Joe W,
I don't want to take anything away from professional instructors and I don't want to compare their instruction to that of a top pro. I just think you are mistaken when you say that some pros are naturals who can't teach, or that some would even be detrimental.
I am curious, suppose you were fortunate enough to travel with a world class player and your action directly affected his pocketbook. You can pick any top player you want when considering this question, he could have fundamentals that are far from preferential. Do you honestly believe that this pro would not be able to teach you at least a little and possibly a lot on every aspect of the game, mechanics, knowledge, the mental game, all of it?
You take the argument beyond the question. Certainly you can learn from anyone. Their ability to teach may be limited but you can observe, listen to their reasoning (which may or may not be good), and learn by observation. That does not make them a teacher. You may learn one thing that applies in a limited way. From a learning perspective it is better to learn general principles that can be applied across many situations.
It is also true that there are people who teach for the "wrong" reasons from the perspective of a "teacher." This does not detract from the differences between a "teacher" and a "player." The differences are real and of course there are all sorts of variations.
As I said in the article, we teach children to hold their mouth in the right way to learn to hit a nail on the head. Unfortunately, some people believe in their own superstitious behavior regardless of their ability, they believe that their way is the best way based on their experience but not on the facts.
I just watched the slow mo of Shane V's break. It works for him and it incorporates some of the principles that are known. I doubt that it is the way someone should learn to break well and consistently. He may have the particular skills (learned through trial and error over years) to break as he does, I suspect that most people do not have that skill set and that there is a better way for the average player.
Someone asked one of the pros why he doesn't teach and his answer was something to the effect that "I don't know what I do." Not only do some of them not know what they do, they also don't know why they do it.
When you don't know "why" you cannot create a set of principles that generalize across many situations. Those who understand the principles and the generalizations may not have the physical skill to execute them.
To know the "why" you must first understand the fundamentals. Only then can you learn advanced concepts as they are interrelated and lead to generalized principles that can be applied across many situations. Some people prefer to learn to execute and could care less about the why.
When you learn the comprehensive general principles from a teacher you can then apply your own idiosyncratic style to make the game your own not a mirror image of someone else. Pros on the cutting edge might teach you one or two new tricks to improve your performance. Good teachers are close to but not on the cutting edge of their discipline for the most part.
Unless you are a pro yourself, your time is better spent with a teacher who considers
your current skill level and the next issues that
you should address.
).
