand (even though i don't have large hands). I was having trouble with the longer shots and cuts then just kind of fell into holding my bridge different. It's flatter and I apply hard pressure on the cloth and wham what a difference. I never even thought about pressure on the cloth with the bridge hand before but noticed the harder I pressed down the more accurate I was. I know you should bridge hard when you are on the rail but never thought it really mattered when you're in the middle of the table. Interested on peoples thought on this. Did I just have an ah ah moment, or am I the last guy on the planet to know this; or is it just weird? thanks

 

[Houstoer]

Houstoer...Probably not the last person on the planet, but it is common knowledge that your stance needs to be a tripod...equal on both legs, and SOME pressure on the bridge hand to the cloth. How much pressure is up to each individual. Too much and you'll develop a sore shoulder and stiff neck, if you play for hours...too little and your bridge hand will be sloppy on the table, with speed or power stroke shots. Find a happy medium, and play that way for all shots.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Thanks Scott; never really gave it much thought but guess I was way too loose and my bridge hand was sloppy. Since I started paying attention to it it's made a world of difference.

 

[whitewolf]

Thanks Scott; never really gave it much thought but guess I was way too loose and my bridge hand was sloppy. Since I started paying attention to it it's made a world of difference.

Luther Lassiter said never never never put weight on your bridge hand. I believe Mosconi and others said put a little bit of weight there.

The reason you shot better with weight on you bridge hand IMHO is undeterminable at this point. i.e. maybe this helped you do something else right, like not pulling up during the shot, or moving your head while aiming. Maybe you adjusted your stance slightly to accomodate the weight shift. Suggest filming yourself if possible.

 

[Allen Brown]

Sore Shoulder

I started applying weight on my bridge hand about 3 months ago. It has helped me by about a ball and maybe more. I was raising up and moving my head a lot before I tried this. Now there is no movement at all. I feel a lot better when I get down to shoot with a little weight on the bridge hand as well...kind of more natural.

The downfall to this is......
My bridge shoulder kills me after about 4 hours of continuous play from too much weight being distributed. My back doesn't bother me anymore like it used to though. I was holding up almost all of my weight with my back. I'm going to work on an even amount of pressure and it should be fixed. It doesn't help when I'm 300+ lbs. It has helped my game by letting me see where I was messing up in the big picture.....step by step. I have been focusing a lot more too.

Whitewolf, I think you are dead on with your reasoning.

 

[fathomblue]

I started applying weight on my bridge hand about 3 months ago. It has helped me by about a ball and maybe more. I was raising up and moving my head a lot before I tried this. Now there is no movement at all. I feel a lot better when I get down to shoot with a little weight on the bridge hand as well...kind of more natural.

The downfall to this is......
My bridge shoulder kills me after about 4 hours of continuous play from too much weight being distributed. My back doesn't bother me anymore like it used to though. I was holding up almost all of my weight with my back. I'm going to work on an even amount of pressure and it should be fixed. It doesn't help when I'm 300+ lbs. It has helped my game by letting me see where I was messing up in the big picture.....step by step. I have been focusing a lot more too.

Whitewolf, I think you are dead on with your reasoning.

Ditto on what Allen said.

About a month ago I was experimenting with the BreakRak. After smacking the cueball around for a while, with awful results, I bore down with my bridge hand (I break maybe 60% of the time not on the rail) and began to reeeeeeeally concentrate.

Well, after firming up my bridge and probably putting more effort into accuracy that I ever had in my life.....my breaking and ball pocketing went thru the roof. For a solid week, several hours a day, I shot better than I ever have in my life. I honestly was a pretty tough cookie to beat. It was so bad that I throttled my best friend a solid 12-13 games in a row at one point and he threw in the towel and BEGGED to know what I'd done. I was a completely different player. We had always played absolutely even up till that point.

The huge downside to all of this? After a couple of days of this, my bridge shoulder hurt like a sum*****. But, if I didn't think it would cause long-term damage (arthritis, etc.), I'd gut it out. The rewards were AMAZING. It was as serious "aha" moment.

After a respected board member told me to back off the pressure to save my shoulder.....well, I've gone right back to being a guppy at the table. Maaaaaybe picked up half a ball over my old speed, simply because it did instill a bit of confidence that there's a much better player inside of me just screaming to get out.

At this point, I'm going to go back to the extra firm bridge and see what happens. If my game immediately picks up again......well, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do, because I go from a guy who makes 3-5 balls in a row on a nicely, spread table.......to a serious run-out threat with the flick of a switch.

So, I have something going on there and apparently so do you.

FWIW, I also have begun gripping with my backhand firmer than in the past and that goes against all teaching, so it bothers me a bit. It's really hard to argue with the results.

About half of what I'm doing, I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

Definitely keep us posted!

 

[Houstoer]

I can tell you also it's made me a couple balls better. Could be like what said; keeping my head down, lining up better etc but the pressure has helped tremendously. One thing with the z2 its so skinny (in comparison) the tight bridge has helped make sure it doesn't sway in my fingers when I bring it back and then stoke. I'm going to keep at it to see what the ideal pressure is that won't hurt my shoulder (its a little sore now) but I have gone from running about 2 out of 10 in 8 ball to running about every third rack right now on my 8 ft table at home. Even stringed a three pack little while ago. Hard to argue with those results (for me, I'm just a league banger) Might have to end up buying stock in ben gay though !

 

[fathomblue]

I can tell you also it's made me a couple balls better. Could be like what said; keeping my head down, lining up better etc but the pressure has helped tremendously. One thing with the z2 its so skinny (in comparison) the tight bridge has helped make sure it doesn't sway in my fingers when I bring it back and then stoke. I'm going to keep at it to see what the ideal pressure is that won't hurt my shoulder (its a little sore now) but I have gone from running about 2 out of 10 in 8 ball to running about every third rack right now on my 8 ft table at home. Even stringed a three pack little while ago. Hard to argue with those results (for me, I'm just a league banger) Might have to end up buying stock in ben gay though !

I'm almost exclusively shooting 9-ball right now, in anticipation of The Southern Classic in July (not that it's going to matter. I'm simply "added money" at an event like that).

I've haven't shot any 8-ball in a while, but putting a 3-pack together is pretty impressive. I know there's quite a few players on here that would say that it's nothing, but I generally run into a cluster issue preventing me from running out too often.

Sounds like you're fairly strong for my neck of the woods.

Looking forward to more comments in this thread.