Bridge Placement

[Andrew Manning]

Great thread. One thing I work with students on is bridge hand placement. I usually cover it when we are working on visualization. I have them visualize where they will put their bridge, then hold a piece of paper between the shooter and the cue ball, and have then get down on the shot. It can be pretty ugly at first, but with a little practice, you can get very precise with your bridge placement, even when the cue ball is out of sight.
Steve

That sounds like a good drill that would probably help most of us quite a lot with our accuracy. I think if I could work "visualize precise bridge-hand placement" into my pre-shot routine, by practicing it and learning to do it well like you described, I would become more accurate and consistent.

-Andrew

 

[chefjeff]

I mentioned this in another thread, I think, but it applies here.

One of my teammates was lucky enough to have played with Willie Mosconi. My friend told me that Willie told him that bridge placement was the most important fundamental and the one that most players do improperly. Willie, unless he was just b/s ing, knew what he was talking about, I'd think, so I've been concentrating on this fundamental myself the last few weeks as I've actually missed some balls lately!

One way that I've found to help me is, especially on my break shot bridge, to create my bridge FIRST...then make my stance and grip around the properly located bridge. It seems kinda weird to do this, but it did reveal some errors I was making in lining up (not high enough bridge, too far from cb, etc.).

I don't know if that would work for you, but what if it does?

Jeff Livingston

 

[Bob Jewett]

... 5) Your bridge and your tip are two points that defining the line of your cue. ...

I would prefer to say that it is your bridge and your back-hand that define the line. Those are the points you really control. Here is an article that discusses how much accuracy is required in bridge placement (or back-hand position) for different length shots (1994-04 article -- "How Tough is Tough?":

http://www.sfbilliards.com/articles/BD_articles.html

Here is a result from that article. Suppose the object ball is two diamonds from the pocket and the cue ball is back another five diamonds. This is a long shot, but one most B-or-higher players would expect to make. If all of the body position error is in your bridge hand at the instant of stick-ball impact -- that is, your stroke is perfect -- the bridge placement must be correct to within +-1mm. A US dime is 1.25mm thick.

Considering the accuracy needed even for run-of-the-mill shots, I think it's amazing that people can play at all.

You see quite a few weaker players who do their last-minute aiming adjustments by flinching their bridges. Sometimes they make a ball.