Bridge Hand

Island Drive

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
Since I don't have a pool table close by, I often think of what my next 2 hour practice session will focus on many days before. I've learned that when you play allot, your mechanics can and do overcome errors that lie within your fundamentals. We all know, swing the cue straight, unencumbered pendulum motion with no side to side gravitational forces intervening....that's very easy to understand BUT. I've never heard of anyone teaching another that his bridge hand with a normal stance is a little too much left or right. Hummmmmm If you did I want to see the article, when an instructor found the pro's bridge hand too far right/left when they were down on their shot. It's funny, all the years I taught, I never thought about the relationship between the two very much.


Left hand cuts, walking up the shot line was always natural, but cutting balls to the right, my walk up/approach was always a little different. I always thought that was odd, but probably just the way it is since I'm 6'6'' and allot is going down when my body addresses the shot. Well I just did this. I've always liked the way I've walked up to my shots, cutting to the left and it felt natural, but r/h cuts were ALWAYS different. So Now I still walk up to the l/h cut shot the same and the r/h cut the same, BUT ....r/hand cut shot....I put my bridge hand down slightly left of the cue ball. Now when I get down I'm forced to pivot the tip to the right, to center cue ball, and thus my grip hand is NOW closer to my body. I hit a few balls the other day and made a few shots with ease and speed control, that I haven't hit since I could play. Boy that felt good, surprising.
 
Island Drive said:
No comprendo
Click to expand...

Obviously doesn't know who you are.

I'm going to play around with this and see if there's a difference for me. But just an observation I've noticed over the years, Professional Players you included, slide into position with their bridge position, seemingly strategically. Whether they get where they need to be vs what they like regardless of optimum placement, I can't answer.

For argument sake taking a different position seems to complicate things. How far off is right and how far is borderline. And what else would this introduce? Just questions.

I've trained a few hunting dogs and it always seem when you correct one thing 3 more come up. Work on those an then another surfaces. Hope you see the analogy.

In the end is what works for the individual but your experiment/results is interesting.
 
3kushn said:
Obviously doesn't know who you are.

I'm going to play around with this and see if there's a difference for me. But just an observation I've noticed over the years, Professional Players you included, slide into position with their bridge position, seemingly strategically. Whether they get where they need to be vs what they like regardless of optimum placement, I can't answer.

For argument sake taking a different position seems to complicate things. How far off is right and how far is borderline. And what else would this introduce? Just questions.

I've trained a few hunting dogs and it always seem when you correct one thing 3 more come up. Work on those an then another surfaces. Hope you see the analogy.

In the end is what works for the individual but your experiment/results is interesting.
Click to expand...

If your shooting left and right hand cut shots down the rail with draw, coming back up table, my walk up has always been the same, but when your down and done, the cut shots to the left have always been easier. What may be happening, when I'm cutting to the right, my back hand HAS to be at a different distance from my body than when I cut to the left. I makes too much sense, and it's simple. I'll let ya know.
 
If you are on the shot line, well it shouldn't matter? Should it? I had damaged a tenon in

my bridge hand several years ago, and started shooting with my opposite hand. Had a

very hard time adjusting, but it was only my visuals that were messed up. We aim with

our eyes, and I am sure that it is a visual problem you are having, not a bridge problem.
 
Island Drive said:
Since I don't have a pool table close by, I often think of what my next 2 hour practice session will focus on many days before. I've learned that when you play allot, your mechanics can and do overcome errors that lie within your fundamentals. We all know, swing the cue straight, unencumbered pendulum motion with no side to side gravitational forces intervening....that's very easy to understand BUT. I've never heard of anyone teaching another that his bridge hand with a normal stance is a little too much left or right. Hummmmmm If you did I want to see the article, when an instructor found the pro's bridge hand too far right/left when they were down on their shot. It's funny, all the years I taught, I never thought about the relationship between the two very much.


Left hand cuts, walking up the shot line was always natural, but cutting balls to the right, my walk up/approach was always a little different. I always thought that was odd, but probably just the way it is since I'm 6'6'' and allot is going down when my body addresses the shot. Well I just did this. I've always liked the way I've walked up to my shots, cutting to the left and it felt natural, but r/h cuts were ALWAYS different. So Now I still walk up to the l/h cut shot the same and the r/h cut the same, BUT ....r/hand cut shot....I put my bridge hand down slightly left of the cue ball. Now when I get down I'm forced to pivot the tip to the right, to center cue ball, and thus my grip hand is NOW closer to my body. I hit a few balls the other day and made a few shots with ease and speed control, that I haven't hit since I could play. Boy that felt good, surprising.
Click to expand...

Practicing to feel comfortable shooting with poor mechanics never overcomes errors in fundamentals. A person being comfortable with their mechanics may achieve some success, but it comes with frustration and above average highs and lows level of play. Great fundamentals allows shots to NOT feel different or odd. Stepping into the shot, addressing the CB, aiming etc... require a great deal of practice but usually overlooked once a little success is achieved.

My thoughts are - No matter how much you practice the wrong shot, its still the wrong shot. This can apply to fundamentals and mechanics. If you have a flaw, at some point it breaks down and you question yourself. This leads to changes, tweaks, experiments, lows. Barry Stark has an unbelievable collection of instructional videos on youtube. He preaches the importance of fundamentals and gives a 45 min video with a top snooker pro, Kyren Wilson. The level and hours of practice on fundamentals at a professional level was shocking to me. For example: Kyren still does cueing drills by shooting the CB up and down the table to insure straight cue delivery. No wonder those guys have 92-93% potting success. Chalking, aiming, walking to the shot, practice strokes, cueing, all the same every time.

If cutting balls feels odd in one direction over the other, something fundamentally is breaking down. Cue delivery might cross aiming line or maybe naturally address CB with tip slightly off center. It sounds like years of practice has tuned a flaw but didn't overcome it.
 
Jason Robichaud said:
Practicing to feel comfortable shooting with poor mechanics never overcomes errors in fundamentals. A person being comfortable with their mechanics may achieve some success, but it comes with frustration and above average highs and lows level of play. Great fundamentals allows shots to NOT feel different or odd. Stepping into the shot, addressing the CB, aiming etc... require a great deal of practice but usually overlooked once a little success is achieved.

My thoughts are - No matter how much you practice the wrong shot, its still the wrong shot. This can apply to fundamentals and mechanics. If you have a flaw, at some point it breaks down and you question yourself. This leads to changes, tweaks, experiments, lows. Barry Stark has an unbelievable collection of instructional videos on youtube. He preaches the importance of fundamentals and gives a 45 min video with a top snooker pro, Kyren Wilson. The level and hours of practice on fundamentals at a professional level was shocking to me. For example: Kyren still does cueing drills by shooting the CB up and down the table to insure straight cue delivery. No wonder those guys have 92-93% potting success. Chalking, aiming, walking to the shot, practice strokes, cueing, all the same every time.

If cutting balls feels odd in one direction over the other, something fundamentally is breaking down. Cue delivery might cross aiming line or maybe naturally address CB with tip slightly off center. It sounds like years of practice has tuned a flaw but didn't overcome it.
Click to expand...
great post
 
Island Drive said:
If your shooting left and right hand cut shots down the rail with draw, coming back up table, my walk up has always been the same, but when your down and done, the cut shots to the left have always been easier. What may be happening, when I'm cutting to the right, my back hand HAS to be at a different distance from my body than when I cut to the left. I makes too much sense, and it's simple. I'll let ya know.
Click to expand...

bill
arent all cut shots straight shots to the correct spot on the object ball to pocket it ?
if you agree with that then
the problem is your vision center or stroke
jmho
icbw
 
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Island Drive said:
If your shooting left and right hand cut shots down the rail with draw, coming back up table, my walk up has always been the same, but when your down and done, the cut shots to the left have always been easier. What may be happening, when I'm cutting to the right, my back hand HAS to be at a different distance from my body than when I cut to the left. I makes too much sense, and it's simple. I'll let ya know.
Click to expand...

There's a billiard player Sid Banner who wrote a book on systems. I stopped reading it for my own reasons but I remember him talking about different stances given certain shots. Foot position adjustments. If you search the name you'll easily find one of his kicking systems. Maybe jewett"s site has more on Sid.
 
3kushn said:
There's a billiard player Sid Banner who wrote a book on systems. I stopped reading it for my own reasons but I remember him talking about different stances given certain shots. Foot position adjustments. If you search the name you'll easily find one of his kicking systems. Maybe jewett"s site has more on Sid.
Click to expand...

That would be a nice read, if you can find it, it's much appreciated.

Allot are making too much outta this and.... I enjoy all the different perspectives and thoughts, been wrong before.

All I'm doing different is this....I walk up the exact same way on all shots still....Remember I have NO problem feeling the shot 100% ever with l/h cuts....

I USED TO WALK UP SLIGHTLY MORE LEFT ON R/H CUT SHOTS, NOW I DON'T have to.

R/H....I'm keeping it simple, I just set my bridge hand about one cue tip outside center left, SAME WALK UP. As I get down on the shot the tip pivots to the center and the swing action feels less encumbered, free. What I feel I have done, is I have found a way to Eliminate that outside/in movement that has always creeped into play at times on r/h cuts, even in 1990 when all it was was Packages.
 
Another question: Is all of your weight on your feet in the stance or is some of it in your bridge hand. I've noticed since I've closed my stance to about 45 degrees with my feet, a lot of my weight is on the bridge hand. When my left foot was further forward in a more open stance, my balance was strictly on my feet in the stance and the bridge hand could be lifted off with zero weight. Can anyone answer this?
 
Prairie dog said:
Another question: Is all of your weight on your feet in the stance or is some of it in your bridge hand very little. I've noticed since I've closed my stance to about 45 degrees with my feet, a lot of my weight is on the bridge hand. When my left foot was further forward in a more open stance, my balance was strictly on my feet in the stance and the bridge hand could be lifted off with zero weight. Can anyone answer this?
Click to expand...
Sounds like you had it right, must see a video.

..................

Here's stance weight distribution thinking.

When you bend over, you have weight in 3 areas. When you stand up vertically you have weight in only 2 areas, left and right foot. But once you bend over, torso weight, the third element comes into the equation. Always avoid excessive with too your bridge hand.

If your bending over properly with any open stance, your butt goes out, rearward, and your upper torso goes forward. If your Obese, then you'll tend to crowd the shot do to Torso weight.

Once your body is in balance, your just flopping your bridge hand on the table, and relaxin' the arm.

Like the complacency of a dead Octopus on the Ice at a pro hockey game :). KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF
 
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