What to do when you can't ball down?

[mishatx]

Well, I had a new experience tonight.

I usually struggle to get much of any motion out of a ball at my usual house, so I don't as a practice carry a spare ball. Tonight, as part of Thanksgiving festivities, we sojourned over to a local "family fun center" for some "bowling".

My sister and her family usually bowl here and it's clearly not a serious deal. I had asked my sister once if the place even oils the lanes and she told me "they're pretty slick". Not tonight. Tonight they were bone dry. When I've seen people say they have trouble keeping their fancy ball on the lane I thought they were exaggerating. I experienced it as I watched my ball hook 30 boards right at the 7 pin.

I had brought two balls with me, because these are the balls I own and I figured my brother, who's the same size as me might enjoy trying one of them out. The Brunswick Fanantic SS was literally unusable - if I started right, it hooked off way too much; if I started left, it couldn't make it far enough right before it hooked back. The Blast Zone was a bit more manageable but still struggled with the conditions. Anything headpin or right was a chore to reach. Picking up spares was nearly impossible as it the reaction was difficult to guess.

Since I didn't care about score (though I did make sure to break 100 ;) ) I just used the time to experiment with my delivery and trying to hit different spots on the lane and see how much I could control the reaction. But if I did care about score - what would be the best options for hoping to control the angle to the pocket and do well, just dealing with the equipment I brought? Move back on the approach and hope to speed through the hook? Just grab a house ball off the rack and hope for the best?

[Amyers]

When your in this situation their isn't much you can do. Move left with the feet move your target in to try and find oil over the middle. If the doesn't work move your target right and try to burn it up before it crosses over can work. with these kind of conditions scoring isn't going to be good no matter what you do

[djp1080]

Chris Barnes decided to reduce the number of balls he took to a tournament in Asia quite a while ago and one of the balls he left at home was his spare ball. What did he do instead? He threw his reactive resin ball straight at spares which is what Norm Duke always does. When you were experimenting with your delivery, you probably should have tried changing your hand position at bit.
First, try allowing your wrist to break back rather than cupping the ball or keeping it straight. Allow your wrist to bend back a little bit. This will cut your rev rate a lot. Try moving your index finger very close to your middle finger will likely cut down on any side turn you may use when wanting to hook the ball. Moving your pinky finger away from your ring finger will also reduce rev rate. When delivering the ball, keep your hand behind the ball and open up your hand at the point of delivery so that your fingers do not come around the outside of the ball. Also, point your gripping fingers toward the pins and keep them there with the ball sitting in the middle of your palm. From there you can make adjustments to perhaps get some side turn, but it sounds like a straight ball might be better so that you could at least get most all of your makeable spares...
Hope this helps...

[mishatx]

djp1080, flattening my hand is what I was trying *not* to do, as that's the way I learned to bowl and creeps back like a bad habit killing my revs when I actually need them. But, yes, that's probably the best bet. I did try moving my fingers around a bit but didn't notice much difference, especially with the Fanatic.

[chip82901]

Move left, loft it past the arrows and hope for the best. The theory is, the ball can't hook if it's not on the lane comes into play. We are talking about the double burn at the US Open right?

All kidding aside, I'll usually grab something with surface and try to burn it up

[mishatx]

I actually did loft it once from the left gutter directly onto the middle arrow. Picked off the 7-pin.

[RobLV1]

Chris Barnes decided to reduce the number of balls he took to a tournament in Asia quite a while ago and one of the balls he left at home was his spare ball. What did he do instead? He threw his reactive resin ball straight at spares which is what Norm Duke always does.

The problem with trying to throw a reactive ball straight is that the cores in modern balls make the balls hook all by themselves. Norm told me that to get his reactive balls to go straight, he throws a back-up ball at his spares: back-up one board for a weak ball, two boards for a medium ball, and three boards for an aggressive ball. Norm can do that, very few other bowlers can. It also helps to throw twenty-five mph at spares like Barnes does, but more speed also means less accuracy for the league bowler. All in all, keeping a plastic ball in your bag is a real good idea.

[Blomer]

Or bring a urethan ball.

[mishatx]

LOL, next time I go there I'll take the old rubber ball I've got up in the closet.

[fordman1]

Start by breaking your wrist and throwing up 10. A little more speed never hurts. The weight block will make the ball flip enough to get it to the pocket and smile when you win the high game pot. Not every shot has to hook the whole alley. It is a lot cheaper than having 5 balls.

[1VegasBowler]

Or bring a urethan ball.

You have to be careful with urethane balls. They are coming out with some pretty darn good cores, and if you have a little hitch in your release you could very well miss.

That's why I have the BTU solid and a plastic ball.

[chip82901]

Or bring a urethan ball.

Urethane isn't the greatest of ideas when they are burnt up honestly. Urethane is designed to make a move as soon as it finds friction. If it finds friction at 20 feet, guess what, it's going to jump at 20 feet. Best bet is to either grab something very polished and move left and get it outside, or grab something with surface and try to burn it up before it gets downlane.