right handed, but shoot left handed.........

[Timberly]

ok... i can totally understand learning and actually playing pool with your opposite hand... but what I don't understand is that if you regularly shoot pool with your left, why do some people switch to their right when they use the bridge? That's what makes me scratch my head the most.

In my case it has to do with coordination. (I have a pendulum stoke) Basically letting my arm hang wile bending my elbow doesn't take any coordination. Bringing your arm up and using it to aim with does take coordination. Kind of like taking a hammer and trying to hit a nail... you're going to be all over the place with your swing. Hence the switch to the dominant hand so that one can aim with more accuracy.

Did I just confuse you more?? LOL, that was the only way I could explain it.

EDIT::::: hang both arms out like a scarecrow with your arms bent at the elbows hanging down. You can easily bend your arms back & forth from the elbow down. (My stroke, if I played right handed would be identicle to the stroke I have now playing left handed). Holding that position but raising your arms up.... think of shooting darts.... can't do it with both hands up and aiming. You're only going to be able to do that with your dominant hand.

 

[TheConArtist]

i play left handed but i do everything with my left hand, there were times i wished i wasn't left handed like in middle school or kindergarten trying to cut paper with right handed scissors cause they didn't have any left handed ones heheeh, I always wondering for right handed players playing a left handed player is it different then playing a right handed player as they both play position different ways, i have never played a left handed player so i always wondered that question.

 

[Jigger]

I write, eat, play tennis, ping-pong, squash, raquetball, hit baseballs, hockey pucks, and golf balls left handed.

I throw righty, play guitar righty, kick football & play pool righty.

Mostly mixed-up really!

WOW Cardinal! If I was that ambidexterous I'd accidentaly try to drive from the right seat!

 

[PoolFool]

In my case it has to do with coordination. (I have a pendulum stoke) Basically letting my arm hang wile bending my elbow doesn't take any coordination. Bringing your arm up and using it to aim with does take coordination. Kind of like taking a hammer and trying to hit a nail... you're going to be all over the place with your swing. Hence the switch to the dominant hand so that one can aim with more accuracy.

Did I just confuse you more?? LOL, that was the only way I could explain it.

EDIT::::: hang both arms out like a scarecrow with your arms bent at the elbows hanging down. You can easily bend your arms back & forth from the elbow down. (My stroke, if I played right handed would be identicle to the stroke I have now playing left handed). Holding that position but raising your arms up.... think of shooting darts.... can't do it with both hands up and aiming. You're only going to be able to do that with your dominant hand.

ok, if what you say is true, then my question now would be why don't you shoot w/ your dominant hand then? If it's a normal pendulam like movement then why the switch? Like I said, I am ambidexterous when it comes to pool, because of my height I've trained myself to shoot w/ my off hand. However, I am more coordinated w/ my dominant hand and am more comfortable w/ it. My high run in straight pool w/ my dominant hand is 72, while my off hand is 29. Of course this has nothing to do w/ the subject, but I wanted to put it out there anyway =P. Like I've said before though, it just makes me scratch my head when I see someone play with one hand and just switch to their off hand to use the bridge. It cracks me up everytime I see it. Call me nuts.

 

[Timberly]

ok, if what you say is true, then my question now would be why don't you shoot w/ your dominant hand then? If it's a normal pendulam like movement then why the switch? Like I said, I am ambidexterous when it comes to pool, because of my height I've trained myself to shoot w/ my off hand. However, I am more coordinated w/ my dominant hand and am more comfortable w/ it. My high run in straight pool w/ my dominant hand is 72, while my off hand is 29. Of course this has nothing to do w/ the subject, but I wanted to put it out there anyway =P. Like I've said before though, it just makes me scratch my head when I see someone play with one hand and just switch to their off hand to use the bridge. It cracks me up everytime I see it. Call me nuts.

The stroke isn't the issue it's the bridge hand. I don't have enough coordination to form a solid bridge with my left hand.

Using a bridge is totally different than making a bridge with your hand. From a stroke standpoint, I can use my left hand to stroke but I cannot use it to form a bridge. When using a cue bridge, the arm is up and aiming (like mentioned above) you're not using your stroke when you use a cue bridge. Using a cue bridge is almost like playing darts (the best way I can explain the fundamentals of using a cue bridge). When you use a cue bridge, the hand that holds the cue & does the aiming needs to be the hand that one can hold steady aim with accurately.

It's not like we do these things to amuse or annoy people. Myself & others included picked up a cue and did this long before we found out that we were doing it "wrong". It's what was natural to us. Can't form a bridge with our left hand (below the waist) and can't aim & control with our left hand (above the waist).

If you're able to excel by using both hands then maybe you'll never understand. I've tried to explain it as best as I can.

 

[PoolFool]

I'm sorry Timberly, I wasn't trying to be a wise @$$ about the subject. I totally understand what you're trying to say. I dunno... I guess it just makes me chuckle is all. :-D

 

[Timberly]

I forgot to mention... when I play one handed... I use my right hand.

 

[PoolFool]

I forgot to mention... when I play one handed... I use my right hand.

LMAO wait a second?!? now ur just pulling my leg! Actually, since you don't need a bridge and ur right hand is stronger I can understand that too.

 

[sashax415]

I'm a lefty by nature... but do a lot of things right handed, including pool. I think lefties are often forced to adjust to our right handed world which is why a lot of us are ambidextrious in many ways. While I'm still left eye dominant, I kick a ball, throw a ball, play guitar, bowl, snowboard, use scissors, and play pool as a righty. I write, golf, and swing a bat as a lefty.

For me personally, whenever I pick up a new task, I have to discover through trial and error what "hand" I am. Playing pool right handed just came more naturally because when i first started playing it felt more natural to use my stronger hand (left) as my bridge and because of my ambidextrousity (is that a word? ) my right hand to stroke still felt comfortable.

I often wonder if righties who typically have weak left hands have a difficult time learning to bridge. It would seem to me that since a steady bridge hand is so important, learning to play pool would be a little harder for those who fumble a bit with their left hand.

I once commented on how I had never encountered so many left handed people anywhere as I have in pool halls. I then came to find that most left handed players I've come across are naturally right handed.

Well, I hope I chose the right hand to play with...who knows, if I had chosen to play left handed, I might have been pro by now!

 

[Timberly]

I often wonder if righties who typically have weak left hands have a difficult time learning to bridge. It would seem to me that since a steady bridge hand is so important, learning to play pool would be a little harder for those who fumble a bit with their left hand.

Exactly! Which is why I've always said (since being told I was playing with the wrong hand) that I do it right and everyone else is wrong.

Does anyone know where the definition of a "left handed player" and a "right handed player" is? I'm curious to see where that came from. In pool you use both hands so it could've easily had been determined that the bridge hand is what decides if you shoot left or right.

I know there's some billiard history fanatics on here and folks that have an exstensive book collection... anyone of you guys know where the definition originated?

 

[Tennesseejoe]

I am totally ambidexterous---but only with my right hand.