Not directed at anyone in particular but after competing at many things one of the funniest things I have found is that many people will argue that the rules of physics don't apply to a particular pursuit.
Most would agree that gravity, inertia, and inclined planes apply consistently. I had dozens of posts disagreeing that these things matter. A few years after I left that forum a friend notified me that a new thread had been started titled "Hu is Wrong!" The funny thing, they were now agreeing these things existed and affected motion and only disagreed about magnitude. Since these things and the propulsion were variable, well except gravity for the most part, we were now in agreement. There were two hundred and fifty posts in the Hu is wrong thread now agreeing with me while saying I was wrong so I didn't bother to post!
Physics are consistent and immutable for the most part. What I do find over and over is that people refuse to consider all factors. Basically they scream two plus two is four! True enough, but the equation you need has at least ten other variables! I wasted a week in a test lab to prove to my boss that while two plus two is four, two plus two plus a plus b plus c etc, ain't!
Concerning stroke not mattering, it matters a lot. It affects the movement of the cue stick significantly which is roughly three times the weight of the cue ball, why would we think it wouldn't affect the cue ball?
Hu