Thanks everyone for the feedback.
Steve, I read everything while I was at Red Shoes tonight, so I was able to give some thought to your answer. My practice strokes are helping me establish a straight stroke plane, locating and consistently cueing to the appropriate spot on the cue ball, and feeling the speed I need to strike the cue ball. I know what I want to happen on the table and where I'm going to hit the cue ball, but going from that path in my mind to stroking with the right speed from the first practice stroke is difficult for me. After a few practice strokes, I get a better feel for the pace I need. I seemed to take well to a longer set and a more controlled backstroke, but a pause in the backstroke seemed disruptive to my accuracy. I felt that I was neither striking the cue ball in the right spot nor keeping a straight line of delivery with my cue. Could this be an indicator of another problem, or could it be just the way I am and have been "programmed" to play?
ChicagoRJ, when I get down on my shot, I do something that I know some people have deemed an inconsistency: I slide my bridge hand forward into a comfortable distance. As my bridge hand slides forward, the practice strokes I'm taking there aren't giving me any actual information about the shot, but I am moving my back hand into a comfortable position, trying to get as close to 90 degrees to the floor as I can by feel. The distance of one affects the other in order to keep this perpendicular to the ground, so that's what's happening as I get down for the shot.
Chris, believe it or not, that shot was probably as natural as it gets for me. The video was taken at the tail end of a longer night for me when I was tired and slightly frustrated with my practice at the time. I asked my friend to hold the camera, and I told myself that despite knowing that I'm being filmed, I'm going to shoot naturally without over thinking what I'm doing. You should see me when I actually try to be mechanical with my stroke. It's nasty.
