Lou,
I think your analysis of the methodology to play this game at a high level is, for sure, correct! A straight stroke is what I've wanted for Xmas for many years. Add a repeatable PSR and staying down on the shot, you've got milk.
This is probably achievable with some instruction early on, and being nurtured by better players around you as you progress. Having the right tools is the luck of the draw to add to the mix. We are not all created equal and what one finds easy, another struggles with and never quite gets "it".
One of these issues is a subtle, yet frustrating one. It is switching eye dominance which is what your brain is supposed to do. In everyday activities, it takes the best visual input and uses it to blend, yet favor one eye over the other. When you look left or right, you effortlessly switch dominance until you have a specific task in front of you. Detail work is given to your more dominant eye.
Most players never even know they have a dominant eye and don't care about it because they have never had any problems relating to it. I've never understood why people can't catch high pop ups or hit a curve ball. It has never been a problem for me. They are only seeing things differently than I am. With proper training, they can improve their abilities, but will they surpass me? You can go on and on about situations where one person's forte is a nightmare for somebody else. Suffice it to say that unless a careful amount of research is given to this frustrating issue, one would not understand.
Ninety per cent of my misses on makeable shots is because I get a false picture from my eyes. If I notice it before I shoot and reset, I can easily increase my potting ten fold. If I pull the trigger, I will dog the ball 9/10 times. The problem being I am looking at the contact point with the wrong blending of the eyes. My body sets up in a slightly incorrect alignment. The subconscious mind picks up on this incorrect alignment and does it's correction... steering the cue to pocket the ball. But the shot looks good initially.
After many years of an incorrect alignment from an improper visual input, and conscious and unconscious compensations for these errors, your stroke becomes a steering wheel. The lucky ones are those that line up correctly from the git. The game is easy when you are lined up right from the start or are corrected by a helping hand along the way.
It took me years to figure out why I could run 100 balls one night and struggle with a single rack the next night. I'd run ten balls and drive an easy shot into the rail. It just didn't make sense. I wondered who was going to show up every night I went out to play. I still don't have the absolute cure, but I know what my nemesis is. I need a foolproof method of keeping my dominant eye, dominant. Or more correctly, a way to ensure my visual perception is the correct one. This view matches my natural alignment and allows me to pocket balls without any compensation from my subconscious mind.
And don't say it's because of an improper PSR. Undeniably, your PSR is set up by the information you receive from your eyes. You need a routine to set up your correct visual input first and your brain undermines this in some players naturally. If you don't believe or understand this failing, every instructor should at least be aware of it as a possible solution to some players' woes. Dismissing it limits their ability to help a student solve a very elusive problem that comes and goes like an electrical problem in your car.
Best,
Mike
