Hello all. My name is Craig and I am a new member. I've just recently began to take my bowling more seriously... I'm hoping to join a league or two next season. I've been lurking around here over the past few weeks as well as other sites and I've learned a bunch already.

Some background:

When I was much younger I bowled in junior leagues for many years. I gave bowling up for a while and I went for fun in High School/College. During those years I used an older ball that didn't fit my hand correctly resulting in numerous blisters. I did some experimenting and I bowled thumbless for a long time. I'd say my thumbless style was a half-baked two-handed cupped style but it worked well for me at the time. I dedided that if I wanted to bowl better/more consistenly I needed a ball to fit me and to bowl in the more traditional style. I picked up a 14lb. Hammer Anger as I didn't want to move up too much as my previous ball was a 12 pounder. The ball fits well but I'm still working with the thumb hole for a perfect fit. I do a 4 step approach, stand with right foot usually around 15-18 and try to aim around 10-13.

Over the weekend I decided to record myself so I can see what others see. Boy this was a shocker. I look worse than I thought and I can see that I have many things to work out.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_8j0EbH0CE

What I think I'm seeing wrong:

- It looks like I'm still fighting myself to get used to the more traditional stle of throwing the ball. I lose quite a bit of them to the right and attribute this to breaking away from my old thumbless style. I think only time and concentrated practice will cure this accuracy issue.

- It looks like I'm dipping my right shoulder during the swing which causes me to drop the ball onto the surface way too early... it looks like I'm placing the ball down on some occasions around the heel. Off and on over my past few practice sessions I kept trying different things to increase my rev rate and I think this is why. I'm not lifting my fingers through the ball.

- My walking pace seems to be a bit faster than others' videos that I've watched. But then again I have a faster pace than others in other sports (golf).

- My wrist seems to break down some during the swing. I'm still making a concious effort to fix this.

- I need to work more on my balance as on some throws I was off kilter some.

What I think I'm doing OK at:

- I seem to walk pretty straight

- I seem to maintain a straight arm

- I seem to complete my follow through

- I seem to have a mostly free swing. I have noticed that I muscle it sometimes but I am making a concious effort on this front as well.

Any and all critisicm/tips are welcomed.

Thanks in advance for your time!

Craig

Alright, I'm not an expert by any stretch, but here's what I've noticed. First thing was that it seems like you rush to the line, your feet are beating your arm then you're left trying to catch your arm up. Then the chicken wing, which is letting your arm swing after release. I see you have a bad time with spares, and if I had to guess, its because you change both where you stand and your target. I change my stance and shoot for the same target all the time and it works for me. You do drop your shoulder, but its not nearly as bad as mine so I can't say too much about that. Overall doesn't look to bad.

I agree that you're running to the line. I'd also add that you're also trying to "throw" the ball down the lane instead of just letting your arm swing. You really should not be trying to forcefully "throw" the ball. The weight of the ball and gravity will generate enough ball speed. You don't need to help it.

Because you're trying to throw it, your body is also twisting at the line to compensate for it. It's also causing you to top the ball instead of stay behind it more. Your hand is spinning over the top of the ball instead of being behind the ball to push it down the lane. You don't have to try and hook the ball. Less is more.

First of all Craig, welcome to the site! There is plenty to be learned from a lot of people on this forum.

I noticed a lot of irregular movement with your balance (left) arm. This will certainly impede your finish. My coach has me keep my balance arm out towards the left where you can just see it with your peripheral vision. Also you want to turn your hand on your balance arm so your thumb is pointing towards the ground.

Another thing you want to do is try and shorten your steps a bit. In order to find a good starting position you need to go up to the foul line, turn your back to the pins and do a normal walk (4 steps) back towards the ball return. It wouldn't hurt to simulate your normal approach so you can get the slide in there as well. This will keep you from taking to big of a step, especially right before you go into your slide. The ideal 4 step approach is a short first step, regular second step, short third step (power step) and then slide.

I'm certainly no expert but I've learned a ton over the last 9 months or so.

id say your main problems are balance, muscling, and definatly walking very fast.

remember that a great deal of your ball speed is done with your legs not your armswing.

The thing that I noticed most in your delivery was the inconsistency of your armswing. One moment you look like you know what you are doing with the ball passing close to your ankle and the next frame the plane of your armswing is way out to the right.

Thanks for the help guys! I went to practice last night and the first thing I did was step off from the foul line to my new starting position; it was almost 2.5 foot lengths shorter. From the look of things I was stretching a 4-step approach into what should be my 5-step walking distance which was attributing to me "running" to the line. I now feel as though I am walking slower and more under control. I tried doing a 5-step approach and it feels way to wierd as I've been doing 4-steps for so long. I think after I get my major issues worked out I may try 5-step again.

The next thing I was working on was trying to keep good posture at my release point and this helped considerably with my ball prematurely landing before the lane. It seems as though my ball makes it 1-2 feet through the lane before it lands onto the surface. I could tell that is was landing smoother as there was an apparent "silence" when I rolled it. When I had bad posture the ball landed too early and was louder. I'm hoping that maintaing good posture will assist with my varying swing plane/accuracy issue.

I think after a couple more practice sessions I'll make an updated video of my progress to date.

If anyone else has any more ideas/tips in addition to what's already been stated feel free to add those to the ever expanding list.

Thanks for your help thusfar!

Craig

Good to see that we were of some assistance, Craig! Hope it all goes well for ya, keep up the practice.