Where to grip the cue ?

Ponytail said:
In the picture below, (Shane..) notice two things.. where the tip of the cue is.... and that his grip/cradle hand/forearm is 90 degrees to the cue. (not the elbow)

This is thought, by most, to be the best form, and what GG, Scott, Randy and the others have been talking about.

Don't worry about where you grip the cue, as long as, when the tip is at the CB, your grip/cradle hand is like you see below..

shanevanboening1197566965.jpg
Click to expand...



Nice pix. Shane is bridging on a bar box, looks like about a 13-14 inch bridge(maybe longer). If Shane's normal bridge was 12 inches then he would move his back hand up accordingly.

This is a perfect SET position as Steve mentioned......SPF=randyg
 
Scott Lee said:
ne14tennis...The problem is not lack of wrist movement. Improper grip position (ahead or behind perpendicular) makes it likely that you will not strike the CB EXACTLY where you think you're aiming. The size of the contact between the tip and CB is VERY small...3mm or 1/8" (size of the red circle on red circle CB). It's easy to miss something that small, by that much (high, low, right or left)...especially since it's invisible! Missing by that tiny amount can have dramatic effects on both ball pocketing and position play, particularly when unintended sidespin is put on the CB.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Thanks Scott,

This makes alot of sense. I just need to get used to making sure I am at a 90 degree angle. It is hard to see your own elbow without using a mirror or taking pictures. I did not know what affect this would have on my stroke by gripping to far back on the cue.

I would think gripping my cue to far back would lengthen my stroke. Which would leave more room for error when striking the cue ball. But I also see now by lengthening the bridge you also need to lengthen your grip.
 
Let gravity help you find the "forearm perpendicular to the cue" position

feldz23 said:
Thanks Scott,

This makes alot of sense. I just need to get used to making sure I am at a 90 degree angle. It is hard to see your own elbow without using a mirror or taking pictures. I did not know what affect this would have on my stroke by gripping to far back on the cue.

I would think gripping my cue to far back would lengthen my stroke. Which would leave more room for error when striking the cue ball. But I also see now by lengthening the bridge you also need to lengthen your grip.
Click to expand...

feldz23:

If I may, I'd like to offer a tip to help you find that "forearm at a perfect 90-degree angle / perpendicular to the cue" SET position. I agree; using a mirror or looking back at your forearm may be a pain-in-the-petut if you had to do it continuously.

What I like to do, is when I get into my stance (a snooker stance in my case, but that does not really matter -- it applies to the classic pool stance as well), is to let my forearm go completely limp. Release all the tension in your arm, from the elbow, on down through the wrist, and only apply enough tension in the fingers as necessary to cradle the cue (to obviously prevent the cue from falling out of your fingers onto the floor). Let the tension go, and just let gravity pull your forearm to where it wants to go, letting the cue slide a bit (if it has to) through your bridge hand to allow your forearm to hang like a pendulum to the floor. It might take a few seconds to "learn" the feeling of this, but when you do, you'll find that your arm will NATURALLY "find" that perfect 90-degree angle, because you're LETTING GRAVITY HELP YOU FIND IT.

In your exploratory phases of this, you may want to look back at your forearm to watch what happens, and to verify that what you "feel" is really what's happening to your forearm, to learn to trust this feeling. But gravity will indeed help you here. After your forearm has "found" the perpendicular position through the assistance of gravity, you can then re-apply whatever slight tension you need to "lock it in," and begin your practice strokes.

I hope this is helpful!
-Sean
 
feldz23 said:
Thanks Scott,

This makes alot of sense. I just need to get used to making sure I am at a 90 degree angle. It is hard to see your own elbow without using a mirror or taking pictures. I did not know what affect this would have on my stroke by gripping to far back on the cue.

I would think gripping my cue to far back would lengthen my stroke. Which would leave more room for error when striking the cue ball. But I also see now by lengthening the bridge you also need to lengthen your grip.
Click to expand...



You are right that it may lengthen your stroke BUT it has nothing to do with 1/1000 of a second contact time....SPF=randyg
 
feldz23...Here's a suggestion. Take your cue and go into your bathroom. Stand sideways, and put your bridge hand on the countertop, and look into the mirror, to see if you're at 90 degrees. You'll need to put your tip on something to simulate the CB, but this works pretty well...unless you don't have a bathroom with a big mirror.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

feldz23 said:
Thanks Scott,

This makes alot of sense. I just need to get used to making sure I am at a 90 degree angle. It is hard to see your own elbow without using a mirror or taking pictures. I did not know what affect this would have on my stroke by gripping to far back on the cue.

I would think gripping my cue to far back would lengthen my stroke. Which would leave more room for error when striking the cue ball. But I also see now by lengthening the bridge you also need to lengthen your grip.
Click to expand...
 
sfleinen said:
Release all the tension in your arm, from the elbow, on down through the wrist, and only apply enough tension in the fingers as necessary to cradle the cue (to obviously prevent the cue from falling out of your fingers onto the floor). Let the tension go, and just let gravity pull your forearm to where it wants to go, letting the cue slide a bit (if it has to) through your bridge hand to allow your forearm to hang like a pendulum to the floor. It might take a few seconds to "learn" the feeling of this, but when you do, you'll find that your arm will NATURALLY "find" that perfect 90-degree angle, because you're LETTING GRAVITY HELP YOU FIND IT.
Click to expand...

This is great advice from Sean. It not only helps with finding the right grip position, but it also helps get the tension out of the hand and arm-- a key to developing a repeatable pendulum-like stroke.
 
feldz23, if you try this and end up shooting like Shane, wouldn't that be a nice late Christmas gift.(lol)
 
Shane's look there is perfect for your typical pool shot. The thing you must remember is your not always going to have a perfect lie, if I might use a golf term.

Things change when you jack-up your cue. Treat the cue like the instrument it is. Find the grip and placement of your hands best suited to pull off the shot.

Happy New Year

__________________________

http://tommcgonaglerightoncue.com
 
I've seen great players grip at the finish point of their swing, Jack Hines comes to mind, I too like this method. Great Slip Stroke players like Cornbread Red incorporate a similar cueing principal.
 
Island Drive said:
I've seen great players grip at the finish point of their swing, Jack Hines comes to mind, I too like this method. Great Slip Stroke players like Cornbread Red incorporate a similar cueing principal.
Click to expand...

Island Drive:

Yup, that forward-placed grip is very unique to the slip stroke and its subscribers/practitioners. I describe this in my "slip stroke how-to," and the specific reason for the forward-placed grip (i.e. already in the FINISH position). The slip stroke is very special, and has its unique ways of identifying and addressing stroke faults.

But for anything other than the very-special slip stroke, a 90-degree relationship between the gripping hand's forearm and the cue (assuming a level cue) is probably the baseline. Methinks the original question posed in this thread was how to find that 90-degree position, but your mention of the slip stroke could be something the OP might want to investigate, if for nothing else than "hey, I tried it" reasons.

-Sean
 
The pic of Shane shows him gripping the end of the cue, and his left arm appears to be straight.

If he bent his left arm a little, he wouldn't have to grip the end of the cue.

I also shoot with my bridge arm straight. I'm 6'1", and my cue is 57". I can't get a 90° unless I grip at the end. I'm going to experiment with bending my bridge arm.
 
JohnnyP...There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with gripping the cue at the end...if that's where you're supposed to hold it, when your forearm is at 90 degrees (to the cuestick), and the tip is on the CB.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

JohnnyP said:
The pic of Shane shows him gripping the end of the cue, and his left arm appears to be straight.

If he bent his left arm a little, he wouldn't have to grip the end of the cue.

I also shoot with my bridge arm straight. I'm 6'1", and my cue is 57". I can't get a 90° unless I grip at the end. I'm going to experiment with bending my bridge arm.
Click to expand...
 
JohnnyP...Take a ruler and measure your bridge, from where your thumb joins your hand, to the CB. I bet it is AT LEAST 20". You can shorten that up 6" and you'll do better, plus have more cue on the back to work with.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Scott Lee said:
JohnnyP...Take a ruler and measure your bridge, from where your thumb joins your hand, to the CB. I bet it is AT LEAST 20". You can shorten that up 6" and you'll do better, plus have more cue on the back to work with.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Spaeth the father (Joey? Gary?) played with the butt plate cupped somewhat in his hand, I first saw this at Jansco's in the late 60's. Jeremy Jones holds the back of the butt too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top