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Bridging Continued - Pool and Billiards

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 04:46:07 +0000

Last lesson we discussed bridging with the cue ball close to and touching a cushion. This lesson we will look at Awkward Bridging along the cushions from both sides, over intervening balls plus a run through on using the rest.

Bridging over or along a cushion rail is a little difficult at times. Depending how close the cue ball is, I suggest you sometimes loop your index finger around the cue to help guide it. In making a shot when the cue ball is close or against a cushion the backward cue action is slow and short.

An Awkward Bridge – Over Balls in Close

When confronted with this position always keep in mind not to raise the back of the cue higher than is necessary. You will need your bridge hand to rise up onto your finger tips to gain the height necessary to have the cue go over the top of the intervening balls. Balance on the middle, fourth and small finger tips firmly and allow your body weight to go onto these fingers. Roll your forefinger up and against the middle finger, then cock your thumb out slightly for the cue to run between the thumb and top knuckle of your forefinger. This will give you maximum height off the bed cloth as you are not losing height trying to keep the shorter forefinger on the table. Keep your fingers spread for strength and stability. There is a lot of pressure on your fingers so a short slow backward action will help keep control. If you have to bridge even higher, raise the wrist, taking it more forward. This will lift the little finger off the cloth leaving you balanced on the two fingers. This is a difficult shot, so take your time placing your fingers on the cloth, brace your straight arm, do not jab at the ball and never attempt to scoop at the ball.

Using the Cross Rest

Using the different cross rests adds a degree of difficulty to a shot. Like all facets of our sport you need to practice, practice, practice. When the time arises to play a shot with the rest, if you’ve been practicing diligently you will play the shot with confidence.

It is most important to place the head of the rest properly.
Don’t have it too far away from the cue ball. Approximately 25cm (10”) would be maximum.
Now place the handle of the rest on the table and hold it firmly in position with your non cueing hand.
Stand square to the table with your feet comfortably apart.
Lean forward as normal through your straight bridging arm onto the hand clamping the rest handle to the table.
The grip is with the thumb and the first two fingers and is to be moderate, not too tight and not too light. Most cues have a flat spot on the butt of the cue. You can put your thumb there facing down and the first two fingers take their grip on top of the butt. Roll the fourth and fifth fingers up and put to the side of the butt. You are now sighting down the whole length of the cue.
The butt of the cue is level with your chin or slightly lower and only raised as high as necessary for central striking.
The elbow of the cueing arm should be the same level as the butt of the cue.
The cueing action is a backward push from the elbow and keep the backswing as short as possible approximately 10cm (4”). Remember, like all shots, to follow through after striking the cue ball.

Using the Spider Rest

The set up to use the spider rest will be similar to using the cross rest.
To have to use the spider rest you will most likely be playing over the top of intervening balls. Usually in this type of position you’ll only have the top of the cue ball to hit and due to the height of the spider rest you will be hitting down onto the cue ball. This shot is going to be difficult, so you will need to take extreme care when positioning the rest, placing the cue and in particular playing the shot. A point to remember here is because you are hitting down onto the cue ball you may inadvertently impart unintentional side spin, so central vertical striking is very important.

Coming next time: Shots to Master

Last lesson we discussed bridging with the cue ball close to and touching a cushion. This lesson we will look at Awkward Bridging along the cushions from both sides, over intervening balls plus a run through on using the rest.

Bridging over or along a cushion rail is a little difficult at times. Depending how close the cue ball is, I suggest you sometimes loop your index finger around the cue to help guide it. In making a shot when the cue ball is close or against a cushion the backward cue action is slow and short.

An Awkward Bridge – Over Balls in Close
When confronted with this position always keep in mind not to raise the back of the cue higher than is necessary. You will need your bridge hand to rise up onto your finger tips to gain the height necessary to have the cue go over the top of the intervening balls. Balance on the middle, fourth and small finger tips firmly and allow your body weight to go onto these fingers. Roll your forefinger up and against the middle finger, then cock your thumb out slightly for the cue to run between the thumb and top knuckle of your forefinger. This will give you maximum height off the bed cloth as you are not losing height trying to keep the shorter forefinger on the table. Keep your fingers spread for strength and stability. There is a lot of pressure on your fingers so a short slow backward action will help keep control. If you have to bridge even higher, raise the wrist, taking it more forward. This will lift the little finger off the cloth leaving you balanced on the two fingers. This is a difficult shot, so take your time placing your fingers on the cloth, brace your straight arm, do not jab at the ball and never attempt to scoop at the ball.

Using the Cross Rest
Using the different rests adds a degree of difficulty to a shot. Like all facets of our sport you need to practice, practice, practice. When the time arises to play a shot with the rest, if you’ve been practicing diligently you will play the shot with confidence.
It is most important to place the head of the rest properly. Don’t have it too far away from the cue ball. Approximately 25cm (10”) would be maximum. Now place the handle of the rest on the table and hold it firmly in position with your non cueing hand. Stand square to the table with your feet comfortably apart. Lean forward as normal through your straight bridging arm onto the hand clamping the rest handle to the table. The grip is with the thumb and the first two fingers and is to be moderate, not too tight and not too light. Most cues have a flat spot on the butt of the cue. You can put your thumb there facing down and the first two fingers take their grip on top of the butt. Roll the fourth and fifth fingers up and put to the side of the butt. You are now sighting down the whole length of the cue. The butt of the cue is level with your chin or slightly lower and only raised as high as necessary for central striking. The elbow of the cueing arm should be the same level as the butt of the cue. The cueing action is a backward push from the elbow and keep the backswing as short as possible approximately 10cm (4”). Remember, like all shots, to follow through after striking the cue ball.

Using the Spider Rest
The set up to use the spider rest will be similar to using the cross rest.
To have to use the spider rest you will most likely be playing over the top of intervening balls. Usually in this type of position you’ll only have the top of the cue ball to hit and due to the height of the spider rest you will be hitting down onto the cue ball. This shot is going to be difficult, so you will need to take extreme care when positioning the rest, placing the cue and in particular playing the shot. A point to remember here is because you are hitting down onto the cue ball you may inadvertently impart unintentional side spin, so central vertical striking is very important.

Bridging Technique - Billiards and Pool

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 22:19:40 +0000

I have previously outlined how to set your bridge hand and I have also mentioned the bridge hand and it’s importance in relation to the stance and cueing. It is the third leg of the tripod of the stance. With your body weight forward over your bent front knee onto your bridge hand, you have to support your forward body weight by comfortably setting your bridge arm straight from your shoulder to your bridge hand as is possible, depending on the position of the cue ball or any other balls. Having set your stance with your back leg straight (braced against any movement backwards) and your straight bridging arm (propping on your bridging hand) these two anchor points will assist greatly in holding you steady against any forward or backward movement, particularly when using power shots.

During the course of a game you will not always be able to comfortably place your bridge hand in a position to cue at the cue ball, due to cushions, other balls or even distance. We will look at these positions in this lesson.

When you have ample room to be able to place your hand on the table it is recommended that your hand is no more than 25cm (10”) from the cue ball. If it is further away it will be very difficult to guarantee striking the cue ball where you intend to. Always remember that once you set your bridge hand up to 25cm to the cue ball your cue hand grip should drop to the cue butt straight down from the elbow. So, if you have to shorten your bridge hand distance you will need to shorten your grip on the cue.

Let’s look at a couple of positions when the cue ball is close to or even touching a cushion.

Close to a cushion – cue ball about 15cm (6”) away:
Keep in mind that some cushion rails are wider than others, so just be alert to distances. Place your fingers, (spread), on the cushion rail with the cue to slide under your index finger and between your middle finger. Gently close your fingers on the shaft to ensure accurate aiming. The thumb can run under the fingers and along the edge of the shaft of the cue to serve as a guide. This is a very good grip for locking the cue when playing a power shot from the cushion. Always keep your cue as horizontal as possible.

Touching a cushion – cue ball frozen to the cushion:
First thing to remember is if the cue ball is hard up against a cushion you will not be able to have your normal bridge hand distance from the cue ball. You will be forced to have your bridge hand fingers on the outside edge of the cushion rail. To gain maximum distance, and depending on the rail width, you may have to drop your little finger off the edge, just balancing on the 3 other fingers. Make sure you maintain your stance to have forward over your bent front leg and straight bridge arm. You will need to shorten your cue hold on the butt of the cue so as to keep your grip on the cue directly below your elbow or on these rare occasions just slightly forward of vertical. Try not to use too much power, but use plenty of chalk on the tip. One extra point, do not lift your back hand to raise the butt of the cue and keep the shot as smooth as possible.

You will find yourself in these positions more often than you may want, so practice from these positions regularly and they will become second nature and less intimidating.

Lesson 7 – The Cue Action Continued...

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 03:53:44 +0000

How hard or soft to hit? Where does the power come from? Good questions. This is my fathers take on it. “Having comfortably taken my stance, aligned my cue and my aim, I am now ready to start cueing. With my cue tip approximately 13mm (½”) from the cue ball at address, my length of backward stroke will be governed entirely by the power I intend putting into the shot. Because my power does not come from the strength of the grip of my cue, but in fact, from the drive of my cue arm, it stands to reason that if I intend to play a soft stroke, the travel of my cue back from the cue ball will be short. Because of the intended soft stroke, the gap from my bridge hand to cue ball would be shorter than normal. Having shortened up in front with my bridge hand, it follows that I will shorten up my gripping point on the butt of my cue with my cueing hand, by moving my grip forward. I play from on, or close to cushions the same way”.

I’ll give you a couple of simple practice routines that will assist you in all the previous lessons and help to cement the points in place, such as: stance, aiming, cueing, where to hit the cue ball to get the different reactions from the cue ball. Add these to the first in the previous lessons where you just hit the cue ball down the table and have it come back over the place you started. Some more are:

Place a ball on the centre spot of a snooker table or the middle of the table between the two centre pockets. Put the cue ball approximately halfway back to the centre pocket and then pot the object ball striking the cue ball in the centre. Don’t hit too hard, just enough for the ball to hit the back of the pocket.
Place a ball on the pink spot of a snooker table or in a direct line between the centre pocket and a corner pocket. Put the cue ball approximately 500mm (20”) back in a straight line and pot the object into the corner pocket with centre ball striking.

These two simple routines can be played by absolute beginners learning how to stand and hit a ball to advanced players trying to correct a problem with cueing action. In both cases, you can add to the degree of difficulty by hitting the cue low to draw it back, or high to have it follow on. The challenge is to have the cue ball travel in a straight line after hitting the object ball, regardless whether drawing back or following through. If the cue ball travels off to one side or the other, you are not hitting it on the centre axis. This can mean that you are not aligned properly. This simple exercise will help teach you how to self diagnose a fault in your whole action. If the cue ball goes off to the right side of straight on each shot, you are consistently hitting slightly to the left side of the cue ball. It may mean you are standing slightly over the line of aim with your back foot. Bring that foot back onto the line and you may have remedied the problem.

Where to hit the cue ball to get different reactions! Look at your watch or a clock on the wall. That clock face can be transferred to a cue ball. If I want the ball to travel forward after impact with an object ball I would hit the cue ball between centre and 12 o’clock. If I would like it to come back towards me I would hit between centre and 6 o’clock. The vertical axis between 12 and 6 are where most of your shots will come from. As we advance through we will start to strike the cue ball off centre, but let me give you a simple piece of advice while you are learning. Don’t intentionally strike off centre yet, there are some variables you will need to know or your shot making will suffer. KISS – ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’ is a very good adage for our games. As I said earlier, the games are simple, we make them difficult.
Practice hard and often.

The Cue Action Continued - Lesson 6

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 05:46:23 +0000

We started with an overview and a basic, but very good practice routine to help develop your cue action. How is it going? I am positive if you are incorporating all the lessons and diligently putting in the practice you will be seeing some slight improvement. Regardless, never be deterred, it takes a few years to be able to do what the players on television do. They were once in your position. If you are young, you will also need to grow a little taller as well. I first started to play when I was 7 in my Great Grand Father’s billiard club in the town of Swansea, a little town at the mouth of the channel that feeds Lake Macquarie, just south of Newcastle in New South Wales. My father, his brother James and many from the local area learnt to play there. I started by standing on a wooden fruit box, so I could see over the cushion properly. I had a side-arm cue action then, but as I got taller it turned over to be the cue action I talk about today. Stick with your practice.

This lesson we are going to look at some further parts of the cue action and some practice routines to help.
I would like to repeat that your cueing arm is – your forearm, wrist and fist, all swinging from your elbow as one unit. Do not develop a wristy action. There should be no wrist action at all, for any shot in snooker or pool. There is to be no movement of your cue arm shoulder at all. Your cueing arm is to swing from your elbow only. Remember to always keep your cue as level as possible.

“Your cue action should be a short, flat, back and forth motion, as relaxed, steady and as slow as you can manage, without losing the nice, smooth rhythm you should continually practice to develop into your technique”.

Timing is another requirement to becoming a good cueist. It is essential, otherwise you will never consistently stroke the shots at the right speed. What follows is that your intended distance of travel of the cue ball seldom works out as planned. The timing is between your eyes and cueing arm.

In the lesson on aiming it was outlined the procedure of how to prepare to pocket a ball. Making sure that you are hitting the cue ball where intended, then were you looking at the object ball and how hard to hit the ball. During this time when preparing to hit the cue ball and your eyes are moving from cue ball to object ball this is where the timing of the shot can be put out of cinch. My father was a great believer in the fractional stopping of the cueing action to give your eyes a chance to settle. I’ll let him tell you about the “Pause”.

“While the concentration of my mind and eyes have been on the two balls concerned, I have always had the feel of my cue, in stroking back and forth during my preliminary movements, as to how hard or how soft I am going to play the particular shot. My sighting and cue technique, from the time my stance was set and cue aligned, has taken about 10 seconds. Now, happy with all thoughts on this particular shot, when staring at the object ball for the third time, I stop my cue with the cue tip to within 13mm (½”) of the cue ball, for the fraction of a second that it takes to lower your eyes to the cue ball, making sure that my tip is still going to strike the intended area on the cue ball, I raise my eyes back to the intended area on the object ball, and deliver my stroke by pulling back and finally playing forward, and through the cue ball.

I have found that the slight ‘pause’ has been invaluable in my play since the late and great Joe Davis (undefeated World Professional Snooker Champion for twenty years) offered me that advice whilst helping me with my game on my first visit to London in 1968. Joe and I became good friends over the years and his advice to me on the ‘pause’ is the best advice ever extended to me during my snooker playing career”.

The pause at this point in aiming and cueing action takes only a second or two and is within the 8-10 seconds of the whole process. It basically gives your eyes the time to settle on the object ball prior to firing. If your timing is out fractionally you may fire the shot before your eyes have settled on the object properly and you may miss the shot.

The Cue Action - Lesson 5

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 02:51:04 +0000

The most important individual point of the cue sports games is the correct striking of the cue ball by the tip of the cue. This is solely controlled by the cue action. You will need to develop an action that will deliver the tip to the cue ball to send it on the correct path to hit the object ball on the area that will then send it to the intended pocket. Keep in mind – nearly every shot you play, the cue ball has to travel in a straight line. In advanced play, even shots where you intentionally hit off centre of the cue ball, to impart a side spin, you need to allow for the ‘throw” of the cue ball when aiming, but the cue ball still has to travel the line of aim to strike the object in the correct area, (this, plus intentionally ‘swerving’ the cue ball will be covered in a later lesson).

There are some simple practice routines that will greatly assist in developing your cue action to be consistently delivered straight. A good one for the beginner is to put the cue ball on the centre spot of the baulk line and put a piece of chalk on top of the cushion at the opposite end of the table in a straight line. The chalk is to aim at. Try and hit the centre of the cue ball and hard enough so it will rebound to you. The idea is for the cue ball to come straight back to cross the baulk line where you hit it from. If you hit slightly off centre the cue ball will rebound either to your left or right side. This is called unintentional ‘Side’ or ‘English’ that is applied. It is the unintentional side spin that will cause the cue ball to go off line and hit the object ball in the incorrect area, either causing a missed shot or not gaining the position you desire for the next shot. I cannot stress enough the importance of being able to consistently hit the cue ball where you intend to, so you will need to practice at great length any practice routines that will help to develop that straight cue action. The one mentioned above is good for training your body in all facets of the stance, aiming and cue action. You need to keep all your practice routines as simple as possible, particularly while learning, because the more difficult you make the practice, the more chance you will not achieve what you are trying to achieve and will give your practice away for the day through frustration.

Have someone look from behind you to check on your stance and alignment when you are bent over the shot. They can see the line of the shot and see if your back foot, cue arm to the elbow, your head and cue tip are all on the line of the shot. This line of aim goes in both directions, so your observer just has to stand on the line behind you and look over the top of you to see where your alignment is in relation to the shot.
When you commence cueing, the only moving parts are the forearm swinging from the elbow, wrist and fist and of course the eyes. There is to be no wrist or shoulder movement.
Always try and keep your cue as level as possible to the bed of the table, even firing over a cushion. Try not to raise the butt of the cue up to high because if you do impart any unintended side spin it will accentuate the curving of the cue ball.

“Shots can be missed when it is not the player’s fault! It can happen when a table is not level, allowing a ball to run off line. The nap of the cloth on Snooker tables, running from the baulk end to the spot end, will turn a slow moving ball from its true course, mainly running across and against the nap. Again, balls running around on a dirty table can pick up chalk dust from the cue tips which, having attached to a ball, will cause a ‘kick’ on contact, resulting in the object ball breaking away from the cue ball at an incorrect angle. These few points I mention are all part of the game, and have to be contended with. To play the games consistently well, however, you certainly have to practice to develop a good cue action, and then work hard to maintain that action”.

Practice hitting the cue ball down the table, putting all the previous lessons into action, aiming at the piece of chalk and see how many times it comes back over the spot you hit it from. If you find the cue ball is coming back off line to your right or left consistently, check your stance to make sure you are lined up properly.

Coming next time: The Cue Action cont..