Bridge Length

zpele

zpele

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So last night I was talking with someone who insisted that the length of your bridge hand away from the cue ball doesn't mean anything in relation to the stroke.

I highly disagree with him but wanted to get the opinion of others on the forum.

The reason I think this matters is that is changes the angle of your back arm when it contacts the cueball. Depending on where on the cue you hold your stick the angle will be incorrect.

Thoughts?
 
zpele said:
So last night I was talking with someone who insisted that the length of your bridge hand away from the cue ball doesn't mean anything in relation to the stroke.

I highly disagree with him but wanted to get the opinion of others on the forum.

The reason I think this matters is that is changes the angle of your back arm when it contacts the cueball. Depending on where on the cue you hold your stick the angle will be incorrect.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Developing proper bridge length is a way to compensate for deflection -- and of COURSE, is often determined for you by the balancing of obstacles and and accuracy. The distance of your bridge from the cue ball is the mutiplier of error in your swing/follow through. If you're off by an half inch in your back hand and have a short bridge will be a smaller amount of error in where you strike the CB than if your bridge is further back. BUT... if your bridge is close, it's harder to generate speed and you have more interference in the site picture of the line your cue is on.
 
The biggest change I noticed when I developed a "normal" bridge length (10-12") was an increase in my pocketing percentage because I had more time (length) to get to the final speed of the stroke. With a shorter bridge I poked at the ball because I had to get the cue "up to speed" very quickly.

The stroke obeys the laws of physics just like anything else. So, my fast/pokey stroke resulted in an equally fast/pokey follow-through. Not good for aiming or control (although it was amazing to see Tommy Kennedy doing it so successfully in Bonus Ball!).
 
bdorman said:
The biggest change I noticed when I developed a "normal" bridge length (10-12") was an increase in my pocketing percentage because I had more time (length) to get to the final speed of the stroke. With a shorter bridge I poked at the ball because I had to get the cue "up to speed" very quickly.

The stroke obeys the laws of physics just like anything else. So, my fast/pokey stroke resulted in an equally fast/pokey follow-through. Not good for aiming or control (although it was amazing to see Tommy Kennedy doing it so successfully in Bonus Ball!).
Click to expand...

Tommy's always blown me away. How he made that work is amazing. Must be a fast twitch system for him.

I choke up on my back hand when I'm frozen to the rail rolling a ball in. Would prefer the discomfort of too long a bridge over too short.
 
If he thinks that bridge length has no correlation to the stroke, have him hit 5 balls each with 6, 10 and 14 inch long bridge lengths... he should be able to tell you rather quickly which strokes felt the most stable and accurate.
 
zpele said:
So last night I was talking with someone who insisted that the length of your bridge hand away from the cue ball doesn't mean anything in relation to the stroke.

I highly disagree with him but wanted to get the opinion of others on the forum.

The reason I think this matters is that is changes the angle of your back arm when it contacts the cueball. Depending on where on the cue you hold your stick the angle will be incorrect.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

It is very hard to get a harder shot off using a short bridge, not sure what they meant by no relation to the stroke, as to the accuracy or how good the stoke is in relation to smoothness and speed. You can't have a short bridge and execute a power shot, especially if hitting center call or with draw, you'll just foul. I can't hit smoothy with a bridge that's only a few inches from the edge of the shaft, I think I'd want about 6 or more to be comfortable. A regular Pro taper I think is 12" before it starts to go up, so that also allows you a good amound of room to slide before you end up going over the taper.
 
zpele said:
So last night I was talking with someone who insisted that the length of your bridge hand away from the cue ball doesn't mean anything in relation to the stroke.

I highly disagree with him but wanted to get the opinion of others on the forum.

The reason I think this matters is that is changes the angle of your back arm when it contacts the cueball. Depending on where on the cue you hold your stick the angle will be incorrect.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
FYI, the bridge length resource page has lots of info concerning bridge length effects. It also includes a video demonstration and lists of advantages and disadvantages of using a longer bridge.

Check it out,
Dave
 
I think the more thing is the position of the back hand in relation to the bridge length. There are advantages and disadvantages of short/long bridge lengths. I find a bridge length of almost 12" is most comfortable for me. But more important is that my back hand is positioned where the forearm is mostly straight up and down when the tip is touching the cb. So, IMHO, the more important thing is the distance between the bridge and back hand, on the cue, is such that the back forearm is pointing straight down at address. This will generally lead to a better stroke.
 
Dr_dave is the man.

Dave.... still, I'm highly interested in the physical differences between a measle and red circle. Friction, weight location, weight... They play spectacularly different -- and the key difference I mean is the way the measle reacts to the rail (or the rail to the measle) when it his with spin. Subtle differences between red circle and measle should have no relevance on how the ball + rail react. May I ask what it typically costs you to analyze such a detail?
 
Bridge Length -

Its all about the player..., Earl aint close to the ball.., Busta is all over the place, SVB well he has some distance from the ball too...,

It comes down to how accurate your contact point is, it can work out either way if everything else is right
 
TrumanHW said:
Dave.... still, I'm highly interested in the physical differences between a measle and red circle. Friction, weight location, weight... They play spectacularly different -- and the key difference I mean is the way the measle reacts to the rail (or the rail to the measle) when it his with spin. Subtle differences between red circle and measle should have no relevance on how the ball + rail react. May I ask what it typically costs you to analyze such a detail?
Click to expand...
It is very easy to weigh them to detect any weight differences. I would be very surprised if there was an significant weight difference, and weight should affect the action off the cushions anyway. The "weight location" (AKA, mass moment of inertia) can also be measured fairly easily in a swing test. I would also be surprised if there were significant difference there; although, if there were, that would certainly create a different reaction. IMO, friction differences would be the most likely culprit for any significant reaction difference off the cushions, assuming there is one. I would think the ball manufacturers have tests for measuring all of these things. If they don't, they should. Maybe somebody can get some info from the ball companies. I don't have the time to pursue this myself; but I, like you, would certainly be interested to know if and why there are significant differences in reaction.

Catch you later,
Dave
 
another great player that poked everything is Allen Hopkins, great player but he pokes too,i short stroke and poke shots when i get tired
 
for me, bridging length is proportional to accuracy - the longer it is, the more accurate you are.
 
zpele said:
So last night I was talking with someone who insisted that the length of your bridge hand away from the cue ball doesn't mean anything in relation to the stroke.

I highly disagree with him but wanted to get the opinion of others on the forum.

The reason I think this matters is that is changes the angle of your back arm when it contacts the cueball. Depending on where on the cue you hold your stick the angle will be incorrect
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Not to intentionally add variables to the question, but you can have a constant long bridge length but vary the stroke length depending on the shot.
 
TrumanHW said:
Developing proper bridge length is a way to compensate for deflection -- and of COURSE, is often determined for you by the balancing of obstacles and and accuracy. The distance of your bridge from the cue ball is the mutiplier of error in your swing/follow through. If you're off by an half inch in your back hand and have a short bridge will be a smaller amount of error in where you strike the CB than if your bridge is further back. BUT... if your bridge is close, it's harder to generate speed and you have more interference in the site picture of the line your cue is on.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, except on the error multiplier, once you are down at the CB and ready to shoot, you are locked in no matter how long the bridge is, it only takes 1/2" for the CB to get away from the tip. Almost every pro have long bridge it must be the way to go, it is automatic adjustment/offset for english so you do not worry about it, i am used to short bridge for almost 30 years, but changing and finding good results.
 
Lucky_Lew66 said:
another great player that poked everything is Allen Hopkins, great player but he pokes too,i short stroke and poke shots when i get tired
Click to expand...

Short stroke is good for long hard cut shots with soft speed, or if you need to hit hard, tighten your grip and use muscles, but must know your cue..
.
 
Lately I have found this an interesting topic and have been experimenting with it. I have noticed that many pro players have a long bridge (12 – 15 inches or more) on a great many shots where they did not need one. If many of the pros find this useful there must be something to it. Not a requirement but a preference that seems to help them play better.

It appears, over the course of a few days that a longer bridge is useful. Here is what I think is going on.

I am farther back on the cue stick with a stiff left arm and a longer bridge. This seems to help with sighting the shot. There is a tendency to place my head lower (near the stick).
My natural swing is not really affected. It is about the same.

I suspect there is less deflection error because I am closer to the natural pivot point. See Dr Dave’s comment below.)

“A longer bridge might better match the natural pivot length for your cue (especially low-squirt cues). This can help reduce CB direction errors when unintentional sidespin is applied (e.g., due to stroke swoop). It can also be important if using the back-hand english (BHE) method to compensate for squirt when applying sidespin intentionally.”
I have found Joe Tucker’s method of offsetting the cue more useful than traditional backhand English and the longer bridge seems to be less influenced by deflection when I am closer to the natural pivot point.

I think that the longer bridge makes me concentrate more on the back hand because the bridge becomes nothing more than a rest. It really doesn’t control anything any way and concentration is better placed on the backhand.

These are mostly subjective reflections that seem to help my game. Your mileage may vary.
 
Lotta good answers on here.
There are definitely ways bridge length affects your stroke and the shot.

In a nutshell, I think the basic tradeoff is:

Shorter = More accurate, less room for the tip to deviate from the intended contact point.

But there's less room to get the cue up to the necessary speed... so if you have to strain
(aka lunge, jab, poke, stab) at the ball, you increase the chance of your own muscles
steering the stick off course.

Longer = easier to put a full stroke on the ball, less effort to move the cue ball, so the above issue
with muscle strain goes away. But more room for the tip to steer off course. I find the further
back I pull my arm, the more it wants to swing outward, away from my body.

So long bridges can introduce a steering movement (aka a hitch) in the stroke, and may
lead to extra unwanted spin on the cue ball.

But as for your original comment, "the angle of your back arm when it contacts the cue ball"...
You mean the angle of the stick when the tip makes contact?
Are you referring to the horizontal or vertical angle? With a short or long bridge, your stick
should be very level. So vertically, bridge length doesn't really matter.
You shouldn't be angling downward into the ball either way.

In terms of left and right spin, it definitely matters. Over time players will find themselves subconsciously
adjusting bridge length when applying heavy sidespin, as they adjust for deflection.
 
arps said:
for me, bridging length is proportional to accuracy - the longer it is, the more accurate you are.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's just the opposite, for most people, anyway. If you are missing one thing to try is to immediately shorten your bridge. The longer the stroke the more chance of the cue going offline of the shot. I've been puzzled for years as to why so many amateurs have lengthened their bridges to such long extremes.
 
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