And one my my main goals was to try and improve my form, based on what I've been reading. Now, the past few times I've gone, I've been doing ok for me...anywhere from 130s-170s. But yesterday, I struggled. Badly. I wasn't really focusing on my score, but I had some difficulty even breaking 100 a few times yesterday. ( ) I was trying to keep my wrist strong and hand relaxed, and the few times I was able to accomplish that, the ball fell off my hand and went directly into the gutter. Most of the time, though, I would start squeezing the ball, and would miss the pocket entirely.


Now, here is what I noticed. When I bowl my usual way, I tend to line up a bit to the left, aim for the 1st-2nd arrow (depending on the lane), the ball rolls straight down the lane until maybe 2/3 of the way down the lane, and breaks to the right and usually hits the pocket. Yesterday, I tried lining up more towards center and aiming for the second arrow, keeping my wrist strong and trying to do the best mechanics I could, and my ball reacted the exact same way...went straight wherever I released it, and then broke....but not into the pocket, usually too far to the right. I've also noticed the rule of "move in the direction of the miss" does not work at all for me. If I miss right, and then move right, I miss further to the right.

How does one achieve a good hook motion, where the ball travels towards the outside after the release, and then back in when it grips the lane?? I seem unable to do this.

I'm going to offer you some suggestions based on what you've just written.

First, don't ever bowl for score when you're practicing. In fact don't even keep score if you can't help but pay attention to it. When you're working on something new, you're going to make bad shots. Expect that. If you're thinking about what your score is, you're not thinking about practice. Now don't come back and say that's what you were doing because the very first thing you told us about, and therefore were thinking about was score.

Second, You can't make a lot of changes at the same time. It's not going to do you any good. On top of that, without someone there to guide you, how do you know you're actually doing things the way you're supposed to be doing them? This is where a coach comes in.

Third - You can't expect to just pick a spot to stand and a spot to throw to and get strikes. You play the lanes according to the oil pattern that's on them. If you can't hit the pocket where you're standing and targeting, then move. The ball is missing right and you moved right? What did you move right? Your feet or your mark? How much did you move them? Making adjustments is as big a part of the game as technique. Depending on the condition, you might not be able to send the ball out and have it hook back.

Lastly - The fastest way to get better is to get a coach that can teach you the fundamentals.

This sight has a lot of information. Its easy to get overwhelmed and enthusiastic at the same time.

You might want to pick up a couple books that teach and illustrate the fundamentals of bowling. Michelle Mullen has a good one and I like Mike Durbin's Gutter Balls to Strikes. At this point you don't knew an over technical book like John Jowdy's. I think his book assumes that you already have the fundamentals down.

Like Lefty said, never practice with score on. And use only one lane. There's no sense in confusing practicing Execution by using two lanes that could be totally different from each other. Plus if you were thinking of practicing lane transition it won't happen with just you bowling like it will in tournaments or league. So getting two lanes for most practice sessions is useless. There are usually ways to avoid the autoscorer. Ask to pay ahead of time and have them put the lane in practice mode. Avoiding score is so important that it will make a huge difference down the road in your league and tournament play. Once you learn to not dwell on score it will free you up for better focus and Execution.

When we refer to moving in the direction of the miss, it means where the ball hits. So lets say you line up, and all you hit is the three pin leaving the bucket or some form of that. First move would be to move your feet right, keeping your target the same. I usually start with three boards if I am missing the head pin on the right. If you move your feet right three boards and leave a split, then back off and move only 2. Every bowler is different and moves that work for me won't necessarily work for you.

When you are trying to do this, if you are also changing your hand position, or your cadence to the line then hitting your mark is going to be difficult. So maybe what you could do is just spend about 6 to 8 shots getting to the pocket and not worrying about Execution. Once you get to the pocket on a fairly regular basis, then work on one physical aspect of your game. Do not move onto another physical aspect until you have the first installed in muscle memory. So that it becomes second nature. Its takes over 1500 good executions (intermingled with the poor) to start establishing muscle memory. So don't expect it to happen in one day.

Erin

First, sorry for the late response...it's been a busy (but fun) Labor Day weekend.

Lefty, I appreciate your points, and I think you hit the nail on the head with the second one. I may well have been trying to do too much. Having just gotten back into bowling, I think I just got over enthusiastic, and decided I needed to change everything about the way I bowl all at once. Obviously, that isn't going to be productive.

As to your third point, I guess I didn't make it clear...I was trying to adjust to the lanes (I usually do), but was still struggling. At the end of my day (last few frames of the last game), I just went back to bowling the way I normally do, and everything clicked...maybe I should leave well enough alone??

Erin, your comment about moving your feet first, and keeping your target the same has turned on (what should have been an obvious) light bulb for me. For years, I've been throwing the ball straight up the outside, and then having it hook in. Basically, wherever my target was, I would line up more or less in front of it, and throw the ball straight to it, lifting my hand up the side of the ball to make it hook. I think this is why the concept of "move in the direction of the miss" never made sense to me. The way I'm visualizing this now, Is I want to line up to the right of my target (I'm a lefty), and throw at my target, sort of on an angle, letting the rotation of the ball grip the lanes and break back towards the pocket. Do I have this right (finally)???

I am a bit concerned about the fit of my thumb in the ball...I can't hold onto it without squeezing. Next time out, I'll check the Pro Shop and see if I can get an insert or something for a more snug fit.

Well think about it for a minute. Your shoulder takes up space, therefore you cannot just aim in front of yourself. You have to allow for your body. Your "key" would be the number of boards from where you put your feet to where you actually are able to release the ball. Your key could be 8-10 or 14 depending on other issues like drift (non-straight path of your feet). Nearly every one has a drift, if its a couple boards that's not a problem. When it gets 5+ boards then you have more margin or error/change. Therefore less chance of repeating the same movement.

You should be walking towards your primary target and your body should be perpendicular to that ball path at release. Most times this is going to be pretty much parallel to the foul line or nearly so. Your bowling shoulder ending up in front of your non bowling shoulder is not good. It means you over close at release, probably also with a good dose of chicken wing (elbow out) too.

By the way did I ever mention that I found a dinner knife in a tuba one time? School horn of course. I guess it beats a rat or something in a sousaphone. I heard that from a repair buddy of mine.

Erin

Ok Erin...I think I'm getting what you're saying...let's see if I follow you.

For example:

Let's say I'm using the second arrow (10th board) as my target. I line my feet up on the 20th board, and I find myself releasing the ball on the 12th board. That would mean my key (as you put it) is 8 boards (line up on 20, release on 12, leaves 8), right???

Now, in this example, if I wanted to adjust to hit my mark (10th) board, I should move to the 18th board, correct??? My shoulders should also be square and parallel to the foul line (or mostly parallel, anyway).



Dinner knife in a tuba, eh?? I seriously hope that happened at the student's home, not at school....

I had a student drop a Master lock in a tuba last year. Luckily I was able to get it out with some twisting and gentle tapping, so I didn't need to have it sent in and have the bottom bow taken off.

That is good if you want to throw straight up the 10th board. As you get better technique you will find that you usually need to swing the ball out a little bit. In your example, 20 would probably be a good starting board - you would stand on 20, release the ball on 12. Let the ball roll out over 2nd arrow (10th board), and it would eventually get out to the 6th or 7th board before making its move back to the pocket.

Since the line you would be playing in the case is not straight up the boards, you would not want to walk straight at the foul line, and you would not want to be parallel with the foul line. In bowling, you always want to walk along your target line, and keep your body in line with that target line.

This thread has been extremely helpful to me. Thanks to everyone for the great responses....I'm learning a lot!

cgeorg...does my current equipment (urethane) have enough hook potential to play a line similar to what you're talking about?? Or should I stick to playing straight up the boards until I get a reactive ball??

Urethanes will usually run into carry issues if you start moving in too far. When I had mine, at the one center I used it at, it started reading the lane right away, so it would come in very flat if you tried to cross boards. If you played straighter, you could create entry angle, but you had to stay firm and stay behind the ball. Increasing speed is probably a better adjustment than moving in too far, but a small belly (like the one described, laydown on 12 to 10 at the arrows) should be ok. The key is adjusting to the oil pattern that is down - you can't play the same shot all the time.

So I went back to practice again today...my league starts next week, and today was my last chance to practice before we start.

Before I bowled I stopped in the Pro Shop. I looked around at the balls they have there, and was happy to see that they carry the Brunswick Avalanche...this was on my short list of balls to get, and I think it's what I'm gonna go with. Hopefully I can pick that up in the middle of next month. While I was there, I asked about tightening up my thumb hole for a better fit. I ended up buying some tape, and after about 6 pieces, I no longer need to squeeze the ball in order to hold it.

What a huge difference that made!!! I still caught myself squeezing out of habit sometimes, but having the ball fit better made it much easier to keep my wrist strong, and keep my hand behind the ball. Even my friend, who I've been bowling with, noticed the difference in my release. Much more consistent, which helped me be at or near the pocket on a consistent basis.

Now, if I could just figure out my 7 pin shooting...