Think Iv made a breakthrough!!

[Dannyastin2012]

Recently Iv been struggling with my game I'm pretty new to it but I can play a bit , anyway the bloke in the club was watching me play and he said your bridge is way to long so Iv shortened it up and it's working wonders !! I must have had to much cue showing and it was making my shots wonky! Has anyone else noticed they do or did that ? Because if it wasn't for that bloke tellin me I'd be doing that all the time and prob driving me self mad!!

[steveking21]

Hi where abouts do you live I am asking because I am looking for people for my team

[Dannyastin2012]

Hi where abouts do you live I am asking because I am looking for people for my team

Or8 mate I live in burnley. Whereabouts do u play?

[steveking21]

Ok I play snooker in reading Berkshire

[Dannyastin2012]

Ha bit far out that for me that! Nevermind

[steveking21]

Yeah do you know anyone in Berkshire who plays snooker

[Dannyastin2012]

Yeah do you know anyone in Berkshire who plays snooker

No mate sorry I don't

[vmax4steve]

Recently Iv been struggling with my game I'm pretty new to it but I can play a bit , anyway the bloke in the club was watching me play and he said your bridge is way to long so Iv shortened it up and it's working wonders !! I must have had to much cue showing and it was making my shots wonky! Has anyone else noticed they do or did that ? Because if it wasn't for that bloke tellin me I'd be doing that all the time and prob driving me self mad!!

It's not the length of your bridge that's important, it's the address position of your cue arm in relation to the length of your bridge. If your cue arm is vertical, or slightly less, to the floor at the address position then the cue ball will be struck before the grip closes and the elbow drops. If it is in front of vertical then both the aforementioned can or will happen taking the cue off line at the moment of contact with the cue ball which equates to a wonky cue action as you call it.
When Mathew Stevens uses that long extension on his cue his bridge is obviously very long, but he still pots the ball because his cue arm position stays the same. Look at Luca Brecel's action for something similar. As a very short young man the normal length cue he uses gives him a long bridge also, but his cue arm is correct at the address position so everything is fine.

As a tall man I really struggled with a normal length cue as I felt comfortable with a straight bridge arm so tended to push my cue arm forward of vertical at the address position with my grip right at the very end of the butt, with just one finger holding it for long shots. After looking at Jimmy White and noticing the length of his cue in relation to his height and physique I realised my problem, took the plunge 25 years ago and got a longer than normal length cue made for me (62 inches) and now have a cue action that isn't forward of vertical at the address position and my standard improved by a lot. I went from regular 20+ breaks to regular 50+ breaks within a couple of months and haven't looked back.
I would recomend a longer cue to all taller players of six foot plus. Of course you can always bend your bridge arm to compensate, but will you always bend the arm absolutely the same every time ? A straight bridge arm is always in the same position so the address position for the cue arm will be easier to get right. So longer cue for taller players ie: cue that is the correct length for your height will give you one less thing to have to think about and make you a more natural player.

If one starts to play at an early age, one uses a cue that one grows up with and gets used to but for some there will get a point where if they grow to be six foot plus then the cue action that has been cultivated when younger and shorter will outgrow the length of the cue they have been using and will have to change, where simply getting a longer cue or lengthening their cue will make any changes uneccessary.