As is common here, the subject has drifted, which is fun too but I would like to drag it back to my original question for just a bit.
Everyone agrees that making the ball is important and doing ball pocketing drills helps with that. Most also agree getting position is important so having a target for the cue ball in your ball pocketing drill is important. Most also agree that things like getting on the correct side of the ball, using rails to control speed and coming into the line of the shot are all valuable techniques to make getting position easier. These considerations are the first step in the thinking part of the game, choosing shot options to make position easier. Most also feel like at least considering what you leave your opponent if you miss is also helpful.
That brings us to my topic. To plan a full table runout, or at least 3-4 balls ahead and plan to stick to it, knowing if you get bad position your run is probably over, but attributing that to a lack of skill and so you work on your shot making and position play. vs. Understanding you are likely to make some mistakes in position and trying to plan for that by considering alternate shots if you are long or shot, hit a ball unexpectedly, and so forth.
This is where some very good instructors disagree. One is so convinced you can't attain a high level he teaches shooting every shot based on a bad leave in case you miss. I rule this one out entirely. This gets you to a low intermediate level and is no fun to even play.
But the two major ones are:
1. Practice all the above and strive to get so good you can almost always run the patterns you predict to begin with. If you can't you just need to practice more to be more consistent. You never think of an alternate pattern or shot until you fail at what you are trying to do.
2. You understand your skill level and believe full table run out perfection of a predetermined run out is not realistic for almost anyone, so you don't think that way. Instead you see that pattern and maybe other possible patterns and go for shots and position on more than one ball , or more than one pocket at a time. You pick that desired landing area and a specific spot in it but it is a landing area with a as many other possible shots as you can, not necessarily the best landing area for your predesigned pattern.
Example:
Player 1: To get shape 3 balls ahead a player goes for a shot on the 3 ball into a side pocket to get on the 7 ball, etc. But if the player rolls long it ruins the entire plan. Rolling long is bad play and is corrected by practice. Better speed control is necessary.
Player 2: looks at the same layout with different eyes. He/she says I will shoot the 3 ball in the corner and if I am short I will shoot the 4 but if long I will still have a shot at the 6. So the pattern is not so set. It is less thinking 3-4 or even 8 balls ahead and more a matter of more options on the next shot then working your way through problems based on options that present themselves based on where you skill level takes you.
I think the philosophical difference is a disagreement on the difficulty of developing a skill set that can consistently make 8 preselected shots. 1. Says it is attainable and more practice gets you there. 2. Say no one (or at least almost no one) ever gets there and it is not the goal. The goal is to develop those skills and apply them as opportunity presents itself so playing for position that creates the most possible options is a more practical approach and a faster way to improve.
I hope I was clear, I apologize I am so wordy. I was looking to see who agrees with concelpt 1 vs 2.