While watching top pros on stream and they get a bit out of position, most of them show they're pissed off about it. In the chat room you will see people saying, Oh come on stop being a little brat...the shot you left isn't that hard.
It's not that the shot is hard if that's all you need to make in the run. But most of the time they have to get away from center ball and juice the CB a bit or a lot. The pro knows that this makes the percentage for a miss or bad position go way up.
Set up 9 balls in connect the dots fashion. Now with bih run out using center ball or a hair of natual english. Now put those 9 balls back up and try to run out using left or right english...no center ball. See how much harder it is. Johnnyt
Stay in line, you'll be the Master.
Get out of line, you'll find the door Faster.
Johnnyt, I don't know if you are saying it's better to use center ball rather than English/side or not. But I think most shots are made by professionals using minute amounts of English/side. I could be wrong about that.
Getting the perfect angle on every shot can't be done just by center ball and speed control.
In Nick Varner and Buddy Hall's LEGENDS instructional video, they run rack after rack, talking as they go and it sure seems like they used English on practically every shot unless it was straight in, a stop shot, or a simple cut shot that doesn't require English to stay in line.
It's really all about staying in line for the best angle on each shot. Being close to your work can't be overstated either.
However, I agree that lots of English, especially on long or difficult shots is an expedient for quickly finding the exit door.
Nick Varner does say frequently that a level cue and finding the vertical center of the cue ball is the most accurate way to shoot a shot. I think he was talking specifically about cinching shots at long distances.