Whenever possible, balance yourself along the vertical plane that runs thru the tip of your ring finger on your bridge hand and your front toe by putting pressure on both.
Is this one of those well kept secrets?
- Thread starter David Marcus
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Nope but having correct balance is key. The balance point of each person is different depending on body type, weight, etc.
Putting pressure on your bridge hand is also key to having a stable bridge as is not moving your feet during the shot so that may be what you are correcting by doing this.
Putting pressure on your bridge hand is also key to having a stable bridge as is not moving your feet during the shot so that may be what you are correcting by doing this.
Your balance should be even, and split your head in two regardless of foot position. Your head will always be central to the shot, so imagine your head is a spirit level...you want the bubble to be between both eyes. All the feet are for are to keep this 'bubble' between the eyes, so place them where ever you want to achieve this balance. Again with the bridge hand, place too much weight forward and you become front heavy, too much weight on your feet and you become back heavy. You want your centre of gravity to be around your sternum or top of the rib cage.
Get a friend to push you when you're down on a shot, from the sides, back and front. The only direction you should wobble is forwards. If you fall over, its not my fault
time to start thinking about a new stance, though.
Get a friend to push you when you're down on a shot, from the sides, back and front. The only direction you should wobble is forwards. If you fall over, its not my fault
time to start thinking about a new stance, though.
I don't think it's the tip of the ring finger nor the front big toe. Some tuck the ring finger to firm up the support of the bridge hand.
Personally I'd rather be balanced on both feet & my entire bridge hand as the wider the contact points of the balance points the more stable they are IMHO.
I especially like it when I can put my whole bridge arm down on the table & even make contact with the table with my bridge side hip &/or rib cage.
But...I don't use a full pendulum stroke.
As to the bridge hand, I like it when I remember to get the sense that I am grabbing the cloth with the base of my palm & the fingers. I don't always do that as I have some old injuries in that hand & the added 'tension' that results becomes uncomfortable. But...I do try to do that on certain shots to sort of make it more stable.
I hope something I've said helps someone.
Best,
Rick
Personally I'd rather be balanced on both feet & my entire bridge hand as the wider the contact points of the balance points the more stable they are IMHO.
I especially like it when I can put my whole bridge arm down on the table & even make contact with the table with my bridge side hip &/or rib cage.
But...I don't use a full pendulum stroke.
As to the bridge hand, I like it when I remember to get the sense that I am grabbing the cloth with the base of my palm & the fingers. I don't always do that as I have some old injuries in that hand & the added 'tension' that results becomes uncomfortable. But...I do try to do that on certain shots to sort of make it more stable.
I hope something I've said helps someone.
Best,
Rick
Four things have helped my game more than anything else in the last few years.
First, putting a little extra pressure onto the table with my bridge hand and also leaning into the shot with a 60/40 balance from front to back foot. I was watching Corey D. play in one of the tourneys I directed years ago and I noticed he puts a lot of pressure on his bridge hand to the point of his knuckles turning white. In other words, I want to feel "anchored" to the table.
Second, having a relaxed head position but not moving my head until I see the object ball hit the back of the pocket. This keeps me from jumping up or what I call "spectating" the shot.
Third, as far as my backhand grip, maintaining the inverted V which is formed by my thumb and fore finger through the shot. I always had a tendency to twist my wrist a little depending what english I was putting on the cue ball. This cured it.
Fourth, and most important, SLOW EYES. As I step into my shot, I slow down as my head drops onto the shot line and I imagine a line going from the cue ball to the contact point on the object ball. I make sure that my line of sight is directly over the center of the cue ball no matter what english I'm applying to the cue ball. Once I am down on the shotline, I SLOWLY move my eyes along the imaginary line ALONG THE CLOTH from the cue ball to the contact point on the object ball, back and forth a few times across the cloth until my eyes finally settle on the contact point on the object ball.
If everything lines up and I KNOW the shot is in the pocket, I pull the trigger. If not, I raise up, back off, and start over.
I've noticed over the years, many amateurs have very fast eye movement when looking from the cue ball to the object ball. Many of the pros I've observed have much slower eye movement.
Hey, it works for me!
Stones
First, putting a little extra pressure onto the table with my bridge hand and also leaning into the shot with a 60/40 balance from front to back foot. I was watching Corey D. play in one of the tourneys I directed years ago and I noticed he puts a lot of pressure on his bridge hand to the point of his knuckles turning white. In other words, I want to feel "anchored" to the table.
Second, having a relaxed head position but not moving my head until I see the object ball hit the back of the pocket. This keeps me from jumping up or what I call "spectating" the shot.
Third, as far as my backhand grip, maintaining the inverted V which is formed by my thumb and fore finger through the shot. I always had a tendency to twist my wrist a little depending what english I was putting on the cue ball. This cured it.
Fourth, and most important, SLOW EYES. As I step into my shot, I slow down as my head drops onto the shot line and I imagine a line going from the cue ball to the contact point on the object ball. I make sure that my line of sight is directly over the center of the cue ball no matter what english I'm applying to the cue ball. Once I am down on the shotline, I SLOWLY move my eyes along the imaginary line ALONG THE CLOTH from the cue ball to the contact point on the object ball, back and forth a few times across the cloth until my eyes finally settle on the contact point on the object ball.
If everything lines up and I KNOW the shot is in the pocket, I pull the trigger. If not, I raise up, back off, and start over.
I've noticed over the years, many amateurs have very fast eye movement when looking from the cue ball to the object ball. Many of the pros I've observed have much slower eye movement.
Hey, it works for me!
Stones
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As you age, that might hurt the front knee and then what?
It's important, I've discovered over the years, to keep everything balanced and use all parts of the body to build a strong, reliable stance that doesn't move during the shot.
I still get such advice from better, YOUNGER players, though. One said to lock my knees so I wouldn't wobble. I did that for one week and had to give it up from pain.
It's easy when young to do crazy crap and it seems to work, but in the long run, integrating all parts of the body seems to work best.
Your mileage may vary,
Jeff Livingston
Lock your knees? Your knees should be slightly bent like you are playing a sport. Locking them is bad.
Locking the back leg is far more stable than two locked legs or two bent legs.
When I can't get my forearm on to the table, and only have fingers or hand planted, I was always taught to have about "the weight of a brick" planted on the bridge hand. Less weight makes the stance unstable, more makes the muscles tense up too much.
And yes, too little weight on bridge hand will destabilize the stance. You lose your "tripod" with too little weight on bridge hand.
It's not about stability it's about body height and type. For some people that may work but for my body type locking my knees is bad. That and a prominent local instructor/pro player is the one that gave me this advice so I tend to believe him.
The guy who advised me to lock my legs is shorter than I am.
Maybe it works for him better?
Each player's body type and shooting style probably needs its own tweaks.
Jeff Livingston
If you are very tall, widen the stance with a locked back leg. The stance is purely for stability purposes first and foremost. I'm not saying its wrong to bend both legs or lock both, I'm just saying a locked back leg and bent front leg is the most stable way to stand in pool.
Nic Barrow restructured my stance when I was younger and this is what he said. So I tend to believe him.