I'm guessing your #4 is just a typo because I can't imagine it would be your practice to pause after the backstroke to see if everything looks or feels right. Are you talking about before that l
Backstroke? The way you typed it sounds like a recipe for disaster. A way of really juggling your conscious/subconscious processing.
If you watch many professional players they have an extended pause before the forward stroke. Everyone pauses. It is impossible to reverse the direction of the cue forward without stopping the backward motion, it is a matter of how long a pause. Tor Lowry mentions if you incorporate an extended pause into your stroke it takes time to develop that. Scott Lee uses a very short pause, more of a fluid transition to the forward stroke with no extended pause. Here is Brett Lee demonstrating both a front pause and a back pause https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnWK0zJYtls
Several pros discuss the subject here http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/stroke.html#pause_reasons and they are correct in why I use it. It corrects a flaw in the transition from back stroke to forward stroke.
During the pause I get a feeling that all is well or maybe not. If I am a little off balance reaching or feel I have aimed wrong or whatever, I stop, get up and start over. I think most of us have made shots we were uncomfortable with just before shooting and went ahead anyway, then said "I knew I shouldn't have shot, I was ....". The thought process is just a flash, it doesn't take long, it is just a feeling of readiness before beginning the forward stroke.
It helps me, especially when the backstroke doesn't go well. If I bump my side a little or some small error occurs in the back stroke I "stabilize" before starting forward. It is just a sub conscious check that all is well. I also find my speed control is better with a longer pause. I bleed off the Kinetic energy developed from the back stroke. The only time I don't pause much is on the break with a really crappy slow bar table where I need every bit of energy to make a ball. There I need the build up of the back stroke to help add speed to the forward stroke or I just can't hit hard enough to make a ball. :angry: