Consistancy Tips?

[Lloyd6770]

Hi All! I just joined the forum, and my main reason was to get some tips to improve consistency. I'm happy with my overall average where it is, but I get frustrated with the lack of consistency, and was hoping you guys might be able to help me out.

I've broken down my last 8 weeks of bowling to kind of give an idea of what I'm talking about by highlighting the top/bottom 15% of my scores.

http://i.imgur.com/yEfKlWl.png

Thanks!

[fortheloveofbowling]

First of all, welcome to the site. Give us a little back round on your game such as how long you have been bowling, the equipment you are using, dry or slick lanes, etc. That may help with understanding what is going on. Anyway, what stands out to me looking at the scores in your 3rd game average. It is 11 pins lower than the overall and 18 lower than the 2nd game. That tells me transition may be causing a lot of issues. Reading lane conditions is something that comes with time and as you learn more it will help your average a lot. Consistency comes with practice though like everything else. There are some things that can help though. Give us some info on the things i mentioned before and i'm sure a lot of us will have tips. Maybe more than what you want. HAHA

[Amyers]

As fortheloveofbowling said give us some more information. I noticed the drop off in the third games of the series also. Let us know what your throwing conditions and as much of your stats (ball speed,revs) as you can and maybe a general idea of what lines and adjustments you've been making.

[Aslan]

Yeah, the scores are less indicitive of the problem than is your style and the details (spare %, strike %, splits, leaves, atc...)

I used to be very inconsisteny. And the solution was improved spare shooting and a focus on accuracy over rpms/mph. With only the scores to go on, my initial conclusion is you bowl thumbless or are a cranker or 2-handed. Those styles tend to yield higher scores and be less consistent.

Also would explain why the 3rd game is averaging lower. As the lanes dry up, you can't keep the ball right of the headpin with higher rev styles...or at least not as easy to do. But again, just a guess...it could also be you play primarily 2nd arrow and by game three that line has dried up...which affects every style.

Hard to say with just the scores.

[Shaneshu87]

i have always felt that part of consistency is timing, i'm not sure how your timing is but there are some great videos on youtube that illustrate proper timing in your approach. i do have to agree the looks of your games shows that your not handling game 3 very well. is your ball over reacting? under reacting? is your arm/wrist/hand tired or maybe swollen? there are allot of changes that happen during the course of three games that can force you to make changes. on a house shot as the night progresses you tend to move left (if your a righty) into the oil to compensate for the over reaction of your ball. if your put allot of power behind your ball, by game 3 you could just be getting tired, that can be fixed with enough practice. my thumb tends to swell up through the night and i'm am forced to use easy slide to prevent sticking, or thumb tape before game 1. those are just a few things to consider.

[Lloyd6770]

Thank you for the replies! I will do my best to answer the questions, but I won't be able to answer some.

Background - I started to get more in to bowling about 12 years ago, that's when I got my first ball. I've never bowled in leagues or tournaments or anything like that, it's just always with friends/family. However, in the last 2-3 months, I've gotten back in to it. There was a span of about 5 years where I probably went 2-3 times per year.

Equipment - I throw a 15lb. Brunswick Slingshot. I'm a righty. I do not own a spare ball (yet). For the 4/7/8 pins, I throw my normal throw, but slow the ball down a bit. I know it's not right, but for the 6/9/10 pins, I throw the ball left-handed with a big sweeping hook.

Grip - I have a normal grip, not thumbless or two-handed. I do not use a fingertip grip either. However, my hands are pretty large, and I'm assuming as in baseball, larger hands equals more spin on the ball. I don't specifically try to crank the ball when I throw, but I do get a decent hook at the end of the lane. Revolutions, I couldn't even begin to guess.

Throw - I use a 5-step approach, although it's more like 4 1/2 steps, as my first step can't be any bigger than about 4-6 inches. When I release the ball, my left foot is just inside toe 2nd to the left dot. My ball fades out to the right to roughly the 2nd from the right arrow. Ball speed pretty consistently stays around 15.25-15.5mph.

Conditions - I honestly don't know. I don't know what an "average" lane condition is. I rarely have trouble with my ball hooking too little, so I guess I'd have to say the lanes are usually on the average to dry side by the end of the night? Don't quote me on that one though.

By game 3, I think it's a conditioning issue with me, not with the lanes, hah. Maybe both. I have a tendency for game 3 to not get my ball out to the 2nd arrow, so it naturally ends up hooking too far left. Now as for strike/spare percentages, that's not something I'd ever considered keeping track of, so any number I put out there would be a pure guess. I will start trying to keep track of those stats as well.

[mc_runner]

Just a quick thing, if you do end up joining a sanctioned league you won't be able to bowl the right side spares with your left hand, if you're throwing everything else righty.

For your third game... maybe try a 2-1 adjustment (2 boards left wiht your feet, 1 board left with your mark). Also, work on spares! that's where you'll pick up the most average. 1 more spare per game can be an extra 10 pins on your average.

[Amyers]

Thank you for the replies! I will do my best to answer the questions, but I won't be able to answer some.

Background - I started to get more in to bowling about 12 years ago, that's when I got my first ball. I've never bowled in leagues or tournaments or anything like that, it's just always with friends/family. However, in the last 2-3 months, I've gotten back in to it. There was a span of about 5 years where I probably went 2-3 times per year.

Equipment - I throw a 15lb. Brunswick Slingshot. I'm a righty. I do not own a spare ball (yet). For the 4/7/8 pins, I throw my normal throw, but slow the ball down a bit. I know it's not right, but for the 6/9/10 pins, I throw the ball left-handed with a big sweeping hook.

Grip - I have a normal grip, not thumbless or two-handed. I do not use a fingertip grip either. However, my hands are pretty large, and I'm assuming as in baseball, larger hands equals more spin on the ball. I don't specifically try to crank the ball when I throw, but I do get a decent hook at the end of the lane. Revolutions, I couldn't even begin to guess.

Throw - I use a 5-step approach, although it's more like 4 1/2 steps, as my first step can't be any bigger than about 4-6 inches. When I release the ball, my left foot is just inside toe 2nd to the left dot. My ball fades out to the right to roughly the 2nd from the right arrow. Ball speed pretty consistently stays around 15.25-15.5mph.

Conditions - I honestly don't know. I don't know what an "average" lane condition is. I rarely have trouble with my ball hooking too little, so I guess I'd have to say the lanes are usually on the average to dry side by the end of the night? Don't quote me on that one though.

By game 3, I think it's a conditioning issue with me, not with the lanes, hah. Maybe both. I have a tendency for game 3 to not get my ball out to the 2nd arrow, so it naturally ends up hooking too far left. Now as for strike/spare percentages, that's not something I'd ever considered keeping track of, so any number I put out there would be a pure guess. I will start trying to keep track of those stats as well.

For starters you may be losing ball speed as the night goes on. You may want to bowl your practice session in 5 game blocks that way when you are doing your 3 game league its actually less than you practice.

You will also need to move your targets and feet to the left as the night goes on. As you throw over the same line you deplete the oil there making the ball hook sooner and more.

I would get out of the habit of throwing lefty on the spares as you may want to bowl a sanctioned league or tourney where that would not be allowed.

[Shaneshu87]

yes the best way to improve your conditioning is to practice more, and by more i mean more games at a time, i personally can bowl 10-20 games in a practice session (switching lanes every 3-4 sets) and if i'm bowling alone i can tend to whip them out in about an hour, i don't focus on high scores when i practice i focus on things like consistency, release, targeting, and timing

[Lloyd6770]

I am planning on giving up the lefty-spare throwing as soon as I get a plastic spare ball. I actually have a gift card somewhere that would allow me to get a 2nd ball, just a matter of finding it. I know it's not a good habit to be in.

I will work on the conditioning (In the last 2 weeks, I've joined a gym, so hopefully as I lose weight, that will help with the conditioning all on its' own). Another help would probably be bowling more than once a week. Maybe I'll try to up it to twice a week, and then we'll go from there.

I will try adjusting my approach for game 3 when I bowl tomorrow, and I'll report back here on how it goes.

Thanks for all the tips guys, I appreciate it!

[fortheloveofbowling]

There is nothing wrong with that average man, a lot of people would like to average 172. With that average you are probably throwing a decent amount of strikes. Get a spare ball which you can usually pay around 75.00 drilled. Go out and practice spares, find out where you need to stand to hit the 2-3-4-6-7-10 pins and remember those spots. Take an entire practice session or the majority of one to ingrain those angles in your mind. If you make just 2 extra spares in a 3 game set your average increases by 7-8 pins! Spare shooting at any level is very important but at your current level you can see a great increase in your average by really focusing on that in your practice sessions. Good luck man!

[Lloyd6770]

Hello again.

Fortheloveofbowling - I am very happy with a 172 average considering I have no actual training, bowl once a week, no spare ball, etc. The consistency is what I am unhappy with.

So, my bowling this past weekend went as expected. Game 1 close to average, game 2 above average, and game 3 was terrible. However, I did keep track of my strikes/spares/etc this time.

http://i.imgur.com/a7WCaZU.png

What I noticed is kind of what I said earlier, game 3, I start having problems getting my ball out to the 2nd arrow. I end up throwing it closer to mid lane, then it obviously hooks too far left. One thing to note was this week, one lane was probably average, but one lane was very slick. The slick lane, I ended up having to adjust so that when I released the ball, my left foot was on the center dot.

[fortheloveofbowling]

Keep working on it. One of the hardest things to learn is adjusting your line and getting out of a comfort zone in order to find a line that works for you. Good luck!

[Emery]

When practicing spares, do you just throw at a full rack? Or is there a way to adjust the rack so only 10 pins or 6 pins or whatever spare you want to practice comes out?

[Hampe]

That depends on the software/pin setter machines at the center you're playing at. Some are capable of setting up certain pins. The 2 centers I practice at are not capable of that, so when I practice spares I just shoot at a full rack.

[Lloyd6770]

Emery/Hampe - I honestly have no idea if that is possible or not. I didn't even know that was a thing. I will check in to that when I'm there this weekend.

I guess to answer your question Emery, I throw at whatever spare I leave if my first ball doesn't strike.

[Amyers]

Hello again.

Fortheloveofbowling - I am very happy with a 172 average considering I have no actual training, bowl once a week, no spare ball, etc. The consistency is what I am unhappy with.

So, my bowling this past weekend went as expected. Game 1 close to average, game 2 above average, and game 3 was terrible. However, I did keep track of my strikes/spares/etc this time.

http://i.imgur.com/a7WCaZU.png

What I noticed is kind of what I said earlier, game 3, I start having problems getting my ball out to the 2nd arrow. I end up throwing it closer to mid lane, then it obviously hooks too far left. One thing to note was this week, one lane was probably average, but one lane was very slick. The slick lane, I ended up having to adjust so that when I released the ball, my left foot was on the center dot.

Its hard to say exactly what is causing that problem with you not getting the ball far enough right in that third game. You may unknowingly be closing your shoulders and hips more or it could be that you're depleting the oil out of your line and the ball is starting earlier. I would suggest moving your feet a little to the left and your target a little to the left open your shoulders and hips up and give it a little extra room to the right when that starts to happen and see if it helps.

[Lloyd6770]

Things keep getting more out of hand. Here is my scores from this past Saturday.

http://i.imgur.com/sfv1dat.png

As you can plainly see, splits were my biggest pain this weekend. Seven total splits in 3 games, only picking up 1... Ouch... I only had 4 open frames in the 3 games combined that were not splits.

For the 3rd game, I tried shifting to the left just a tad bit, but I still seemed to throw almost straight instead of out to the right. So I figured if I'm going to throw straight, I may as well shift to the right so my ball will end up more where I want it to. The problem with that is, there is too much rotation on the ball. If I were able to drop it on the farthest right board with my rotation throwing the ball straight, I think the ball would end up in the left gutter before it reached the pins. I almost feel like I need to get a less reactive ball for game 3, or something along those lines. But I also feel that might just be a Band-Aid for the real problem.

Full disclosure - I have been fighting a hamstring issue along with my ring finger being very sore for the last 6-7 weeks or so. With my hamstring, I pulled it bowling about 7 weeks ago. Some nights it doesn't bug me, and I barely notice it, some nights, it is painful to throw, as it gets tight in my landing leg. With my ring finger knuckle, I'm not sure what happened. I think part of the problem is I pop my knuckles, and I might have injured it bowling, and then continually popped the knuckle, has caused some swelling.

[Amyers]

Moving to the right is not going to be the answer for you and a less reactive balls not going to really help either as the slingshot is not a particulary aggressive ball anyway.

What you need to work on is moving left and throwing the ball more to the right. I'm guessing you like to play more up the boards stand right throw left but as the night goes on your either burning up your line or continuing to close your hips and shoulder. This is something that takes practice and getting used to I'm still figuring it out some myself.

Try standing on 25 throwing across 15 and get the ball out to at least 10 or 5 at the point where it would start to hook (break point). Start off this way for a couple of games in practice. Even if the ball doesn't make it back to the pocket that's okay it will get you used to throwing with that motion so you know how to do it when these third games come around.

I also line up with my right foot a little more behind my left foot and make sure I aim my shoulder at my target and reach out for the target during release. This takes some getting used too I still find myself closing up when playing these lines sometimes as it's just different

[classygranny]

It sounds like you may be experiencing something I have trouble with. As the bowling goes on, sometimes I tend to get my feet going a little to fast (for what reason, I have no idea). When this happens, I do miss my mark and the release is not clean. The more "tired" I get, the more I have to watch the speed of my feet.

[RobLV1]

I realize that by saying this, I'm potentially opening up a can of worms, but the fact of the matter is that on a house shot, as the oil changes, the move is NEVER to the right for a right handed bowler. Common sense says that on a condition that starts out with plenty of friction on the outside, where modern bowling balls are absorbing oil each time they go down the lane, that the only way to retain the power in the ball is to move left to find more oil. Please don't tell me that you have to move right because of carrydown. I really don't want to go down that road again.

[MICHAEL]

I realize that by saying this, I'm potentially opening up a can of worms, but the fact of the matter is that on a house shot, as the oil changes, the move is NEVER to the right for a right handed bowler. Common sense says that on a condition that starts out with plenty of friction on the outside, where modern bowling balls are absorbing oil each time they go down the lane, that the only way to retain the power in the ball is to move left to find more oil. Please don't tell me that you have to move right because of carrydown. I really don't want to go down that road again.


If we did go down that Road Rob,,,, which way,,,, should we always go to the left?? :rolleyes:


http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad312/DarkestEye/country_crossroads_zpsc6e6eaea.png (http://media.photobucket.com/user/DarkestEye/media/country_crossroads_zpsc6e6eaea.png.html)

[Shaneshu87]

I realize that by saying this, I'm potentially opening up a can of worms, but the fact of the matter is that on a house shot, as the oil changes, the move is NEVER to the right for a right handed bowler. Common sense says that on a condition that starts out with plenty of friction on the outside, where modern bowling balls are absorbing oil each time they go down the lane, that the only way to retain the power in the ball is to move left to find more oil. Please don't tell me that you have to move right because of carrydown. I really don't want to go down that road again.

i have seen, all too often, people move right on a house shot, however it is do to the lack strength in their wrist. they are basically just getting tired, this causes their revs to take a decrease and therefore a move right was the best option. if you do not have that problem then the only logical move to make as your games wrap up is left

[Lloyd6770]

Rob - I promise, I wasn't trying to open a can of worms! Please keep the worms in their safe and upright position! I was only saying that I tried moving right because I wasn't able to get my ball to move right enough. However, I realized quickly that that wasn't the solution either, so in this case, I definitely agree with you.

Michael - Take the road less traveled, more oil there!

Shane - I don't think it's a wrist problem, as there is definitely no noticeable loss in my revs. I think it might be a body positioning/timing problem.

When I throw this weekend, I will give it more than 2-3 frames before I change my starting position again. I will also try to get a friend to record me throwing a couple balls in each game, so I can see what the difference is in my approach/shot.