"Tie goes to the runner"

[UmpJM]

MrUmpire.

Gotcha'. Thanks. Interesting.

When I was first properly taught I had virtually no experience.

When I sought his counsel, a mutual acquaintance of ours suggested that would be a good thing, because I would not have ingrained habits to break.

When they explained "angle over distance", it made a lot of sense, though it was "counterintuitive" to me in the sense I'd never thought of it before.

My subsequent experience has only reinforced my conviction that the principle is sound. While I always TRY to achieve the optimum in both, when there is a "compromise" required, I always try to favor angle.

Until MY "boss" suggests he prefers the facade of "closeness" to the superior view of "angle", I'll continue to do so.

On the second point you raise....

When I have "self evaluated", there have been a number of occasions where I feel I may have "compromised" my position on an initial play, which I KNEW was going to happen, in order to put myself in a better position for a subsequent play that MIGHT happen.

One of the "areas for improvement" I'm focused on this year. I think a lot of it has to do with "reading" the play properly, and developing a better feel for the "probabilities" at the level of play I'm working that day.

JM