June 22 practice

[billf]

Practiced with Chris today. Ball felt horrible today so I had my step-daughter bring me my camera. This was game 19. I showed Chris in the first shot so low rev, low rotation players can see what a DV8 Brutal Nightmare will react like with horrible form. He knows but with all his health issues it's about as good as it will get.
On mine I noticed that I was getting lazy again with bringing my balance arm back. My speed, revs and reaction were off PLUS it caused my hand to come up left of target instead of at the target most of the time.
If you notice anything else, chime in. I normally post my shot better but knowing the camera was going I kept trying to get out of the way. My slide sucked and I've already ordered new S10 soles by Dexter from www.bowlerX.com

http://youtu.be/bWwRQWrdlwE

[DLP]

I am not sure if its the camera angle or not, but I'm not sure if its your normal approach or not but it doesn't look like you are ending to the left or right of your starting point. It's very subtle but visible if look specifically at it.

[Greenday]

Almost immediately after you let go of the ball, you moved around and didn't hold your shot. You were falling off after each one. I feel like that'd be a major contributor to missing left.

[billf]

Almost immediately after you let go of the ball, you moved around and didn't hold your shot. You were falling off after each one. I feel like that'd be a major contributor to missing left.

It was going that way before I got the cam when I was posting the shot. When my balance arm gets lazy it throws off my swing plane. It wasn't as much falling off as getting out of the way. I do it subconsciencously when I know the cam is on.


I am not sure if its the camera angle or not, but I'm not sure if its your normal approach or not but it doesn't look like you are ending to the left or right of your starting point. It's very subtle but visible if look specifically at it.

Why would you want to end at a different spot than you start? It's called drift and it's fairly rare to have zero drift. My first step with the ball side foot is a cross over step. That, with my lack of drift, allows me to lay the ball down on the board that my left big toe starts on.

[DLP]

Thanks for that explanation, Bill! It's one of the things I catch myself doing all of the time and while my coach didn't seem to think it was of any concern, if I start being cognizant of it when I am walking up to the approach, I'll end up in the next lane (well okay, I'm not THAT bad but its bad enough).

[billf]

Drifting is alright as long as it's not to the ball side. If it is then you have to swing around your body. This is why coaches tend to teach a drift to the opposite side. Most people when trying to align the shoulders and hips to the target will end up walkng towards that direction. This makes sense logically as we normally look at where we are walking but does go against what's needed to bowl.
By using my balance hand, thumb pointing down, over the target it helps to turn the hips and shoulders to the target while making the body continually and steadily get lower.
On the pulled shots you can see where the swing slot doesn't go outside in to outside again (figure 8 or pro loop) but rather starts out, goes in and stays in. Also seeing on those shots that my body isn't as low. The knee bend isn't quite as low creating a little less slide. Even a half inch less slide creates less room for error for end timing.

For a big drift check out Mike Devaney on youtube. He's a great person, good bowler and has the most drift I've consistently seen. His starting spot is always the same and drifts to the laydown area.

[DLP]

As always, sir, you teach me something new everyday :) Thank you!

I watched a few videos with Mike Devaney on youtube. Needless to say, now I recognize why my adjustment of trying to get rid of drifting may be doing more harm than good (like my first set of scores after my coaching session). My hubby claims I'm one of the few people on the planet that would fail a DUI test sober. As long as I can make that work for me, I should be good to go!

[billf]

Ideally you would like to keep your drift to five boards or less. That leaves room to adjust. Watch Chris in the video; he starts way left and drifts almost the width of the lane. When he has to move left there isn't enough room.
The biggest thing is to keep your drift consistent. As long as it's always the same amount then you can compensate for it.

[Greenday]

Ideally you would like to keep your drift to five boards or less. That leaves room to adjust. Watch Chris in the video; he starts way left and drifts almost the width of the lane. When he has to move left there isn't enough room.
The biggest thing is to keep your drift consistent. As long as it's always the same amount then you can compensate for it.

It's funny. When I stand 20 and throw 10 or anywhere right of that, I drift at most half a board. When I stand far left, I'll drift 3-4 boards and it's a huge difference in my game (Not in a good way obviously).

[J Anderson]

Maybe you need to roll a few games left-handed to break your left arm's habit of being lazy. You know, like when the gym teacher makes the lazy kid run extra laps or do extra push-ups.;)

[billf]

John,that's actually not a bad idea. I haven't bowled left-handed since March or there abouts except for one shot Saturday with a friend's brand new First Blood. Even then I only had my right-handed shoes so I couldn't slide at all.

Many, many times I've bowled lefty and it's helped fix my righty game. Then again, I am a natural left-handed person.

[Tampabaybob]

Balance, you say ? What balance? I know you can show us something better than that. Bad S-10s or not, DUDE ! you are WAY off.
And if you're trying to show what the ball is doing, I'll go get my magnifying glass so I can see the ball reaction !!!! LOL

I'll take a bit of a different stand with you as far as drifting goes. IN A PERFECT WORLD (or maybe that of the PBA) yes, it would be great to have a near zero drift, or at least a + or - 2 - 4 boards. For "Joe Average", I don't try to control that as much. 'IF' you can 'easily' get them to tighten up their drift, without too much trouble, then I'd say, sure try to get them to cut it down. However, I say if it ain't broken, don't fix it. One of these days I'll have my daughter shoot a video of me, and if you want to se a drift, I'll show you a long drift. And to the right. What matters to me is consistency. If "the drifter" can maintain a consistent start and finish point, I say leave it alone. That's also assuming that the drift doesn't change his/her swing plane to the amount that it's messing that up. But "IF' they're able to get it down to a consistent drift, then I leave that alone and work on other things.
How much do I drift, you say? My normal starting point is the last dot on the left, finishing 3 boards left of center. Have averaged well over 200 since the late 70's, so I'd say my consistency isn't too bad. "IF" my living depended on "getting it right", then you'd see me at the lanes 24/7 and having a 3 board drift. "Get my drift Bill"?

[JPbowl]

I've watched your vid a few times now, here are some things i see.
Your footwork looks awkward, maybe because of that tiny second step.
A lot of head movement through out. (WRWJr?)
And balance at the foul line, i would stay down and stay back more (more knee bend and slide). the other 2 things probably factor in here as well with how you arrive at the foul line

[GeoLes]

I had a group lesson a couple of weeks ago and discovered to my chagrin that I lost my free swing. I was trying to emulate some things I see the pros doing and it ruined my game. It sent me "back to the drawing board". Now I focus on straight, natural swing without excessive back swing or shoulder turnout. (It seems I was bringing the shoulder back on the back swing, forcing me to bring the ball around my body on the way forward.)

Now I bowl for natural swing and look to simpy hit my mark, not caring about pin fall. Winter league is over, so it's time to overhaul the swing anyway, so let's go to work!!!!

[Tampabaybob]

I had a group lesson a couple of weeks ago and discovered to my chagrin that I lost my free swing. I was trying to emulate some things I see the pros doing and it ruined my game. It sent me "back to the drawing board". Now I focus on straight, natural swing without excessive back swing or shoulder turnout. (It seems I was bringing the shoulder back on the back swing, forcing me to bring the ball around my body on the way forward.)

Now I bowl for natural swing and look to simpy hit my mark, not caring about pin fall. Winter league is over, so it's time to overhaul the swing anyway, so let's go to work!!!!

It's ok to try to emulate some of the things the pros do, however you always need to be able to go back to YOUR style if the other doesn't work. Sounds to me like you were forcing your swing. Remember GRAVITY ? Use it to your advantage !!

[billf]

I've watched your vid a few times now, here are some things i see.
Your footwork looks awkward, maybe because of that tiny second step.
A lot of head movement through out. (WRWJr?)
And balance at the foul line, i would stay down and stay back more (more knee bend and slide). the other 2 things probably factor in here as well with how you arrive at the foul line

Thank you. I didn't notice the short second step. I get irritated trying to watch my footwork. With my knee problems my right foot doesn't point straight anymore and immediately distracts me. When I force my foot to point straight my knee swells up real quick and stays that way for about three or four days. That short step there is definitely why I'm not as close to the foul line as I usually am and could also be contributing to why I can't get enough/correct slide as I'm sure my other leg is trying to compensate for the difference throwing it all out of whack.

[Tampabaybob]

Bill, try one of those compression sleeves from "TommyCopper". One of the guys I bowl with bought one and was taking a ridiculous amount of motrin before he bowled, just to withstand the pain. He bought one of these and within a couple of weeks he said the pain was like 95% gone. They're not cheap, but I guess they do work. Just goole the name and you'll see it.

[classygranny]

Bill, try one of those compression sleeves from "TommyCopper". One of the guys I bowl with bought one and was taking a ridiculous amount of motrin before he bowled, just to withstand the pain. He bought one of these and within a couple of weeks he said the pain was like 95% gone. They're not cheap, but I guess they do work. Just goole the name and you'll see it.

I was having so much pain in my left elbow (non-bowling arm) that someone here suggested the compression sleeve. I ordered it immediately after researching it. I've had it about 2 weeks now and I have to say it really helps. I probably don't wear it enough, but I try and make sure I wear it when bowling and working a lot on the computer. I tend to pick my ball up and hold it with my left hand while waiting my turn. I also support it with my left hand and I feel less pain the next day. My elbow still hurts at times, just not so painful that I am unable to use it like before.

The website is TommieCopper.com - it will cost you about $30, but I figure that's better than all the pain killers/poison I would be putting in my body!

[billf]

I've needed a knee replacement since 1991. I'm use to the normal (?) pain and swelling. The orthopedist still wants me to try to wait for the replacement. He says due to me being active I have a good chance of wearing one out before I'm deceased. I don't take pain meds other than excedrin migraine when needed.
I have a compression sleeve for my knee and elbow. Works great on the elbow, bothers me on the knee when bowling.

Anyway, I've spent many hours the past few days correcting stuff. Concentrating on taking a full step the first two. Feels like I'm flying lol. I didn't like how my swing went so far beind my back. Seems like when it feels like it's way outside, it's actually straight back. Keeping my upper body further back has helped my center of gravity allowing a slightly better slide and less popping up. Kept moving my eye off the target but with all the other stuff I'm concentrating on, I'll take that trade off for now.

[billf]

Here's today's practice session. Sorry for the fat belly that kept making an appearance. I promise to never wear that shirt and shorts combo bowling again.

http://youtu.be/672YwXfghg0

[the_halfie]

Dude that last split pickup was AWESOME! Nice shot! Now just work on not leaving those so much, unless you want to continue practicing them then by all means go for it :)

[Tampabaybob]

Well, Sir William, I see a couple of thing that might help you a bit. You seem to be falling over to the right on several of the shots as or just after your release. That tells me your feet a just a bit too fast and your hand/release is getting to the line a little late. When you lose your balance at that point, the easiest thing to do is to slow up that first step. (just a little bit) I also notice a bit of a hop at the foul line on a couple of shots. Definitely want that to stop. The hopping will change your drop point of release by a couple of boards to the right of where your "anticipated" release point should be. What that does is change the angle of the ball in relationship to your point of target. Usually that will bring on a high hit and if you're lucky only a 4 pin. Other than that......not bad.

[billf]

Bob, I noticed that my torso isn't angled correctly putting my swing slot out of position still. Funny how it felt like it was straight behind me. Thus the swing slot was too far out from my ankle. I'm wondering how much of that is causing some of the imbalance issues given the fact I'm a bit top heavy lol.
I still believe I need to get the ball into the swing a tad quicker as long as my backswing is going to be at that height. Ensuring the first two steps were full steps left the feeling that I was flying to the line. Making the footwork go at an angle as Joe Slowinski suggests takes some getting use to. I kept hitting my toe off my opposite heel.

[Tampabaybob]

It just seems to me that your feet are too fast and a bit slower would keep you balanced better.

[billf]

http://youtu.be/RQ58amQvt98

Any better?

[J Anderson]

http://youtu.be/RQ58amQvt98

Any better?

Looks pretty good from here in CT. Seriously, your balance arm wasn't lazy and your right foot stayed on the ground. I'll let Bob do his own complaining the that you didn't post the shot until the ball dropped into the pit.

[billf]

At least it was past the arrows before I moved lol
John, as soon as I moved I told myself Bob would give me heck for moving.

[Tampabaybob]

http://youtu.be/RQ58amQvt98

Any better?

YES !!



Looks pretty good from here in CT. Seriously, your balance arm wasn't lazy and your right foot stayed on the ground. I'll let Bob do his own complaining the that you didn't post the shot until the ball dropped into the pit.

You caught that too John ???? LOL


At least it was past the arrows before I moved lol
John, as soon as I moved I told myself Bob would give me heck for moving.

One of these days' I'll have my daughter shoot a video of my approach and give you guy's a chance to pick me apart also. 90% of the time, I usually can & do stay balanced all the way through the shot, however, if I'm in a heated match during my league, I usually will do some strange follow through techniques "after" releasing the ball. Due to very high adrenaline rush at the line ! This also works a bit on psyching out ones' opponent in certain cases. I've been know to pull many "tricks" outa my bag. All's fair in love, war and bowling !!