Hey all,

Here are three new videos of me from my last night at league. The last video I posted was only a side view. What follows are some views from behind and from an angle. One issue that plagues me is the double-dribble. This is when the ball bounces on the lane at release, instead of gliding onto it, and is one area in which I need help as it can happen once or twice every league night and I'm not exactly sure why it is happening. Anyways, onto the videos:

Behind view, double-dribble

45 degree angle view

25 degree angle

I am always looking to improve my game and my scoring potential, and you guys are always so astute at finding small issues in a swing or release. Thanks for looking and for the critique.

Everything looks great. What I did see is that your pushaway kind of pulls you along and causes you to start bending at the waist not only early but too much. You have good knee bend but your head is too far ahead of it at the release point due to the bent waist. This loses leverage at the release point.

Erin

I agree with Erin. You also seem to drop the ball at the line. When your ball was drilled, did they measure your span with the wrist guard on? That adds space in your hand which could cause problems holding on to the ball. Other than that, you look pretty good.

Was that Palos Lanes I saw? That is where I bowl on Wednesdays.

Erin,
Thanks. What is the best way to rectify this habit? Do I not push out as hard and make an effort to not bend at my waist as much?

General Pounder,
Yes! It happens a few shots a night where the ball comes out early. My ball was drilled with my wrist guard on. I used to be a big-time squeezer, but over the past two years, I have gone from both a lot of lateral and back pitch to 0 and 0. I'm now religious about getting tape in my ball if the thumb is at all loose, but every once in a while I get out of the ball early and I get the double-dribble. It is the one thing in my game that annoys me most, that I cannot consistently glide the ball onto the lane. And yes, it is Palos Lanes. I bowl there Monday and Thursday nights.

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

One way to keep the pushway from pulling you along is to make sure you do not uncurl your hand as you pushaway. Keep our wrist firm. Also your pushaway should be about as long as your first step (4 step approach) if its longer then its leading you. So you can keep your shoulders back a bit that will help and possibly make your pushaway faster and shorter. As for the waist thing, lower from the hips, chin over sliding knee at the finish.

Erin

Erins suggestion of being more upright at the line can help with getting the ball out on the lane as well. When you lean over that much, it really causes you to direct the ball into the lane instead of out on to the lane.

I'd work on your upper body position first and then see if there's still something to fix as far as getting the ball out on to the lane.

Erin & Lefty,
Thank you so much. I will practice keeping my upper body more upright on my approach and at my release over the next few weeks and let you know how it goes. I really appreciate you both taking the time to watch the videos and comment.

It's actually rather hard to tell just how far forward you're leaning from that 45 degree view, because your side lean exaggerates what we see from that perspective. If you could get a direct side view at the line, that would be ideal. Until you can see yourself from that angle, I don't know if I'd try to change anything.

Most of the guys on tour lean quite a bit. "Nose behind the toes!" was always the mantra until the modern pros came along and changed everything. Take a look at Jason Couch, for example
(Click here). Advance the video frame-by-frame using the arrow keys (I love Quicktime; I sure wish Strikepass used it). While he is an extreme example, is anyone willing to claim that he's losing leverage at the foul line? And he's not the only one. Most pros deliver the ball with their nose in line with, or past their sliding toe.

Ditto on the ball-dropping thing. Try more tape. If you were a squeezer, it's going to take more tape than you think (I used to be one as well). Add tape until the ball feels like it's hanging up a bit, then leave it there. Throw a few more, and just try to relax your thumb as much as possible. And don't just add tape in the front and back, either. Stick your thumb in the ball, and look down the hole for gaps, then fill them. Cut strips of tape into thinner pieces if you need to. The hole doesn't need to be especially tight if the gaps are filled properly. When I release, I feel a slight tug at the base of my thumb. Not so much as to throw off my swing, but enough to let me know that I have a good fit.

All in all, I thought your approach looked great; very smooth and effortless. The only thing that jumped out at me had already been mentioned; the push-away. Mo Pinel promotes what he calls a "sliding hinge" type of push-away that he describes in this article. It helps you maintain balance and orientation. What I do is that I keep my balance arm hand on the ball until it begins to decend. That keeps me from pushing it out too far, and promotes the "half circle" motion that he talks about in the article.

Flim,
Thanks for the critique. If you want to see a pretty accurate view of my body position from the side at my release, take a look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIcUdxHkfKk

What you will see is that my nose is slightly ahead of my knee, maybe by about 4 inches at the point of release, where upon I continue my upper body momentum a few more inches after I've delivered the ball onto the lane due to my slide foot stopping its slide.

Of course, this side view video is me practicing an altered timing, so it isn't exactly a 1-to-1 comparison. I was working on getting my swing directly in time with my feet, for those times when I need slightly less ball speed. My normal swing gets the ball into motion a little early, getting my feet moving a bit faster so that I have a little more speed. The slower ball speed here really helped me to deal with a high oil volume pattern I saw a few times last year, though.

Anyway, I am going to read the article you posted here and see if I can't incorporate Mo's push-away suggestions so that I'm not over-pushing the ball. Thanks a lot!

Ah yes, I see. That is getting a bit out there.


Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. It looks like you might have a little too much momentum early on, and not enough at the finish, so the slide foot stops well before the rest of you is ready to. Your first couple of steps are very long in that one. That doesn't appear to be the case on your other videos, however.