I have not seen any mention on the placement of the bridge hand with regards to aiming in the traditional sense. Does anyone have a process or technique where the placement of the bridge hand plays a critical role in aiming?
Bridge Hand Role in Aiming
- Thread starter Brookeland Bill
- Start date
Gravey39
Active member
your bridge hand is an extremely valuable part of aiming. it’s what keeps your cue in line with where you’re trying to shoot. So your back hand, pivot point of bridge(point where cue rests), cue and tip should all be linear to your aim point through cue ball to object ball.
In some sense the aim is primarily determined by where the bridge hand is placed. I have seen a lot of beginners who don't get that right. When they see the aim is wrong, they just pivot around the bridge. Of course, backhand english says that doesn't change the aim at all (in its simplest form).
I aim with the stick above the shot. I test shoot anything iffy as well. This requires my bridge hand. It's funny how all this is built into the act of pool but the majority of players go right past this and run through their pedantics, focusing elsewhere.
Last time I looked, a bridge is a bridge.
Maybe you mean a bridge doesn’t have edges…?
pj
chgo
Are you referring to one of these?
I hate it when a bridge has sharp edges, especially those common, cheap pot metal bridge heads that have a flash that the manufacturer is too lazy to remove. Those can really tear up a wooden shaft. I avoid the problem by using a CF shaft and trying to always have a Russo (nylon) bridge head available.
Hope this Freds.
As a noob I used to adjust by subtle thumb movement in the forward hand. Problem with this is horizontal travel requires sweeping the whole arm. I recall a wristwatch also helped as a framing reference. Don't do any of that anymore. These days, by the time I'm ready to pull the trigger I'm looking past the bridge hand.
Aiming is done with the eyes, then you line the cue stick up in accordance with what you see in order to send the cb to where it needs to go. Similar to sighting down a long-barrel rifle, the hand that supports the barrel is just that - support.
The rifle has to be manually adjusted to hit the contact point. Pool resolution is a couple orders lower and can be scoped out sufficiently to include the stick placement. Certainly your fractional aiming requires subtle, in stance, front and backhand calibration. (?)
The rifle comparison stands up. The following steps work for pool shots and rifle shots....
1. Look at the shot and determine the target, the aim point or aim line.
2. Stand in a manner that gets your body aligned to that target, to the aim point. For example, your back foot and grip hand aligned with the aim line.
3. Align the cue to the target as you're coming down into the shot, placing your bridge hand where it needs to be to have the tip of your cue pointed along the same line which your grip hand and body is already positioned.
4. Ensure that everything looks and feels like it's lined up correctly. This might involve some minor bridge hand movement or grip hand movement, but not necessarily, certainly not always.
5. Shoot the shot.
* With a rifle, substitute grip hand with trigger hand. You might substitute back foot with back shoulder. Substitute bridge hand with forestock/forearm support. The same 5 steps apply....look at the target, align your body to the target, align the rifle to the target, ensure that everything looks and feels correct, then shoot the shot.
Here's the problem I have with that. The shot is built into the rifle. No matter where you point it, the shot comes identically out the muzzle. The pool shot is like an expanded version of the firing mechanism and because of the organic nature of the system, adjustment tends to corrupt the firing.
I understand where you're coming from, the pool stroke isn't as consistent as a bullet coming out of a rifle - we aren't machines. The final action (stroking the cue or pulling the trigger) is different, but the aiming process is the same.... look at the target, position the body to the target, position the cue/barrel to the target, then shoot.
Shouldn't it be the cueball isn't as consistent as a bullet coming out of a rifle? The similarity would be the pool stroke can be good or bad the same as an incorrect trigger pull or correct one by the index finger. Both can cause their projectiles to go straight or be pushed/pulled. In the case of a firearm, it can also go high or low in addition to left or right. In pool it would be a high miscue or low jumped ball.
Herein lies a major difference that causes all of the problems on pool forums. With a rifle or a pistol, you have a front sight and a rear sight that need to be linked correctly to the TARGET. That's IT unless it's a fairly long distance and wind needs to be taken in account along with gravity.
In pool, there are between 75-100 ways to SIGHT a cueball to the OB to the pocket. They're called AIMING SYSTEMS. Some are definitely better than others. But one or two get VILIFIED as being totally erroneous and harmful to the game if used by about 8 individuals for over two decades.
The barrel of a rifle and top sight does have to be absolutely in line with the target. But a pool cue can in fact BE ANGLED while striking the CB as well as the head position. The rear sight (CB) and front sight (OB) can also be viewed from various perspectives that aren't necessarily straight on in a "conventional way."
This seems to be the major cause of dissent from those who know how to do this and those who don't and need and preach straight lines and angles as dogma. It isn't necessary because both work.
It's like a pitcher in baseball. There have been some great ones that threw mostly straight fastballs that were so fast and accurate they were hard to hit. And there have been others that come at the batter from all different sidearm angles and head positions to make the balls still go across the plate. Both work. Just like in pool.
Unlike the precision crafted gun, the pool firing mechanism is 70% water.
We are actually. The most versatile machines in the world. The only real problem is the control module.
I know a couple of local players that do this as well and for literally decades... On rare days they can take some games from strong players. Usually they're 'aiming method' produces incredible inconsistency.
IMO, the bridge hand is quite literally the single most improtant aspect to aiming correctly. If your bridge hand is wrong. You're either correcting or missing.
You gotta be consistent at it. Meaning the same schtick, every shot.