There are on a few things I can think of, and I am approaching this in a different way than has been put into this thread so far. Being involved in competitive and casual pinball, I have noticed some trends. Ball control is a thing for sure, but it is such a throwaway term. There are various factors involved and are like so:
- figuring out how to properly bump a table. It may seem to be obvious but this alone seems to separate casuals from average players.
- insist on playing a table on hard settings, or a table that is not set up properly. Playing a game that is set up hard or incorrectly means that when you play another of the same that is not set up that way, you will do better.
- If the game plays fast then you need to slow it down. You have to remember that these games are designed to make money, not to give you a long playing time. There are some games that are designed to be fast but if you play them at that speed, you will drain faster. There is no shame in slowing a game down.
- Another thing is something I seem to always have done with EM games but recently started somewhat with modern games. That is to just watch how the ball moves when you are not hitting it. There always seems to be a lot of apprehension when playing, you can take a break during a game and just watch it. I'm not sure how to describe this, but I get a different feeling sometimes.
- Apply different approaches to games in vs than when you play by yourself for fun or practice. This is a thing that I do, but it requires that you know how the rules to the game. I notice that a lot of people use the same approach any time they play a game. One example I can give is any game that has a super skill shot vs a normal skill shot with a bonus multipler bonus. When I am playing against someone, I am not actively trying to achieve a wizard mode and I put greater importance on bonus multipliers. It makes a big difference at the end of a ball when you have a good bonus x and the person you are playing never does. Often it seems to make up for whatever is gained by the super skill shot and is a safer choice to make.

There are always people who have a high degree of accuracy in their movements, and I tend to not consider people like this because the amount of them is very small. This is not something that can be learned, which is why I don't consider it.

I do decently well at the local pinball tournaments and I tend to think that it is because I just happen to have a higher average game than others. When we do the monthly league work, where you can play a game any number of times and your high score is all that counts, often I do not get to have the top score. When i am in tournament, my average scores seem to help in that regard.

The most important thing I can think is that, in any case, you need to be comfortable and have a good attitude.