What would be the hardest thing to overcome in bowling?

[Hammer]

To me it would be to not muscle the ball in the downswing. I don't have a problem with grabbing in the downswing but sometimes it is hard to tell if I am letting gravity bring the ball down or if I am adding something with my arm on the way down. The reason is that when gravity does bring the ball down it stretches the muscles in your shoulder and arm and makes it feel like you are muscling it when you are not. I find that when you add nothing to the gravity pull of the ball it feels really good and the ball gets nice revs and tracks to the pocket nice. When it hits the pocket for a strike the pins seem to explode. Sometimes something as easy as letting gravity do the job for you of bringing the ball down from the backswing it sometimes feels like your brain ain't trusting gravity to do it's thing. Your brain will sometimes fire the thought of give gravity a little help NOW. Darn brain. Maybe someday I will win the battle with my brain more often and trust gravity to take care of business.

[Greenday]

For me, it's staying behind the bowling ball. I've been struggling with overcoming that.

I still muscle it once in a while at the end of my throw but I've been doing much better.

[75lockwood]

So far? i would have to say fixing my footwork, for the longest time i would end on my right foot (have had medical issues with left leg) so i finally decided i would do something about it, it wasn't (and still isn't) easy, but i did it and I'm a better bowler because of it.

[MisterSinister]

For mw it's focus. Focusing on my marks, i tend to shift me eyes, and look at different places on the lane. Sometime the arrows, sometimes 5 feet in front of the arrows, sometimes i look at the foul line.

[Zothen]

for me it's footwork! I have a habit of moving to fast which throws my armswing off and it causes me to shank or flatten out the ball.

Zothen

[Ball99999]

The release by far. Doing "stuff" in a couple milliseconds

[Vince805]

Mine is my release and and focus on my mark.

[backlasher]

My footwork. I need to practice until doing it properly feels right.

[Cochese]

I also struggle with muscling the ball. When I do, my swing ends up looking more like a fist pump or Tim Tebow pose because my arm doesn't swing freely.

My biggest struggle though is focus. When I practice, it is easy to find a rhythym because you are just throwing at your own pace. Sitting down between shots and thinking about what you did right or wrong on the last shot doesn't do well for me.

[Zothen]

@Cochese-Don't dwell on what you did right or wrong,just get up throw the best ball you can and then pick up the pins that are left. You will have much better score if you don't worry about your shots til after leagues. If you need to make a score sheet for the 3 games and every frame mark down your shot! Example 1st frame Brooklyn strike you would put X+Brook,2nd frame pocket strike X+pock,3rd frame 9 pin pock,etc. this way you can see what you have to work on in practice.

Zothen

[75lockwood]

@Cochese-Don't dwell on what you did right or wrong,just get up throw the best ball you can and then pick up the pins that are left. You will have much better score if you don't worry about your shots til after leagues. If you need to make a score sheet for the 3 games and every frame mark down your shot! Example 1st frame Brooklyn strike you would put X+Brook,2nd frame pocket strike X+pock,3rd frame 9 pin pock,etc. this way you can see what you have to work on in practice.

Zothen

Theres an app for that ;)

[Bizwan65]

Footwork. I have a 3 step approach. I've tried to do 4 or 5 step and it just messes me up.

[xthe_charismatic_enigmax]

What was always told to me..the hardest thing to overcome in bowling is yourself.

[75lockwood]

What was always told to me..the hardest thing to overcome in bowling is yourself.

Great wisdom in you young one! your biggest enemy is yourself! defeat that stubborn son of a... and you will excel!

[noeymc]

mine would be my ego and emotions there both a big factor i could walk up to norm duke and i would still say i could beat him lol

[Cochese]

Theres an app for that ;)

I got the PinPal app and just started using it. Have 5 weeks of just box scores (9/spare, strike, 9/open, ect) and one week of actual frame by frame marking what actual pins I knocked own. Pretty cool. I am only 60% on single pin spares, but went from 44% to 55% to 57% to 80% over the last 4 weeks. This equaled averages of 120, 140, 142, and 191..... I think I see a pattern here :D

[75lockwood]

I got the PinPal app and just started using it. Have 5 weeks of just box scores (9/spare, strike, 9/open, ect) and one week of actual frame by frame marking what actual pins I knocked own. Pretty cool. I am only 60% on single pin spares, but went from 44% to 55% to 57% to 80% over the last 4 weeks. This equaled averages of 120, 140, 142, and 191..... I think I see a pattern here :D

Hehe, its so true though, i see people all the time in practice throw their strike ball and if they miss they reset, personally i always work on spares! (i made a 5-10 and a 3 7 today) :cool:

[xthe_charismatic_enigmax]

Hehe, its so true though, i see people all the time in practice throw their strike ball and if they miss they reset, personally i always work on spares! (i made a 5-10 and a 3 7 today) :cool:

@75lockwood Thank you very much. That was one of my first lessons, and it never sank in until when I started bowling again last year.

A lot goes into fighting yourself, emotion is a big part of it, being calm and staying in routine, even after a bad shot. I see a lot of people get angry when they shoot a bad shot and leave something ugly. When it happens to me, I find what I did wrong, grab my count (or spare if it's makeable) and move onto the next frame. As bowlers we must be able to recognize when the lanes are changing, how to move, or shooting a different line, or even changing balls (like I did halfway through the week!).

@Cochese I just looked up that app and it was like $9.00. I have an app called Bowling Scorekeeper that does great with leagues, and there's a website called bowlsk.com That keeps track of pretty much everything you can think of.

I also enjoy in league when we're doing our practice shots and someone leaves a 10 pin and they go to reset it, I'm like, no, I'll gladly shoot at it. :)

[dutchlefty]

I would say: consistency !! Consistency with several issues... release, tempo, swing.. No element is ever the same or a 100%.
But i don't give up...small steps, small steps :)