[dwedeking]

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I know in other fields I'm active in that I sometimes question if my knowledge of theory can actually get in the way.
I make music and do programming and in both those areas I feel that although knowledge of theory probably is all in all good it does have it's drawbacks.
With music, knowing what notes fit together from studies and experience many times feels like it makes me not think of possibilities I would have tried out as a complete beginner.
With programming it can make my code unnecessarily complex and take a lot of time to implement design patterns inststead of quickly being able to manifest ideas.

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I think with any activity that requires skill you go through the period where raw talent provides a level of success. Then as you start studying the academics of that activity. it negatively affects the outcome (you've changed from doing the activity from feel to conciously thinking about your actions which slows them down and allows for over-analysis). Then once you clear the academic stage (book learning)you again start achieving success as the skills you've learned become more second-nature. The book learning actually causes you to excel that this stage because you now start thinking outside the box again, except this time you understand why it's outside the box thinking and what makes it work.

You'll see this more readily in a physical activity such as football where a coach finds a kid with raw talent. They almost always go through a rough period when they first start structured training.