I am mostly happy, but have some concerns.
After a tough hill-hill loss on Wednesday night (got backdoor swept after being on hill), I shot around and tweaked my mechanics a bit. I've been trying to improve my alignment/stance for months now.
One thing I did differently was try not messing with my shoulder/upper arm at all. As in, just keep it in its normal position, and not tuck or bend my arm sideways at all. I did take a pool lesson a few months ago and when I asked my instructor to put my arm in the correct position, it was like this but felt even more weird and "diagonal". But now I get it.
It felt very off at first (and still does), like my arm wasn't centered.But then I realized, this was just my perception messing with me and my alignment seems to be significantly better now. It seems like the goal should be building my footwork around my right arm/shoulder rather than bending my arm to get my chin under the cue at any cost.
My wrist is no longer pronated by default, and when I practice lagging there is far less unintentional sidespin on the ball. When I look backwards, my arm appears to be in one plane, though perception (as noted earlier) can be deceiving.
Only problem is, I seem to be bricking more long shots that I was recently getting more and more comfortable with. So I'm hoping I don't need to go back to square one here. My wishful thinking is that this is happening because I'm so focused on the new change that I might forget some of the ingredients (rather than because the misses are caused by what I thought was improved form). It has only been since Wednesday night, so I'll give it time.
