Listen to your elders!

[jaypeesmith]

My story: For all intents and purposes, I am a new bowler. I used to bowl on-and-off and always had a conventionally-drilled ball. I did not get my first fingertip-drilled ball until October 2017.

So, that should help set expectations.

I have been struggling at league for the last 2 weeks so, I went out this morning to "practice". It was "all you can bowl" for 3 hours. An older man showed up a short while after I did. I noticed that he was bowling at a much slower pace than I but, I assumed he was just being more delibrate than I was. It turns out, that he was watching me bowl.

Well, he took pity on me. After asking if he could give me some help, which I was happy to take, he let me know what I was doing wrong.

I didn't realize it but, I was WAAAAAY too far to the the left. I had been starting with my left foot as far as 30 (I'm a righty). Add to this that I was pulling the ball, and the best I could ever get was the occassional Brooklyn. Most of the time, I was just winging the ball and would end up taking out the right side of the rack or narrowly avoid the gutter on my strike ball.

After I started with my left foot on 20 and going out over the second arrow, I was consistently finding the pocket. When this started working for me, I was able to relax and work on not pulling up on the ball and instead work on rolling and following through. After this change, saw my scores increase. My games went 171, 176, 181 and finally a 213 (at that point, I called it a day).

This morning, I was a little hesitant to hit the lanes because I didn't know what I was going to do to fix my game. Well, thanks to an older gentleman, I got a little bit better today.

(By the way, I will be getting with a coach soon. I want to get much better than this.)

[GrumpyCatFace]

Very nice! Those old-timers are a valuable resource, if you can catch their attention.

[mishatx]

"stand on the big dot and throw over the second arrow" catches some flack around here, but it's common advice for a reason: for us sub-200 bowlers on THS, it works (most of the time).

[boatman37]

"stand on the big dot and throw over the second arrow" catches some flack around here, but it's common advice for a reason: for us sub-200 bowlers on THS, it works (most of the time).

i have never been able to do that. my ball won't come back. if i stand in the middle i can go barely outside the 3rd arrow and thats about it. any further out and it won't come back for me. maybe if i get it outside the 2nd arrow into the dry stuff but then i'm afraid it will fall off the edge

[Amyers]

i have never been able to do that. my ball won't come back. if i stand in the middle i can go barely outside the 3rd arrow and thats about it. any further out and it won't come back for me. maybe if i get it outside the 2nd arrow into the dry stuff but then i'm afraid it will fall off the edge

Everyone's game is different. I try the I take out the 4 or 7 pin consistently lol

[jaypeesmith]

"stand on the big dot and throw over the second arrow" catches some flack around here, but it's common advice for a reason: for us sub-200 bowlers on THS, it works (most of the time).

I believe it. Assuming that I get better, I suspect that this could change but, at least for now, this might work for me.