alright, please give me as much feedback as you can without cutting me down please. I am still very very new to bowling and will take any and all the advice I can get. I am sorry for the clarity of this video.

I know one of my biggest problem is lofting the ball, also my release... I just can't seem to make it where the thumb pops out and the figers lift it up for revs..

please help guys.. i will get a better video with my camera.. this is with a phone..

thanks guys..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnKer_Nuh5g

ttt please.

Here's one thing that you need to work on, and it might help everything else - push your ball out on the first step. You have a 4-step approach, yet you use a 3-step armswing. What you're running into is you're having to speed up your armswing to catch up with your steps, and when you start altering the natural approach timing with muscle instead of being fluid, you end up squeezing the ball. Also, when you hold the ball before you take your approach, hold it like you're holding an egg or tomato. The ball should rest in your palm. Your mind will squeeze the ball throughout your approach.

It will feel funny at first, but work on that much. You can do it at home. Stand like you're holding a ball, and when you step with that right foot, push out your arms (push out straight, not up or down). Repeat it until you feel comfortable. Then move on two two steps - push out with the first step and then bring your arm down where it's nearly perpendicular with the floor on the second step. Get comfortable with that and move on to 3 steps - out with the first step, perpendicular with the second step, and near shoulder high with the third step. After that's comfortable, complete the delivery with your armswing perpendicular to the floor on the fourth step. Use your camera to watch the motion at home and take it to the lanes and translate your "dry runs" with your live shots.

Good luck!

What I would start with is your approach. I only watched about 4 shots and what stood out is the following

1) You run to the line.
2) Your timing is very late
3) You really muscle the ball because you run to the line and your timing is late.

You should walk to the line the way you walk normally. Don't run. And since you take a 4 step approach, the ball should start moving with your first step. Your timing is late because your feet are way to fast and you don't move the ball until the second step.

Your armswing shouldn't be as muscled as it is either. You look like you're forcing the ball back and forcing it down the lane. I can tell that because your upper body looks like it's fighting what you're doing with your arm. Bowling is more of a finess game. You need to not only be balanced at the line, but not fight your balance. It's similar to golf in that way. Ripping the club back and ripping it forward doesn't make the ball go anywhere. In bowling, running to the line and trying to use your shoulder and arm to generate a reaction doesn't help either. And it's almost impossible to be accurate by doing that as well.

Look at this video that Satyuros posted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXWHvD4uuv8

Notice how his feet are slower and his arm swings fairly naturally. Yes, he gets a lot on the ball, but that isn't from running to the line or flinging the ball around.

That said, I would highly recomend getting a coach if you want to improve. I think you (or anyone) would benifit from the immediate feedback of someone telling you when you got something right, and if you didn't, how to change what you did in order to get it right.

Hope that helps.

I noticed that you have 2 different armswings. They are different on your first and second balls. When your lift leaves your hand in front of your head, the ball goes left. When your lift arm is out to the side, your ball is on the right side.
It seems like you are forcing the ball, especially on the first shot, and pulling the arm left.
You also did it on the 6-10.
Your best lift was on the 1-3 spare.
And, shorten your steps. Don't run.

Thanks so much guys for the feedback and advice. it means a lot i need all the help i can get since i can't afford a 100/hour coach.

I might have 2 arm swings because the black window is a bit heavier than what i'm used to... i'm used to my 12lb powergroove.

Your approach is almost the same as mine was a few months back. I slowed waaaay down and the results have been incredible. It will take a bit of practice to get used to it but it will be worth it.

Well, here's a good thing. You have pretty good balance. Better then the majority of bowlers out there. So keep that up. YOu've got one shot where you have your trail leg down and to the left. The shot when you are on the left lane. That's more correct then having your trail leg in the air and to the left. So if you have to pick one, keep your trail leg down and to the left.

Another good point. You are nice and square to the line. You do not twist your body or feet in your finish position. So keep that up too.

Couple more suggestions. YOu need a push away as someone else had suggested. In order to free up your arm swing you need to start the ball from a less muscled position. By starting with the ball extended like that you are already using too much muscle holding it up there. Start with the ball closer to your body in line with your right shoulder and support as much ball weight as possible with your non bowling hand. Then in exactly the same time you make your first step, move the ball. Pretend there is a string from the ball to the tip of your shoe. And that string has to be straight and perpendicular to the floor.

YOu could also slow your feet down a bit for optimum balance.

Keep it simple at first. Don't add too much. Try just a couple things, develope that pushaway by holding the ball in a less muscled manner and #2, slow your feet down.

In a couple weeks, start letting your backswing go as high as it wants instead of controlling it. Let gravity take it up (your pushaway will get it there) and gravity bring it down.

Erin

I just wanted to reply to whoever it was that mentioned about moving the ball out at the same time as your first step in a 4 step approach. Whoever that was, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I have tried it and it has helped a lot. It feels much more natural now than before and waiting until my third step to move the ball as was suggested by my girlfriends dad. Oh well, guess he DOESN'T know everything as he would have us believe. lol. I love this site and it's been a big help already. Soon I will have my own video for you all to "pick apart".

I would start by going with one ball weight if financially possible. I would use the 15 pound ball. 12 is probably too light for you. You look like you can handle the 15 pounder. The turning the 4 step delivery into a 3 step delivery has already been covered. The failure to use a pushaway has already been covered. The timing has already been covered. The muscling has already been covered.

I'm going to combine a couple of them to show you how you end up muscling the ball. You failure to push the ball away is keeping you from using a full pendulum armswing. You start by muscling the ball from the beginning. If you kept the ball closer to your body and pushed the ball away during your first step, you would initiate the pendulum armswing. As you push the ball away, let the ball fall freely into the backswing and allow the ball to swing as high as it wants to go. You seem to be hindering your backswing a lot. That hinderance is making you try to guide the ball and that makes you miss your target a lot. You shouldn't need to guide the ball. If you push the ball toward your target, you walk toward your target and you let the ball swing freely, you will hit your target every time. When you try to guide it or try to help the ball get down the lane quicker, you miss your target. We as bowlers will then come across our body and miss left, or chicken wing as it is called. Often we try to create more hook. Not necessary. Very little movement creates all the hook that is necessary to take out the 5 pin.

It was already noted that you shouldn't run to the line. You should proceed at a normal walking pace. You don't run everywhere you go I assume? lol. According to John Jowdy. your first step should be a normal step followed by a normal second step. Your power step, the third, should be a small step in front of the second step and your slide step should be longer and toward your target.

It has been noted that you have good balance. I will second that notion.

Work on coordinating your steps and delivery and work on freeing up your armswing. And ditch the 12 pound ball.