Keep in mind I’m changing major things. On Tuesday I shot great, perfect power control and straightness, but on Thursday I shot badly, so now there is confusion once again.
The biggest problem is that you end up in between 2 setups. I tried everything under the sun stance wise, some things work better together than others.
My grip changes but most of the time it is similar to Ronnie O'Sullivan grip. My middle finger is the key finger in the grip. The index finger supports the cue but sometimes is off it.
My shoulder is in a position that can rotate freely it is not cocked up in the air. I’m leaning and I’m squared off to the shot at the start. In a snooker type stance my shoulder and stroking line are on the right of my body.
When I setup like Mika and the rest of the pros with the 2 lines described by luckwouldhaveit the shoulder is still free to move it is not tightly pinned to my body. I’m shooting across my body.
The closer to the rail the more snooker like the stance. Mika and a lot of other pros do that too.
I don’t have all the answer, I’m just searching. It is close and it is there, I have it and feel it but it goes away.
Wolven
My experiences have been very similar (in fact I could have written most of your post myself!).
Working on more than one major change at once is tough (although once you have accepted that there will be ups and downs, and plenty of false dawns, it becomes a lot easier).
The obvious answer is to stick to one thing at a time, but until you are absolutely sure you have worked out what is right for you, this can give sub-optimal results - because different parts of the stroke can be connected, often in subtle ways.
Having said that, if you do want to fix one parameter while working on another, perhaps fixing the grip would be a good canditate. I am not sure if it is the grip that you are using, but I have found that using primarily the second finger and allowing the cue to rock is a very neutral hold and should not contribute to stroke errors. This has the advantage of allowing you to work on other aspects of your fundamentals without back hand effects confusing things.
Of course you can always return to the grip later, although this might not be necessary, particularly if you subscribe to the 'let the cue do the work' school.
If and when you do work on your grip, can I offer one piece of advice: make sure that the forefinger has as little part to play as possible. It is definately the cause of much more harm than good IMO.
If you feel like posting updates, I should be interested to hear how things progress.
