In this photo, I want to knock the cue ball straight into the 7-ball. But my cuestick is on a tangent line outside the shot line. The correct line runs from beneath my chin over the cue ball and through the center of the maroon 7-ball. The stick comes from outside my chin as you can see.
In other words, when I stepped forward, my belt buckle went off to the left, my chin is over the shot, but my all-important cuestick and right hand are off to my right and point to my left (the right of the photo). See the cue pointing subtly off to one side of the true shot line running from straight beneath my chin?
This subtle offset will destroy most pool players' games if left unchecked. From here, the beginner will likely miss the shot or worse, start to develop last a last moment stroke hitch to compensate on every shot.
Next, see how most intermediates and instructional books and videos err as they try to "correct" this error of "head over the shot to start".
