I had to look the word up as I'd apparently forgotten all about it.

The consistency I speak of is physical. It means that the approach to each shot should be the same.

This DOES NOT mean become a robot. It simply means to have a particular style of shooting and stick with it.

I've never had physical consistency. I always seemed to start emulating the style of whoever (whomever?) I was playing at any given time and I'd usually shoot pretty well with whatever that Style Of The Day happened to be.

If I think back I can probably come up with at least a dozen distinct stances, stroke types, head elevations, and combinations of these, that I've shot with and had pretty good success.

At least for a while, until the next person comes along and I start copying them.

A problem I've had for the last couple of years is that I hardly ever play anyone else. I'm left to my own designs regarding shooting style and so I carom through several styles each week. Or each night. Or each game.

This has got to stop, and I know it.

I've known it for years.

Since I got my 9' double-shimmed Diamond I've known that to have the accuracy I needed I'd need to pick a style and stick with it come hell or high humidity.

I had one for a while, back in 2001 when running racks was as easy as breathing. I cannot describe it now because I lost it when I attempted to bank with it.

That was a long time ago, and I've spent most of the time since then trying to recreate it. At times I've thought I was close, but each time I started to get excited I'd lose it again.

I'm in one of these little hot streaks now. For the last couple of days I've been shooting pretty well. I haven't been running racks but I FEEL better while I'm shooting.

The style I'm using now it what I call TheBeginner.

Pendulum arm movement, forearm perpendicular to the floor, straight follow-through.

In other words, boring.

Alignment is an elusive thing with this style, my head seems too far forward, though it's pretty easy for me to tell when my alignment is off.

If the shot doesn't go in, my alignment was off. If the shot went, then my alignment was most likely correct.

The big improvement won't come until/unless I can learn to check my alignment before the shot.

I used to be able to do that.

I used to be able to do a lot of things though.