Neil suggested to place the cue ball and object ball in a straight line. Hitting the object ball to the rail, having it come back to hit the hit ball. If someone can do that they have perfect alignment, aim and stroke. However I just want to know if they can hit the cue ball in a straight line. So place the cue ball anywhere and aim anywhere and see if you can hit the target. Most probably can at a very high rate. Now apply english and see if you can hit the target. Now add a ball using center english and see if you can hit the target. Now add a ball and apply english and see if you can hit the target.
I don't think it's a bad stroke but maybe improper use of your stroke. Aiming in pool is hard enough playing nothing but center english. Now everyone wants to add swerve, squirt and anything else into the mix but still want to blame their stroke. So you have a 6ft cut shot and need to play sidespin for position. You have calculated for your ivory ferrule,swerve, squirt, cloth speed, humidity and temperature so you need to aim two inches off contact point. Just miss and apparently it was your stroke. Again I say take all balls off the table except the cue ball. Aim for a target and see if you can hit it 100 times using whatever english you want. Now add a ball and see what happens.
I don't think it's a bad stroke but maybe improper use of your stroke. Aiming in pool is hard enough playing nothing but center english. Now everyone wants to add swerve, squirt and anything else into the mix but still want to blame their stroke. So you have a 6ft cut shot and need to play sidespin for position. You have calculated for your ivory ferrule,swerve, squirt, cloth speed, humidity and temperature so you need to aim two inches off contact point. Just miss and apparently it was your stroke. Again I say take all balls off the table except the cue ball. Aim for a target and see if you can hit it 100 times using whatever english you want. Now add a ball and see what happens.