What things in your approach go haywire sometimes.....

[Hammer]

There are a lot of things in our approach that can cause problems in our games on league night. The ones I have to be conscious of are turning my hand too early in my release and not slowing down my shot when the lanes require it. When I don't turn early it is amazing how nice the ball goes down the alley. The other thing for me is speed control. The league night we just finished Saturday it took me a whole game to realize I needed to slow my ball speed. When I did the strikes started to pop up. That first game I just thought that I am going to make this work no matter what and it didn't. Sometimes I amaze myself how stubborn I will be to change something that ain't working. Do any of you folks have something in your approach that drives you crazy sometimes and you become too stubborn to change quickly to save a game or games?

[1VegasBowler]

My release.

As a stroker, I'm dependent on accuracy. Missing too far right or left can create some undesirable results at times. lol

There are times when things are going great, and next thing I know I'm sending one down the center arrow when I'm playing deep.

Or, if I'm running straight up the 10 and yank one left.

If I'm lucky, the oil will hold me long enough for a Brooklyn hit and a 9 count.

[Hammer]

My release.

As a stroker, I'm dependent on accuracy. Missing too far right or left can create some undesirable results at times. lol

There are times when things are going great, and next thing I know I'm sending one down the center arrow when I'm playing deep.

Or, if I'm running straight up the 10 and yank one left.

If I'm lucky, the oil will hold me long enough for a Brooklyn hit and a 9 count.

In my post I forgot to say that the pattern at our house is 42' long. I should ask them the shape of the pattern like Christmas tree or top hat etc. Maybe they use a color to designate the type of pattern like red, white or blue. They have the THS pattern by the way.

[1VegasBowler]

In my post I forgot to say that the pattern at our house is 42' long. I should ask them the shape of the pattern like Christmas tree or top hat etc. Maybe they use a color to designate the type of pattern like red, white or blue. They have the THS pattern by the way.

I'm on a 42 as well, and most THS's are like a Christmas tree.

But it f you're getting red, white and blue patterns, those are USBC sport patterns that they normally use in local tournaments (ours does).

[Eddy]

It doesn't happen very often, but once in a great while I will trip over my own feet.

[got_a_300]

I guess my worst thing in my approach that can and does go wrong is
my timing gets out of whack every once in awhile.

[J Anderson]

It doesn't happen very often, but once in a great while I will trip over my own feet.

I haven’t tripped over my own feet, but being ambidextrous, I have forgotten to switch the soles on my SST 8s twice. Once caused me to do a face plant on the lane. The other time I kept my balance with a hop as the shoe stuck and I went over the foul line and slid about 3 feet down the lane.

The things that happen more often are hitting my leg on the backswing, and taking a first step that is too long causing my feet to get ahead of my swing.

[mc_runner]

Timing/Balance. Every so often it'll feel just feel "wrong" as I'm starting to come through to release - and those I end up "aiming" on release. A recipe for a flat 10 usually.

[mishatx]

Today it was nearly everything. My timing got bad, so my balance got bad. I ended up on top of the ball and hanging my thumb in, which meant it was either pulling left if my thumb was in too long, drifting right if it wasn't, or getting some really odd rotation and track flare. It was a disaster. I need help!

[Tony]

For me, although there are several things I'm inclined to mess up, the item that sticks out the most is the item that
it takes me longest to realize I'm doing it, and that's getting too quick with my feet.
When I do this and throw my timing off resulting in the ball not behaving as I expect, I will sometimes start adjusting
to no avail, it seems like nothing works, I might even switch balls. Sometimes switching balls causes me to revert back
to my normal speed, other times one of my teammates says something or eventually I realize what I'm doing, if I'm lucky.

[chip82901]

Last night was horrible for myself. My timing was beyond gone. Felt like I couldn't get to the line, release was off, everything. Took me 2 games to figure this out. 176, 142, 245...I think I figured it out the last game lol. Believe it or not, my feet were too SLOW. Weird how that works

[mishatx]

Today it was nearly everything. My timing got bad, so my balance got bad. I ended up on top of the ball and hanging my thumb in, which meant it was either pulling left if my thumb was in too long, drifting right if it wasn't, or getting some really odd rotation and track flare. It was a disaster. I need help!

I went back and looked at the video, and while my hand position is a problem (can't be on the back of the ball at/near release if your hand is already turned in the downswing), my footwork was the real disaster! While I was trying to picture and practice my slide ending up around 18 with a laydown near 10 to go over the arrows somewhere near 10-12, in truth my slide was ending up anywhere from 22-28, then I'm reaching to try to lay down where I wanted which is throwing off my balance something horrible.

[Albundy]

At the top of the backswing my ball drifts a bit past my head instead of being behind it. I should probably be releasing the ball alot closer to my ankle . I will try and stick my balance arm out at 45 degrees instead of straight out to the right.

[Albundy]

I noticed I drift 2boards then when I moved over 2boards I ended in the same spot!

[mishatx]

I feel like i fixed the footwork issue today (didn't take video, so I'm sure I was drifing 15 boards instead). One thing I noticed on the video that cropped up in the first game was that I have a tendency to turn my wrist so early that by the time I get to release, my fingers are in the front and my thumb is trailing - which means the ball is coming off my fingers, spinning around my thumb, getting hooked on it, releasing way left with a helicopter spin. Slowing down and really thinking about my hand position in the downswing helped a lot. But man, if my hand turns early on me there's no stopping it :(.

[Phonetek]

For whatever reason, one day I must have hit my ankle on my sliding foot a half dozen times when throwing the ball with the ball. I have no idea why it was happening and I never did it before or since. Not fun

The only other problem I ever had was when I wore jeans that apparently must not have fit properly. Lets just say I think my voice went up a few octaves that day at the foul line. I had to have wifey bring me a pair of suit pants before I gave myself a vasectomy.

[TCJ]

Moving too fast.

[mishatx]

"Moving too fast" must be a common problem. I came across some page recently with a howto on delivery that must have said "walk to your target" 11 times in five bullet points. To their credit, slowing down really helps.

[Blomer]

1) Hitting my thigh on my back swing with the ball and not stopping and resetting.
2) Rolling the ball off of my shoe.
3) When I get a bowler in my vision a few lanes down. I'm not picky about lane courtesy, but it can throw me off specially when they have an awkward delivery or throw the ball with a loud banging sound when it touches the ground.

[JasonNJ]

Timing, timing, timing. If my timing is off, I start muscling and then there goes my swing which compounds the timing issue.

[bdpeters]

timing for sure

[Hobbit]

Hey mishtax, focus on working at your footwork..try a few drills.. identify which step is throwing u out of either times and/or balance? for starters? just an idea mate...

For me,drifting a few boards when I am not focused kills me!! Fortunately it doesn't happen a great deal...

The other issue is being able to hold my finish position (balance)...

[mishatx]

I've done a lot of approach drills. At the moment, it looks like the thing that throws me off the most is the 15 pounds of ballast in my right hand.

[BobbyGunz89]

The thing i've been working a lot on is staying behind the ball. I always focus on staying under the ball which i bowl well just didn't feel i was bowling enough. I started recording myself during practice and finally realized that i was no longer behind the ball and i'd start to turn to early. I record all my practices now so i can break down my approach and what i need to work on to get better.