Too much control is a bad thing...

I noticed the other day another similarity between using a wooden training sword and a foil. Whilst practicing the side strike it became apparent that trying to control the sword too much leads to an irritating wobble when you complete the action. The idea is that the swing should be smooth and controlled but by trying too hard it upsets the whole thing.
I notice a similar situation when people try to aim their attacks in fencing. Usually the action becomes hurried or cramped and the attack fails, missing by quite a margin. In my experience this is because the very act of 'aiming' causes the muscles to tense and misdirect the hit by swiping the blade rather than delivering it to the target. Then the fencer over-compensates and uses too weak a grip with similarly bad results.
I find that in general if I want to hit a specific area of my opponent, say under his arm or to the flank I just generally concentrate on the feeling of hitting that area, rather than focus specifically on one bit of my opponent's target. Whilst this is not always effective it does give me the right amount of control to achieve the hit more times than not. If you try too hard you probably won't succeed; another fencing paradox!