It's interesting. There are well-known coaches who advise that if you want to draw the ball back, lower your bridge hand.
Here BilliardsAbout talks about raising the stroke hand.
There's a very accomplished Philippine player locally who uses his legs. He's aiming at center ball, and during the final forward stroke, he either straightens his legs a bit to add draw, or bends his knees a little more to add topspin. I should add that nobody tries to copy his technique.
Not just the more well-known coaches, Gerry--almost 100% of instruction books, videos and teachers have one lower one's bridge hand, and have done so for a century or longer. But would you consider trying a technique I've taught a lot of students--a technique that pleases them?
And I wouldn't suggest raising the bridge hand above the regular bridge used for center cue ball. You simply address center cb and elevate the butt a minute amount (easy to overdo so be careful) and give yourself
angle to work with.
A classic draw stroke requires a deft touch to pull off precisely, because the bridge hand is lowered only, the cue is near level and when forcing draw action with a vigorous stroke, slight to major miscues can happen. (And we've all seen good draw players get too much or too little cue ball roll for position, right?)
But what if I wanted to achieve a piqué stroke (extreme backspin)? I'd elevate the cue
greatly and stroke
softly. By simply leaving your bridge hand in place and raising the butt
slightly, then
stroking
softly with your regular center cb stroke, you give yourself a steeper angle and better control of the mass of the cue ball and better tip contact ("better" meaning striking with the top of the cue tip every time and banishing forever those jumped and stopped "draw shots").
I've had students who've struggled with draw a long time perfect their draw with this technique in a few moments. To me, perfect technique means drawing STRAIGHT back a PRECISE distance at will--we're talking on like the second or third try at the most.
Try this stroke? Place the cue ball a foot behind the ob and draw back on a full hit. I think you'll be pleased.
PS. It bears repeating. Leave the bridge hand like you would typically. Raise the cue butt a tiny amount. Stroke softly, with no "wrist snap" or etc. since there is now no need to do so for precise, repeatable draw action.