CoachJim, excellent response to Cal. At my last lesson, my coach worked on exactly what you described and reading your description reinforces & clarifies what I got out of that session. Those techniques have helped me tremendously in 2 areas; it's corrected my slightly early timing and improved my pushaway, and got my armswing to remain more in-line with my targeting accuracy. I'm also working on incorporating a crossover step on my first step and all these little details are making a positive difference in my play. I applied these techniques last night in league play and had one of my best scratch series.

OK, where is the post by yeehayashi. The recent posts says he posted, yet it is not here.

Bet, if I add this post, both will appear.

Aha, it worked.

Dennis it seems to do this when it goes to a new page, I know it has happened to me several times when a new page started.


Way to go Yeehayashi, I'm glad I was able to help. Did your coach integrate the cross over step into your approach, or did you already do this.

Infernocal could benefit from taking a cross over step on his first step, but I would like to see how fixing his push away and swing affects his foot work before adding any more movements.

CoachJ: my coach initiated the change to add the crossover step. Felt like I was a reject from Dancing with the Stars for awhile, but I am finally getting the hang of it. I still need to work on getting more in line with my left foot, but it is coming along. I am also holding my pushaway until my first step is making contact with the approach now. Again, I was pretty awkward for about 20 minutes, but once I was able to duplicate the timing correctly, I found that my early timing issue was being fixed. I also realized that I am getting much more leverage at the line when I release the ball and an added benefit more ball speed and higher rev rate. I had been rolling the ball at between 15 to 16 mph before and I'm now getting between 16 to 18 mph. It amazes me that I am getting these benefits with less physical effort. Thanks again for all your insightful info & advice.

I think you have isolated the case correctly.

Spares !!!

I almost always net 5-7 strikes a game, unfortunately I'm leaving 2-3 open frames a game. I really need to learn one of the popular systems and practice it so that I am filling every frame.

Here is my spare system:
I am a big advocate of throwing straight at all of your spares.

To learn to throw the ball straight, stand on the 7 board with your left foot (right handed), aim at the two board at the arrows and try to throw the ball straight up the gutter and pick off the 10 pin. This exercise will help teach you to stay behind the ball and throw a straight ball.

My spare system uses the middle arrow for all but a few spares. Start by lining up to pick the 10 pin out of the rack using a straight shot across the middle arrow, take note of where your feet are. Keep trying until you can pick the 10 pin out of a full rack of pins when ever you want. Like I said pay attention to where your feet are, as this is where all of your other spares are based on.

The pins line up with the arrows, 10 pin is on 5, 6 is on 10, 3 and 9 are on 15, the 1 and 5 are on 20, the 2 and 8 are on 25, the 4 is on 30 and the 7 is on 35.

There is a two at the pins to one at the arrows ratio, so if you move your feet one board to the right and aim at the same target, the ball will finish 2 to the left. Lets say you lined up to pick the 10 out of the rack and you were standing on 35 and going across 20 at the arrows, to hit the 9 pin you move your feet 5 boards to your right and stand on 30, the 8 pin you would stand on 25 and the 7 you would stand on 20. You will have to experiment as everyone's body is different, some move 6 boards between pins others move 7, I move 7 to start with from 37 for my 10 to 30 for my 9 then 25 for my 8 and 20 for my 7.

The 4,5,and 6 pins are half way between the 10 and 9, 9 and 8, 8 and 7.

The only thing I shoot different is washout splits (1,2,4, and 10) and buckets (2,4,5,and 8) I shoot them standing 33 and going straight up 25.

If you are having a problem with the left side spares it usually means your shoulders are not square to the 7 or what ever spare you are shooting. It also probably means you are walking and lining up straight with the boards instead of square to your target.

I can visualize what you are saying, and it makes sense. Like many things its easier in person to actually explain since a short demonstration does wonders. Its also another matter to actually perform it correctly. This summer is going to be a long one on the lanes, good thing I wasn't going to do any competition bowling.

Yes, I try to throw straight on most of my spares as well. I also try to use the middle arrow as a pivot/target point.

Today I tried to get the ball to roll end over end using tips from and article in the latest Bowling This Month - "Improving your ability to throw straight on spares" .. I wasn't able to get the ball to roll perfectly end over end so I am going to assume that I had some positive axis rotation.

I'm going to try to learn how to throw a straight ball at my spares just in case I even need it. As well as, work on reading and adjusting to the lane conditions as they start to change and break down. Additionally, I'm going to try to get a constant approach, release and follow through. Lastly, try to win a little bit of money to get a pearl particle ball for my arsenal.