Thanks all for the advice...
I really don't get any satisfaction by running a rack of 8/9/10 ball. If I have a clear opening shot I expect to get out, so really the only goal these days is to put packs together against the ghost. Which of course boils down to the break and zero safety play. My point is, it's boring.
I've transitioned to solo 14.1 just for the spice of something different. That and I'm well aware that the game more frequently puts you in complicated situations that you only run across in other games once in a blue moon.
I've watched some of your ghost videos and there've been quite a few instances where you had to do something heroic to get out. Play enough straight pool and those situations will occur way less often.
I assume "drop in proficiency" means you're missing long +/or harder shots that you seldom miss in 9ball. That's probably due more to a bit of loss of focus because of having to do more thinking than it is your stroke.
I have the memory of a fruit fly, so I'd have to watch those videos myself to determine the heroic circumstances you commenting on...lol. Although I use the analogy frequently as well, I think the classification is subjective. I will say that when playing the ghost nearly all the hero shots would normally call for safety play. Which obviously is a loss of game, so.., not an option. All that said, I know what you're getting at.
I've spent some time rolling this over in my mind, and I think what it is, are my "default settings" when full stroking standard shots.
Case in point...: Normal half ball cut into the corner. All things being equal, I would 99% of the time play with a hair of draw and equal outside. I could of course do whatever I needed to with the CB, but again I'm talking about "default settings". Now that I've been playing 14.1 and my focus has switched to CB control after colliding with clusters, my "new normal" here is to usually hit the CB with nothing but stun and let the natural carom clear the CB from the cluster. ...so now when I go back to say 9 ball and try to hit my full stroke original "default". I'm squirting the CB more than I'm accustomed to, and I end up chunking the OB way too thick...
The above is just one example of what I'm experiencing. Standing back and looking at the situation. It appears to be an obvious and easy fix..., and it is completely. My problem is that this is my "default setting" and isn't something I've had to consciously evaluate for countless years, so it doesn't dawn on me that I could be hitting it bad...lol.
**Not sure what you mean by "rotation and/or 8 ball style of play" as 8ball and 14.1 are very similar to each other.
Yes and no... Ya there's some minor cluster management in 8 ball, and the shape play is similar. I'm actually fairly strong 8 ball player. But to point out what we all know. 8 ball is a single rack game, so there's zero focus on manipulating the current table to control the outcome of the next rack. While I play 14.1 I'm looking to play shape to get on balls so the carom off of those will develop break balls for later on. Again this is obvious stuff for the 14.1 crowd, but these series of shots aren't something you do in the other games, and generally are all about spin with extremely light touch.
Sure in 8 ball you play shape to play caroms to break clusters, but you're not trying to play the preceding shape to push the cluster breaks into specific locations for rack starting break shots.
