Stroke help

ShootingArts said:
A deep dark secret, almost all of us would shoot better with a shorter bridge! The top players started using a longer bridge, must be better so all of the lesser players jumped on the bandwagon. I use a long bridge these days, comfortable and I am lazy. I played my best pool with a six or eight inch closed bridge. It wasn't cool even in that day but it made me a lot of money. A short bridge creates a short stroke. Short strokes have less to go wrong with them.

Hu
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I use a shorter bridge whenever possible myself. Using a longer bridge can help deliver more power and can be useful for a power draw for instance, but one had better be practiced up using the long bridge, because as stated, more to go wrong.

I took a several years break from pool and only recently got back to practicing and playing again and I'm glad I did....this game is fun.

My biggest weakness is the break, but I'm slowly improving there.

Practiced 14.1 for an hour on Monday evening, managed a 35, which admittedly is nothing to write home about... except it was a well executed 35 after years of absence. Like many runs, ended when I got out of line to break up the cluster.

After the long layoff, I find that I actually think I have it in me to surpass my prior peak.

Who knows, but it will be fun trying.
 

Dang....Vimeo says that was me in my basement having fun TWELVE years ago????? What the hell happened??? That other video there tells part of the story....built that damn house and planted a hundred or so trees and what not. Can NOT recommend building a house...but I guess I'm passed that now and somehow still married... lolololol. Again...nice to be back to some pool and remembering that life can be fun too.
 
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Alright dammit...you guys have forced me to do the unthinkable....I'm actually knocking around pool balls in the morning now...WTF???? Experimenting with bridge length now elongating the bridge substantially....its causing quite a bit more cue ball action, extra feet on draw shots, etc. Kinda fun. Nice to push the boundaries sometimes.
 
jalapus logan said:
Alright dammit...you guys have forced me to do the unthinkable....I'm actually knocking around pool balls in the morning now...WTF???? Experimenting with bridge length now elongating the bridge substantially....its causing quite a bit more cue ball action, extra feet on draw shots, etc. Kinda fun. Nice to push the boundaries sometimes.
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Exploratory learning is king. I think most players play around too little on their own, so good go hear you are challenging yourself to try something different and see what you find.

A simple but proven method for finding what works for u is the Goldie Locks method. Try a very short bridge. Try a very long bridge. Likely neither extreme will be ideal for u. Then feel out the length between those two that is just right.
 
Check out the result of this whacked out break...4 railed the two ball to the corner pocket as is common, but tough run out from here. I cut the 1 into the corner intentionally bumping the six/three...leaving a shot on the three, then missed the tough off angle 4/5 combo in the left side pocket...dangit
 

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Guys, thanks for all of your help. I worked an additional 37 minutes on my stroke and now it is perfect in every way. Pool now offers no challenge, so I guess I'm done here on AZB. Over and out. On Monday, I will master golf. By next Friday, I will have already caught every fish in the sea. After that, I will win all of cross stitching. God, what happens if my suspicions turn out to be correct and I am in fact immortal?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? God what torture if I master every activity on earth and then have to just sit there marveling at my perfection forever....wait...then I can master all of the innerspace....ah...problem solved. Be all friends, and supports it to.
 
Sometimes I wonder why I play so bad. Then I read these complicated posts (to me) and realize I know very little about pool mechanics.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
You're not alone in that opinion - it seems intuitively correct. But physics and logic disagree. Any contact point, angle and speed that can be produced with a swiping motion can be duplicated with a straight one, with less variability. And the tip's contact point, angle and speed at the moment of contact are all the CB can "feel" - the path it takes to get there is unknown and irrelevant.

pj
chgo
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It simplifies aiming for many. It's often more convenient to stroke on the bias rather than get your whole form in line.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Stroking so your tip takes a curved path, “swiping” a little across the CB rather than straight through it, to “enhance” side spin.

It doesn’t work.

pj
chgo
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Thanks. It doesn’t sound like it would be very useful for shotmaking accuracy, particularly when there is considerable distance between the cue ball and object ball.
 
IMO people are always talking about how to get more spin on the cue ball when you actually need less spin and better position.
 
I think swiping a little minimizes deflection when done right. I played 30 yrs with mega deflection shafts and I swear I can get low to no deflection with the right stroke (right or wrong who knows)
Now I play with LD shafts for the last three four yrs...and just let the cue do the work.
but I can go back and forth between them with little problem.

Less spin is always more consistent but when your opponent leaves you locked up. You gotta do something
 
If all you gotta do is make one shot.
Short say 6-8 inch bridge and short stroke is best. Practice it. No need to take big swings when they aren't necessary
 
9BallKY said:
IMO people are always talking about how to get more spin on the cue ball when you actually need less spin and better position.
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Yes, but for those times you miss the preferred position or you come to the table in a tough spot, the ability to get more spin on the ball opens up your options for recovery shots. There are plenty of pros that will play several racks just stunning and rolling the CB around, letting their superior position play set them up for more natural shots to the next ball, as that is a high percentage approach to how to play. But when they do get in a spot that requires a ton of spin, they can produce it. That's the idea really, like developing a curving punchout from the trees in golf, it's not a shot you want to play often, but it's great to have when you need it.

So it's not just a quest for 'more spin', it is a quest for developing a superior stroke with more options at the table. Even a kind of tough runout can be made routine if you can move the CB with ease, allowing you to choose a relatively simple 'stroke shot' for shape instead of way more difficult shape playing the angles around the table, through traffic, that a player with less cue power would be limited to.
 
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