After failing miserably the last few weeks in league, and getting nowhere in practice sessions at home, I yet again went back to stance. For reference I shoot right-handed.
I experimented moving my feet around and found I can reliably make a straight-in shot, very close to the center of the pocket, when I align the left side of my right foot to the right edge of the cue when it is on the shot line, then use the ball of my right foot to rotate it about 90 degrees clockwise, then falling down on the shot, cue extended in front of me on the shot line, into a natural position with my left foot.
I've been experimenting with this all day, and while I'm sure it looks really dorky (and beginner-ish), I found that my foot placement, WITHOUT putting the cue on the shot line, THEN placing my feet, THEN getting down on the shot, was off as much as 4-6 inches in either direction. And it made all the difference in potting.
This explains why I can consistently miss shots I was confident I had lined up properly. It also explains why on some shots my balance just didn't "feel right", and why, despite getting up and going down (sometimes repeating this dance more than once), some shots never felt right.
So, I've expanded this experiment around the table at various cut angles, and so far, so good. I'll continue with the dorky approach until I can reliably place my right foot without having to think about it.
