finding YOUR grip: my method that may help others

[throtts]

I think Terry does more than enough already. It all takes time setting up cameras and tripods and then recording properly a said technique...

[Sidd]

Sidd:

To answer your question regarding your left shoulder. It goes all the way back to Joe Davis who said you should 'thrust' the bridge arm out as far as you can and this has the effect of 'bracing' the shoulder. The follow-on effect is of course that when one shoulder is braced and still then the other should will be also as they are connected by bone.

You must ensure the elbow is up as high as possible and the grip arm shoulder is behind the head as far as you comfortably can. We often forget about this aspect of technique and let the shoulder sag down which will allow it to move on the shot which is a disaster for accuracy.

Terry

Dear Terry, Please do ignore my naive approach but I did not get it quite clearly. Please correct me if i am wrong and state a simple YES if I am correct so i can practice in solo:

When I go down I should stretch out my bridge hand arm straight and when i do that it will brace my right shoulder against the right side of my neck. While I do that due to the bone it will have an impact on the grip hand shoulder and hence it will also have the other shoulder still. This will sort of control the premature elbow drop i guess...

Secondly, getting the shoulder (grip hand shoulder) behind the head is something that I never across before... Will take care I do that as well and keep it behind the head as comfortably as I can.

Am I on the right track, did I get all that correctly...???

Thanks in advance.

[Terry Davidson]

A qualified YES Sidd.

Joe Davis was not a tall guy and he always said you have to THRUST the bridge arm (his left, your right) as far as you can and as straight as you can. This would have the positive effect of BRACING his right should (your left) so it wouldn't move.

Modern coaches do not advocate the absolutely straight bridge arm as it's damned UNCOMFORTABLE plus the average player these days (except maybe for some of our oriental players) is a lot taller than the average player in Joe's day.

So, YES...do thrust your right shoulder out as far as you comfortably can but do not necessarily have the bridge arm absolutely straight, but nearly so it's comfortable and the forearm is resting on the table for more stability.

Terry

[j6uk]

Watch out for and avoid tension any part of the upper body like, arms or shoulders. Think about your balance and weight distribution. I like the idea of only having 10% weight on my bridge hand.

[Sidd]

A qualified YES Sidd.

Joe Davis was not a tall guy and he always said you have to THRUST the bridge arm (his left, your right) as far as you can and as straight as you can. This would have the positive effect of BRACING his right should (your left) so it wouldn't move.

Modern coaches do not advocate the absolutely straight bridge arm as it's damned UNCOMFORTABLE plus the average player these days (except maybe for some of our oriental players) is a lot taller than the average player in Joe's day.

So, YES...do thrust your right shoulder out as far as you comfortably can but do not necessarily have the bridge arm absolutely straight, but nearly so it's comfortable and the forearm is resting on the table for more stability.

Terry

This is interesting. Thanks again, I am pretty much clear now. By the way, I am 6 feet 1 and cannot comfortably stretch my bridge hand arm full and do have a slight little bend in it. I think it was due to my height factor that I played too far forward in my stance and ended up having a pretty bad case of tendinitis if you remember. I corrected it by getting a little towards the back just like Ken Doherty ... Its better now but I still think I have more weight to the right side (bridge hand side) of my body and end up putting more than required on the bridge arm hence causing tendinitis of the right shoulder.

Will work that out... Nice pretty much straight bridge arm braced shoulder of the bridge arm body weight slightly back (I do that by standing a fraction closer to the CB and moving grip hand a bit up the butt) to induce body weight towards the back... I do still think I am too far forward and towards the right side (weight balance) ... will work on that.

Any idea on how to balance weight by shifting it a little towards the left side grip hand side ? I guess if I stand with my feet apart (slightly more than usual shoulder length) ... would that work ?

[Sidd]

Watch out for and avoid tension any part of the upper body like, arms or shoulders. Think about your balance and weight distribution. I like the idea of only having 10% weight on my bridge hand.

Tell me about it I have had a bad bad case of bridge arm shoulder tendinitis to an extent that I could not sleep on my right shoulder for nights and nights ... getting better !