Putting the ego aside: I'm hiring a bowling coach

[jaypeesmith]

Me: "Hi, I'm JP..."
Support Group: "Hi, JP."
Me: "...It's been one day since my last bad series".

Okay, I just got my first fingertip ball last October. I have three balls, now (*insert juvenile jokes here*), and they provide me with three different ways to bowl badly. So, I am finally doing something about it. Today, I contacted a coach to get things rolling (sorry for the bad pun).

At any rate, if I am going to spend all this money on equipment, I might want to spend a few dollars to actually learn how to use it correctly.

[RobLV1]

What's ego got to do with it? Every Bowler on the PBA Tour as well as every golfer on the PGA Tour have coaches.

[jaypeesmith]

What's ego got to do with it? Every Bowler on the PBA Tour as well as every golfer on the PGA Tour have coaches.

I'm speaking personally. For me, it was an attitude of "I can figure this out. I've got YouTube, after all." I can't speak for anyone but me thus, the reason for the title of this post.

[RobLV1]

I'm speaking personally. For me, it was an attitude of "I can figure this out. I've got YouTube, after all." I can't speak for anyone but me thus, the reason for the title of this post.

So for all of us who spent thousands of dollars and countless hours learning to be effective coaches, we should just crawl back into our holes because you've got YouTube?

[jaypeesmith]

Interesting...so, I admitted that I was wrong about not needing a coach and this insulted you?

[got_a_300]

I've got what I like to call my built-in coach as I
bowl with a silver level coach and I get all of my
coaching for free saves me some $$$$ that's for
sure.

Yeah getting a good coach is well worth the time
and money spent having my coach has helped me
get out of most if not all of the bad habits that I
taught myself years ago.

[jaypeesmith]

I've got what I like to call my built-in coach as I
bowl with a silver level coach and I get all of my
coaching for free saves me some $$$$ that's for
sure.

Yeah getting a good coach is well worth the time
and money spent having my coach has helped me
get out of most if not all of the bad habits that I
taught myself years ago.

That sounds cool. I actually went to "practice" a couple of weeks back and next to me were two guys who appeared to be in their late 50's, at least, along with an older gentleman. The two guys were striking and sparing like nobody's business. So, one of the guys, obviously feeling good about how well he was doing, struck up a conversation with me and let know that the older gentleman was coaching them. He told me that I should have seen how bad he was starting out and that it was the best money he's ever spent. That really got me to thinking about how much I desired to get better and that it would not be too late for me to really learn. So, I am looking forward to starting the journey. Lord knows I've got a lot to (un)learn.

[Phonetek]

I'm soon to become a coach myself but luckily one of my new co-workers already is. I not only plan on getting his advice on coaching but having him help me with my own game as well. I don't think I have too many issues but on the same token far from perfect. I would welcome his and any coaches input. As for regular Joe's who aren't coaches, I listen to what they say. If it has merit I'll give their advice a shot. You never know what will work if you don't try. If it's out in left field then I'll politely thank them and go about my business.

With Youtube, I watch the pro's and USBC instructional video's. Other than that youtube is good if you want to see what happens when you put an iphone in a blender or change out a wheel hub assembly on a Chevy SUV.

[JasonNJ]

A good coach is definitely worth it. A lot of time you may not be feeling what you are doing wrong but a coach may be able to spot something right away and work on correcting it. Also the really good coaches will coach to fixes causes and not symptoms. For example, if you take a skip or maybe fall off balance at the foul line. They may not even address those things but maybe fix your timing and then you suddenly notice you aren't skipping or falling off balance any more.

[Outerlimits]

Worked with a couple of coaches, have always gotten something from them that I can improve. Funny this thread came up. I live about 1.5 hrs from one of they most advanced bowling training facilities. Kegel Training Facility http://www.kegeltrainingcenter.com/ Several folks I bowl with, some seniors, a couple of youth bowlers that are aspiring PBA bowlers have all gone there and had nothing but good things to say about the place. They aren't cheap, and offer different levels of instruction, living this close I am tempted to make the trip. Guess its a bucket list thing. Ill let you know if I do.

[BlueTrane2028]

Can't say I've ever hired a coach, but I had lots of help learning as a kid and even now as an adult. My team captain is about the most consistent over 200 roller in the league, I learn from him a lot even though our styles are different. He can pick up on what I'm doing when I start to struggle, tells me what's up and I fix it. I also am able to pick up on it myself from time to time, but I think the next step is going to be a camera at the lanes while I roll practice.

[JerseyJim]

I've picked up things from watching Fred Borden videos, and some videos from the USBC bowling academy. I've had a long lesson from Teata Semiz, a PBA hall of famer, a couple from Frank Moran who was a fairly decent regional pro, and I might take a lesson from Dave Williams who bowled on tour for a while. For me nothing beats having a trained eye watching you bowl and offering feedback.

[mattmc82]

I have asked around locally. All the coaches are booked up through end of March still. Bowling is alive and well in Pittsburgh

[jaypeesmith]

Well, I had my first session with a coach yesterday. It was an hour and money well-spent. I can share five quick things, as an example.


One of the first things we found it is that I need to start off further right. So, my mark (for now) will be start with my left foot on the center dot and to release toward the third arrow, aiming for the 6 pin.
I need to be intentional about about slowing down. Without effort, my ball can get to 18-20+ mph. He had me conciously thinking about releasing at betweene 66-75% of my current effort.
Follow through. Yes, this should be a given but, until I actually saw video of from multiple angles and saw how much better the ball moves, I didn't realize just how bad it was.
My approach had some crazy hop on the 3rd step which caused my release to go haywire. For the time being, I am going to be more thoughtful about walking my approach until I can work out of this.
Eyes on the target. I never realized that my eyes were moving off-target. I started off looking at my target and then to the left. Where did my ball end up? Left.


This was only an hour but, I got a lot out of it. I have some work to do. The coach suggested that I work on what we went over for about 4-6 weeks and, if I need to, get back with him for another session. Something tells me we'll be connecting again.

[J Anderson]

Well, I had my first session with a coach yesterday. It was an hour and money well-spent. I can share five quick things, as an example.


One of the first things we found it is that I need to start off further right. So, my mark (for now) will be start with my left foot on the center dot and to release toward the third arrow, aiming for the 6 pin.
I need to be intentional about about slowing down. Without effort, my ball can get to 18-20+ mph. He had me conciously thinking about releasing at betweene 66-75% of my current effort.
Follow through. Yes, this should be a given but, until I actually saw video of from multiple angles and saw how much better the ball moves, I didn't realize just how bad it was.
My approach had some crazy hop on the 3rd step which caused my release to go haywire. For the time being, I am going to be more thoughtful about walking my approach until I can work out of this.
Eyes on the target. I never realized that my eyes were moving off-target. I started off looking at my target and then to the left. Where did my ball end up? Left.


This was only an hour but, I got a lot out of it. I have some work to do. The coach suggested that I work on what we went over for about 4-6 weeks and, if I need to, get back with him for another session. Something tells me we'll be connecting again.

You have at least five things to change, four of which will require working to accomplish. I would suggest trying to focus on just one or two each practice session. Make sure you’ve got one down pat before adding something else.