It is important to be able to have an exact center line stroke and hit on the cue ball. If any fundamental is off, you can be hitting the cue ball to the side as much as 3/4 of a cue tip off the center line. That is almost guaranteed to miss all but the simplest of shots.
How can you verify that you are hitting an exact vertical center line cue ball hit. There are two simple exercises to identify if you are and what changes are necessary:
On the foot spot, place a striped ball. Align the stripe so that it is vertical. Line up your stroke and aim it at the center diamond at the other end of the table. Hit the ball at medium speed. If you hit it perfectly, the ball will roll down the table with no wobble of the stripe. If you were off even a little bit, you will see the stripe wobble.
You can see the amount you are off line by how much the stripe wobbles. Practice this at different speeds. If you are hitting the striped ball on the side, and you swear you got the stroke right, your head and dominant eye are not directly over your cue stick. Try shifting your head to one side or the other until you get a perfect result. This is the new position for your head on all future shots.
On the long rail, adjust your stance so that the stick is lined up over the line where the cushion cloth meets the rail. When you look down, your stick should cover up the line. Start stroking back and forth. Keep looking down as the stick is moving. If your stroke is correctly lined, you should not see the line while the stick is moving back and forth. If you see it momentarily during the movement, you are not truly going back and forth. If this is the case, start with slow deliberate strokes. As you gain confidence, increase the speed slightly.
Alternate your efforts between these two exercises, 20 shots with the stripped ball, then 25 slow strokes over the line. As you master one speed for both, slightly increase the speed for the next set.
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