Flim,
I also wanted to thank you for the tape suggestions. I spent a long time with a death grip on the ball, so it has been a real change for me to go from the pitched thumb holes to 0-0. I bought in on the set-thumb approach. I believe this is something Chris Barnes does. I read an article on it in Bowling This Month. Anyway, that has helped me feel more confident in getting the ball clean off my hand while having the thumb hole more snug than I've ever kept it in my entire bowling career.

According to Mo's article you posted, it seems that a bowler should not lock the elbow out until sometime after the ball has traversed behind the body. Am I reading this correctly? It looks one should barely push the ball forward at all. It has been a while, but this reminds me of Tommy Jones' swing. I remember him getting the ball down pretty quickly in his push-off. I also remember, I think it was Patrick Allen, having a similar push-off to mine, where he locks his elbow out in front of him before the ball starts descending. I'll give Mo's push-off technique a shot to see if I cannot achieve better balance and direction through my approach. Thanks again.

What you describe here, causes you to bend at the waist. By pushing the ball out early like that, your body is playing catch up, the rest of the way through your release. It's a slight timing issue, but not too drastic. Also, as the ball is coming down on the back swing, your shoulder is dipping. (probably due to the bend at the waist) Concentrate on keeping the shoulder steady, throughout your approach and you'll stop bending at the waist.

Another side note to the waist bending. It can also cause you to come up at the line, meaning, as you follow through, your upper body lifts up right at your release point. This will generally cause you to miss your mark to the right, as well as hamper your ball speed and more than likely alter your hand position a little too. It sounds worse than it actually is, but it's one of those "little things" that most don't notice, when they know they're doing something wrong.

You seem to have everything else in line. Just work on bending more at the knees, than the waist. And keeping the shoulder level throughout your approach will help accomplish that. Watch the finals on a Sunday, when Randy Pedersen uses the tele-prompter to highlight a bowlers stance, through their complete approach and you'll notice the shoulder staying level. Most players any way. Here's a good example of what I'm talking about, by who else? Stormin' Norman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OXQwW1K1A4

Practice, practice, practice. It's all about repetition.

The double dribble is caused by the bowler releasing the ball downward instead of outward. The best way to solve this problem is to get your butt down at the foul line.

As has already been suggested, not bending forward at the waiste so much will change your launch angle, unless you bend your right knee as your back swing reaches it's apex, you will loft the ball by releasing it from too high.

Keep your back straight (don't worry you will bend it, but it will not feel like it), and bend your right knee and lower your hips into your slide, this will help you release the ball from a lower straighter angle onto the lane.

Hey all,
Just wanted to let you know that I worked on both Mo Pinel's push-off technique, and keeping my shoulders back more so I'm not tipped over forward so much. You guys weren't kidding that I was losing leverage. I carried all but 4 pocket hits and rolled a 733 series. You guys are awesome! If you were here, I'd do a dance for ya. I'm looking forward to league next Monday so I can keep working on these two aspects of my game.

Thanks a bunch,
Bob

Bob, I kind of agree with Flim on this, such a big first step.
Generally the steps start shorter and get longer building up momentum. You look like your marching to the foul line.
By the way, didn't you take some lessons from Michelle Mullen a while back. Maybe you could go back and get some of your glitches
worked out with her. I have read her articles and find her instruction to be the best for me. I also know from past posts that you are no slouch when it comes to scoring.
I am also on the same page as Mo Pinel and his theories. If
I could just do what I know.
Every game is a learning experience
Dianne

The Mo Pinel pushaway is similar to Chris Barnes pushaway. He uses a hinge type of pushaway. It is all just semantics. There are quite a few others who don't do this hinge pushaway and have racked up many titles. So one is wrong and the other isn't right. Pete Weber has an angled straight pushaway and he is very accurate. Walter Ray has a straight pushaway and he is the most accurate bowler on tour.

Erin, I re-read Jowdy's book quite often. One thing I've come accross is a mention of his version of a perfect pushaway. He claims that a pushaway should be longer than your first step. He thinks the first step should be short and you should push the ball away like your pushing the ball over a bar. This will encourage a pendulum armswing he pushes so much. When I tried it, it threw off my timing. What do you think of Jowdy's theory?

To comment on the big first step, I believe the shorter push-away has eliminated this negative aspect of my game, and forced me to shorten my first step.

Regarding John Jowdy's recommended push-away, this is the push-away I was taught and have striven to implement. I believe I was partly successful, as you should see me pushing the ball out and up in my delivery. I believe my problem comes from me pushing the ball out so far and taking the exaggeratedly long first step. The problem with using the hinge system is that I'm not exactly sure on how to modify it to change my ball speed. With Jowdy's approach, I can simply hold the ball higher in my stance. Would the same work for a hinged push-off? I wonder. That's something for me to test.

Regardless, it certainly feels different.. but I think the biggest boost was shortening my first step so that I generate more foot speed and therefore ball speed on my last 2 steps. I implemented the short "power step" when I was in high school a dozen years ago, but shortening my first step seems to have created an even stronger second-to-last power-step for me, giving me a slightly longer slide and creating a greater "flat-spot" for me to deliver the ball. Anything that makes it easier for me to get out of the ball cleanly over and over is a "good thing," in my book.

As far as going to going to see Michelle Mullen again, I am planning on doing just that in the upcoming months. Since I am in Chicago, it takes some planning on my part to get airfare and a rental car to get me from the airport to the bowling center in Detroit. Also, money doesn't grow on trees.

I think that once I get the last of these little issues taken care of in my approach, I may attempt to enter a tournament or two to see how I stack up to the local competition and to find out what else I have to work on. Of course I'd love to stay behind the ball longer in my release, but wouldn't everyone, with the exception of maybe Bill O'Neil?

The "sliding hinge" thing may or may not work for you. With that type of push away, there's some pulling involved to get the ball up in to the back swing; no doubt about it. If I want to generate more speed, I'll do it primarily with my feet. If I want a little more, I'll give the ball a little shove at the bottom. If I'm throwing at a 7-10, I'll throw my back swing high in to the air and really give it a fling at the release.

As Smooth alluded to, there is nothing "wrong" with either type of push away; it's just a matter of what works for you. Guys like Patrick Allen push the ball way out there before they let it drop into their swing. Then you have guys like Chris Barnes who slowly put the ball in motion, pulling it into their back swing.

It's not necessarily the push-away itself that's throwing you off, but what you do with your body when you do push it out that far. As you've noted, you have a tendency to take a big first step in an effort to "catch up" with the ball. But it's possible that it may be as simple as leaning forward too soon. You seem to lean forward with your push away. Try to delay that tilt a bit until the ball is well on its way down, like just before it reaches the bottom. There's nothing wrong with tilt (I would say that it's even preferable), but if you do it too soon, it could be throwing you off balance, and you might be taking that larger step in order to compensate for it.

I've been working on my pushaway/dropaway also and taking shorter steps since reading I got Jowdy's book, Bowling Execution. I've attempted to duplicate the over/under pushaway and armswing. It has paid dividends for me in regards to creating a free armswing (see post regarding 3rd place scratch tournament finish), and better timing.

I've been solid at the line, hitting my target with ease and following through the ball (also using Jowdy's long and low technique). Being a tall guy (6'3"), I changed my pushaway to start the ball just a little before my 3rd step (I use a 6-step with the first two as timing) and shortened the length of my first two steps.

I can't tell you that my game has gone to unchartered waters since the purchase of Jowdy's book and Dean Hinitz's, Focused for Bowling. I will be singing the praises of these two for a time to come. Meanwhile, I'll be entering every tournament that my wife and kids will allow me to enter...LOL.

Just a quick update to let you guys know that I'm still delivering the ball into the lane more than I would like to, instead of out and onto the lane. I did shoot 693 last night, even with that problem, though. It is difficult work for me thinking about both keeping that push-away step shorter while not tipping forward early, and still remember to not squeeze the heck out of the ball. As the night progresses, I have this tendency to bring on the death-grip and lose revs off my release. It is a mental block and I'm sure that getting into better shape would help as well. I'm hoping that with some more practice, I can get back to delivering the ball like I did in high school, which was so smooth, that you could barely hear the ball touch-down onto the lane. We'll see what I can do on my own the next month or two before I go and see Michelle. I'll keep you posted.