Holding Cue too far forward???

[Dknox1]

Was fiddling with my cue action recently, and now that I'm pretty happy with it, I decided to do a quick vid so I could see what it looked like... I was surprised that I'm holding the cue very far forward, though my arm is pretty much consistently vertical so I don't think I'm doing much wrong. The cue is 58" and I'm about 5"8, I think it may be that my shoulders are quite square on the shot?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ATkT...ature=youtu.be
Thanks
Dan

[willtyson]

Looks fine, feathering is good, hand's in the right position, seem to be getting plenty out of the cue ball, staying down on the shot well, nice pauses, cue's coming back nice and level. Keep practicing and don't think about it all too much. All good

[Dknox1]

Thanks, any reason why the grip hand is so far forward though? :/

[Terry Davidson]

Although your grip forearm is in the vertical position at address (which is correct and good) you have a LOT of cue sticking out behind your grip hand, looks to be 6" or more but very hard to see in the video.

As you're 5ft8in I would recommend you shorten to a 57" cue if you can whilst keeping everything else the same.

It's not a serious problem and if you can play with the 58" cue that is fine as it will help you to reach some shots other players may need an extension for. I would recommend you do NOT just shorten your cue as that will change the shaft flex and the cue will play differently. Try out a friend's 57" cue to see if it feels better.

The other thing you could do is have a little more cue out over the bridge hand as right now it looks to be around 9" and probably around 11" would work better for you. If you do this change there would be no need to shorten the cue.

Terry

[Dknox1]

Thanks Terry, well it's a TW cue, and I'm likely to grow to like 5"10/11 considering my dad haha So, I'll stick with the cue as I'm still growing. Also if you look at this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTm8NB5BIOg I used to have a VERY long bridge, and have been trying to shorten it, probably just a case of finding a middle ground?

[Terry Davidson]

Yes, find the right balance. If you figure you'll reach 5ft10/11in then that cue should be perfect for you. I would say your best bet would be to place 2 very light pencil marks on the shaft of your cue at 10" and at 12" and then hold the cue such that the 'V' of your bridge is closer to the 12" mark but still inside it.

This length might be just a touch long for your present height but as you get taller it will match your height plus you might only have 2" of cue or less hanging out the back of the grip hand, which is ideal.

Terry

[Dknox1]

Oh, should the bridge length be consistent for all shots then? I thought it should vary depending on power, distance from object ball etc..?

[nrage]

Oh, should the bridge length be consistent for all shots then? I thought it should vary depending on power, distance from object ball etc..?

I believe that the distance would ideally be the same on all shots, but in practice you need to shorten it for shots off the cushion etc. I don't think you should vary the distance for power however.

[throtts]

I think Dknox maybe referring to the point that if you bring your bridge hand nearer the cue ball will that mean the cue goes through the cue ball even further to create even more screw. Is this coached?, I am not sure...

[Dknox1]

ohh ok, thanks!!!

[Dknox1]

ohhh throtts, erm not sure, i just thought it depended on the shot :/ I think I had thought that there was more time to develop acceleration with a longer bridge? Most likely wrong lol

[throtts]

ohhh throtts, erm not sure, i just thought it depended on the shot :/ I think I had thought that there was more time to develop acceleration with a longer bridge? Most likely wrong lol

Haha, your acceleration theory too makes sense. Fwiw, my bridge distance stays the same for all shots. We shall wait for our Terry for an accurate answer..

[nrage]

I think Dknox maybe referring to the point that if you bring your bridge hand nearer the cue ball will that mean the cue goes through the cue ball even further to create even more screw. Is this coached?, I am not sure...

I suspected that's what he was suggesting.

If you move the bridge hand forward and leave the grip hand where it is, you'll be able to push the cue further through the white.

But, if you're already going 3-4 inches through the white what use is another inch? As we've seen on many threads here the important thing is cue speed at the moment of contact and for 1/1000th of a sec afterwards, so an extra inch over and above that tiny contact distance can't have any effect in and of itself.

However..

If you're slowing the cue down prior to contact.. then, perhaps that inch might delay the slow down and help you avoid the fault - but IMO you're better off just correcting the fault in the first place.

If you move the bridge hand forward and leave the grip hand where it is you change the timing of the shot, and I think this is a bad idea in general, so any gains you might get from it are negated by this, again IMO.

[nrage]

ohhh throtts, erm not sure, i just thought it depended on the shot :/ I think I had thought that there was more time to develop acceleration with a longer bridge? Most likely wrong lol

You're right, A longer bridge distance does give you more time to develop acceleration. However, it also decreases the margin for error in your cue action.

Try this.. point your cue directly at the cushion on the far side of the table, make a chalk mark on the cushion. Place a ball under your grip hand, and place one either side of that (either side of the cue, not along the cue). Now, with a long bridge in place move the grip hand over the left side ball, and make a mark on the cushion, do this again with the right side ball. Now halve the bridge distance and repeat.

You should see that with a short bridge, the tip moves a shorter distance to the left/right as you move your grip hand, and with a longer bridge it moves further.

Now, your cue action is not going to be so bad as to move the grip hand by 1 ball width, but the point is that any movement of the grip hand with a long bridge will move the tip further, so you have to be more accurate with the grip hand to get the same result as with a shorter bridge.

Make sense?

[DeanH]

You're right, A longer bridge distance does give you more time to develop acceleration. However, it also decreases the margin for error in your cue action.

Try this.. point your cue directly at the cushion on the far side of the table, make a chalk mark on the cushion. Place a ball under your grip hand, and place one either side of that (either side of the cue, not along the cue). Now, with a long bridge in place move the grip hand over the left side ball, and make a mark on the cushion, do this again with the right side ball. Now halve the bridge distance and repeat.

You should see that with a short bridge, the tip moves a shorter distance to the left/right as you move your grip hand, and with a longer bridge it moves further.

Now, your cue action is not going to be so bad as to move the grip hand by 1 ball width, but the point is that any movement of the grip hand with a long bridge will move the tip further, so you have to be more accurate with the grip hand to get the same result as with a shorter bridge.

Make sense?

surely a longer bridge distance (ie greater overhang of tip from bridge contact) increases the margin of error in cue action?