Open / Closed Bridge Hybrid?
- Thread starter JessEm
- Start date
The worst of two worlds: stability and friction.
I have a feeling there's a reason for that. Good luck, though.
pj
chgo
Oh, I see Bob named two...
I wanna know where I can get that cool shiny cloth.
pj
chgo
pj
chgo
For years there was always a guy that looked for me in the leagues, for some reason just had to play me every time our teams met. He probably held a 5 handicap all the time I knew him, not a bad player and he used the exact same bridge as pictured. Every time I watched him play I always thought that he could move up a level easily if he changes his bridge, it just looked unstable as hell
I feel like I’ve seen this in the bars a time or two.
I've run into several people using that bridge. Veteran beginners except one who used to be a local rotation monster. Guess he got old and could no longer form a bridge. The alternative being he always used that bridge. They only had slow conditions in his day so friction might've been useful speed control.
Beginner bridge. Not good for anything. Open bridge is way better than this. A proper closed bridge blows it out of the water.
Folks, it might be because the person in that photo has arthritis or some other hand and fingers limitations.
Lots of pool players, usually older ones, suffer from physical ailments that alter their stance, stroke & bridge.
Lots of pool players, usually older ones, suffer from physical ailments that alter their stance, stroke & bridge.
If that were the case, I'd suggest a fist bridge or an open bridge instead.
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I concur......usually open bridges are used.....but sometimes you still attempt something that isn’t what it used to be.
In my younger days, I could curl my index finger around my shaft and make it as tight or loose on my thumb easily.
Now, jeez, I am glad just to be able to reach my thumb using a closed bridge without experiencing discomfort or pain.
The discussions of open and closed bridges are just starting points. Because everybody's anatomy is different, sometimes extremely different, you can't truly fine tune one's bridge unless it's in-person, one on one. The same goes for instructing one on stance.
Almost every player I see that has played for a while has some flaw in mechanics that is holding them back, similar to your thoughts about the bridge that guy uses. They may want to play a lot, try to "practice", but they have no idea that what they are doing will not get them to where they want to be because they have a flaw such as an unstable bridge. I put practice in quotes because most of them don't actually practice, they go to play with the exact same flaws and never learn anything new, just keep hammering at the same things with the same mistakes.
I just spent like 2 hours with someone that I watched play for quite a bit with no noticeable improvement to smoothen his stoke out and have a more consistent table approach and they guy was doing better that same day. People just need a bit of a nudge in the right direction to get better. I see too many people ignore regulars that go in to play that, well, stink at playing, instead of helping them out a bit. I told him that many players need some asshole like me to just tell them that they are not good and tell them why that is or they won't get better LOL
Good hustling bridge to get suckers out of their chair.
The rabbit-ears bridge: hand flat on table, pull the middle and index pads towards you and bridge between the second knuckles of those fingers. Reasonably stable.
The open fist: make a fist with knuckles flat on the table and bring the thumb up the side. Can be as stable as the regular open bridge.
The flying vee: fingers straight down on the table, thumb bent up and turned away from you, stick rubs on wrist and thumb. Not so stable but it's amazing how well it can work with some practice.
Lassiter's off-hand grip bridge: For off-hand shots, slide your normal grip hand forward to bridge position with fingers wrapped around the shaft and knuckles on the table.
Regular fist bridge: one of the best bridges for draw shots but looks like a beginner's bridge.
Poor man's glove: wrap part of a paper towel around the shaft and form your closed bridge around that.
In all cases try to incorporate as much body movement in the shot as possible. Good luck.
Matt, if that were true then why wouldn't they use a different hand model (that is an atrocious unstable bridge)? It's obvious the person writing the article about cuemaking had zero knowledge of how to actually play pool.
Scott Lee
2019 PBIA Instructor of the Year
Director, SPF National Pool School Tour
I have seen some decent shooters use the fist bridge playing off their knuckles. I think there was one guy particularly famous for doing that but I don't remember who he was, there was a post on it a while ago.
I have tried to get someone play me by playing worse than I can, but I just can't bring myself to manage to look like a crappy player LOL It's actually a pain in the ass since my most regular pool hall is filled with people that don't go near anyone good even if they can shoot a bit themselves, so I usually end up being bored even when some guy is also by himself playing.