Need help with my technique

[rimvydukas]

Hi,

I'm a new bowler and have two problems which drive me mad as I was not able to fix them yet:( So problems are:

1. When the ball is in backswing, it travels so far behind my back. In the video I gave it travels not so far but at most times it does.
2. When the ball is at the release point it is so far from my sliding foot:(

So I need your recommendations what can I do to fix these things. Here is a video of me.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/23065109/IMG_0233.MOV

[Zothen]

First of it looks like your taking 6 steps? Try taking 4 steps(this means starting with right foot first)! Hold your elbow on your hip,then push ball forward on your 1st step,then let gravity take your arm back as far as you can and remember to keep arm close to body as you bring your arm up for release.

Zothen

[bowl1820]

Well your approach looked good, your doing a 5 step (not 6).

1-Tuck your arm in closer to your body and add a little more knee bend.

2-You need to get under the ball more, your too on top of the ball at the release

Screen cap of your vid
http://www.bowlingboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=659&d=1350932366


Also you kind of dropped the ball on the lane (listen in the video, you'll hear the ball go thunk on the lane right at the foul line. )this will give a weak roll. Also I believe that's why your hand crossed over in front of you and the ball went left.

your fingers are above the equator similar to this:
http://www.strikeability.com/images/ontilt_equator.jpg

You want more like this:
http://www.strikeability.com/images/ontilt_package.jpg

Also work on projecting the ball toward your target

[billf]

Are you trying to force your arm to the top of the back swing? That's a big cause of going behind the back. The other suggestions above would help your game. After getting those done we can work on other things. You can't change too much at once as it gets too confusing.

[rimvydukas]

I would like to thank you all for your valuable answers. I'll clarify my situation a little.

As I said, I'm new bowler (1.5 month old:)). I bowled one time a week. I only switched to two times last week. So to be clear for everyone - I'm taking 5 steps and not 6. And I'm only at my first steps with hook so forgive me that my hand is on top of the ball. So for now I have one major goal I want to achieve - I want to perfect my swing. I do not want my ball to be behind my back and I do not want my ball to be so far away from my sliding foot. That are my major objectives for now. So I want all available advices to be able to achieve my first goals as soon as I can. If the hand under the ball will help - I'll try to work on this too.

Now I still have questions left:)

bowl1820, you say that I need to tuck my hand. Do I need to tuck it more after ball goes down from pushaway or at release point. Because if I need to tuck this hand at release point, I've tried this already a lot of times and I still can't do this:( because of that I posted on this forum.

Next. You say that I need to put my hand under the ball more. How can I achieve that? Do I need to cup my wrist more to be able to do this? And as for now I do not think about revolutions as my major goal is to perfect my swing.

And one more thing. I try to drop my shoulder before doing my steps. Do I need it drop more or is it enough?

billf,

As for hand force I'm not sure. At least I do not feel that I put excessive force to put the ball in the backswing, but maybe I'm wrong who knows:)

Thanks.

[J Anderson]

I would like to thank you all for your valuable answers. I'll clarify my situation a little.

As I said, I'm new bowler (1.5 month old:)). I bowled one time a week. I only switched to two times last week. So to be clear for everyone - I'm taking 5 steps and not 6. And I'm only at my first steps with hook so forgive me that my hand is on top of the ball. So for now I have one major goal I want to achieve - I want to perfect my swing. I do not want my ball to be behind my back and I do not want my ball to be so far away from my sliding foot. That are my major objectives for now. So I want all available advices to be able to achieve my first goals as soon as I can. If the hand under the ball will help - I'll try to work on this too.

Now I still have questions left:)

bowl1820, you say that I need to tuck my hand. Do I need to tuck it more after ball goes down from pushaway or at release point. Because if I need to tuck this hand at release point, I've tried this already a lot of times and I still can't do this:( because of that I posted on this forum.

Next. You say that I need to put my hand under the ball more. How can I achieve that? Do I need to cup my wrist more to be able to do this? And as for now I do not think about revolutions as my major goal is to perfect my swing.

And one more thing. I try to drop my shoulder before doing my steps. Do I need it drop more or is it enough?

billf,

As for hand force I'm not sure. At least I do not feel that I put excessive force to put the ball in the backswing, but maybe I'm wrong who knows:)

Thanks.

Bowl1820 said that you need to tuck your arm not your hand. To me, your back swing looked fine. It looks like as you approach the release, you're afraid the ball will hit your leg and force your arm away from your body. You can use one or no step drills to practice the swing until keeping the arm close ( tucked ) is second nature.

You do not have to cup your wrist to keep your hand under the ball but you do need to keep the wrist straight until release.

[bowl1820]

bowl1820, you say that I need to tuck my hand. Do I need to tuck it more after ball goes down from pushaway or at release point. Because if I need to tuck this hand at release point, I've tried this already a lot of times and I still can't do this:( because of that I posted on this forum.

I didn't say "tuck your hand", I said tuck your arm. Your need your arm closer to your body.

More like this.
http://www.bowlingboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=661&d=1350994709


Here's something I posted in another thread.

Remember keep your elbow in, do a nice straight swing (Stay in the 4" groove)
Look at the two videos in this thread:
Click here for Keys-to-a-Good-Aim-Swing (http://www.bowlingboards.com/threads/10204-Keys-to-a-Good-Aim-Swing)



Next. You say that I need to put my hand under the ball more. How can I achieve that? Do I need to cup my wrist more to be able to do this? And as for now I do not think about revolutions as my major goal is to perfect my swing.
No you don't need to cup your wrist, just keep it straight like this through out the swing.
http://www.bowlingboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=662&d=1350995593

Here's something I posted in another thread.

Just hold the ball with a firm straight wrist, hold the hand at about a 45 degree angle and hold this position through the swing.
http://s19.postimage.org/426j213sz/45deghand.jpg
This will give you a good basic roll on the ball, a little bit of hook.

Your not going to swing the whole lane with it, so you might have to move right with it some. Your just working on a consistent release.



And one more thing. I try to drop my shoulder before doing my steps. Do I need it drop more or is it enough?


I think your shoulder drop looked okay

[bowl1820]

Bowl1820 said that you need to tuck your arm not your hand. To me, your back swing looked fine. It looks like as you approach the release, you're afraid the ball will hit your leg and force your arm away from your body. You can use one or no step drills to practice the swing until keeping the arm close ( tucked ) is second nature.

You do not have to cup your wrist to keep your hand under the ball but you do need to keep the wrist straight until release.

+1 :)