More practice or less, or it's a wall shot it doesn't matter

[fokai73]

What part of the title does your bowling reflect?

Need more practice to get better.

Need less bowling, too much bowling is ruining your game.

Or, who needs practice? it's a house shot.

[mishatx]

Never a such thing as too much

[mishatx]

regardless of the pattern, you can still work on timing, spares, something

[Hammer]

I am 70 years old and have been bowling for 30 years. Because of my age and some body issues I don't practice anymore. After bowling for so long just know what to do from years of experience. On my last league night I bowled a 154 after the house gave me and my wife just 2 minutes to warm up. God, could they spare it? Second game was a 190 and the third was a 243. Changed balls for the third game and it worked out great. I was recently thinking on putting in some practice.

[KYDave]

I practice a lot.

Sometimes it is because I want to improve something. So I concentrate on working on that one thing.

Other times I do it for feel, just to keep fresh on my game.

But really, in the end I just love to bowl.

[stargell1]

Never a such thing as too much

That's what I thought until I got tendinitis/golfers elbow from practicing too much. I am in my mid 40's. Younger people can play more without getting injured. I havnt bowled in two months and still have not recovered from this crap.

[J Anderson]

That's what I thought until I got tendinitis/golfers elbow from practicing too much. I am in my mid 40's. Younger people can play more without getting injured. I havnt bowled in two months and still have not recovered from this crap.

We insist that our youth bowlers warm up and stretch before throwing a ball on saturdays. Unfortunately, we forget about this in the summer when youth league moves to monday evening. And then, of course, when they're at the alley see their parents or grandparents bowl in adult leagues, they realize that 90% of adult bowlerseither do not warm up first, or the warm up consists of walking to the bar and carrying back a pitcher of beer

When you do recover, I have two suggestions. One is to have the fit of your bowling balls checked by the best PSO in your area. Rhino Pages career was almost cut short due to wrist injuries caused by incorrectly fitted balls. The second is have a qualified coach take a look at your swingto make sure there isn't something that you are doing that's putting extra strain on the elbow.

[LOUVIT]

I think more practice but practice what you need practice on. My issue is that if I make a bad shot I move on the approach. I need to learn to stick it out and find where I belong. I know moving is part of the game but not every frame or 2. Yesterday my ball was diving through the nose on 3 shots. I moved left and it wouldn't come back and I kept going light. I wish I had more speed control bit I only throw like 12.5 and that's forcing the ball.

[fordman1]

Both of my leagues turn the practice lights on 15 minutes before we start. All they do is destroy the pattern. By the time I bowl one game I am luck to have a shot. 5 Minutes should be the max.
It turns into a speed contest and once you get a older throwing more speed isn't an option.
Neither is going just to practice a few games. It takes a day or two to recover.

[fokai73]

Never a such thing as too much


I guess you were never in organized sports. If you were, you had bad examples for coaches and trainers. I've been around sports from high school to the pros; as an athlete to a coach.

you need to practice on practice with a mentality like that. It's quality not quantity.

[LOUVIT]

Both of my leagues turn the practice lights on 15 minutes before we start. All they do is destroy the pattern. By the time I bowl one game I am luck to have a shot. 5 Minutes should be the max.
It turns into a speed contest and once you get a older throwing more speed isn't an option.
Neither is going just to practice a few games. It takes a day or two to recover.

we have 10 minutes with pins practice before league but that is for 8 people to warm up. I don't like when people throw a shot and foul on purpose if it's not a strike. That leaves the next guy 1 shot. I am warming up to get my body to function not to throw a strike.

In the old days we had 10 minutes of shadow, no pins during warm up.

[NewToBowling]

I like the idea of shadow practice/warm ups

[J Anderson]

we have 10 minutes with pins practice before league but that is for 8 people to warm up. I don't like when people throw a shot and foul on purpose if it's not a strike. That leaves the next guy 1 shot. I am warming up to get my body to function not to throw a strike.

In the old days we had 10 minutes of shadow, no pins during warm up.

For the first 30 years that I bowled, it was in one league and everyone threw full frames in practice. It wasn't till I started bowling in other more serious leagues that I ran into the "practice foul line stompers". I get the fact that they want to find a good strike like fast, and that stomping gives the next guy a full rack to shoot. My problem with them is that they don't really read the lanes. They go right to their favorite line, make whatever small adjustment they need to hit the pocket, and then keep right on playing there. Then when they need to shoot a spare it's all dumb luck because no one has any idea what the lane is like outside of the track.

[fordman1]

Since I already got us off topic what about keeping score when you practice? I don't think it is a good idea then you start worrying about your score rather than what you need practice on. I love the guy who when asked if they have ever hit a 300 game and they say "3 or 4 in practice" which means "no" If it isn't in league or a certified tournament you didn't do it.

[KYDave]

Ok, let me ask this.

If you go bowling and it is not in a league or tournament, is that practice? Or is that bowling?

[NewToBowling]

Ok, let me ask this.

If you go bowling and it is not in a league or tournament, is that practice? Or is that bowling?

It's bowling to me. I do keep score in bowling and to me bowling is just fun. I really don't practice, I just go Bowl.

[got_a_300]

I love the guy who when asked if they have ever hit a 300 game and they say "3 or 4 in practice" which means "no" If it isn't in league or a certified tournament you didn't do it.

A 300 game is a 300 game no matter if it is league/tournament or open bowling/practice
it is still a 300 game if you throw 12 strikes in a row in a single game.

[fokai73]

Every bowler has their idea of practice.

There are those who consider the 10 15 mins before leagues practice. I personally don't like to call it practice.

I can bet money that MAJORITY of bowlers, even the ones on this site, spend most of their practice sessions just bowling. Whatever reflects on the monitor will either be a good or bad session. Very small percentage do drills. Very small percentage plan their session, and if they do, they don't really do what they had planned - they just bowl.

I understand bowling isn't cheap and who wants to spend their money doing one step drills, foul line drills, and stuff like that. I have yet to see one person do drills every single time I go practice. Nobody here does it unless they are being coached, or are in a high school/college team.

practice can be fun if you play games like low ball. Lowest score wins, loser buys food or pays for practice.

Other practice games we've played is pickle nickle or nickle pickle... with the permission from the house, we tape down a nickle between 40-43' down lane on the last lane on the right and see how many times we can hit it during one game. A set of "three in a row" is a bonus point. So if you hit it three in a row, that's 4 points. Every hit is one point, But with new management, we use tape only.......two pieces of tape that is 2 or 3 inches/boards apart.

[LOUVIT]

I need the warm up before the league to get my hand and body loose not to find a line even though they coincide, My fingers take a few shots to get the lift I need, and God knows my back and legs need to know....ok we are bowling now......lol

[mc_runner]

One of the very few times I have tried to give advice was fairly recently when a guy on one of my leagues was next to me in practice and kept complaining that he didn't know how to throw his spare ball that he just got. 2 games in and he had left maybe 4-5 10 pins, and dumped all of his spares into the gutter. I happened to be practicing 10 pins next to him (1 shot at the 10, try to clean up the spare) and showed him what I was doing with the game... it's how I got used to my first plastic. I dunno - I don't see a point to going for score in practice. If you're there to learn a new ball reaction/spare shot, work on it.

[Tony]

I went for about 10 years without throwing any warm-up balls before leagues, I was young and in shape, a few stretches was all I needed. I rarely practiced, I was too busy doing other things.....

Now fast forward and I throw balls in warm-up and stretch to try and get loosened up. I also try to go and practice once a week or so, I throw a game of first ball 10 pins then usually throw 3 , usually trying to learn to throw different lines, speeds, and hand positions.

I was invited to come "practice" at a buddies open league session, it's a walk in league costs only 8.00 dollars and he's there coaching. He's a bronze coach and is over 70 and still averaging 215 , might be a good way to improve my game.