The disappearing bridge knuckle screw shot

[denja]

Hope this is not a stupid observation ! how much of the FIRST MAIN finger of the bridge should be visible behind the thumb when viewed from the rear of the bridge I have noticed that if the FIRST MAIN finger is too straight and not visible from behind the bridge when flattening the hand for a screw shot the main knuckle of the hand to the left of the thumb (Right hand player) flattens out too much and adds no support to the left of the cue (Right Hand Player) is this a correct observation.

[Terry Davidson]

denja:

The forefinger should be over to the right as much as is comfortable for you as that gives better stability

Terry

[denja]

denja:

The forefinger should be over to the right as much as is comfortable for you as that gives better stability

Terry

I have noticed some of the pros have both the first and second finger well over to the right with the cue running over the second finger resulting in a large V between the second and third I have tried this and it is a very tense bridge but feels very solid do you think this could be the reason for the second finger tremor you sometimes see I think Stephen Hendry does it.

[Terry Davidson]

I would think it would add even more stability to the bridge. I've tried it but I found it is tense and also I have to turn the wrist a bit to accomplish it and I didn't like the tension it introduced although I'm lucky and have very flexible fingers and can easily get my forefinger well over and under the cue so I can see the first knuckle of the forefinger past the thumb.

Try it and see if you can do it without tension, as that should be avoided.

I think the tremor is just an unconcious thing as I've noticed a lot of pros do it. I first noticed it with Kirk Stevens back in the old days but these days I do see it with quite a few pros. I don't think they even know they are doing it

Terry

[denja]

TERRY YOUR QUOTE I can see first knuckle of my forefinger past my thumb///Do you think this is a good guideline as to how far over the forefinger should be ? Was my observation correct that the knuckle will flatten to much when bridge is lowered for screw shot if forefinger is not far enough over.

[narl]

Pictures of this would be very helpful

[Terry Davidson]

denja:

I agree with narl here as I think you might be forming your bridge wrong.

I just tried mine on my table here and when I lower the bridge for a screw shot the shaft is well off the large knuckle of the forefinger and the second finger.

HOWEVER, when I dropped my thumb down the forefinger a bit the shaft did touch the large knuckle of the forefinger. So I believe you are doing one of two things wrong when forming your bridge.

The first one is...are your fingers perfectly straight? Or are they bent a bit? The should be perfectly straight and flat.

Secondly, do you have your thumb up to where the first knuckle of the thumb is up on the forefiger until it is almost at the top of the forefinger? If your thumb is down on the forefinger nearer the main joint of it then you are not forming a very strong 'V' and also you're risking the shaft running along the 'thumb pillow' formed by the loose skin of the right upper side of the palm and if your cue is rubbing against the thumb pillow then as the shaft get thicker when you deliver the cue it will push the shaft slightly to the right.

So get the thumb well up on the forefinger and the fingers straight and keep the first knuckle of the forefinger visible past the thumb, which may mean you have to twist the wrist joint slight to the right if you happen to have your bridge arm thrust out straight (which is good by the way) but if you have the bridge forearm bent a bit then you may not need to twist the wrist joint to the right slightly.

But, pictures of your normal bridge would help me a lot to analyse this. I'm not sure what you mean by this... 'Was my observation correct that the knuckle will flatten too much when the bridge is lowered for a screw shot if the forefinger is not far enough over.'

Terry