What constitutes a good Stroke?

[Williebetmore]

You have to pay your dues. Sure, it would be nice to find the perfect instructor and get the best fundamentals before you start your journey to pool excellence but the odds of that are slim. And, you will have to hit those thousands of balls before you reach a level of competence that resembles any type of expert level anyway.

Rick,
Sorry, you snuck that last post in while I was commenting on your message to the Captain. I totally agree with the dues paying idea. My problem was, I was paying the dues, and seeing no rewards until someone showed me the way (in dramatically less time) - it wasn't really as frustrating as it sounds, because I didn't have a true idea of how far below the professional players I really was. Once I was exposed to the top level players I was FLABBERGASTED at how much precision is required to play at that level. I felt totally bummed out that I had wasted all those years on all sorts of fruitless stroke experiments that never panned out. If I had spent all those years practicing with a good stroke, I'd be giving Efren the 7 by now (oh well, probably not).

You are very lucky in being able to develop your skill without instruction, and as I said before, I think many of the great players developed it mainly on their own. Though I am no world-beater, I am getting tremendous enjoyment from playing at a much higher level, and if other bangers could get to this level, I think they would enjoy it too.