You know what, CJ? I'm going to answer your questionaire. I'll just keep the reason to myself for now.
1. Q. Why do you need and extended follow through for good draw?
A. You don't, as I already explained previously.
2. Q. What is good draw?
A. Good draw is being able to accurately draw back from an inch to table length, and rarely a few diamonds more than that. Also, being able to accurately draw back at an angle, not just straight back.
3. Q. Why do you drop your shoulder?
A. I play better when I don't. However, after way too many years of doing so, sometimes the brain wires to the old habits instead of the new habits.
4. Q. Are you really straight and consistent?
A. For the most part, yes. That does not equate to "always". Consistent, yes, perfect, no.
5. Q. Is it beneficial to think about dropping or not dropping the elbow?
A. Well, you didn't define the "when". In practice, yes. If you don't think about what you are doing in practice, you don't know what you are doing. If you don't know what you are doing, you can't fix anything you are doing wrong. In actual play? NO. In actual play you need to be on auto pilot. You need your subconscious to be working at full speed.If you are consciously thinking once you are down on the shot, you are limiting your potential for a successful outcome of the shot. Much akin to walking. You train your mind how to react to a situation. So, when you want to walk, you just think "walk", and you do it just fine for the most part. If you start thinking about walking when you go to walk, you will have trouble putting one foot in front of the other.
6. Q. Can I play pure?
A. I have. You don't run 12 racks once, 10 racks at least three times, and 9 racks at least half a dozen times not playing nearly "pure". But, I guess that depends on exactly what your definition of "pure" would be.
7. Q. Can I play perfectly?
A. Sure. Almost everyone can. The real question should be "how long can you play perfectly?" At my age, with my health problems, not very long anymore. Have I ever for an extended period of time? Well, in my opinion, no. In some others opinions, yes. To some, making high runs, you had to play perfectly. However, that is not true. You can still get out of line a number of times, but "get away with it", as you well know. So, perfectly, in the true sense of the word? Not for more than a few shots. Same as everyone else, including you.
8. Q. Can you play perfectly with an unpure stroke?
A. Ambiguous question. Depends on your meaning of perfectly and unpure. A better question would be "can you play at a very high level with a less than textbook stroke?" The answer to that , for me, would be "sometimes". The general answer, which is probably what you are after here, would be yes, depending on ones definition of an unpure stroke. (see below on Q. #10.)
9. Q. Can you play bad with a good stroke?
A. Yes. A good stroke is only part of the equation to playing good pool. If you can't aim, or play position, you are going to suck big time, no matter how perfect your stroke is.
10&11. Q. What is a good stroke anyway, and how can you tell??
A. First, it doesn't matter what kind of stroke you have. You can shoot behind your back and under your leg for all I care. The issue is, can you reliably and consistently hit the cb where you want to, at the speed you want to? THAT is the crux of the question. Straight all the way, followthrough so much you scare the player on the next table, swoop the cue so bad you scare the railbirds, accelerate, decelerate, it doesn't matter as long as you hit where and at the proper speed that you intend to. If you do that, you will get the results you want. Which is what the whole gist of it is about.
Trouble is, the vast majority of people cannot do all that crazy stuff without having problems of hitting where and at what speed correctly. They do not have consistency. So, I know, and I have posted it on here many times, as have others, I will now ask you since you want to teach... how do you teach someone to stroke the ball to have the consistency to hit where they intend to hit the cb, and at the speed they intend to hit the cb??
Now, I am sure you and others took a little gasp when I stated that it really doesn't matter if you are accelerating or decelerating when you hit the cb. Well, in reality, it doesn't. What matters, and exactly WHY deceleration is "bad" for most, is simply because you don't hit the cb at the speed you intended to hit it. Thereby, your english and speed won't be what you wanted them to be. However, If you CONSISTENTLY have a decelerating stroke, and have been one of the .00000001% that can do it reliably, then you know exactly how the cb will react with YOUR stroke, and it is not a problem for you.