What was the thing that "clicked" for you with your game?

[jaypeesmith]

I am rebuilding from the ground up. I am working on grip, swing, approach and release. But, I am interested in knowing what was the first thing you remember working on and what was the last thing that you developed that really helped your game come together?

[vdubtx]

No necessarily in this order, but for me was a couple things:

1. balance and posting my shots
2. not muscling the ball
3. spare shooting
4. grip checked and changed

[djp1080]

Wow! VDUBTX hit it on the nail head!
I used to fall off my shot to the right very consistently. Didn't realize I was muscling the shot and had no idea how high my backswing was (way too high). With the reactive resin ball I couldn't hit spares worth a hoot. Also, I dropped the ball way too often with my reverse pitch thumb hole.
Had bad experiences with coaches when I was much younger and never thought I'd go back to one. Found one about 15 miles from me and it was a God send. He helped me with each of these aspects and more. I even got switched from a full roller release to a semi-roller.
It's been a good trip and still learning. Glad I have a good coach and pro-shop owner to help me out along the way. These two fellows have helped me to enjoy the game with all the changes that have come into this sport since 1980 or so...

[Hammer]

Opening my shoulders more using the modern swing when playing deeper, not muscling my forward swing, staying more behind the ball at the release area and using a light grip on the ball which gives me more revs and a better ball reaction.

[Phonetek]

I'd have to say when I first learned the 4 step approach. Going from that little kid Fred Flintstone delivery to a nice smooth 4 step was my the biggest game changer. Later it was staying down posting my shot and watching my mark. THAT alone made all the difference from a 170-180 bower to a 200+ because to do it your timing has to be spot on thus increasing accuracy.

[TCJ]

Switching to a five step
Learning to slide
Learning to throw a straight ball
Learning to change angle of rotation

But that was when things were going well. Right now I have to figure out what's not clicking because I've been tanking the past three weeks.

[JasonNJ]

Something clicks for me every time and then I come back next week and find out I still suck. =P


That's the thing with bowling, there's lots of things that come into play, timing, arm swing, drift, targeting, pushaway, lane transition, learning how to read your ball. So anyone of these things can click for you but the special nights is when they all click together.