Completed my first coaching session today/update.........

[Hammer]

Evidently my 31 years of bowling experience was not all that bad. Two of the things he pointed out to iron out in practice games are not to set up with too much knee bend and to try and stay a little longer behind the ball before my thumb comes out and I turn my hand just a little. Oh, another thing he noticed is that when I get close to the release zone I sometimes have a tendency to try and put something on the ball or to help it go down the lane. He said to just let the weight of the ball do the work in the downswing. When I didn't help the ball I had very nice revs and a beautiful arc to the pocket that really hit hard with good carry. When you help the ball you don't stay consistent at your breakpoint. Sometimes it will be spot on and other times it will slide too far past the breakpoint changing how the ball hits the pocket.

So for me to practice is less knee bend in the setup, don't help the ball go down the alley let the weight of the ball do the work and try to stay behind the ball longer at least until it gets to my sliding foot ankle and then the thumb comes out and I uncup and turn my hand just a little. I should have more of the shake hands position when that happens and to make sure my hand goes towards my target arrow on the alley. What I try to picture to help me with that release is to pretend that I am rolling a ball down a hallway in my house to hit a target a few feet away and my hand when I do that stays behind the ball to make that possible.

There is definitely a fine line there when the ball gets next to your sliding ankle. You can easily start turning right before your hand gets to your ankle or you can train yourself to stay behind a little longer so when your thumb comes out and your turn your hand a little you get good revs and you let the ball do all of the work. These new balls don't need our help.

[Hammer]

After the coaching session I went and bowled 3 practice games to practice the different techniques Kevin told me to correct. The first two games were just trying to get used to the new techniques. The 3rd game I was more comfortable and ended up bowling a 196 with no open frames. Nothing like a clean game.

[Sourtower]

Looking forward to hearing about your 300/800 series in the upcoming weeks! I usually only go bowling with a close friend of mine because I'm able to point out things he may not realize he's doing and he's able to point out things that I may not realize I'm doing and we're able to work on our games. Steel sharpening steel.

[vdubtx]

Sounds like a good session Hammer. Thinking of your knee bend, was it that pronounced to change it up? That is one thing that I am looking at now as I have a bit more pronounced knee bend than just back in June. I do it to help tame my speed, but that is one thing for me to practice this next week is to get back to where I was after my lesson Susie Minshew. Gonna dig for my notes and get back to some basics.

[Hendu71]

Wow. After 31 years I'm surprised he was able to come up with something about your form that no ones ever pointed out to you before.

[Hammer]

Sounds like a good session Hammer. Thinking of your knee bend, was it that pronounced to change it up? That is one thing that I am looking at now as I have a bit more pronounced knee bend than just back in June. I do it to help tame my speed, but that is one thing for me to practice this next week is to get back to where I was after my lesson Susie Minshew. Gonna dig for my notes and get back to some basics.

I did have too much knee bend at the start of my approach. He said that I should start with a slight knee bend and as the approach gets closer to the foul line the knee bend gets lower. Starting out as low as I did it didn't leave any room for me to get lower as I got closer to the foul line because I was already there.

[Hammer]

Wow. After 31 years I'm surprised he was able to come up with something about your form that no ones ever pointed out to you before.

It only goes to show you that if you don't take any bowling lessons you can be doing something wrong even after 31 years and not even realize it. The bowling swing is hard to notice if something in that swing and release is not quite right. So for me it was using to much muscle in the swing instead of letting the weight of the ball do the work. The other thing was to stay behind the ball until it got to my sliding ankle before the thumb comes out and I make the slight turn of my hand. So my technique didn't need a total rebuild just tweeking.

[foreverincamo]

Sounds like a great session. Coaching works wonders .

[ralphs007]

It only goes to show you that if you don't take any bowling lessons you can be doing something wrong even after 31 years and not even realize it. The bowling swing is hard to notice if something in that swing and release is not quite right. So for me it was using to much muscle in the swing instead of letting the weight of the ball do the work. The other thing was to stay behind the ball until it got to my sliding ankle before the thumb comes out and I make the slight turn of my hand. So my technique didn't need a total rebuild just tweeking.

Now all you need to do is video record your swing during practice to see if your doing what your coach recommended. I've never believed in the old saying "It takes 10,000 new swings to make something permanent" . I do believe it takes a lot of practice though. Plus if bowlings anything like golf, your old faults have a tendency to try and sneak back into your swing.