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Update #3:
OK, I had been concentrating on making alignment more repeatable. I had gotten to the point where I could reliably walk up to a shot, line up, get down on it, and shoot it without protracted aim-check-aim-check. As had been pointed out, aim and alignment start (and finish?) while standing up, and then addressing the ball in the stance. Making corrections to the cue path at this point is, er, pointless.
For a while it worked. Then it stopped working. Then it worked again.
Then during the last week, I'd miss *every* *damn* *shot* just a little bit, CB left (OB miss right). WTH?!?!?
So, being the analytical nerd I tend to be, there had to be a root cause. Thinking about it, I realized I had slowly, over the days of my practice sessions, began addressing the CB with my right foot to the right of the shot line. And my left foot even with my right foot, very open, a la snooker player.
My misses were universally consistent. *Just barely* missing CB left.
So, first I closed my stance. I tried this in three-inch increments. I started missing CB right when I got to 3/4 of my left foot in front of my right foot. It was better, but sill would miss left sometimes (most of this experimentation was on a dead-straight shot to gauge my alignment and cueing). So I moved my right foot left in relation to the shot line. I now align my right foot *ever-so-slightly* right of the shot line, so the heel of my right foot is on the shot line, and my left foot 1/2 of my foot in front of my right foot. It's not Mark Wilson's orthodox stance, but it is working for me with my physique, vision center, and physical constraints.
I can say I am so much better off now than three weeks ago. Practice this week leading up to league was very fruitful. Last night I played 9-ball in league against an opponent with the same skill level. Crushed it. Played safeties extremely well, and pocketing was improved dramatically. And this morning I was able to replicate the success (after missing CB left when I first started, I was able to move my feet around again to get lined up; so I also have a way to correct when I things are starting to go south). I know it's a process, but so far, much better.
On the topic of draw: Yes, I was hitting CB too low. I'm limiting how low I go on the CB now, and focusing on deep follow through, relaxing my forearm and importantly, I moved my right hand back on the cue so that if I am dropping my elbow, it's after contact with CB. I'm also focusing on maintaining the cue tip path straight, including even allowing the tip to contact the cloth. And for the first time ever, I'm able to get that "delayed" reaction where the CB stops, is spinning, then rockets backward! (2 to 2.5 diamonds distance between CB and OB)
I can't thank all of you here enough for your input, advice, giving me wonderful food for thought. Thanks for reading long response.