R O A D   P L A Y E R

Road Player: This road player named Jesse came through Pensacola in late August of 2006. I had the opportunity to take a lesson from him for a $100.00. It was money well spent.

He only had to watch me hit a few balls before he began making adjustments in my game and stroke.

The first thing he told me was to adjust my hand bridge by putting a little more pressure on the table. He said that most people just lay their hand out there. By applying a little pressure, you gain an additional level of control on your shot.

He also told me to keep my elbow tucked in during my stroke. By tucking in your elbow, you greatly reduce the likelihood of your hand pushing out away from your body on the follow thru of the stroke. Keeping the stroke in line keeps the aim of the shot true and accurate.

I lengthened my bridge considerably and changed the delivery of my final stroke. The longer bridge was most useful on rail shots. Jesse showed me how to hook my index and pinky fingers off of the back side of the rail to accomplish this. In all shots, a longer bridge aids the aiming process greatly. It is the same as saying a rifle with the longer barrel is easier to aim than a hand gun.

Jesse should be coming back through Pensacola in a few weeks and I look forward to a new lesson. The most amazing thing about this guy is that he said he did not shoot that great 10 years ago but got motivated to play better after doing a BCA tournament in Las Vegas.