Pool Stick Grip Tips

Making use of these pool stick grip tips is essential to your game of pool. The way you hold your pool stick, also known as a pool cue, can have a huge impact on your game. Many people believe you can pick the stick up, bend over the table and just shoot. This isn't the case. The angle of the pool cue, as well as your grip, affects how you strike the cue ball. This is turn affects how the cue ball strikes the object ball. By practicing a few helpful tips, you can improve your grip and help make your game of billiards better all the way around.

1. Bridge: A solid bridge is an essential element of your pool stick grip. The bridge should be free of drag (meaning the end of your stick should move smoothly, without rubbing against your hand in a way that causes it to drag. Use the tips of your fingers pressed against the table to stabilize your bridge hand and cock your thumb out and slightly up to create the gap for the cue to rest.
2. Bridge Fingers: Spread your fingertips slightly. This allows you to raise and lower your wrist for difficult shots without disrupting the line of your are, which can throw off your aim by causing the ball to jerk when you strike it. Struggling to make a bridge can cause slight alterations in the way you grip your pool stick, which in turn will throw off your shot.
3. Elbow Position: Hold your elbow close to the side of your body. Many beginning players cock the elbow out away from the body. Even cocking the elbow out away from the body just a little bit will change the angle of the cue stick, throwing off your aim.
4. Hand Placement: Position your hand on the butt of the pool cue, about halfway between the end of the cue and the end of the butt (usually the portion wrapped with linen or another grip material. Holding too far back on the butt of your pool stick can cause your aim to change by the time your cue strikes the cue ball. Holding it too far up can steal the power of your shot.
5. Finger Position: Ensure your four fingers are not curled completely around the butt of the pool stick. Allow the stick to rest against your fingers, as if your fingers are cradling rather than gripping.
6. Thumb Position: Keep your thumb relaxed and cocked slightly away from your hand. Many players point the thumb up or down. Do not wrap your thumb around the butt of the pool cue.
7. Stay Loose: Don't tense up for the shot. Stay loose and relaxed. It's sometimes habitual for beginning players to tense up, believing this is necessary to make a hard shot. You don't want to shoot hard. You want to hit the object ball solid. Relax the grip on your pool stick before you shoot.
8. Wrist Action: Develop a hinge-like action with your rest. This helps to keep your grip and your shot relaxed. To avoid thrusting the cue when you shoot, this hinge-like movement of your wrist is essential. Your hand should move the stick, not your arm.
9. Straight Line: Always maintain a straight line from your elbow to cue ball. A proper grip on your pool stick will allow you to naturally fall into this straight line.
10. Pay attention to both your bridge and your  grip hand, as well as your stance. Any of these elements can cause you to change your pool cue grip, so make minor adjustments. Even a slight alteration of your pool stick grip can throw off your aim.