Straight or slight bend in front arm?

J

John oleson

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It appears some of the best players vary in straightness of their lead arm ... to include having the forearm rest on the table.

Is there a preference for consistency? Any players come to mind as examples of either practice.

Thanks .. john_oleson@comcast.net
 
There are only 2 constraints on the forearm::
a) you can form a nice bridge with your attached hand
b) it does not move while you execute the stroke.
Everything else is fair game.
 
As we age we loose range of motion, so text book. Could not work, do what is comfortable.

Old joints do not work like young joints.
 
I think the main concern is to keep the same distance from your eyes to the CB. Doing that with a slightly bent bridge arm is less certain but doable.

pj
chgo
 
Arm is straight. Getting older and I seem to have some pain with my shoulder being stretched out straight. I am doing so physical therapy exercises. And I’m also starting to play more. I think it might work out where as I can keep my arm straight
 
My arm is bent, holding my beer. Of course that's only when I'm playing my friends one-handed...
 
Used to have a tendency to stretch out but turns out this has little to do with accuracy and only adds tension, compounding why ever I was stretching out in the first place. I now crook my arm comfortably and speed of stroke withstanding, the amount of stick in front of the bridge is of little consequence.
 
John oleson said:
It appears some of the best players vary in straightness of their lead arm ... to include having the forearm rest on the table.

Is there a preference for consistency? Any players come to mind as examples of either practice.

Thanks .. john_oleson@comcast.net
Click to expand...

Whatever puts the the ball in the pocket and makes the CB behave the way you want.

Pool players are all over the place on stuff like this. You got guys like Scott Frost who has a serious bend in his bridge arm; SVB with a slight bend; and then Earl who's arm is not only straight but often re-enforced with a brace. We're all different. I think the key is to do what's natural, comfortable, repeatable, and produces good results.

Lou Figueroa
 
No bend, bend, or how much of a bend will be a shot by shot variable. Attempting to force a given setup is doing yourself a disservice imo.

I highly doubt you could find an example of any player in any cue sport that strickly adheres to a straight arm.
 
My left (bridge) elbow was broken as a kid, so it gets very painful to straighten it all the way out and put weight on it to bridge. I've had to adjust to bending it at least a bit and I really don't think the transition has changed the fundamentals of my stroke insofar as my back arm is involved. Once you find something that you're comfortable putting weight on and keeping perfectly still while providing clearance for the back arm, you can be successful. I found that a more open stance helped with the clearance part.
 
A straight arm can help with stability and consistency. Snooker players typically plant their elbow on the table and that arm is not going to be straight but it will be more stable and consistent. As mentioned above, what you can do varies a lot with the shot. I think snooker players have that part easier because of more real estate.
 
I can't get my forearm flat on the table but a slight bend does help with my timing. I should probably bridge closer to the ball.
 
I keep it as straight as I can but I turn my bridge hand a little to the inside which causes me to bend my elbow to accommodate. It’s not much but to keep it perfectly straight the fingers of my bridge hand would be running parallel with shaft and I need to turn them to the inside a little
 
Bob mentioned real estate and in that regard, snooker players will have more opportunity to shoot prone with the table supporting their torso.
 
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