Trying to Find a More Solid Bridge

[Pidge]

My backhand stroke tends to move towards my body, instead of straight back

IMO this is due to long pause of tip at CB, and it is natural muscle movement after a pause! Try to reduce your pause time after pre-warmup strokes so your muscles memory stays active to the pre-warmup movement. If you cannot, slow your back swing considerably, or lengthen your bridge. Could use TOI.

I pause probably long than 95% of people on this site both at CB and at the end of the backswing. I've never had an issue with what you describe. A pause if anything promotes a good straight stroke, and helps with a players timing. Others may not pause as long as me or others but as long as there is a pause at some point, it only aids the stroke.

To avoid your back hand going off path do as you said and slow the backswing. Also visualize the straight line you are cueing on as you pull back and keep the cue in your vision whilst doing so. Doesn't have to be a focus point , you may focus on the CB or OB but as long as you notice it and consciously pay attention to pulling the cue straight back along the shot line it will eventually change your stroke and it will become natural.

 

[StraightPoolIU]

After a couple shots with the closed bridge you guys mentioned/showed - the cue doesn't move as much (then again, I'm currently fixing the flaws in my fundamentals) but, I feel a hell of alot more friction between the cue and the web between my thumb and index finger.

So, it's more solid but the cue doesn't accelerate as smoothly now - the obvious answer is probably get a glove but I kinda don't want the stigma attached to that either haha.

Is there anything to be said/done about this excess friction now?

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Mark talks about that in his book too, and his answer is basically you probably need to smooth your shaft down. I would suggest getting something like the Q Wiz from seyberts.com. It's inexpensive and it will help out the smoothness of the shaft a lot. Also if you have a repair man that does your tips you can also take it to him for a cleaning.

 

[Island Drive]

Hard to tell from pic, tho best guess, slightly rotate the bridge hand counter clockwise. A closed bridge does two things. It gets rid of up and down and side to side shaft movement during stroking. Your pic shows the up/down is taken care of but the side to side needs tightening up ''just a little''. By doing this, your bridge hand will be more in line with your forearm.

 

[Zphix]

On the issue of the backhand, it's lack of straightness came from my grip hands entire posture.

I had "broad man" shoulders, a chicken winged elbow, and to compensate for that I was turning my wrist inward toward my palm so when I stroked back the cue was shifting right instead of straight back and forth. After getting some help with it, I can consciously get myself into a better stroking stance (as far as my grip arm goes) but it is by no means perfect yet. Pretty much every hour or so I go to the mirror and stroke a few times to remember how it feels/looks.

So, I'm in the process of fixing my stroke still - it'll take time before I'm really comfortable with this adjustment.

As for the closed bridge -

Bob, my purpose in finding a better closed bridge is so I can shoot "power" shots more accurately - with the closed bridge I have now it's quite hard for me to accurately hit a power shot because of the wiggle room. Sometimes I'll miss playing a draw shot because the cue will wiggle right, and I'll hit right instead of low. I think a more solid closed bridge would help to remedy that a bit.

I'll try a glove - but I won't like it

Other than that, I tend to shoot more open-bridged now unless I need to use a closed-bridge.

 

[bdorman]

Re: keeping the cue, forearm, elbow and upperarm straight during backswing -- try making sure that your griphand thumb is pointing straight down during the entire motion. Like many things in pool, it's an unnatural motion (our wrists naturally want to curl toward our body), but it helps keep all the moving parts in a straight line.

Two side benefits are 1) it keeps you from gripping the cue too tight, and 2) it positions your wrist for maximum flexiblity.

Your objective is a straight stroke. A solid bridge certainly helps with that. But what's happening at the back end of the cue is just as -- if not more -- important.

 

[Wileydog]

On the issue of the backhand, it's lack of straightness came from my grip hands entire posture.

I had "broad man" shoulders, a chicken winged elbow, and to compensate for that I was turning my wrist inward toward my palm so when I stroked back the cue was shifting right instead of straight back and forth. After getting some help with it, I can consciously get myself into a better stroking stance (as far as my grip arm goes) but it is by no means perfect yet. Pretty much every hour or so I go to the mirror and stroke a few times to remember how it feels/looks.

So, I'm in the process of fixing my stroke still - it'll take time before I'm really comfortable with this adjustment.

As for the closed bridge -

Bob, my purpose in finding a better closed bridge is so I can shoot "power" shots more accurately - with the closed bridge I have now it's quite hard for me to accurately hit a power shot because of the wiggle room. Sometimes I'll miss playing a draw shot because the cue will wiggle right, and I'll hit right instead of low. I think a more solid closed bridge would help to remedy that a bit.

I'll try a glove - but I won't like it

Other than that, I tend to shoot more open-bridged now unless I need to use a closed-bridge.

I don't see your bridge helping with the wiggle. If possible, could you post a side picture of your back arm and grip when you have the cue tip set about 1/4 inch from the cue ball just before your final stoke?

 

[Zphix]

I don't see your bridge helping with the wiggle. If possible, could you post a side picture of your back arm and grip when you have the cue tip set about 1/4 inch from the cue ball just before your final stoke?

I certainly will - I'll do a before and after shot as well. From my original playing set up to the newer one I got instruction on.

Although, I tend to think now that the wiggle was a matter of incorrect backarm posture because I wasn't stroking straight.

I'll try to get a few pictures up though.

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[Zphix]

This is how my backhand used to look, shoulder dropped, and it's a bit harder to tell from the picture by my elbow is out of the stroke line and my wrist is slightly turned inward.

This is the newer stroke midway in the shot. The bed is just close enough to the dresser that I can't get fully into my stance and had to make some adjustments to still get the good picture.

Same thing here, this is the newer stroke.

This is probably the best picture of the newer stroke grip arm.

This will have to do for now until I can get to a pool table again =P

 

[Wileydog]

This is how my backhand used to look, shoulder dropped, and it's a bit harder to tell from the picture by my elbow is out of the stroke line and my wrist is slightly turned inward.

This is the newer stroke midway in the shot. The bed is just close enough to the dresser that I can't get fully into my stance and had to make some adjustments to still get the good picture.

Same thing here, this is the newer stroke.

This is probably the best picture of the newer stroke grip arm.

This will have to do for now until I can get to a pool table again =P

I was wondering if your grip was too far forward at the point of contact. At the point of contact, your forearm should be perpendicular with the floor. If your grip hand is too far forward, it would explain the crooked backstroke.
Your forearm should swing like a pendulum at your elbow. If you're gripping too far forward, you have to either raise your shoulder or twist it to keep your grip hand up on the back stoke.
If you line up and put the tip 1/2 inch from the cue ball, relax your forearm and adjust your grip until the forearm is straight down. This will make the point of contact at the bottom of the pendulum. You shouldn't have to move your shoulder, just swing our forearm. Keep a loose grip to allow for free raising and lowering of the stick in your grip hand during the pendulum swing.

If you have the stroke working, the bridge shouldn't matter.

 

[Zphix]

The guy who instructed me on fixing some of these mechanical issues said I do three things good when shooting:
*When I stoke, it's just straight back and forth. Back, pause, forward.
*When I step to the table I step up to shoot at a good distance so my bridge, stance, etc. is good on most shots.
*My forearm ends up perpendicular to the floor when I shoot.

The problem with my shoulder was that it was kinda forcing my elbow outward off the shot line thus moving my forearm. But, by raising my elbow up behind my head, my forearm is on the straight line so I can actually get that pendulum stroke.

I put this original post up like 4 hours before I got the instruction that is fixing my stroke, etc. I realized that my bridge wasn't the problem - I just thought it was.

I still have work to do with all this though

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[Pidge]

If you ever fall back onto chicken wing mode or for anyone else reading this that has a chicken wing...try rotating your torso (anti clockwise for righties, and clockwise for lefties) just a little so the chest faces more towards the cue rather than to the ground. You don't have to twist so much you pull a muscle, but just enough that you "feel" the stretch.

 

[Zphix]

I got to play for about an hour and a half today and wasn't just smashing balls - I was actually doing drills.

I put a dollar in a 7 footer to warm up, I did the straight stroke drill: striped ball on the spot, shoot the length of the table, have the ball hit your tip. It took a few minutes but I eventually got 10/10 good hits - the first time I did it (literally a few days ago) I was at like 7/10.

Then I moved to the 9 footer to do the same thing - couldn't get 10/10, but managed 8.5/10 (.5 for tip hit but not perfect).

Then set up long straight-ins and practiced draw, follow, and stop-shots (these have all improved with the new adjustments) but still not anything to brag about.

After that, I threw out 5 balls and ran the table. After 5 successful runs in a row I added a ball. Today, I ran 5 with no problem, ran 6 with limited problems, and only ran 7 about three times.

Still got lots of work to do =)

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[ScottK]

I got to play for about an hour and a half today and wasn't just smashing balls - I was actually doing drills.

I put a dollar in a 7 footer to warm up, I did the straight stroke drill: striped ball on the spot, shoot the length of the table, have the ball hit your tip. It took a few minutes but I eventually got 10/10 good hits - the first time I did it (literally a few days ago) I was at like 7/10.

Then I moved to the 9 footer to do the same thing - couldn't get 10/10, but managed 8.5/10 (.5 for tip hit but not perfect).

Then set up long straight-ins and practiced draw, follow, and stop-shots (these have all improved with the new adjustments) but still not anything to brag about.

After that, I threw out 5 balls and ran the table. After 5 successful runs in a row I added a ball. Today, I ran 5 with no problem, ran 6 with limited problems, and only ran 7 about three times.

Still got lots of work to do =)

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Sounds like you're making some good progress. Congrats.

Moving to the nine footer is a nice progression for your "straight stroke drill." Once you're having significant success with stripes, you should do the drill with solids, or the cue ball. In all likelihood, the stripe is still helping you find center ball, you need to be able to find it on your own.