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The following article is the beginning of a new section of our tips and technique news section here at BowlerCentral.com. We will publish a different article each month for reading and will maintain an archive as well. Ron has also offered to come out and conduct a 3-day clinic in our region. Those who are interested in attending email me at marc@bowlercentral.com and I will send along the details. Ron has been a student of the game of bowling for 35 years. |
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Posted on Thurs, Sept 6, 2007 “Pulling” the ball, also known as “tugging” is one of the most common errors in bowling. A pulled ball always goes inside the intended target line. It often produces some nasty splits. In fact, the phrase “pulling the ball” is sometimes a misnomer; the ball actually pulls you. Since there are so many reasons for pulled shots, I have divided this article into a two part series. Part one deals with cases where you were bowling well and suddenly began pulling the ball. Next month, part two will deal with a chronic case of pulling the ball. If one day, you are bowling well and then suddenly realize that you are pulling the ball, something has changed. Now, before you accuse me of pointing out the obvious, consider this. If the change were obvious you could fix the problem yourself. I will tell you right now that the most common example I have found for the “sudden tugs” is early timing. Early timing happens when the ball reaches the release point slightly sooner than normal. It’s the “cause” of the early timing that must be found. The causes of early timing are far from the obvious when they arrive in the middle of a game. You can’t feel the change because it is so subtle. I will go through the most common causes: Shortened Swing Cycle: “Swing Cycle” is a term that I made up to describe the amount of time it takes your ball to go from first motion (push away) to release. A “Shortened Swing Cycle” is when the ball takes less time to complete the swing. Since the swing cycle is shorter, the ball arrives at the release point too soon…early timing. This shorter amount of time can come from too much or too little muscle as I will explain in the next few topics. Holding The Ball Back: You are holding the ball back when you don’t allow it to fall freely after the push-away. This is extremely common when a bowler is feeling a lot of pressure to throw a good shot. Sometimes when we are under pressure our armswings tighten up because we want to be very precise and accurate. This makes us want to control the armswing and again shortens the swing cycle and we get…early timing. Long first step: The length first step sometimes starts growing and that will give you early timing. This is especially true of 5 step bowlers. Lazy Push Away: When your push away gets lazy, your arm will not go out as far and the ball will take a shortcut to the bottom of the swing. This, in turn, will lower the backswing slightly so the ball can make the whole trip in less time than normal. This shortens the swing cycle so…early timing. Cutting off the backswing: This occurs when we don’t allow the ball to reach the full height of the backswing. We get in a hurry to throw the ball. This shortens the swing cycle so you get….early timing. Make sure you wait for the ball to reach its full height in the backswing and start down before you add any “juice” of your own. Bending the Elbow: If you tend to bend your elbow between the top of the backswing and the release, you may be prone to early timing; especially if you throw the ball harder. Sometimes “elbow benders” will bend their elbows just a little more than normal and they literally shorten the length of their arm. If you don’t believe me just measure the length of your arm using a yard stick and then bend at the elbow and measure again. The more you bend your elbow, the shorter the swing cycle, thus…early timing. Forcing The Ball: If you force the ball more than normal without making any timing adjustments, then you shorten your swing cycle…early timing. This is not a steadfast rule because forcing the ball can make some people actually throw the ball outside their intended target. This gets complicated and involves Newton’s Third Law of Motion. “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” I am not going to go into physics because that would take up too much space. So, if you are pulling the ball just try not to force it as much and see if it helps. Those are some of the early timing tugs that few people know about. I will now list a few other reasons for pulling the ball. The Grip: If the ball starts ever so slightly sticking on your thumb, then you will start to tug it. If you start squeezing the ball more than normal, you will get the same result. Swing Angle: Your swing angle refers to the type of swing you have and the angle the ball comes off of your hand at the end of the swing. Just about everyone has a different swing and swings are very complicated. I will go into swings more in part two of “Pulling the Ball” but in the mean time, just try pushing the ball away in different directions and see what happens. Aiming at your target: This may sound crazy, but if you try too hard to hit your target, you will tend to pull the ball inside the target. This is simply because your vision is centered on your body, but your ball is not. For example, if you stand in the middle of the approach and point at the head pin with your index finger, the tip of that finger will be nearly in line with your nose. You’re ball, on the other hand is in line with your shoulder, not your nose. Some people have an eye dominance problem that makes matters worse. For example, a person may be left eye dominant and right handed. This makes a bowler more likely to pull the ball. So look at your target, but don’t aim at it too hard. Just have faith you will hit it. I hope this information will help you cure the sudden tugs when you get them. Of the 10 things listed, you will most likely only do 2 or 3 of them. Always check these 2 or 3 things first when you get those sudden tugs. They will solve your pulling problem 90% of the time. |
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Posted on Sat, Aug 4, 2007 In last month’s article “A Smooth Landing part 1”, I wrote about the importance of a smooth landing for today’s high tech bowling balls. If you missed that article you can find it on my website at bowl4fun.com. Just to review a little, I feel that in most cases it’s best to lay the ball down smooth and early. Laying the ball down smoothly will keep the ball from having an under / over reaction. An under / over reaction means some balls will hook a lot and others will seem to skid too much before they hook, causing you to think the lane is spotty.
Having the ball leave your hand early (by your slide toe) helps to prevent numerous problems including an under / over reaction by the ball. If you have a late release because you hit up on the ball, (also known as lift) you will impart different amounts of revs on the ball with each shot. Hitting up on the ball often causes it to be launched in the air before it comes in contact with the lane. It causes the ball to “bang” into the lane upon landing. This impact takes some “stuff” off of the ball and it’s a different amount each time. This results in…you guessed it, an under / over reaction.
How to make a smooth landing
In part one of the articles I wrote about using my Multifunctional Optimal Positioner (MOP) to help you create a smooth landing. In part two I want to concentrate on the armswing.
If you try, you can actually change the shape of your armswing to make it easier to land your ball smoothly. The idea is to make your swing have a flat spot at the bottom. Think of your armswing as a big semicircle starting at the top of your backswing and ending at the release point. Now imagine that semicircle with a short, flat spot on the bottom that runs parallel to the approach for a few inches. Kind of like a flat tire on your car.
In the photos you can see a white line and a black line. The white line shows the natural path of your armswing if you don’t create a flat spot at the bottom. If your ball follows the path of the white line, you may have the previously mentioned problems. If you make your ball follow the path of the black line your ball will land on the lane smoothly resulting in a more predictable ball reaction. One key to obtaining this flat spot in your swing is to make yourself follow-through along the black line in the pictures toward the pins instead of up toward the ceiling as we have been instructed to do for years. This does not mean to cut your follow-through off abruptly but just don’t jerk up with it as the ball leaves the hand.
What about the exceptions Before I get bombarded with emails saying…”what about those two pros I see on TV lofting the ball 15 feet down the lane”? Those two pros are Mika Koivuniemi from Finland and Walter Ray Williams Jr. from Florida. I have said in just about every article I have written that there are exceptions to every rule. These two bowlers are exceptions without a doubt. Mika has spent most of his competitive life bowling in countries where the term “lane maintenance” does not translate. The heads on some of these lanes have cracks in them big enough to lose a Volkswagen. These lane conditions rewarded bowlers that could throw the ball hard and straight and Mika certainly does that.
Walter Ray Williams Jr. also throws the ball fairly straight most of the time and well deserves his tour nickname: “Dead Eye”. If you throw the ball with very little axis rotation (side spin) like Walter Ray and Mika, then laying the ball down smoothly becomes much less important and having pin point accuracy is a must. Walter Ray, however, does sometimes hook the ball quite a bit when the lane condition demands it and I think he would do much better if he would learn to lay the ball down smoothly when he has to hook it. He is the best bowler in the world right now so I am not going to be the one to tell him. Special thanks to Andy Scott (photos) for being my guinea pig on a weekly basis. |
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Posted on Sat, July 7, 2007 Today’s bowling balls are kind of like airline passengers; they like to make a smooth landing. Those of us that learned to bowl way back in the 1960s and 70s were told to throw the ball way out on the lane and to “lift” up on the ball at the release. The coaches of the day would lay a towel on the lane 2 feet past the foul line and ask us to heave the ball over it. This would require a late release taking place on the upswing and a tightly squeezed grip. This type of loft and late release will result in an under / over reaction from today’s high tech bowling balls. These high tech spheres need to skid to the break point, grab the lane and head toward the pocket. When the ball is released from a high altitude it crashes into the lane like a dumb bomb with much of its forward momentum and revs going into the lane instead of down the lane. This is a waste of valuable energy that is lost on the lane surface instead of on the pins. The “lift” (today’s term: “hitting up”) on the ball late in the swing will produce an inconsistent rev rate. This will not matter very much on wide open league shots but will make a huge difference on the flatter oil patterns of MegaBuck tournaments, PBA events and Sport Leagues. More and more tournaments are starting to switch to flatter oil patterns to hold scores down. Lower scores tend to produce more entries. Bowlers don’t like to enter if they know they must average 240 to get a check. Another problem with a ball released late in the swing on an upward trajectory is a magnification of any mistakes made in timing or in the swing path. This can cause an imperfect shot to become much worse. So what’s the best way for today’s balls? There are exceptions to every rule, but I believe that today’s balls should be released early, smooth and parallel to the lane surface. The majority of the best bowlers today release the ball within a foot of the foul line. The ball is off the thumb by the ankle of the slide foot and the fingers are usually out by the toe of the slide foot. The ball lands on the lane with hardly a sound and is often totally silent. This type of release can only be accomplished with a proper fit and a relaxed grip on the ball. I have a high tech device that I use to help me train bowlers to learn the proper ball trajectory off of the hand. I call this device a Multifunctional Optimal Positioner or mop for short. Luckily for you, just about every bowling center has one in the closet. So if you wish try my training technique, just ask the bowling center for the mop. Just don’t be surprised if they ask you what you spilled.
Another training aid you will need to go along with your mop is a chair. Place the chair in the gutter of your lane and the lane next door like in the photo. Let the stick hang over your lane a little past the foul line. Push the chair far enough away that you will not hit the stick with your follow-through. The idea is to throw the ball under the stick. It may take a few shots to develop some trust in yourself. Usually the first shot will be laid down a foot before the foul line. This is a natural over reaction to being afraid to hit the stick. Did I tell you about the Dynamite connected to the stick? Oh, never mind. Your goal is to lay the ball down smoothly, so you can hardy hear it hit the lane. Your ears are a good training tool to bring with you for this exercise.
Notice in the “Before” photo the ball is flying through the air before it hits the lane. But after a little work with the mop, the “After” shot shows a smooth delivery parallel to the lane surface.
There are a few more tricks to help you learn the “smooth landing” release and I will reveal them next month in part 2. In the mean time grab your MOPS and chairs and start practicing. You will be amazed how much this will improve your game. Special thanks to Andy Scott (photos) for being my guinea pig on a weekly basis. |
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Posted on Sat, June 2, 2007 However, the new bowler does have one advantage. When the lanes are dry and the better players are climbing on top the ball return, the "new" bowlers with their weak releases shoot the highest scores of their lives. They can’t believe how much room they have and how well their ball is carrying. Once the new bowler learns to throw the ball better and his average climbs to a respectable level he ends up in the same boat as the experienced guys when the lanes dry out. Eventually, the "new" bowler is climbing on top of the ball return trying to get deep enough to keep his ball on the right side of the head pin. Now I will be the first to admit that if you have the skill, getting in front of the ball return and hooking the whole lane is often the best scoring line when the heads give up most of their oil to today’s sponge balls. Not everyone knows how to get in front of the ball return so I want to offer some other things to try. What happened to that new bowler that was perfectly happy when the lanes dried out? The dry lane condition that gave him the best scores a year ago is now his worst enemy! Well, he got educated. When he was a beginner, his rev rate was very low because his thumb hole was too big. This caused him to squeeze the ball for a late release. His thumb and fingers exited the ball at nearly the same time. Chances are his wrist was bent back which robbed him of the revs he needed to hook the ball. All of these "bad" habits made him a pretty good dry lane bowler. The beginner bowler may not have had the skills to repeat shots or be very accurate, but the dry lane was never a problem for him. So now that we are all great bowlers, "legends in our own minds", how should we attack dry lanes? It’s hard to go back to being a dummy after you have been educated but are many avenues we can take from here. This article is more about how to attack dry lanes with your physical game than the options presented by different balls, polishes and drillings. There seems to be no shortage of information on bowling balls and how to drill them, especially if you have access to the Internet. Thus, I will stick to sharing information that is less known and harder to find. The first task at hand is to determine just how dry the lanes are. There are many different degrees of dryness. If the lanes are just hooking 5 to 10 boards more than normal, then in many cases the only thing you should do is just get deeper and allow the ball to hook. A lot of bowlers make the mistake of trying to cut down on the hook as soon as the ball hooks a tad more than normal. I say let it hook! Just throw your normal ball speed, release, and let the ball hook. You will most likely have area (room for error) and decent carry. Try to get deep enough that the "high" shots just barely make it back to the pocket. As the lane gets dryer, continue getting deeper until you reach your limit or the ball’s limit. If you have trouble hitting your target when you get too deep, then read the article "getting deeper" on my website for some help. When the lane dries to a point where you just don’t have any more room to move or your ball stops hooking due to too much friction, it’s time to try something different. I guess it must be said that by this time you should be throwing one of your lesser hooking balls. If getting in front of the ball return is not an option for you, then you must hook the ball less. Remember that every board the ball hooks is your own doing. Balls don’t hook on their own; not even today’s high tech "hook-in-a-box" balls. First let’s look at why balls hook in the first place. Bowling balls hook because we as bowlers apply an axis of rotation at an angle to its direction of travel along with a few revs (RPMs). I will go into more detail of these wonders of physics in a future article but for now it will suffice to say that we put a side spin and revs on the ball. That is why it hooks. The amount of side spin and revs work hand and hand to determine how much the ball hooks at a given ball speed. The amount of side spin must be somewhere between zero and 90 degrees. The rev rate has the most to do with how much the ball hooks. For example, if you increase your rev rate, the ball will hook more. If you decrease your rev rate, the ball will hook less for a given speed and axis rotation. Most bowlers that I have observed try to throw the ball harder to keep it from hooking so much. The problem is, without realizing it, they increase their rev rate as well as the speed. This makes the ball end up hooking just as much. If you want the ball to hook less in the heads but still have some hook for the back end for good carry potential, you must reduce your rev rate. The less you rev the ball, the more it will skid. That’s why new bowlers can bowl so well on dry lanes. They have very weak releases with low rev rates. So how do you reduce your rev rate? You simply bend your wrist back a little. I call this "opening the wrist" By opening your wrist, you move your fingers closer to the top of the ball at the release. This gives your fingers less leverage and time to rev the ball. Opening your wrist even a little makes a pretty big difference in your rev rate and your ball’s hook potential. You can try using your normal release only with an open wrist. This will give you a lower rev rate and, for some people, add more axis tilt. If you find that using your normal release with an open wrist the ball still burns up or rolls out too much, then you will need to move your fingers to the side of the ball. (see Photo 1)
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Posted on Thur, May 3, 2007 In bowling we have as many “don’t dos” as “do dos”. In a lot of cases it’s harder to “not” do something than it is “to” do something. As a bowling coach, I spend as much time teaching bowlers “not” to do something as I do trying to get them “to” do something. There are several “don’t dos” that seem perfectly natural “to do”. The two most common ones are gripping the ball tightly and forcing the armswing. In all other sports that involve throwing a ball we “grip it and rip it”. The only problem is that those other sports don’t use 16 pound balls. When you “grip and rip” a heavy bowling ball, bad things can happen. Things like a poor, unrepeatable release, inconsistent armswing timing, poor body-to-ball interaction, under-over ball reaction and less accuracy. A bowling ball is very heavy compared to a softball. When you push against a heavy object, it pushes back. Actually, all objects push back, but the heavier the object, the more it pushes back or resists movement. Don’t believe me? Try pushing a shopping cart through a store. Then put a 50 pound kid in there. You will feel the difference. We as bowlers don’t feel the ball pushing back when we force it because we are used to it and we expect it. I will spend hours trying to teach a bowler what it feels like not to force a ball. Once bowlers feel this for first time, they can feel when they force the ball. Why don’t we have to force it? A bowling ball that reaches a backswing peak of head high or higher at the end of a free-flowing arm will have plenty of ball speed for most conditions. It’s as simple as that. When do we force the ball? Most bowlers start forcing the ball from the top of the backswing down; but often bowlers will get in a hurry and start forcing the ball back forward, even before it reaches the top of the backswing. This has ruined many great players’ games. Bowling under pressure can often cause us to force the ball even if we normally don’t. Even if you are a successful bowler that has forced the ball your entire life, you can still often find yourself forcing the ball more than normal and it will kill your game. This often occurs after a player has bowled on dry lanes for a long period of time. Forcing the ball more than normal will cause you to have the same symptoms as early timing. Your release will become weaker and you will often tend to “pull” the ball inside your target. You can exhibit perfect “next to last step timing” and still have early timing by the time you deliver the ball. The reason is that the forced ball will simply outrun your feet. A bowler that starts forcing the ball before it reaches the top of the backswing can really get into trouble. This act of impatience causes really early timing. The ball starts back forward before it even reaches the full height of the backswing, so it doesn’t travel as far in the swing and easily outruns the feet.
How do we stop forcing the ball? The first step is to “wait” on the ball. Try to feel the ball reach the top of the backswing and start to come down on its own. You can picture a kid in a swing. You can push a kid in a swing really high, but you don’t have to run behind him and pull him down again. The kid in the swing will come down on his own thanks to gravity. Your bowling ball is the same way. No matter how high your backswing is, the ball will come back down on its own and at a rate of 32 feet per second squared for those into physics. If you have a pretty straight armswing, the ball will actually come to a brief stop at the very top before it starts back down again. If you have more of a loop-style backswing, your ball will never come to a dead stop, but you can still feel it reach the peak if you pay attention. Learning to feel this brief pause at the top of your swing is very critical, even if you are always going to be a bowler that forces the ball down. In fact, when I teach bowlers how to throw the ball hard to overcome excessively dry lanes I teach them to gradually accelerate the ball after it starts falling on its own. It’s easier to accelerate the ball with less adverse effects on your body position if you wait until gravity gets the ball started first. To learn more about how to throw the ball faster and slower look up those articles in the archive on my website. The second step to learning not to force the ball is to ride the roller coaster. If you think about what it is like to ride a roller coaster over a big hill you will start to get an idea what I am talking about. If the hill is big enough you feel like you are leaving your stomach at the top of the hill. One thing you don’t have to do is get out and push the coaster down the hill, you simply ride it down. Your hand should feel the same way. The ball is the roller coaster and your hand is the rider. If you really pay attention and you don’t force the ball down you will actually feel what it is like to ride the ball down.
Bowlers that bend their elbow can often produce more power but they can easily force the ball too much causing early timing. Often when these bowlers force the ball too much they bend the elbow even more in the process. This will really shorten the swing cycle and cause major timing problems.
Most of the best bowlers in the world do force the ball at least a little, but the majority of not-so-great bowlers force the ball way too much. You will never know the difference if you don’t learn how to not force it at all.
Be sure to check out my live bowlers’ chat room each night after 11 PM Eastern Time. I am in there most nights so stop in and say hi. All you have to do is click on the Lets talk button in the front page. Bowl great! |
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Posted on Thur, Apr 5, 2007 FALLING OFF THE SHOT Bowlers often have problems getting stable at the foul line. It’s not unusual to see bowlers fall off to one side or pop up at the point of delivery. I am not saying that every great bowler in the world is stable at the foul line but by far most are. It’s hard to be consistent if you are falling over as you release the ball.I believe if bowlers have a good solid finishing position, they are affected less by small mistakes made on the way to the foul line….especially small timing errors. Solid finishers can also cope better with less than ideal approaches that are too tacky or slick. Having a good knee bend to lower your center of gravity is of benefit here as well. So how do we develop a good finishing position? The next step is to shift your weight from the back foot (trail leg) to your left foot, (sliding foot) bending your knee in the process. After that, move your trail leg over so it’s a few inches left of your slide foot. If your slide foot hits the right spot, you should be able to lift your trail leg off of the floor and be able to balance on just that one foot. If you can balance there for a few seconds then you have found a position for your slide foot under your body’s center of gravity.. You will also find that if you bend your knee deeply you will lower your center of gravity and that will make it easier to stay balanced. Keep the toe of your slide foot pointed straight ahead or better yet turn your heel in a little. Turning the heel of your slide foot in will make you even more stable. Try to align your nose, knee, and toes so they form a straight line. You have to keep your weight centered in the center of your slide foot. If you let your nose get ahead of your toes, then you will transfer too much weight to the front part of your shoe and you will tend to stick. Likewise, if you lean back and place more weight on the heel of your slide foot your heel will dig in and you will stick. Finding this center position for your slide foot is very critical to being stable at the foul line. When you are making your approach you must STEP IN as you go into your slide in order for your foot to get back to this center position. You must practice this in order to get it right every time. The number one reason most people fall off their shot is that they don’t step in as they go into the slide. If your slide just follows the normal path you will end up just off center and you will fall over as you deliver that ball.
In the next group of pictures Andy will do it the right way.
For even more leverage and stability turn the heel in a little
Turning the TOE in is a common cause of falling off the shot.
The next reason for falling off the shot is allowing the toes of your slide foot to turn in. For example, if you are right handed and playing a down and end shot but the toes of your slide foot are pointing at the right gutter, your foot is turned in. This is a very unstable position and you will tend to fall over and sometimes hop as you deliver the ball. It is far better to keep your toes pointed straight ahead or turn your heel in. Turning your heel in is not only more stable but will give you more leverage. Going back to our example, the toes of your slide foot would be pointing more toward the 7 pin when you complete your slide.
Another reason people fall off the shot is early timing. If your timing is too early, (meaning the ball is getting to the foul line too soon in relation to your foot work) you may tend to pop up or fall over at the foul line. Early timing will also cause you to throw weak balls with little rotation. “Pulling” the ball inside your target is one symptom of early timing. Early timing
This covers most of the reasons why bowlers have a hard time being stable at the foul line. Getting it right takes some practice but it’s worth it in the end. |
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Posted on Sun, Mar 4, 2007 Can you get deeper? Not deep into debt, that’s way too easy. I mean moving deeper on the lane and crossing more boards…a lot more boards. Bowlers that make the effort to get better at the sport of bowling eventually learn the technique of a stronger release. This allows them to hook the ball more boards than before. Today’s high tech balls also help bowlers cover more boards. The more you hook the ball, the “deeper” you have to get with your feet. For a right handed bowler getting “deeper” means moving your feet left but keeping your breakpoint to the right. For example, if you placed your left foot on the 35 board and threw a line that had the ball crossing the 3rd arrow and hit the 7th board at the breakpoint 40 feet down the lane and back to the pocket. A lot of bowlers start struggling when they move their feet more than 3 or 4 boards deeper than their normal down-and-in line. When they have to get deeper than that, they start missing their target to the inside. Here is a typical scenario: The lanes are on the dry side today so you are forced to leave the comfort of your second arrow and head for the third arrow. You make your first shot and the ball glides over the third arrow just as planned but the dry lanes force the ball to hook more than usual and the ball crosses over to the other side of the head pin. You move your feet “deeper” to the left by 5 boards and throw your next shot. You miss the 3rd arrow to the inside by 2 boards and the ball still crosses over. You move your feet deeper still by 2 boards and try again. This time you miss your target to the inside by 4 boards and the ball crosses over again. Why is it that the more you move your feet left the more you miss your target to the inside? The biggest reason is that you are not facing the right direction. The more boards you move your feet to the left of your target, the more you need to turn your toes to the right so you will be facing your breakpoint. You need to point your toes to face your breakpoint (or even further right) not only in your stance but at the foul line too. The lane and its’ long parallel lines often play tricks with your eyes and your head and this is one of those times. Even if you start out facing the right direction the lane gets into your head and you will often start to square yourself with the foul line as you make your approach. Those two long gutters that outline the lane seem to turn in toward the head pin. This is an illusion. The gutters are actually the same distance apart the full length of the lane. This “illusion” tends to turn the bowler toward the head pin as he or she approaches the foul line. So how do you combat this? The best way is to literally face the pins on the NEXT lane in your stance, instead of trying to face your breakpoint as you should. If you are right handed and bowling on lane 10, then in your stance try facing the head pin on lane 11. Make sure your toes are facing the pins on lane 11 and not just your head and shoulders. This exaggerates the angle you should be facing but it will work out about right by the time you get to the foul line. This will feel really strange at first but you will get used to it. If you find that when you face far right you tend to miss your breakpoint too far to the right, then that is a good sign. All you have to do is back off on the angle a little until you get it right. Using the head pin on the next lane is just a starting point and each person will have to find what angle works best for them. It can also help if you use your imagination a little. Just imagine the lane you are bowling on was laid in at an angle to all the others. The 10 pin is actually the left gutter of your lane and you are just playing the down-and-in line you are comfortable with.
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Posted on Sun, Feb 11, 2007 The fall/winter leagues have wrapped up and we find ourselves looking at summer again. Summer is the time for "real" bowlers. That’s because "real" bowlers bowl year round, not just when the weather is bad. If you are going to be bowling this summer, why not work on your game. Summer is the perfect time to see if we can make some improvements. Open lanes to practice on are easier to find just about any time of the day. Most summer leagues are not as serious, so if your average slips a little as you learn new things it's no big deal. The summer league average does not even go into the average book. The first thing you should do is ask yourself a few questions. The number one question is, “Where do you want your game to take you?” This will be very different for every bowler. Some bowlers may just want to raise their average. Some may want to be high average in their league or the whole center. Some bowlers may want to try some tournaments for the first time or even bowl in PBA or PWBA events. Bowlers that already bowl tournaments need to examine what they need to learn to start winning or to get more checks. If your goal is to raise your league average and you average less than 170 then you most likely need to work on your basic game. First, have your pro shop check the fit of your ball. It is very hard to make good shots with an ill-fitting ball. If your ball fits properly, then work on developing a free arm swing and walking to the line in a manner similar to the way you normally walk. Most sub-170 average bowlers tend to “throw” the ball. This is normal because we learn to “throw” other balls in other sports. In bowling, however, it is far better to just give the ball a good push from about waist high and let it swing freely from the shoulder as we walk beside it on the way to the foul line. Another common problem I see is that bowlers are taking too many steps before they try to move the ball. As bowlers get better, a good coach can fine tune their timing to fit their arm and leg length, but it’s best for most sub-170 average bowlers to adopt a textbook type of timing. This means while using a free armswing, the ball should drop into the swing at about the same time you take your first step in a 4 step approach.
Bowlers in the 170-190 range may need to work on spares the most in order to raise the old book average next year. Bowlers in this average range are starting to throw more strikes. There is nothing more fun than throwing strikes, so that is what gets practiced the most. Often they need to be working on making more spares. Each spare missed costs the bowler 10 pins. So if you are in this average range and you are missing more than 2 easy spares in a 3 game set, then you need to work on your spares. Spares are often taken for granted because they seem simple. If they are so simple why do we miss them? I suggest learning how to throw your strike ball straight or use a plastic ball for shooting at spares. This will take the lane condition out of the game. Stop hooking the ball at opposite side spares. If you are right handed for example, and you are hooking the lane to make the 7 pin, then stop it now! If you have any hopes of traveling around and bowling tournaments one day, you will die if you are hooking the ball at your left side spares. That’s because on some lane conditions, the ball will hook a bunch and on others hardly at all. On some lane conditions, it may do both.
A good tournament bowler pays attention to the smallest things so he can be ready to make small adjustments to keep the strikes coming. When you are driving your car you see it veer to one side or the other, you slightly steer a correction to keep it centered in the road. Keeping with the car analogy, many tournament bowlers wait until the car runs off of the road before they try to steer back to center. The lane changes slowly over time but most bowlers don’t see it until they are already in trouble; then they have to make big moves to keep up. Sometimes they can get back on track and sometimes they are lost the rest of the day. Learn to watch EVERY ball roll down the lane. Learn to pick up on the ball's axis rotation. Notice when, where, and how quickly your ball gives up axis rotation. Watch the ball CLOSELY from the breakpoint to the pins. That last 20 feet or so of the ball’s travel is telegraphing back vital information. Watch the ball until it falls off into the pit and notice where it was when it fell. Try to always know which pin fell last when you throw a strike. Every great tracker in the old west knew there were signs out there; you just have to see them and understand them. The easiest way to learn all these new things is by finding a good coach to work with over the summer. For the price of a bowling ball or two, a good coach can teach you more in one summer than you could likely learn on your own in several years if at all. I know good coaches are hard to find, but they are out there. If you ask around you will hear some of the same names come up over and over. Don’t worry about coaching certifications; most of them are meaningless. Just try and find a coach that has coached people at the level you want to get to. If you are looking to bowl the PBA or PWBA, then find a coach that has helped bowlers get to that level. It will make the trip much easier. Remember we don’t know what we don’t know. Sometimes it takes someone else to show us. Let me know how my tips work for you by emailing me at rclifton@triad.rr.com Bowl great! Ron Clifton |
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Posted on Sat, Jan 13, 2007 Every bowler at every level goes through a slump now and then. A slump is not just having a bad night at the lanes but several bad nights. It is not unusual to hear a bowler say that he has been in a slump for several weeks or even months. Slumps are not bugs you catch like the common cold but they can infect your game without warning. You can’t feel the slump coming on it just happens. All of the sudden you just start bowling badly and your not sure why. There is always a reason however. Something has changed. In order to work your way through the slump you have to find what has changed. First we have to analyze what part of your game has changed. I suggest you go through a quick check list. # 1 Are you hitting your targets? Notice I said targets and not target. If you read my previous 3 part series on using your breakpoint as part of your targeting system you will know why. If you missed them then read them on my website. If you don’t know the answer to question #1 then you may have solved your problem already. Often people don’t know if they hit their targets because they have stopped looking at them. You may start out looking at your target but somewhere along the approach you start looking somewhere else. Sometimes people look up at the pins too soon or they look down near the foul line as they deliver the ball. Looking down near the foul line is fine if that is your normal target, but if you are supposed to be looking at the 3rd arrow and you look down as you deliver you ball you will loose accuracy. Accuracy at your breakpoint will suffer most and usually to the inside. If the answer to #1 is NO then there are many other possible reasons, most of which will be covered in the other questions. # 2 Is your ball rotating the same way it always has? I am a strong advocate of always watching your ball rotate as it travels down the lane. If you are in the habit of watching your ball rotate then you will know if your rotation has changed. Is your axis tilt and rev rate the same? If your ball is not rotating the same then there may be several causes. The cause could be a release problem, ball fit or timing issue. The most common release problems are turning the ball too early or trying to put too much “stuff” on the ball. If it is a struggle for you to put revs on the ball then stop trying. The reason you are not successful is because you are not doing it right. I have seen lots of bowlers bowl badly because they have seen better bowlers turn the ball more revs or hook the ball a lot, so they try to incorporate that into their game. High revs are more technique than brute strength. There is an article on my website that shows how to release the ball if you’re after more revs or want to stop turning the ball early. If your ball seems to be rotating the same but just not have as much power as it used to, then have the pro shop clean it. You would not believe how much reaction your ball looses over a 100 game period if you don’t take care of it. A common problem for PBA quality bowlers is squeezing the ball. The reason I say PBA quality is because lower average bowlers always squeeze the ball. If you are a PBA quality bowler then check to see if you are squeezing. # 3 Are you stable at the foul line? If you are normally well balanced at the foul line are you now falling off of your shot? If so then check your slide step. Many times a bowler will simply stop stepping in on that last step. You have to step in so your slide foot ends up in the center of your body in order to be balanced at the line. Also make sure that you are not turning your slide foot sideways at the line. Some people just get in the habit of turning their slide foot toe in. Some do it because they are forcing the ball too much. Both are bad. If you are stepping in and sliding ok but still falling off then check your timing. If your timing is the culprit then most likely your timing is too early. That means the ball is getting to the foul line too soon. Try taking a shorter first step or speeding up your footwork a little or pushing your ball away a little later. Early timing will often cause you to pull the ball inside your target. Sometimes it’s a good idea to just move up or back on the approach a foot in order to give our bodies a new cadence. #4 Have your changed your swing plane? This simply means you may be pushing the ball away in a different direction than normal. Everyone has a different shape to their swing path so it’s not as simple as just saying push the ball straight out in front of your shoulder during your push-away. Experiment a little. Try pushing a ball more toward the 7 pin for a few shots and see what your ball does. Then try pushing the ball toward the 10 pin for a few shots. You can learn a lot by doing this. You only have to push the ball a little in ether direction for it to make a big difference in your swing. You may find that on some of your shots you have been pushing the ball one way or the other not meaning to. #5 Is your foot work consistent? Bowl an entire game using the same line and make note of what board you slide on each time. Often bowlers over time will develop sloppy feet and start drifting different amounts. #6 Are you trying too hard? A very common problem is bowlers will start throwing the ball harder and trying to force the ball to hit their target. The worse they bowl the harder they throw. Try just letting the ball flow. Did you ever notice that sometimes during league practice you can’t miss the pocket but as soon as they start counting the score you can’t hit the pocket to save your life? That’s because during practice you were not really trying. You were just letting the ball flow. As soon as it counts you start trying to “place” the ball and make sure you throw it well.. Just let it flow! #7 Is your push away getting lazy. Sometimes bowlers will get a little lazy with their push away. This will shorten the swing cycle and tend to make the bowler have early timing. #8 Are you letting it fall? Make sure you are letting the ball fall freely from the push away. The more pressure we have on us the more we tend to hold the ball back. We would be better served to just let the ball flow and not try to control it. #9 Are you staying in the ball too long. This goes along with squeezing the ball. Bowlers sometimes get in the habit if staying in the ball too long. This creeps up on them and they don’t realize it. This will cause you to loose accuracy and have an under-over ball reaction. #10 Are you missing more spares? If so check the fit on your spare ball if you have one. Bowlers often will let the fit get bad on the spare ball and just live with it. It is costing them spares in many cases. Are you trying to throw too hard at spares? Often bowlers will get carried away with ball speed on their spares and start missing them. Again just let the ball flow and you will be more accurate. Bowl great!Ron Clifton |
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Posted on Fri, Dec 8, 2006 A bowler’s timing is the relationship between the ball swinging at the end of your arm and the rest of your body. A bowling ball that is swinging at the end of your arm has a lot of power. It has the power to twist your body all around if it’s not in sync with the rest of your body. Your body of course being much heavier than the ball, also has the power to change the intended path of the ball, even if we don’t engage our muscles. This article is basically about how to adjust your timing if you are just off a little. If your timing is not even in the same zip code as the rest of your body then these little tips will not help much. If your timing is off that much then you need a complete overhaul not a little tune up. The most common thing I hear bowlers tell other bowlers is “Slow down”! That one term seems to be the end all-fix all approach from our teammates. Well, the bowler could be walking too fast or too slow, but whatever pace the bowler’s body has chosen, it’s hard to change. If you are bowling league and you are walking a little too fast it’s really hard to just slow down with any consistency. You may throw a shot or two at the slower pace, but your body will try and go right back where it was comfortable on the next shot. The same is true if you are walking too slowly. Walking too fast or too slow can of course throw your timing off. A quick fix to try is to just change the length of your first step. If you think you are walking too slow then just try taking a shorter first step. This will have the same effect on your timing as walking faster. Taking a shorter first step completes your foot work a little sooner without you actually walking faster. You would use this if you think the ball is getting to the foul line a little too early. If the ball is getting to the foul line too soon it will feel like the ball is actually getting there before your sliding foot. In most cases it’s not, but it just has to get there sooner than normal to feel that way. This is called early timing. Some symptoms of early timing would be pulling the ball inside your target and a loss of revs. Keep in mind that this is not the only reason a bowler pulls the ball or loses revs, it’s just one of them. Walking too fast has the opposite effect on your timing. If you walk too fast then you will beat your ball to the foul line by a large margin. This can cause you to throw the ball outside of your target. This is caused by your body feeling that the ball is a little behind, so it tries to make up for it by forcing the ball forward. This puts an outside torque in your upper body that makes you throw the ball to the outside. Instead of trying to slow your feet down, try taking a little bigger first step the next time you practice. Sometimes that will get your timing back close but it’s not as good of a fix as taking a shorter first step for bowlers walking too slowly. Your brain will know that it is closer to the foul line after the first step and slow the steps a little in order to keep you from fouling. You can also try moving up on the approach about 8 inches in your stance. This is often a better fix and will usually slow your feet nicely and sometimes that’s just the trick to get your timing back on track. It has been my experience that bowlers tend to lengthen their first step over time; especially those that take 5 steps. This slowly but surely gives the bowler early timing and is often the cause of pulled shots. The cure is of course to just take a smaller first step. Believe me you can’t feel the length of your first step, so if you decide to cut it in half you will actually only shorten it a few inches. Your muscle memory will try to put the step back where it was each time so you will have to remind yourself to change the first step before each shot. If you have to, in practice look down and actually watch yourself take the first step then look up at your target. That way you can actually see if your first step is too long. If you don’t feel comfortable looking down at your feet for your first step, have a friend help out. Put a piece of tape on the approach where you wish your first step to go. If your friend sees you miss the tape he needs to say “stop” and you should stop and start over. That’s the quickest way to reprogram your muscles to do what you wish. After a while your muscle memory will get reprogrammed and you will not have to think about it anymore. Another common timing problem comes from not letting the ball fall freely in the push-away. This can cause you to shorten your swing cycle which in turn causes early timing. The more pressure on the bowler to throw a good shot the more likely this is to happen. I covered this in detail in a previous article called “Just let it fall”. The remedy is of course to just let the ball fall freely immediately after the push-away. The next most common reason for bad timing is not waiting on the ball in the back-swing. The bowler gets in a hurry to throw the ball so they cut the back-swing short, not allowing the ball to reach the peak of the back-swing. This one can have an effect that is a little unpredictable on your timing. Cutting off the back-swing has the effect of shortening the swing cycle which would give you early timing. But the added muscle of stopping the ball short and forcing it forward can sometimes offset the early timing effects by forcing the shoulders open more. Usually this will just cause an inconsistent performance. Make sure you try out these “tune ups” in practice so you can get a feel for how they will affect your game Bowl great! |
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Posted on Sun, Nov 12, 2006 The bowler’s release is the “grand finale” of the approach. You can do everything with the precision, timing, and grace of a ballet dancer and have it all botched by a poor release. Just like the rest of the approach, there is no one best way to release a ball. In fact, I believe in learning to release the ball many different ways to match up with the lane condition. One of my specialties as a bowling coach is to teach bowlers different releases to meet the demands of PBA or megabuck tournament oil patterns. A wide variety of releases should only be learned after you have perfected a very good basic release. The best basic release in my opinion is the one being used by many of the top players on the pro tour. This is demonstrated well by Chris Barnes. If you ever watch Mr. Barnes bowl, you will see that he has a very effective ball with plenty of revs. He does this with very little effort or force. This allows him to repeat shots and have a very predictable ball reaction. I could never stress enough how important a predictable ball reaction is. Do you have to be super strong? No, but you do need some strength in the wrist. Not everyone has that. Some people do and just don’t know it. Those people just have a “lazy” wrist. Others can be helped some by using a wrist brace. You can never do the release exactly right using the wrist braces that I have seen, but again, the closer the better. To test your wrist hold your ball down by your side with your palm facing forward and your wrist relaxed. Then cup your wrist forward and count to 10 slowly. If you can hold your wrist cupped that long then your wrist is strong enough. If you can’t then I suggest you consider a lighter ball if you goal is to have a good strong release. Throwing a weight that your wrist can support is much more important than throwing a heavy ball.
The first step in learning this release is at the very beginning, with your grip on the ball. To have a good, clean, consistent release, it’s imperative that you don’t squeeze the ball in your stance. The holes in the ball are called “gripping holes” and that is the worst thing we could have ever called them. You need to hold the ball like you are holding a baby bird or an egg in your hand. If your ball fits properly you should not have to squeeze the ball anywhere in the swing or during the release. If the ball wants to slide off of your thumb, unless you squeeze it, then add tape or Ron C’s Magic Carpet to the hole to snug it up. If your thumb wants to slide out no matter how tight you make your thumb, then have your pro shop check your pitches. You may have too much reverse pitch or some other improper fit. Remember, if you squeeze the ball, you have to subconsciously tell yourself to let go. There is no way you are going to be able to do that the same every time. The more pressure on you to make a good shot the more likely you are going to hang on to the ball too long. Once you have your grip sorted out it’s time to get started. Start with your hand under the ball in your stance and have your wrist cocked to the left (right handed). Spread your index finger about 1 ½ inches. With your wrist cocked, your index finger should be pointed almost straight ahead toward the pins. This should be a moderate amount of cock in your wrist so even those with little flexibility should be able to do it. Cup your wrist a little as this will help get the weight off of your thumb at the bottom of the swing and help you keep your wrist firm. In picture "A" above you can see with the wrist bent back that part of the weight of the ball will be resting on the base of the thumb. In picture "B" you can see that the weight can be carried in the fingers. With a cupped wrist and a proper fitting ball the ball will hang onto your hand until the release. There is no need to squeeze the ball.
During the push-away and the-ball-falling-into-the-swing, keep your wrist cocked and cupped. When the ball reaches the bottom of the swing after the push-away, your wrist should still be cocked toward the inside and your index finger should be pointing straight down. You can use the index finger to help
No matter what you do with the ball at the top of your swing, make sure that you get your hand back in this same position before the bottom of the swing. For most people, it’s best if they just maintain this cocked, cupped and index finger down position from the push-away to just before the time to release the ball. As the ball nears the bottom of the swing, (coming down from the back swing) you start un-cocking and un-cupping your wrist and slightly turning the ball until the ball leaves your hand. I know this sounds complicated, but stay with me. This motion should start no sooner than when the ball passes your hip. The very best players with the strong wrist can wait until the ball nears the heel of their slide foot. The strength of your wrist and forearm will determine how late you can start the motion. Most people start turning the ball way too soon and that causes them to lose revs. I am not saying that you can’t bowl great without being a high rev player, but I see a lot of players that are trying to get more revs by lifting the ball with the fingers past the toe. This causes an inconsistent ball reaction on anything but the easiest of lane conditions.
The next step is to make sure you are ready to release the ball at the right time. This is called release timing. You have to time your arm swing and foot work so you are able to clear the ball by the end of your sliding foot’s toe. Often this will just mean that you have to be willing to let go of the ball much sooner than you think. Most people that have less than ideal releases stay in the ball too long. If you don’t squeeze the ball, it will be much easier to learn an early release. At first, it doesn’t feel natural at all for us to release the ball by the ankle. We want to “throw” the ball within our vision. In all sports (except bowling) involving a ball that is thrown, the release takes place out in front of us where we can see it. In bowling, the best release is completed by the end of our noses. This takes some getting used to and a bit of trust. If you stay in the ball much past your toe, then you take a chance on altering the ball’s path. A ball released by the ankle is a little less fussy about timing and will stay on course. Bowl great!
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Posted on Sun, Oct 01, 2006 This is the last of a three part series about how to find your breakpoint on the lane and how to use it as part of your targeting system. Part One discussed how to find your breakpoint and how to train your eyes where to look in order to pick up where your break point should be. In Part Two we learned to pick a spot at our breakpoint and draw a line back through our target, continuing back to where we are going to lay the ball down at the foul line. Part Two also discussed some of the reasons why I think this type of targeting system is so important. It takes two points to make a line. That is why we use the breakpoint as one point and a target somewhere much closer to us as the other point. If you only consider one point, say the 3rd arrow, then that point can be crossed in any direction. With today’s lane men using the oil pattern to manage scores up or down, the path your ball takes through the oil can make a huge difference. Some people may be tempted to just go ahead and look at the breakpoint as their one and only target. If you are bowling on a typical league shot where you have a lot of oil between the 10-boards, and your only concern is that you hit the 7-board at the break point, you could get into trouble. Let’s say you throw one ball that crosses the arrows at the 12-board and one ball that crosses the arrows at the 9-board and both balls nail the 7-board at the breakpoint. Those two balls will have completely different reactions. The ball that crossed at the 12-board traveled through deeper oil for a longer period of time. The ball that crossed at the 9-board got out of the deep oil much sooner and hooked much more. The problem is: if you were only targeting the 7-board at the break point, you may never know this
In Part Three, I will mostly focus on the ball from the breakpoint to the head pin. This is the most critical part of the lane when it comes to throwing strikes. If you throw a hook ball, then you apply axis rotation (side turn) to the ball when you release it; that’s what makes it hook. Depending on many factors, your ball will maintain or give up a little axis rotation as it easily skids through the first 40 feet of a freshly oiled lane. I believe that to have a consistently high strike percentage, your ball must give up a good amount of axis rotation between the breakpoint and the head pin. This can be done a little at a time as the ball approaches the head pin or nearly all at once just before it hits. Many of today’s balls are so strong, they get to the breakpoint and refuse to give up any axis rotation. In other words, the ball wants to just keep hooking and hooking all the way through the pins. This looks great from the settee area but it will not produce the most strikes. A ball that refuses to give up enough axis rotation will be hard to control and will tend to cut through the pins leaving too many 4-pins, 9-pins and 8-pins. I call this giving up of axis rotation “burning up”. To make an analogy, look at your car; it has a built-in safety feature called caster. If you turn your wheels to the left (like the side turn or axis rotation on your ball) and let go of the steering wheel, your wheels start turning back straight on their own. Your car, just like your bowling ball, would be harder to control if you let go of the wheel and the car just kept turning sharply. We need to watch our ball closely that last 20 feet to see that it gives up the right amount of axis rotation. If the ball is too strong on the back end, we need to change to a weaker ball or a weaker hand position. If the ball is still too strong on the back end, then you may need to play deeper and cover more boards to make the ball burn up more. If the ball burns up too much it may fail to turn the corner or hit the pins too weakly leaving 10-pins. Going back to the car analogy, it’s like we are making a sharp turn but let go of the steering wheel too soon. The wheels straighten up too soon and we don’t make the turn. A ball that maintains its axis rotation, but fails to make the turn is most likely skidding; the ball has enough axis rotation to turn the corner, but can’t get enough friction with the lane surface. Going back to the car, it would be like trying to make a sharp turn on an icy road. You can turn the front wheels to the left all you want but the car will not make the turn. It will just keep skidding straight. It is very hard for some people to tell the difference between a ball that fails to hook because it is skidding and a ball that is burning up too much. This is especially hard for people that have a lot of axis tilt. If the ball fails to turn the corner due to skidding, then you need to slow it down, scuff the ball, go to a stronger hand position, change your line, or switch to a stronger ball. Every time a ball is thrown, it will track some oil into the breakpoint area all the way through the pin deck. After a few games, you may start to notice your ball is not hooking as strongly or tends to wiggle the last 20 feet; this is called carry down. If you are carefully watching your ball roll the last 20 feet, you will pick up on this and start adjusting sooner. Bowlers who don’t pay close attention to their balls at the breakpoint will waste several shots before they start to understand what is happening. If you see the ball start to wiggle and you start leaving 10-pins then the ball is hitting skinny streaks of oil caused by today’s high flare balls. If you see that start to happen, then you need to adjust your line slightly to see if you can go around the wiggle spot. Admittedly, some of this is for the advanced bowler and I am only scratching the surface when it comes to ball reaction. But even if this is over your head at this stage of your game, I suggest you save these coaching tips and reread them as your game advances. Bowl great! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
