Yes.
I can usually sort out where I went wrong using draw, and its often poking, jabbing and/or hitting too hard. I get it, I just struggle trying to correct it. I do understand the process, I think. I simply need to execute it better, and resist those bad instincts.
Conversely, I adapted to follow family easy, early on as I learned the game. Thus my curiosity about players struggling with one but not the other. Along with seeing some of that with some players I play with locally.
I wonder what the correlation might be. Its interesting.
It's a little complicated but I'll try to explain my observations about that:
First, I think we can all pretty much agree that nobody really starts out playing pool as a rank beginner drawing the cue ball. Most don't even know that draw is an option at that point.
As they develop, players will be faced with hitting shots harder and softer. Now their personality on the table will begin to emerge as they figure out how to deal with missed shots. Some players come to realize that if they hit shots softer, they won't miss as much. Other players are more willing to power through the misses and continue to stroke with some force.
Sometimes it's the influence of other players they admire and sometimes it's simply just their own sense of logic driving them. The harder hitters will take to draw easier than soft shots, just as the softer hitters will take to shooting top spin shots easier.
Once the players become advanced, they become proficient at both, but if you look closely at them, you will see what they prefer by their position choices when playing. But while a player is still developing, you will see that they are struggling more with either back spin or top spin because one is more out of their comfort zone than the other.
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