I've read several times that you should chalk with your grip hand rather than your bridge hand, why?
Thanks
Thanks
Chalk with grip hand?
- Thread starter Oldwestside
- Start date
Most right-handed players chalk with their right hand. I think it's because they are right-handed. Some players -- I think Lou Butera is among them -- hold the chalk in their bridge hands at all times and chalk with their bridge hands.
I think it doesn't make a bit of difference.
I think it depends on the TD.
Thanks for the reply.
That's part of the problem for Pocket Billiards. Why should that be at the whim of a tournament director? It should be clear that it is either legal or that it is not.
One should not utilize a method for who knows how long & then be told by a TD that it is illegal.
The game needs ongoing definitive rules. Also it needs tighter tolerances on equipment for certain 'sanctioned' events. Different cue balls are different & do effect certain shots differently. It would be better for the players but much worse for the manufacturers to have tighter tolerances for all balls but especially for cue balls.
To the OP's question, tip chalk getting on the bridge hand could increase friction between the hand the stick. It is not powder.
Thanks again Mr. Jewitt.
whichever hand one uses for chalking, I once read it could be useful to switch hands for a while. That is chalking "opposite-handed". This is intended to "wake up" one's brain, as the other half will be responsible for that activity. I can't remember how long the switch was supposed to be, but probably that routine should last as much as you would have played opposite-handed (yes, this also helps, and probably more than just chalking with other hand than usual)
I'm holding the chalk in right hand, and I'm a right hand player. I use glove on my bridge hand (left hand) so chalking with the left hand is uncomfortable for me, the glove is going blue faster.
I can see the next reason for chalking with grip hand:
- The chalk don't remain on the bridge hand, and the shaft goes smoother.
- Sweating on the grip hand may dry, when you are chalking.
- The glove don't goes dirty so much.
- Switching the hands, can help to relax the grip hand.
I can see the next reason for chalking with grip hand:
- The chalk don't remain on the bridge hand, and the shaft goes smoother.
- Sweating on the grip hand may dry, when you are chalking.
- The glove don't goes dirty so much.
- Switching the hands, can help to relax the grip hand.
I do something similar.
When I want to make sure that the tip is chalked properly I do it with my right hand & in the manner of swiping it with the edges. Then when I am in rhythm in a game & I just want to maintain it, I lightly turn it with my left hand.
If a problem arises or if I have to figure something out, hence my rhtym has been interrupted, I will chalk with my right hand.
I do this naturally & have never ever given it any thought.
Regards & Best Wishes,
Rick
'The Opposite Hand is the Teacher'
I believe there's some truth to this post Vahmurka, although I chalk with my bridge hand I will sometimes chalk with the other hand for the reason you explained.
The best way, from my experience, to get this mental "switch" is to play opposite handed for 5-10 minutes, this really makes different parts of your mind work and when you switch back it's like removing weights (mentally and physically).
'The Opposite Hand is the Teacher'
I believe there's some truth to this post Vahmurka, although I chalk with my bridge hand I will sometimes chalk with the other hand for the reason you explained.
The best way, from my experience, to get this mental "switch" is to play opposite handed for 5-10 minutes, this really makes different parts of your mind work and when you switch back it's like removing weights (mentally and physically).
'The Opposite Hand is the Teacher'
Last edited:
Are you a right-handed player? If so, it would make sense that by engaging using your left hand you could "wake up" your game. It wouldn't work so well for a left handed player. What you're doing by engaging your left hand is you're engaging your right brain - which is more creative and less analytical. Obviously, in billiards, you want to be analytical. However in every sport or game requiring muscle-memory skills you want to disengage your left brain or else you'll become mechanical with your motions.
Whenever I'm out on the golf course or shooting a free throw I take a brief instant to flex and tighten either my left hand or even just my left foot. This automatically removes me from the analytical and puts me into a frame of mind to simply perform the task as I know how to do it.
Pool is a two sided game....the bridge side is for stability and the right side......
Pool is a two sided game....the bridge side is {firm} for stability and the right side for maneuverability ... this effects what you are saying because each side has a priority, so it's not "cut and dry" how the mind effects your actual game...it's more complex when you factor in how the two sides actually relate to one another.....and synergistically influence your game. 'The Game is the Teacher'
Pool is a two sided game....the bridge side is {firm} for stability and the right side for maneuverability ... this effects what you are saying because each side has a priority, so it's not "cut and dry" how the mind effects your actual game...it's more complex when you factor in how the two sides actually relate to one another.....and synergistically influence your game. 'The Game is the Teacher'
Which hand you chalk with depends on which hemisphere you are playing in. Taking into consideration how far you are from the Equator.
Oh I agree with you completely. What I was saying is that - in any game - you want to be able to disengage the calculating left hemisphere of your brain when you get down to actually executing the shot. You take every measure you can with the right hemisphere, for the best players a task that takes only an instant of observation of what is in front of him, and when you go to execute the task you disengage and move to the right brain and simply execute as your minds eye sees it.
In every game - tennis, golf, billiards, etc. - the engagement of the left hemisphere is easy. Analytic examination comes naturally to us. The hard part comes in the execution. Many call it "pressure." If you can pull it off you're "clutch." What it comes down to is being able to get out of your own way and let the muscle memory take over - executing that shot you've practiced a million times.
Don't think of this as me being in any way contentious over billiards. I'm merely speaking from a game theory standpoint. I've mastered other games/sports and I'm speaking of general mental principles. I'm in no way yet a particular expert on anything that has to do with the number of diamonds to count to bank correctly to put the object ball off of the wall into the pocket..... That stuff just makes my head spin at moments. I'm just speaking of the way the mind works in executing any game.
Last edited:
Pool, it can be said, is a miniature version of these other games.
I agree, and many people can "say it," and few can actually figure out how to do it, although I've seen many players fall into this state on occasion.......usually they don't know how to repeat it at will - this is the ultimate mental challenge.
I see you are a DISK GOLFER.....I have friends that play and that game/sport is similar to billiards in many ways. Once you do master a game it's easier to see the common denominators in other games. Moving the ball from different angles towards the target using spin, deflection and in your case the wind, which is also used in golf and tennis.
Some players don't relate pool to golf and tennis like me, of course it's from my experience of playing all three games through much of my teenage years. Pool, it can be said, is a miniature version of these other games. 'The Games are the Teacher'
I agree, and many people can "say it," and few can actually figure out how to do it, although I've seen many players fall into this state on occasion.......usually they don't know how to repeat it at will - this is the ultimate mental challenge.
I see you are a DISK GOLFER.....I have friends that play and that game/sport is similar to billiards in many ways. Once you do master a game it's easier to see the common denominators in other games. Moving the ball from different angles towards the target using spin, deflection and in your case the wind, which is also used in golf and tennis.
Some players don't relate pool to golf and tennis like me, of course it's from my experience of playing all three games through much of my teenage years. Pool, it can be said, is a miniature version of these other games. 'The Games are the Teacher'
Last edited:
Being a right-handed person, I find myself resenting those who put me in a category of being more analytical and less creative. I think I'm very creative without having to brush my teeth left-handed or shoot pool for 5 minutes left-handed. I've always felt that the left and right sides of my brain probably work pretty well together without my having to stimulate one side.
Here's an interesting opinion written on that subject printed in Psychology Today in 2012:
Why the Left-Brain Right-Brain Myth Will Probably Never Die
The myth has become a powerful metaphor, but it's one we should challenge
Published on June 27, 2012 by Christian Jarrett, Ph.D in Brain Myths
The left-brain right-brain myth will probably never die because it has become a powerful metaphor for different ways of thinking – logical, focused and analytic versus broad-minded and creative. Take the example of Britain’s Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks talking on BBC Radio 4 earlier this year. “What made Europe happen and made it so creative,” he explained, “is that Christianity was a right-brain religion … translated into a left-brain language [Greek]. So for many centuries you had this view that science and religion are essentially part of the same thing.”
As well as having metaphorical appeal, the seductive idea of the right brain and its untapped creative potential also has a long history of being targeted by self-help gurus peddling pseudo-psychology. Today the same idea is also picked up by the makers of self-improvement video games and apps. The latest version of the The Faces iMake-Right Brain Creativity app for the Ipad, for example, boasts that it is “an extraordinary tool for developing right brain creative capabilities”.
Related Articles
There is more than a grain of truth to the left-brain right-brain myth. While they look alike, the two hemispheres of the brain do function differently. For example, it’s become almost common knowledge that in most people the left brain is dominant for language. The right hemisphere, on the other hand, is implicated more strongly in emotional processing and representing the mental states of others. However, the distinctions aren't as clear cut as the myth makes out - for instance, the right hemisphere is involved in processing some aspects of language, such as intonation and emphasis.
Much of what we know about the functional differences between the hemispheres comes from the remarkable split-brain studies that began in the sixties. These investigations were conducted on patients who’d had the thick bundle of fibres connecting their hemispheres cut as a last-resort treatment for epilepsy. Researchers, including the psychologists Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga, could present stimuli to just one hemisphere or the other at a time, and they discovered that the two halves of the brain acted like independent entities with contrasting processing styles.
But it’s important to remember that in healthy people the two brain hemispheres are well-connected. The fictional doctor Gregory House called the corpus callosum that joins the hemispheres the “George Washington Bridge” of the brain, and in most of what we do, the hemispheres have evolved to operate together, sharing information across this bridge. Neuroscientists working in this field today are interested in how this coordination occurs.
It’s also important to note that the kind of tasks that engage one hemisphere more than the other don’t always map neatly onto the kind of categories that we find useful to talk about in our everyday lives. Let’s take the example of creativity. We may find it a useful shorthand to divide tasks up into those that are creative and those that are repetitive. But the reality of course is more complex. There are many ways to be creative.
Some studies have indeed shown that the right hemisphere seems to be involved more when we have an Aha! flash of insight. For instance, one study found that activity was greater in the right hemisphere when participants solved a task via insight, rather than piecemeal. Another showed that brief exposure to a puzzle clue was more useful to the right hemisphere, than the left, as if the right hemisphere were nearer the answer.
But insight is just one type of creativity. Telling stories is another. One of the most fascinating insights from the split-brain studies was the way the left hemisphere made up stories to explain what the right hemisphere was up to – what Gazzaniga dubbed the “interpreter phenomenon”. For example, in one study, a patient completing a picture-matching task used their left hand (controlled by the right hemisphere) to match up a shovel with an image of a snow storm (shown only to the right hemisphere). The patient was then asked why he’d done this. But his left hemisphere (the source of speech) didn’t admit to not knowing. Instead, it confabulated, saying that he’d reached for the shovel to clear out the chicken coop (the picture shown to the left hemisphere was of a bird’s foot).
Writing an overview of the split-brain research in a 2002 article for Scientific American (pdf), Gazzaniga concluded, based on the interpreter phenomenon and other findings, that the left hemisphere is “inventive and interpreting”, whilst the right brain is “truthful and literal.” This seems at odds with the myth invoked by Rabbi Sacks and many others.
I suppose the logical left-brain, creative right-brain myth has a seductive simplicity about it. People can ask – which kind of brain have I got? They can buy an app to target their weaker half. They can categorise languages and people as right-brained or left. It’s tricky to combat that belief system by saying the truth is really more complicated. But it’s worth trying, because it would be a shame if the simplistic myth drowned out the more fascinating story of how our brains really work.
Here's an interesting opinion written on that subject printed in Psychology Today in 2012:
Why the Left-Brain Right-Brain Myth Will Probably Never Die
The myth has become a powerful metaphor, but it's one we should challenge
Published on June 27, 2012 by Christian Jarrett, Ph.D in Brain Myths
The left-brain right-brain myth will probably never die because it has become a powerful metaphor for different ways of thinking – logical, focused and analytic versus broad-minded and creative. Take the example of Britain’s Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks talking on BBC Radio 4 earlier this year. “What made Europe happen and made it so creative,” he explained, “is that Christianity was a right-brain religion … translated into a left-brain language [Greek]. So for many centuries you had this view that science and religion are essentially part of the same thing.”
As well as having metaphorical appeal, the seductive idea of the right brain and its untapped creative potential also has a long history of being targeted by self-help gurus peddling pseudo-psychology. Today the same idea is also picked up by the makers of self-improvement video games and apps. The latest version of the The Faces iMake-Right Brain Creativity app for the Ipad, for example, boasts that it is “an extraordinary tool for developing right brain creative capabilities”.
Related Articles
There is more than a grain of truth to the left-brain right-brain myth. While they look alike, the two hemispheres of the brain do function differently. For example, it’s become almost common knowledge that in most people the left brain is dominant for language. The right hemisphere, on the other hand, is implicated more strongly in emotional processing and representing the mental states of others. However, the distinctions aren't as clear cut as the myth makes out - for instance, the right hemisphere is involved in processing some aspects of language, such as intonation and emphasis.
Much of what we know about the functional differences between the hemispheres comes from the remarkable split-brain studies that began in the sixties. These investigations were conducted on patients who’d had the thick bundle of fibres connecting their hemispheres cut as a last-resort treatment for epilepsy. Researchers, including the psychologists Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga, could present stimuli to just one hemisphere or the other at a time, and they discovered that the two halves of the brain acted like independent entities with contrasting processing styles.
But it’s important to remember that in healthy people the two brain hemispheres are well-connected. The fictional doctor Gregory House called the corpus callosum that joins the hemispheres the “George Washington Bridge” of the brain, and in most of what we do, the hemispheres have evolved to operate together, sharing information across this bridge. Neuroscientists working in this field today are interested in how this coordination occurs.
It’s also important to note that the kind of tasks that engage one hemisphere more than the other don’t always map neatly onto the kind of categories that we find useful to talk about in our everyday lives. Let’s take the example of creativity. We may find it a useful shorthand to divide tasks up into those that are creative and those that are repetitive. But the reality of course is more complex. There are many ways to be creative.
Some studies have indeed shown that the right hemisphere seems to be involved more when we have an Aha! flash of insight. For instance, one study found that activity was greater in the right hemisphere when participants solved a task via insight, rather than piecemeal. Another showed that brief exposure to a puzzle clue was more useful to the right hemisphere, than the left, as if the right hemisphere were nearer the answer.
But insight is just one type of creativity. Telling stories is another. One of the most fascinating insights from the split-brain studies was the way the left hemisphere made up stories to explain what the right hemisphere was up to – what Gazzaniga dubbed the “interpreter phenomenon”. For example, in one study, a patient completing a picture-matching task used their left hand (controlled by the right hemisphere) to match up a shovel with an image of a snow storm (shown only to the right hemisphere). The patient was then asked why he’d done this. But his left hemisphere (the source of speech) didn’t admit to not knowing. Instead, it confabulated, saying that he’d reached for the shovel to clear out the chicken coop (the picture shown to the left hemisphere was of a bird’s foot).
Writing an overview of the split-brain research in a 2002 article for Scientific American (pdf), Gazzaniga concluded, based on the interpreter phenomenon and other findings, that the left hemisphere is “inventive and interpreting”, whilst the right brain is “truthful and literal.” This seems at odds with the myth invoked by Rabbi Sacks and many others.
I suppose the logical left-brain, creative right-brain myth has a seductive simplicity about it. People can ask – which kind of brain have I got? They can buy an app to target their weaker half. They can categorise languages and people as right-brained or left. It’s tricky to combat that belief system by saying the truth is really more complicated. But it’s worth trying, because it would be a shame if the simplistic myth drowned out the more fascinating story of how our brains really work.
I chalk with my bridge hand (left) so I don't have to set my cue down, pick up the chalk, hold my cue in my left hand while chalking, then switch hands back.
I would highly doubt it matters, but everything just seems more fluid to me when I can keep my right hand on my cue *insert joke here* chalk, and get on with my psr.
I would highly doubt it matters, but everything just seems more fluid to me when I can keep my right hand on my cue *insert joke here* chalk, and get on with my psr.