Snooker Table Rests and Bridges
Six handy tips you can get started with straight away to improve when using the rest:
When you get the rest out, adopt your normal standing position as you would as if you were standing with your cue.
Once you’ve seen the potting angle, slide the rest (and your cue) onto the table onto that line with your cue on the rest. Hold the rest down firm with your opposite hand and make sure it’s solid and won’t slide around the table.
Remember to not hold the cue with your fingers at the very end – let the badge show.
When you grip your cue, ensure your first finger and thumb are wrapped around the cue and that the badge logo of the cue is showing. This simple grip is vital as it will give you stability. Don’t hold your fingers at the very end of the butt!
Make sure the rest head is not too far away from the cue ball. You want to have it one and a half hands away from the cue ball. Enough so you can follow through as you would on a normal shot without the rest. Practice moving the rest close up and even touching the cue ball to get a feel of how far the rest is from it! That’s the only way you’ll know how close the rest is to the cue ball.
Be consistent…
When feathering your cue along the rest, it’s important you adopt the same consistent featherings as you would a normal shot. For me, that’s normally three feathers and then a nice pause at the end. Get a feel for the cue moving up and down!
Make sure your eyes focus on the cue ball during this phase. It’s vital that you know that you are striking the cue ball where you’re aiming! Look at the end to the object ball, and then deliver.
Remember to extend your cue arm fully on delivery!
Finally, extend the arm on delivery! As the fingers open, the arm WILL NATURALLY EXTEND. Don’t jab! You want to extend the arm as smoothly as possible and watch the ball to the pocket! What happened?
Buy a rest or rest head…
Snooker does this regularly on the kitchen table. It includes buying a rest head, and if you’ve got an old cue, hooking it up and using it as the rest for the practice. Simple, eh?
Build confidence…
All you need to do is imagine you’re on a snooker table on the kitchen or dining table, and practice cueing through with the rest and cue. Even something as simple practice as this can make a difference when you go to play on a snooker table.
To summarise the tips:
Use a solid two-finger grip on your cue with the badge logo showing
Hold the rest down firm so it’s stable on the table.
Have a nice pause in your cue-action as you would normally
Remember, the rest is your bridge hand so think of it as so: it needs to be stable
Keep the rest head at least one and a half hands from the white so you’re not too close and foul the shot!
Extend your arm and open your fingers and follow-through on the shot like you would on a normal shot!
Keep the body still.
Snooker Table Rests and Bridges
