AmpleSound, there are many Coaches here that would not follow the same instruction that your coach has followed. The key to your improvement is how you relate to your coach, your practice and results. If you are satisfied, GOOD.

We don't consider you stubborn. You don't need to defend your training. We actually, enjoy reading about your improvement. Many here would have done it differently. But, that is OK.

We all hope you have great success.

Well thank you Dennis, and I enjoy the ideas I receive from all of you! Hopefully next week I will have some video to show, though it could be as late as the following Monday. My typical lessons with my coach are every other Thursday. He's finally going to get me on video so I can understand fully what my mistakes are, and my positives as well!

I went and bowled a few games last night, mainly focusing on my corner pins. I feel I made some ground, so hopefully it will carry over to league! I also played around with some different lines on the approach, only to have some dead pocket shots. Consistent fortunately, but not good strong carries at the pocket. I've got to work on my fast feet, though I was staying very solid and square with the pins at the foul line. Falling off my shot has been one of my main problems.

A spare system is exactly what all players need. This will improve the player's average. However, if a bowler does not have a ball for lighter conditions and he/she is bowling on them, a different hand position is what they need. If he/she is bowling on lighter conditions with an aggressive ball and standing left to throw right, he/she can easily fall into doing just that, THROWing the ball. As you know, a free, loose armswing is THE key to bowling, if they do not have this, then the bowler's chances are shot, spare system or not. I strongly beleve that any bowler, regardless of skill level, can learn at least two hand positions without destroying thier game. Simply, cupped, and not so cupped. While this will be different for each player, this has worked for every student I have ever coached, and it has never caused a negitive effect or a decline in average. Remember, most people are bowling on a house shot and they can get away with a ton more until they are comfortable with something new. If the bowler can, adding one different hand position increases the bowlers chances when it comes to adjustments. 2 balls + 2 hand positions = 4 different ball reactions, nuff said.

However, in Erin's favor, I do believe too many hand positions for a bowler with less experience IS a bad thing. This is best left for the coach to determine, but a coach should always be carefull to not give the bowler too much too soon.

I pretty much do just the two hand positions Silvercoach refers to. Although it is nice to have several options available to me when certain conditions present themselves. But I overthink everything anyways when I'm struggling so I really don't need anymore things to think about when I'm on the approach at this point in my game. It will only lead to more confususion in my case.
My focus lately has been on a looser arm swing, and proper movements on the lane, and to not think of anything but the shot once I'm set and on the approach.

This should be the first job for the coach. Determine if the ball being used is just totally out of the student's league. But I disagree, you cannot change hand position and work out a condition that does not suit the equipment. Today's game is mostly about matching up balls to the condition. Or I should say, with the wrong ball on the wrong condition its just impossible to improve at the sub 160 level. I'm in favor of being able to move on the lane first, but if the ball being used is just totally out of the realm of the given lane conditions, its just really hard to make anything good happen. Forcing this will cause bad habits to form. From the arsenal posted by Ample I don't believe that to be the case here. Unless of course he is playing on the Sahara desert.

Now its entirely posible that the student is not playing the Track in the house for the house condition. Again, a coach should be able to spot that and at least get the student lined up again.

Erin

Apparently we have different beliefs on this subject, however, it is completely false to say that you cannot change a hand position to use one ball on varying conditions. The pros do this all the time, and that is a proven fact. The best way to play the cheetah pattern for example, use an aggressive ball with less hand and play up the channel. This has been proven over and over again. For a bowler with less experience, giveing them a 6 ball arsenal is the biggest mistake a coach can make short of allowing a bad fit and telling them to throw the ball. Liz Johnson proved 2 weeks ago that a different hand position on a short pattern allows the bowler to have the advantage when they use the same ball as she would have on a heavy oil pattern. She used a special agent with the pin close to the middle of her hand, and had her breakpoint on the 5 board. She took a little hand out of the ball and she killed the competitors, and took home a title. In today's game, having an array of hand positions is the second most important thing a bowler can have physically, the first being a free armswing. I am not condoning teaching too many things to a beginning bowler, that would be a bad thing, however, 2 hand positions is more important than matching a balls to the condition. If the beginning bowler tries to do this, they can get in trouble because of a lack of experience. Instead of drastic moves with the target and feet where the bowler can run into things such as carry down, break down, etc. A bowler should use a combination of moves with the eyes and feet, as well as a different hand position now and then to find the best line possible. There are many different things that Elite bowlers use to find the best path to the pocket, hand positions, loft, ball speed, different balls, balls with different layouts, axis rotation, etc. The most easy to learn with consistancy is a second hand position.

Having been bowling, bowling with other people and watching people of all skill levels learn and grow for 30+ years, I'm still sticking with Erin in saying that it's a *very bad* idea to try and teach lower average bowlers different hand positions.

99% of these bowlers can't repeat with one hand position, let alone 2 or 3. And because they don't have the consistency and they're bowling on house shots that mask a tremendous amount of their inconsistency, they usually can't tell when something is them or the lane. So when they're executing bad shots, they're going to change hand positions instead of focusing on the fundamentals of good Execution.

The big issues for bowlers at this level are not going to be solved by changing hand positions either. On any given house shot the bowler is going to have 3 or more boards room. If they're in this range of averages, they're not hitting those 3 boards regularly at all. And that's if they got lined up right in the first place. You'll also have 3 boards to pick spares, and again, bowlers in this range are generally missing a lot of spares as well. So the big issues will be with executing consistent shots, which changing hand positions will make even more difficult.

I believe that you have to make the game simpler for them, not more complicated. Once you get to certain level of consistency, then it would be more appropriate to introduce more advanced things like changing hand positions, but you're only muddying the waters when people who have lower averages.

If you take your hand out of the ball, you're going to leave the back row. It's a very bad idea to do what you describe. You may want to look at what people have thrown on the Cheetah and won with. Doug Kent won on the Cheetah with a Purple Vibe. Tony Rayes was using a HawgZilla, but it was polished up and had a weak drilling. Liz Johnson doesn't get a lot on the ball, and she was throwing it 20 miles per hour to get it down the lane. She wasn't taking her hand out of the ball or she wouldn't have carried anywhere near as well as she did.

We're also not talking about Liz Johnson bowling on the Cheetah pattern. We're talking about 150-175 average bowlers who are bowling on wide open house conditions. She's one of the best in the world and has been doing this and doing it well for a very long time. Just because a pro can do something doesn't mean that it's a good idea for league bowlers to do.

Norm Duke, Walter Ray, Chris Barnes, and many other players have used and proven that a different hand position does allow a player to play different lines on different conditions with the same ball, that is all I was trying to show, Lefty. You are right, these are Elite players that are the best in the world. The point I was making to Erin was, useing the same ball for different conditions can work, and if the coach feels that the player is athletic enough to learn something as simple as "don't try to make the ball hook", a simple hand position, it can add to what the player can do. For example, if AmpleSound is consistant with his release and armswing, he could be missing 2 things that are effecting his average. 1. a spare system (Erin addressed this) and 2. Not knowing how to line up. For the second, a hand position may be what he needs, and AmpleSound's coach should be the one to make that choice to teach that at the proper time. Remember, they ARE on a house shot, and they can get away with more!

1. Pinkie finger in, index finger open. (For first shot)
2. Index finger in, pinkie finger open. (For right side pins)
3. Both pinkie and index in. (For left side pins)
4. Pinkie finger bent under and in, index finger open. (Long)

Ample Sound specifically mentioned the afore mentioned items. These are not different hand release positions to me. They are different ways to hold a ball. They don't change the timing, the swing, the speed, and would cause minimal disturbance.

If his coach was teaching cupping the ball or coming straight up or changing a 15 degree side rotation to a 30 to a 45 degree for different conditions, I would agree that that would be confusing to this level of bowler. But, he is just moving his fingers, which we all agree would have a beneficial affect without any major realese changes.