Quest for Good Bowlers

[bobforsaken]

I bowl a lot on lanes after open bowling etc. I can bowl one day and really struggle to stay above 170 and the next day average 210 for a series. I've been tracking for the last two months my games, but I've been only tracking games that are on decently fresh lane conditions. My average the last two months has been around 205 in doing so. I think in many ways I was getting down on myself or trying to "correct" a perceived issue because the lanes were all chopped up on some days.

So my question is this.. Do those of you who consider yourself good bowlers avoid the chopped up "after glow bowling" lane conditions or do you average just as well regardless of the condition and just learn to adjust to those horrible conditions better than I have been able to do?

[Amyers]

If the lanes are dry (especially on the heads) I suck just period... I really only consider my league averages which are on supposedly fresh conditions (not so sure this summer :mad:). I don't really track my open bowling scores. I can adjust to a certain point but I do reach a point where it's just frustrating.

[rv driver]

MY house has 40 lanes and they oil every morning. If I can get there on a day off or something, I can bowl all morning on fresh oil. Quite a good setup for me. Plus I know the owner and the house manager.

[mc_runner]

In practice I've bowled on a variety of conditions ranging from THS to totally burnt heads that start to hook just past the arrows (and then carry down further in the lane). I don't track practice scores, because I'm usually working on something, but generally I try to adjust to whatever the condition is since I feel it makes me more comfortable with different shots/conditions.

[bobforsaken]

I pretty much bowl on whatever I get, but I'm starting to improve more, the less I play on really bad lane conditions, and my confidence is improving. I was just curious is good bowlers avoided bad lane conditions in practice to keep their confidence up or to prevent bad habits.

[Amyers]

I pretty much bowl on whatever I get, but I'm starting to improve more, the less I play on really bad lane conditions, and my confidence is improving. I was just curious is good bowlers avoided bad lane conditions in practice to keep their confidence up or to prevent bad habits.

Developing bad habits is the issue I fight with it most. I can change my release or alter my footwork to help on playing on poor conditions and score better but often that leads me to fixing things later when back on league conditions. I try not to do that.

[dougb]

I bowl on whatever I can get, but I think it's good to bowl on challenging conditions. I bowled on lanes so beat up this week it forced me to stand on 40 and play out to 14. I have never played that deep before, but I found out what my new Melee Jab can do!

[GeoLes]

I bowl a lot on lanes after open bowling etc. I can bowl one day and really struggle to stay above 170 and the next day average 210 for a series. I've been tracking for the last two months my games, but I've been only tracking games that are on decently fresh lane conditions. My average the last two months has been around 205 in doing so. I think in many ways I was getting down on myself or trying to "correct" a perceived issue because the lanes were all chopped up on some days.

So my question is this.. Do those of you who consider yourself good bowlers avoid the chopped up "after glow bowling" lane conditions or do you average just as well regardless of the condition and just learn to adjust to those horrible conditions better than I have been able to do?


I try very hard not go be driven crazy by the numbers. I only track my league play numbers. At other times, I practice to eliminate bad habits and/or reinforce good habits. At the end of each practice session, I observe my score to see if I am on track. Even then, if not on track. Something I may be changing may have a longer learning curve leading to temporary lower scores. Not a worry. If you can properly deliver the ball each and every time, you can adjust to match lane conditons

When I practice, I find myself focusing on technique. In league, I try to relax and focus on how my delivery feels. (no I don't try to get higher scores. The seems to make me screw up)

[John Anderson]

I bowl on just about anything other than sport/challenge patterns. Fresh, old, the really really old, are all fair game. Fresh is so much easier, but broken down is okay too once you figure it out. I don't average quite as well the first game on broken down lanes unless I get a few practice shots in first. After that though, it doesn't bother me to be on used lanes. My scores don't drop on burnt lanes. They would probably take quite the hit on a fresh sport pattern though.

[Aslan]

I'm not really a "good bowler"...but I find that on fresh conditions I usually don't do well. Once I get a line kinda burnt into the lane...then I'll throw some decent games...then things break down and I'm forced too far left out of my comfort zone and it's back to scoring badly.

It's very, very difficult to bowl on freshly oiled lanes for practice...at least around here. One house oils only in the morning. Two houses only oil pre-league play. And one of those houses is open 24 hours but if you go there after leagues are done...you won't see fresh oil until just before the morning senior leagues show up.

I keep track of scores...but mainly only to keep track of the stats that go along with the games. At the end, I'm less interested in the scores and more interested in whether one series where I did X went better than the series where I did Y....or what my single-pin spare pick-up % was....stuff like that. And if I don't keep score....I got no stats.

[bobforsaken]

Developing bad habits is the issue I fight with it most. I can change my release or alter my footwork to help on playing on poor conditions and score better but often that leads me to fixing things later when back on league conditions. I try not to do that.

Pretty much exactly what I'm talking about and what I think has really slowed my development in many ways.. although playing burned up lanes has given me an opportunity to get much more comfortable playing deeper... I should say when I'm good enough to switch between releases, add loft.. alter speed etc.. I guess it won't matter much.. but for a developing player, those changes to the game that you have to unlearn during regular conditions really screws me up.

[RobLV1]

I bowl on whatever I can get, but I think it's good to bowl on challenging conditions. I bowled on lanes so beat up this week it forced me to stand on 40 and play out to 14. I have never played that deep before, but I found out what my new Melee Jab can do!

If you are standing 40 and throwing out to 14, then you are either walking considerably right, or the ball is way out from your body. In either case, you need to learn to walk straight and keep a tight line when you move left.

[Mike White]

If you are standing 40 and throwing out to 14, then you are either walking considerably right, or the ball is way out from your body. In either case, you need to learn to walk straight and keep a tight line when you move left.

Just because you don't understand it, doesn't make it impossible for someone else to do it.

[HowDoIHookAgain]

Since it's summer, and I really don't have a league going (the nearest center that has a good league over summer is about a 35 minute drive away), I have no choice but to count every game I can squeeze in on the "lanes" I bowl on. Keep in mind these lanes are terrible, and I'm still trying to perfect the new ball I got a month ago (though I have been doing better as of late). So I'm almost forced to practice on dry, terrible lane conditions, as I can't get a license and drive wherever I want to.

But, on the plus side of things, at least I have some time to get in open bowling so I don't get rusty before school ball starts up again!

[J Anderson]

If you are standing 40 and throwing out to 14, then you are either walking considerably right, or the ball is way out from your body. In either case, you need to learn to walk straight and keep a tight line when you move left.

He didn't say how far down lane he was hitting 14.

[mc_runner]

Yeah, it sounds like his breakpoint was 14.

[dougb]

Yeah, it sounds like his breakpoint was 14.

My breakpoint was 14 (right next to the marker arrow) and I checked my foot position at the foul line after every shot. I tend to drift a few boards left but never right. I was standing in front of the left gutter after I posted my shots.

[RobLV1]

Normally when we talk about where we are standing and where we are "throwing out to," we are talking about where are feet are and where we are looking at the arrows. If this was something different, then I certainly stand corrected. If we do not use the same terminology among us, how are we supposed to communicate?

[NewToBowling]

Normally when we talk about where we are standing and where we are "throwing out to," we are talking about where are feet are and where we are looking at the arrows. If this was something different, then I certainly stand corrected. If we do not use the same terminology among us, how are we supposed to communicate?

Sounds like dougb clarified things.

[vdubtx]

Don't think dougb clarified things. Was his breakpoint really at the arrows 15 ft down lane? Or is he bowling on lanes that have the same set of marker arrows further down the lane?

When I go for practice, I don't really care what the scores are. As long as I get my approach, timing and release feeling good and repeatable. I work with every ball in my bags and also shoot at just 10 pins for at least a full game.

[GeoLes]

Since it's summer, and I really don't have a league going (the nearest center that has a good league over summer is about a 35 minute drive away), I have no choice but to count every game I can squeeze in on the "lanes" I bowl on. Keep in mind these lanes are terrible, and I'm still trying to perfect the new ball I got a month ago (though I have been doing better as of late). So I'm almost forced to practice on dry, terrible lane conditions, as I can't get a license and drive wherever I want to.

But, on the plus side of things, at least I have some time to get in open bowling so I don't get rusty before school ball starts up again!

I attend a group bowling lesson and obaserve a couple of kids in the group who seem to focus exclusively on getting strikes. Regardless of how they got the strike, the strike is all that counts to them. While score is important, getting the best and most consistent mechanics is even more important.

When I do track my scores, I do so on a smart phone app. Mine tracks score, # of strikes, # of spares, # of missed and # of splits. The strike/spare/miss/split stats are far more important to me than anything else. If I close my frames and get more strikes due to improved and consistent technique, the pinflall will naturally follow. At least that is the way I see it.

[bobforsaken]

I attend a group bowling lesson and obaserve a couple of kids in the group who seem to focus exclusively on getting strikes. Regardless of how they got the strike, the strike is all that counts to them. While score is important, getting the best and most consistent mechanics is even more important.

When I do track my scores, I do so on a smart phone app. Mine tracks score, # of strikes, # of spares, # of missed and # of splits. The strike/spare/miss/split stats are far more important to me than anything else. If I close my frames and get more strikes due to improved and consistent technique, the pinflall will naturally follow. At least that is the way I see it.

That is similar to the program I use. (Bowling Scorer Free). its pretty cool to see your percentages with each spare so that you know what to work on. you also see how much you are leaving something. True the score doesn't matter in practice, but what I am trying to work on is seeing the need for adjustments and anticipating them. To do that you have to bowl like a regular game (for score).

[HowDoIHookAgain]

I attend a group bowling lesson and obaserve a couple of kids in the group who seem to focus exclusively on getting strikes. Regardless of how they got the strike, the strike is all that counts to them. While score is important, getting the best and most consistent mechanics is even more important.

When I do track my scores, I do so on a smart phone app. Mine tracks score, # of strikes, # of spares, # of missed and # of splits. The strike/spare/miss/split stats are far more important to me than anything else. If I close my frames and get more strikes due to improved and consistent technique, the pinflall will naturally follow. At least that is the way I see it.

I completely understand your reasoning. I'd rather have 9/'s a whole game (comes to about 190 I think) than string together 6 lucky strikes and miss every spare attempt (should still come out to around the same score). I really haven't been able to find an app to track my spare/strike percentages and such, but the app that Bob shared seems like a promising app to use. When I get the chance, I'll give it a shot and see how it works!

[J Anderson]

I attend a group bowling lesson and obaserve a couple of kids in the group who seem to focus exclusively on getting strikes. Regardless of how they got the strike, the strike is all that counts to them. While score is important, getting the best and most consistent mechanics is even more important.

I was coaching our free clinic for youth bowlers today. When there's only one coach present it winds up more an hour and a half of free bowling than focused practice. The four oldest kids tend to compete against each other instead of working on the weak points in their games.