There is also something to a number of ways to play the game outside those that are etched in stone like 100 soldiers marching in lockstep with each other.There is something to this. One time I tried to emulate Bustamante by placing my cue tip on the table and envisioning how I wanted to hit the shit and just letting it fly. I was very surprised at how well I pocketed balls and got shape.
Something about just letting instinct take over can be very powerful.
I think pool is kind of like the very beginning of baseball when the pitches thrown revolved around speed only. Fast, slow, and everything in between. But thinking outside the box eventually developed into the ball being able to curve in both directions,
drop like it fell off a table, not spin at all and "knuckle" through the air, and rise from it's initial trajectory.
Pool isn't just about adhering to straight lines either. There's a lot of motion and movement that can be done with the cue, cue angle, and hand alterations (dynamically or preset) to produce all kinds of different effects and outcomes. It isn't a 2D drawing
that's cut and dry. Nor like a boring "box step" in dancing. Dance now is about art and movements. I think Efren and Bustamante have shown that for decades with the way they handle a cue.