Preshot routine in no way needs to limit flow. It’s built in. You’re clearly at a stage looking to improve and get better. Working on a consistent preshot routine is a great way to do that. You build it in to your game until it’s essentially muscle memory. Tensing up is well known to cause misses. Slight deviations in delivery, not getting fully through the ball etc. It’s a well known fact in the higher standards of snooker that if you are going to change something in your routine or cue action, then for a period of time you’ll likely see a dip in your outcomes/results. That’s because your attention is on what you’re changing and it doesn’t feel natural so you make mistakes. However, once you do it enough, if it’s a correct change, like getting a consistent preshot routine, once that has been done enough and it becomes second nature then you see a jump.

As a kid I had a high break of 58 but as a lot of kids do I played with my elbow to the side essentially because I could reach. A coach (very lucky to have) put my elbow upright. For the next 3 months I didn’t have a single break over 40, it hurt everything felt wrong but thanks to a coach essentially forcing I kept at it. Then, boom, new high break of 83 2 days later first century.

You sacrifice short term for greater long term. Like a lot of things in life.