IMHO, knowledge and creativity can bring you a long way even with poor mechanics. You see it a lot with very elderly players. My grandfather played snooker into his 80's and still could still run a good score. His eyes were getting bad and he didn't have the muscles of a 20 year old but he played the game his whole life and could compensate with experience.That being said where mechanics become more evident is in shot making. On 7foots you can have piss poor mechanics and as long as your consistent you can still make most any shot on the table. Now as you progress up the sizes in tables were you are required to make more difficult shots and do more with the cue ball. That is when the mechanics play more of a part. That is why snooker pro's are more consistent with there mechanics. It is rare to see a pro with very unconventional stance or stroke. Try playing on a twelve foot after only playing on a seven and see how many balls in row you can pot. Or even draw a ball from half way down the table. This when bad mechanics become very evident.
I think this post (and especially the bolded part) nails it.
I would venture a guess that the OP, even though he didn't mention table sizes, is from / plays in a bar table environment. This is where, in players that play exclusively in this environment, you'll see some of the most unorthodox or loosey-goosey or "wet noodle" fundamentals.
I admit, I've had my head handed to me in short races on a barbox, by players with the most unusual fundamentals, where I'd get to the table once, maybe twice, in a race to 5 or something, and I'm shooting out of a safety each time. But what I'll do, while that player is jacked-up on the high from the "win," is to invite him to play over on the 9-footer, and after they accept, jack up the bet. I don't have to mention that things reverse very quickly. Anyone can feel like Superman on the barbox -- when the longest shot you have to shoot is 3 feet (on either side of the object ball, between it and the cue ball, and between it and the pocket). And the assistance offered by mushy/spongey cushions with "assisting" pockets (as is often found on Valley barboxes) suddenly disappears in the big table environment. You have to have SOLID fundamentals, and that player suddenly finds himself upstream without a paddle.
While it's true that the pros aren't "cookie cutter" in their fundamentals (i.e. no two pros "look alike"), what is true is their delivery of the cue. It's dead-nuts straight. There are obvious exceptions, like
Bustamante (with that loopy stroke), but for the most part, the lion's share of the players out there have found that which works for them to deliver the cue dead straight. Pick any pro (besides Bustamante
), and watch overhead camera angles of their cue delivery. Now, do the same for your neighborhood barbox player with those unorthodox fundamentals (i.e. if your poolroom has an upper or mezzanine level, or an elevated area somewhere, look down on him playing). See the difference?
-Sean