few players can hit the cue ball where they're "aiming"....even with no object ball
I've heard of Hal Houle from this forum, but never met him. That's a very strong statement, I would agree that the top 200 players connect the Cue Ball to the Object Ball in some way, shape or form, however, it would be difficult to imagine that they all do it the same way.
My biggest concern is that few players can hit the cue ball where they're "aiming"......even with no object ball on the table. Since I got a Break Rak I've been testing myself and other players and very few hit the cue ball exactly where they think more than 50% of the time, and that's for advanced players. Intermediate players hardly ever hit the cue ball where they're aiming.