Question on foot placement description

[boatman37]

So when you guys talk about foot placement it sounds like for righties you talk about where your left toe goes? I was always different. Being a lefty I have always went up and put my left toe (plant foot) on the board I wanted to start out on. I have done this for as long as I remember (going back to 1980ish). I start out with my left toe on the 12 board and target the 7 board. If that isn't working I move to my left toe on the 15 board and target the 10 board (these targets are at the arrows). I did look cause I heard you guys talk about setting your slide foot first and noting that as a starting point. I noticed when I'm targeting the 10 board my non-ball side foot (right toe) is about the 20 board. Of course I adjust to this as necessary but for my first shot this is where I start to see where I'm at and what I need to do. Do these sound normal? I ask this because it seems my ball does not arc out so wondering if I'm leaning out to reach those marks? I mean it might arc by a board or 2 but thats it.

Just board here and curious...lol

[RobLV1]

There's no such thing as right or wrong, however, you should always line up off of your slide foot (right) so that you can see if/how much you drifted. If you line up with your left, and slide with your right, you have no way of telling.

[boatman37]

There's no such thing as right or wrong, however, you should always line up off of your slide foot (right) so that you can see if/how much you drifted. If you line up with your left, and slide with your right, you have no way of telling.

Makes sense. I guess cause I'm left-handed and left-footed I stated out lining up with my left toe since I first started. Never paid attention to my right foot until I heard people mention it on hear about lining up with their off-foot.

Wife said she will mention coaching to that girl she works with that went through the Dick Ritger coaching school. Her mother bowls in the womens league the same night as us. Wife said a few guys she works with bowls and she went up and worked with them as a group one night. Wondering if it would make sense to wait until end of summer so it's fresh in my mind when league starts? If I wait another month then we will be near end of league and might forget alot of it after a few month layoff? If I can get with her real soon then it might be enough time to build muscle memory before end of league. Maybe see if she can stop after work one Tuesday night and I can leave work early. Maybe work with her an hour or so before league starts then see if she wants to watch some of league to see how my approach changes throughout the night (unintentionally). With her mother bowling that same night she might be willing to stick around. Just a thought.

I know she said she learned from Kelly Kulick

[J Anderson]

A good coach knows that an hour long lesson is not going to make a permanent change. She will give you some sort of drills or exercises to make what ever changes you need to make a permanent part of your game. YOU will take notes, and since you say you’re serious about improving, you will find time to practice over the summer. Why wait any longer???

[bowl1820]

So when you guys talk about foot placement it sounds like for righties you talk about where your left toe goes?

The typical convention used (in most articles,USBC manuals etc) for describing what board your standing on is to use the inside edge of your slide foot.

Example: When a player say's they are standing on the 20 board or they finished on the 20 board typically this is what they are referring too:

https://i.postimg.cc/13LJ0LxF/footposition.jpg


If a player uses something other than the inside edge of their slide foot, They have to remember to let the readers know what they are using or referring too.

[boatman37]

The typical convention used (in most articles,USBC manuals etc) for describing what board your standing on is to use the inside edge of your slide foot.

Example: When a player say's they are standing on the 20 board or they finished on the 20 board typically this is what they are referring too:

https://i.postimg.cc/13LJ0LxF/footposition.jpg


If a player uses something other than the inside edge of their slide foot, They have to remember to let the readers know what they are using or referring too.

Cool. So I guess in that case if targeting the 10 board I stand at 19 to get a baseline.

[RobLV1]

Where did you get 19 board? Where you stand in relation to your target is totally dependent on your laydown point. The ball is 8 3/4" in diameter which means that the one half of the ball that is on the inside of your hand is 4 3/8". Many of the pros have laydown points in the 4 1/2" - 5.0" range. League bowlers who don't stay behind the ball may have laydown points of 10" or more. Before you can determine where to stand to hit ten board (I'm showing great restraint by not commenting!), you need to determine your laydown point in relation to your slide foot.

[boatman37]

Where did you get 19 board? Where you stand in relation to your target is totally dependent on your laydown point. The ball is 8 3/4" in diameter which means that the one half of the ball that is on the inside of your hand is 4 3/8". Many of the pros have laydown points in the 4 1/2" - 5.0" range. League bowlers who don't stay behind the ball may have laydown points of 10" or more. Before you can determine where to stand to hit ten board (I'm showing great restraint by not commenting!), you need to determine your laydown point in relation to your slide foot.

By 19 board I meant that's where I start. I know I don't finish there because I know for sure I have some drift to the right. And laydown point is one thing I'm wondering about. Wondering if I'm 'winging' the ball out with my arm or setting it down the right way. I need to get more recent video of myself. The only video I have is from 2 years ago when I first came back but I'm certain I'm not doing anything the same as I was then. But what I mean is that in warmups my first ball of the night I start with my right toe on the 20 and target the 10 at the arrows. I adjust from there if needed but that is usually pretty close there.

What do you mean by 'laydown point'? The distance from the slide foot to the center of the ball where it touches the lane? Pretty sure mine is closer to 10-12". But without knowing exactly how much I drift and where my slide foot is at release we really won't know.

[bowl1820]

By 19 board I meant that's where I start.

I believe what Rob meant was how did you come up with that particular board (19) as your starting point?

which I assume is this:

But what I mean is that in warmups my first ball of the night I start with my right toe on the 20 and target the 10 at the arrows. I adjust from there if needed but that is usually pretty close there.


What do you mean by 'laydown point'? The distance from the slide foot to the center of the ball where it touches the lane?

Yes that's what the laydown point is.


Pretty sure mine is closer to 10-12". But without knowing exactly how much I drift and where my slide foot is at release we really won't know.

How much you drift or where your slide foot is at release doesn't matter determining your laydown point.

https://i.postimg.cc/mDwvRDsY/laydown-point.jpg

[RobLV1]

Thanks, Al!

[boatman37]

Tried to get a look tonight but I found that I'm stopping about 2' before the foul line and also have a hop 95% of the time so can't tell where my foot is when I release the ball. Is there an effect from stopping that far from the foul line? We have another guy in our league that takes 2 steps and stops about 6' before the foul line and averages about 205. No idea why he does it but he is a pretty decent bowler.

[J Anderson]

Tried to get a look tonight but I found that I'm stopping about 2' before the foul line and also have a hop 95% of the time so can't tell where my foot is when I release the ball. Is there an effect from stopping that far from the foul line? We have another guy in our league that takes 2 steps and stops about 6' before the foul line and averages about 205. No idea why he does it but he is a pretty decent bowler.

If you’re stopping 2’ from the line you’re giving everyone else, except for the guy who stops 6’ short, the advantage of a lane that’s shorter than yours. You run the risks of : tripping the foul light, hitting a dry area before getting into the oil, ball reading the lane too early, the ball losing too much energy before hitting the pins, and the obvious disadvantage of trying to hit something farther away than everyone else.

Stopping well short of the line is fairly common among older bowlers. As we age we tend to shorten our stride but it happens so gradually that we don’t think about moving up on the approach.

The hop in some cases is just a bad habit. More often it’s a case of the body acting reflexively to protect itself. In other words, the slide stops and the knee reaches a point where your subconscious senses that it will be injured if it bends any moor, and signals your quads to contract sharply to protect it.