I won't say what I bowled last week except it was embarassing. I suspected what I was doing wrong and hope to correct it starting tonight. I had been missing my target to the right because I had my elbow too far forward on my hip. As a result my armswing was going around my leg and ending up behind my back.

Thanks and to answer a probable answer since I been reading and experimenting when to adjust would be also watching the pins if you are throwing the ball well. I used the pins as a reference when I bowled the 700 on Wednesday.

If you ask me.. this whole break point, reading the lanes and everything is too much information for one to think and understand. Yes, there is a break point but its not there all the time. Yes, you can see the lanes are changing but you should be watching if someone or many are playing within your line to see if the ball they are using is going to change your shot or not. So there is too much information to gather for one to think but if you're like me.. just go out there and just do the best you can do.

The more you bowl and the less you think the better you are off. Learn all this information stuff during practice and try to work on it as you practice but when you're ready to bowl.. either leave it behind and go or use it and go.

I hope this was helpful.

That depends on the level a bowler is at.


If your ball hooks, it has a breakpoint. It may not be in the same place as the ideal breakpoint for that pattern, but it's still a breakpoint.



Yes, you should be watching what other people are doing, but you can only see its effect on your ball by watching *your* ball. Learning to watch the transition from skid to hook to roll takes a long time - that does not mean it isn't a worthwhile thing to learn. A free armswing is hard to learn, but I wouldn't tell anyone not to.


This may be true for some, and it is certainly true when you're on the approach. But there are very few people that can get to an Elite level without thinking between shots. Those that do have a natural ability to process the information they are seeing in their subconscious - the "feel" bowlers. However, they are still processing the same information everyone else is; they are simply doing it in a different way. For the 99% of us that don't have that gift, we have to analyze the last shot and figure out what, if anything, we need to do on the next shot.

Are these things applicable to everyone? Not really - if it is a struggle for a person to hit the pocket, they probably shouldn't be adjusting for carry. But eventually a bowler will hit a wall, and at that point they need to add lane reading and turning that into an adjustment to advance further.

For the most part I corrected my armswing problem tonight - 645.

Bowled pot games on Sunday, bowling on the scorpion pattern for 4 games shooting 206, 202, 212, 196 and of course didn't win a game since I used a ball not drilled for PBA patterns.

Applied what I did Sunday to the house shot on my Monday night league, with the same ball, shooting 174, 255, 246. The first game was a bit rough cause, like a dummy, I attempted playing the same line on the house shot, as I did on the scorpion. After moving about 5 boards, it was easy hitting the pocket on the house shot.

Luckily I will get to bowl pot games on the PBA patterns every Sunday, since going to school on those patterns makes a big difference when bowling on the house shot.

I must be missing something here. We're supposed to drill balls for patterns now?? We don't adjust anymore?? Do you guys know in advance what oil pattern you're going to find on the lanes?

I knew that, drilling wise, you can have a setup to roll early or to get more length, but a drilling for each pattern??

I apologize for not supplying all the details for Jock When I bowled on Sunday, it was originally for practice only, with a ball drilled for length, since I bowl on a 9:00PM league with dry lanes. So, because I only intended to practice with this specific bowling ball, the only other ball I had was my plastic ball. When I arrived at the lanes, I was invited to bowl pot games on the scorpion pattern. I understood I needed to make major adjustments to get the ball to work on this pattern due to the larger volume of oil on the lanes, versus the normal house shot. Based on the scores I shot, I am happy with the way I bowled and I only lost each games by less than 10 pins.

But, I was at a disadvantage using a ball drilled for dry lanes on a PBA pattern, when everyone else used balls with more aggressive drilling.

So, I hope this provides the needed 'set the stage' for my original post.

On Friday I threw a 590. 4 opens in the last 5 frames of the third game really hurt me. I don't know what it is but I can't seem to pick up the 2,4,5. I had 5 of those on Friday that I missed and 3 more that I picked up.

On the upside, I believe that I found a decent fix to my fit until I get my fit fixed. Also it was the second time that week that I bowled league and finished with a higher series than my anchor bowler.

If you left 8 2-4-5's, you probably need to move right.

I was having some balance, drifting, being too low at the line (if that's possible) and ball speed issues. Having a relatively good fit is very new to me as is the freer swing that accompanies it. I'm still trying to get the ins and outs of both while at the same time break old habits.

And I don't know if it was 8 2-4-5s. It might've been less but it sure felt like that was a majority of the spares I was shooting at and missing. I don't have the score sheet on me so I can't say for sure, but right now the 2-5 or the 2-4-5 seem to be my bane when it comes to spare shooting. I either hit the 5 and leave the other two or hit the 2-4 and leave the 5. Quite annoying really, but I'll figure it out. I got a little help from one of my friends so I'll have to give his advice whirl and see what happens.