Varying the distance of the bridge

MasterClass

MasterClass

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I recently got a pool dvd and it mentioned that shots for ball control, the screw the plain and the follow, you are required to adjust the distance of your bridge accordingly. shorter bridge for the screw, a little further for plain shot and a long bridge for follow.

Does anyone do this? All the while i only raise or lower my bridge and not vary the length of it. I have to try but what is the general opinion on this? I only vary the distance of my bridge is when i have no choice if my bridge is obstructed or the cushion is in the way.
 
Yeah, I don't screw around with varying my bridge length either. The ball does not know if your bridge is 1 inch or 100.
MULLY
 
Changing bridge distance will affect your cue ball speed more than anything. A longer bridge does tend to bring a decrease in accuracy if you have any flaws in your stroke. I don't think I would change it based on where you are trying to contact the cue ball.
Steve
 
Not, Very poor information,but, Very bad deduction

randyg said:
Very poor information....SPF=randyg
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MasterClass is probably talking about my DVD, Banks That Dont Go, But Do. I am willing to defend those principles. The information I divulged re bridge length and heights, came from the mouths and styles of Luther Lassiter, (who had the largest collection of bridges, heights and lengths), Joe Procita, Sailor Barge, Maurice Daly's billiard book, Doc Hazard, Mosconi's Red Book, many balkline and billiard players, etc. etc. Common sense tells you you need to open up your bridge length to play Nine Ball and shorten it up to play straight rail or straight pool. Does it make sense to use the same bridge on a 5x10 pool table and a 3 1/2 x 7 bar table? It boils down to economy of motion. Many players, and some very good players, dont ever change their bridge length or bridge height and still play well. That's not the point. I presented options for players to be able to maximize their play in every game, on every type of table and be able to handle all types of shots. I firmly believe Bill Incardona never played really great straight pool because his bridge was too long. I also believe Allen Hopkins, while his short compact bridge made for great straight pool and Onepocket, took much away from his Nine Ball game. I could go on and on with those type of critiques. How's long-bridging, Earl Strickland's straight pool game? That type of info assassination ("very poor information") without any basis, is what makes a man hesitate to release the secrets he has accumulated through 50 years of experience.

the Beard
 
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I know, at least for me, when I have a long, straight in shot, I have found that cinching up my bridge hand to about 1.5-2" gives me less of a chance to alter the path of the cue and to the make the shot more consistently.
That's about the only time I alter my bridge length but it works for me.
 
Freddy: What does "longer" mean? When a player finds their perfect bridge length for all shot making, then changing it might bring in more errors. I think 95% of our shots are shot from our perfect bridge length. Perfect meaning that everything works at this length. Very short, soft strokes might mean a shorter bridge than perfect.

Hope all is well with you my friend, keep up the good work...SPF=randyg
 
mullyman said:
Yeah, I don't screw around with varying my bridge length either. The ball does not know if your bridge is 1 inch or 100.
MULLY
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mullyman,
According to Dr. Dave's recent post, that's not quite true.

Freddy,
I don't understand why this (admittedly non-constructive) criticism makes you hesitant to share your information. Just because some people don't believe it doesn't mean that others won't benefit. If you really believe in what you have to say, say it. Nobody who says anything great escapes criticism.
 
varying bridge length

Arsenius,

Freddy is like most people, he gets tired of saying things when someone pounces on his words and he has to defend everything he says. Bridge length is dropped into this thread totally out of context and we have no idea what length Freddy actually means.

Bridge length has an affect on a handful of other things and is one way of controlling them. There are other ways to make the same shot but that is what some on here lose sight of, the vast majority of shots in pool have more than one way that they can be executed.

Hu

arsenius said:
mullyman,
According to Dr. Dave's recent post, that's not quite true.

Freddy,
I don't understand why this (admittedly non-constructive) criticism makes you hesitant to share your information. Just because some people don't believe it doesn't mean that others won't benefit. If you really believe in what you have to say, say it. Nobody who says anything great escapes criticism.
Click to expand...
 
freddy the beard said:
MasterClass is probably talking about my DVD, Banks That Dont Go, But Do. I am willing to defend those principles. The information I divulged re bridge length and heights, came from the mouths and styles of Luther Lassiter, (who had the largest collection of bridges, heights and lengths), Joe Procita, Sailor Barge, Maurice Daly's billiard book, Doc Hazard, Mosconi's Red Book, many balkline and billiard players, etc. etc. Common sense tells you you need to open up your bridge length to play Nine Ball and shorten it up to play straight rail or straight pool. Does it make sense to use the same bridge on a 5x10 pool table and a 3 1/2 x 7 bar table? It boils down to economy of motion. Many players, and some very good players, dont ever change their bridge length or bridge height and still play well. That's not the point. I presented options for players to be able to maximize their play in every game, on every type of table and be able to handle all types of shots. I firmly believe Bill Incardona never played really great straight pool because his bridge was too long. I also believe Allen Hopkins, while his short compact bridge made for great straight pool and Onepocket, took much away from his Nine Ball game. I could go on and on with those type of critiques. How's long-bridging, Earl Strickland's straight pool game? That type of info assassination ("very poor information") without any basis, is what makes a man hesitate to release the secrets he has accumulated through 50 years of experience.

the Beard
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freddy's exactaly right, old time player sarge macdonald said if your close use a derringer, mid length revolver, long distance the old kentucky rifle.
masconi said macdonald was the best straight pool player of all the hustlers.
 
MasterClass said:
... I only vary the distance of my bridge is when i have no choice if my bridge is obstructed or the cushion is in the way.
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I think that if you play a wider variety of games, you will find a wider variety of bridges useful. Many intermediate players have trouble with accurate draw because their bridges are too long. It's hard to hit the cue ball accurately when you have 24 inches of wood out there.
 
As long as you change your grip position to match the change in your bridge length (when it is different from your 'perfect' or 'natural' bridge length), changing bridge length will not significantly affect contact with the CB (when using a pendulum swing). If you keep the same grip position, while moving the bridge hand farther away from, or closer to the CB, it can significantly affect where you contact the CB. As Randyg noted, increasing bridge length arbitrarily increases the chance of errors in your delivery.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
mullyman:
Yeah, I don't screw around with varying my bridge length either. The ball does not know if your bridge is 1 inch or 100.
Click to expand...

Arsenius:
According to Dr. Dave's recent post, that's not quite true.
Click to expand...

I don't see where Dr. Dave says it's not quite true. Could you point it out?

pj
chgo
 
Scott Lee said:
As long as you change your grip position to match the change in your bridge length (when it is different from your 'perfect' or 'natural' bridge length), changing bridge length will not significantly affect contact with the CB (when using a pendulum swing). If you keep the same grip position, while moving the bridge hand farther away from, or closer to the CB, it can significantly affect where you contact the CB. As Randyg noted, increasing bridge length arbitrarily increases the chance of errors in your delivery.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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TAP! TAP! TAP!
I agree with this 100% and this is the basis of how I teach the finesse strokes.

Zim
 
Scott Lee said:
As long as you change your grip position to match the change in your bridge length (when it is different from your 'perfect' or 'natural' bridge length), changing bridge length will not significantly affect contact with the CB (when using a pendulum swing). If you keep the same grip position, while moving the bridge hand farther away from, or closer to the CB, it can significantly affect where you contact the CB.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I follow, Scott. Is this what you mean?

If you set up perfectly so your tip hits the cue ball right at the bottom of your stroke, and if you have no stroke imperfections, then bridge length won't matter. But any inaccuracy in your setup or any imperfection in your stroke will be magnified by a longer bridge and even more magnified if you also shorten the distance between your hands (both of which increase the "lever" effect). For example, if your tip doesn't hit the cue ball right at the bottom of your stroke then it will be moving up or down more steeply and your tip/ball contact will be off by more than usual.

pj
chgo
 
Bob Jewett said:
I think that if you play a wider variety of games, you will find a wider variety of bridges useful. Many intermediate players have trouble with accurate draw because their bridges are too long. It's hard to hit the cue ball accurately when you have 24 inches of wood out there.
Click to expand...

Interesting point because many suggest that the longer bridge on a power draw shot facilitates deliering the tip at a higher speed.

But someone, likely either you or Dr. Dave, did a high speed camera study showing that the tip reaches maximum velocity on any give shot in a relatively short distance such that the longer bridge...which allows a longer back stroke....does not contribute to velocity at the point of impact.

Do I have that right?

Regards,
Jim
 
av84fun said:
Interesting point because many suggest that the longer bridge on a power draw shot facilitates deliering the tip at a higher speed.
Click to expand...

To see that this is true, you only have to try a break shot with a 3-inch bridge.

But someone, likely either you or Dr. Dave, did a high speed camera study showing that the tip reaches maximum velocity on any give shot in a relatively short distance such that the longer bridge...which allows a longer back stroke....does not contribute to velocity at the point of impact.

Do I have that right?

Regards,
Jim
Click to expand...

I don't think you have that right.
 
av84fun said:
... But someone, likely either you or Dr. Dave, did a high speed camera study showing that the tip reaches maximum velocity on any give shot in a relatively short distance such that the longer bridge...which allows a longer back stroke....does not contribute to velocity at the point of impact.
...
Click to expand...
I don't know of such a result, but my experience is that most players can get plenty of power with a much shorter bridge than they usually use. Also, for players with long bridges watch how far the tip comes back on their backstroke. If it does not come back to the bridge hand or pretty nearly, the bridge is longer than it needs to be (unless you want to make some kind of pivot-point, BHE argument).
 
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