Use a Bridge or opposite hand........

Do you prefer to use a bridge or shoot opposite handed?


  • Total voters
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Just watching the Snooker Champion of Champions and around 2 hours and 30 minutes the commentary address shooting with the other hand.
I have bragged on my opposite handed accomplishments elsewhere on this board.
While not ambidextrous or amphibious I was able to develop my Left hand to equal the Right. It didn't come natural or easily but has paid hugely over time.
My morning fitness program has me running my calisthenics left vs right. Adding the elements of competition has provided a way to simulate competition while practicing solo.
I found that left handed shooting is more by feel while my right handed play is more measured. Both work just fine. 🤷‍♂️
 
Well at 3 hours they are still commenting on the young players switching hands. I gotta think Ronnie has influenced them to develop the other hand. Along the way the discussion does touch on Rhobido being butt hurt by Ronnie beating him using the other hand. 🤷‍♂️
 
Plastic moose head bridge is about $2, works great and doesn't scratch your shaft.
Which bridge heads are messing up shafts?
Any bridge head made of a material harder than the cue shaft can ding the shaft if the shaft "rattles" in the valley of the bridge head. Ideally the cue shaft doesn't rattle, but some bridge shots are more awkward than others. Between the vibration from the hit and a less than perfect follow-through, it can happen. Any dings are likely to be small, but they'll still feel like craters on an otherwise smooth shaft.
 
Any bridge head made of a material harder than the cue shaft can ding the shaft if the shaft "rattles" in the valley of the bridge head. Ideally the cue shaft doesn't rattle, but some bridge shots are more awkward than others. Between the vibration from the hit and a less than perfect follow-through, it can happen. Any dings are likely to be small, but they'll still feel like craters on an otherwise smooth shaft.
I've never had that happen in all my years of playing.
The plastic on moose head type bridges or the plastic ones most pool halls have must be softer than maple.
 
I found that left handed shooting is more by feel while my right handed play is more measured. Both work just fine. 🤷‍♂️
I can't help but wonder if you're using the same brain hemisphere when shooting left- vs right-handed.

Note: I'm not suggesting that your corpus callosum is in any way damaged. The different shooting styles just reminded me of stories about people after they have had partial or complete callosotomies.
 
Well Google tells me this.
The Reality of Brain Hemispheres

    • Both sides work together: Neuroimaging studies (including scans of over 1,000 individuals) show that the human brain does not favor one side over the other. Both hemispheres are constantly active and communicate via a thick band of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. [1, 2, 3]
    • Functional specialization exists: While neither side dominates a person's entire personality, certain tasks show slight lateralization:
      • Left hemisphere: Typically handles speech, language, reading, writing, and logical/sequential math.
      • Right hemisphere: Typically supports spatial awareness, visual imagery, facial recognition, and the emotional/tonal aspects of speech. [1, 2, 3, 4]
    • Cross-wiring: Each hemisphere controls movement and sensory input for the opposite side of the body. For example, the left brain controls the right hand and vice versa.
    • My experience is in accord with this.
 
Well at 3 hours they are still commenting on the young players switching hands. I gotta think Ronnie has influenced them to develop the other hand. Along the way the discussion does touch on Rhobido being butt hurt by Ronnie beating him using the other hand. 🤷‍♂️
The decorum is ahtterly stifling theh...
 
Well at 3 hours they are still commenting on the young players switching hands. I gotta think Ronnie has influenced them to develop the other hand. Along the way the discussion does touch on Rhobido being butt hurt by Ronnie beating him using the other hand. 🤷‍♂️

i think it's spelled robidoux. canadian guy. as weird as it sounds his game went away completely and he quit after his cue was destroyed by his cue repairman. iirc his repairman took offense that alan had used another guy to put on a tip, so he smashed the cue.
 
it depends on the shot. i play lefty better than most people i know, but if theres a ball you need to jack up over or some other such issue i tend to grab the bridge.

for a long long shot lately ive been holding the bridge with my left hand up front and using the extension on my cue to swing it normally instead of like a dart. i saw dennis orcolo do it once and it blew my mind, highly recommend for anyone who hasnt tried it.
 
for a long long shot lately ive been holding the bridge with my left hand up front and using the extension on my cue to swing it normally instead of like a dart. i saw dennis orcolo do it once and it blew my mind, highly recommend for anyone who hasnt tried it.
Might even be worth having a special longer extension.

pj
chgo
 
it depends on the shot. i play lefty better than most people i know, but if theres a ball you need to jack up over or some other such issue i tend to grab the bridge.

for a long long shot lately ive been holding the bridge with my left hand up front and using the extension on my cue to swing it normally instead of like a dart. i saw dennis orcolo do it once and it blew my mind, highly recommend for anyone who hasnt tried it.

i think ronnie alcano was the first player i saw doing that. corey deuel has of course done it too.
 
I'm a sucker for banks. I have to force myself to work on cut shots, especially side pockets.
Im fine with either. But lately I've been quite less confident of my banks. Shots I normally make are just way off. If I was making atleast 75% of my banks or 3 of 4 shots, now it's 1 of 4. Maybe because im picking some bad habits from my competitions of playing safe rather than play my game. I love cut shots. I find it a lot trickier to do long straight shots since I have to adjust my stroke and my aiming method.
 
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The Crazy Redhead:

If you want some strange, use the other hand.
Well I broke my right arm when just entering puberty. It is indeed a new piece of hand. Shrug 🤷‍♂️ Actually broke it twice while in grade school.
Writing with the left hand took the longest to get the hang of.
My little league baseball coach was ambidextrous and pitched at a semi pro level with both hands. He taught me to be a catcher and that experience along with the necessary of the broken arm opened my mind to shooting pool with either hand.
Actually there was a time when I was dominating the dollar and or one and 2 ring games. So the only way I could get in the game was to say, "I will shoot left handed." That didn't last long though. 🤷‍♂️ The offer would get scoffing and uh, "forget about it!"
So while not truly ambidextrous through practice I now have two equally proficient at pool hands.
There was a money game that I was struggling to get out. I became so frustrated that I switched hands and gave Lefty the cue. My first shot missed wildly but shit a ball in. It broke the spell and I went on to get back to even and even a small profit.
My experience is that Lefty IS lucky. Consistently when Lefty miss it leaves little or nothing. 🤷‍♂️ "Better to be lucky than good." Is a motto I have uttered on many occasions.
 
The now common use of extensions has apparently convinced some room operators that they no longer need to provide proper bridge equipment. New Diamond tables are seldom routinely fitted with side hanger hardware, and a flimsy pop-on plastic bridge attached to a singe house cue is often merely laid on the floor (under the table), and expected to service multiple tables. God forbid you might need to stack two bridges in order to make a really difficult shot when frozen to the pack. I’ll try most easy shots opposite-handed, but not jacked up like that.
 
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