My game has suddenly gone.

I still haven't changed ball nor grip but am getting the ball to move but I can't adjust to find the pocket consistently.

Subsequently my scores have plummeted and with it my enjoyment of the game.

I'd like to start enjoying it again, so any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

If you want to get the joy back start by having fun and stop taking things way too seriously. That's the only way the joy will come back, and I can personally attest to that myself. Once you lighten up, stop trying to do too much, you'll find the game will come to you instead of you chasing it. It's one of those "addition by subtraction" type of equations.

From my own perspective, once I quit trying so hard to maintain a certain average and just "threw the ball" instead, my average made itself. This past year statistically was my best ever because I made it a point to have fun. You will be amazed that just by laughing at your mistakes and not over-analyzing your game will produce good results. Try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens.

scores = happiness

That's a tough idea to live up to. And until you learn to accept and be confident in your own personal level of this game it can be a torture trap.

But there's a few things you have to accept and be honest with yourself.

No professional lessons/coaching = lower scores
No to little practicing = lower scores
One league a week in a handicap no pressure league = lower scores
Not keeping all your equipment in A 1 condition = lower scores

So lets say you are doing all the above, there's still things that keep you down, like pressure you put on youself to score or keep up with some imagined goal. Again, goals have to be realistic. Big overhauls in your game, will also cause your "score" to go down. You can also be practicing poorly inadequately, in enforcing bad habits.

This is a very score oriented game. Most time, nearly all times, your enjoyment is in direct relation to how well you bowl. Don't bowl well and enjoyment lessens. Now everyone is going to bowl badly from time to time. If it gets to be a SLUMP (more then a few months), then I suggest a coach to get you out of it. SLUMPS don't often cure themselves unless you have the previous experience to turn them around. Like Brian said, quit trying so hard. But I think many may not have the ability to bring themselves out of a SLUMP in this manner. So a coach is needed. A coach will boost your confidence, and help you work on your game, giving you a direction. You have to get pro active to work out of this. Just waiting for it to happen (waiting for the odds to turn) will probably not work.

Erin

Coaching or video of your self might help you. Sometimes we dont realise were doing something different cause we cant see it or feel it. That may help you get you out of your slump.

Also what Brian talk about also will help you get the joy back. Dont take the game too seriously when we start treating the game more like a job or something we have to do we start not having fun. Dont take it too seriously go in there dont worry about score so much and remember to have fun. Bowling suppose to be fun.

Both Erin and Brandon bring up excellent points. Not all people have the ability to "self-coach" themselves out of a slump. In fact, I believe it's a pretty rare trait, but I do think that experience helps in that department. Certainly I have brought myself out of just about all of my slumps because I created my own game, but if I had a good coach at my ready, those slumps wouldn't have been as long as they were. And, as I said before, the most recent slump-buster of mine and "game adjustment" was due to a lot of hard work on my part but a lot of good feedback and a much needed "shot of honesty" from people on this board.

I think it depends on how you learned to bowl. Were you self-taught (like myself)? Did you have a "passive coach", i.e., a coach who gave you the tools and corrected you only if needed it (like how I coach)? Or did you have an "active coach", one who critiqued every ball and tried to make you do it his/her way?

But, as Erin also said, scores = happiness which also breeds confidence, too. Take practice time to just roll the ball forgetting about score to get your feel and confidence back. Once you begin to regain your confidence, you'll find your scores coming back and your happiness coming back as well.

Sometimes you have to just fight through slumps and try your best to just accept it and know better times will be ahead. I followed up a stretch of 8 weeks that was my best bowling overall during that time with 2 new low series.

Just try to enjoy yourself, relax, maybe even just laugh about it a little. I know we all have those tmes where we just cannot get anything going and you just have to kind of wait it out and try to have fun until you break the slump.

I used to move in and out of slumps because I was so focused on my score. I also stopped working on the basics, when my scores were to my satisfaction, which invited a slump.

After years of bowling, I am finally focusing on my mental game, along with regular practice on the basics. As Brian refers to: Keep it simply simple (or how ever you want to say it), keeps all the drama and EGO out of the picture. And, keep your game in the moment, not on why you didn't execute the prior frame or what you need to do in the future.

I am thankful I have a good ball driller and instructor, who knows how to listen to how I descibe my bowling issues, where he can offer timely suggestions to keep me focused on basics.

If I bowl a 150 game or a 250 game, there is no difference between the two, except for how I preceive that difference. We all know there are times where we execute our shot and make goods shots, but don't get the carry we expect (or think we deserve). And, at times we carry everything and get a score we don't deserve. It's all a matter of perspective.

If you are in a slump and aren't having fun...just remember it's only temporary and will pass, as everthing does.

I read in bowling Execution by John Jowdy that dont practice when your in a slump unless you take a video or have a coach with you because your practicing your bad habit or what you are doing wrong over and over so you remember it, which you dont want to do. When your bowling great go ahead in practice because your are reinforcing your good habits and correct form.

Slumps come and go, as do high scores. I have run of slumps usually after a good bowling. I think it was mainly mental cause i put some added pressure on my self to try to live up to those scores week to week. Instead of just go there and make quality shots and not worry about scores, like i did when i made the high scores. All we can do at this time is try to have fun because it will pass.