Advice

[skeeb]

I have been in a league now for 32 weeks. I hadnt bowled in almost 9 years since my league in high school. I am carrying a 172 avg which started out at a 184. Lately I have been hitting the low 500s or even mid to high 400 series. I typically am throwing 1-2 gutters a week! I do not have a huge hook but I do bowl one. I typically start just left of center and aim in between the 1-2 arrows.

My question is actually a few things..

First off I was finally told by my teammates that I am turning the ball very early and it is causing my shoulder to drop and its probably why I am throwing gutters... and I also drop the ball a lot.

Today I went to practice some. I focused mainly on where I stand on the approach and keeping my hand under the ball. I took a tip I read to have my heals about 3 inches from the foul line and take my normal 4step approach backwards basically to see where I should stand. I was shocked... according to that method I would be standing almost at the very end of the ball return. For the longest time I was standing basically in the middle to the end of the return. So this was a huge step forward. I tried that for a couple of games and found that now it seems like I am throwing a staight ball. I feel like my ball is getting thrown a bit faster and it doesnt hook as much. So I compensated and took a full step back. It still lines me up further than before but not so drastic. Doing that for one game I bowled a 237. So that made me happy. However I quickly fell back to a 169 the next game and felt myself turning the ball to soon again. A lot of my throws were out and hit weak.

So then I looked into something else. My grip. My question here is this: should I be able to slide 2 sheets of paper under my palm when gripping the ball? I am now wandering if all this time my span is not wide enough. I do feel like I "grip" the ball when I throw no matter how hard I try not to and just let it "pendulum" swing. It seems like when I try that I almost drop the ball. My thumb is snug, my fingers are snug... Im just curious on the span. Like I said... my palm is not snug on the ball... there is a teeny big of space.

You can imagine I am a mess right now trying to figure out what is wrong. I really work too much to have time to get a coach so I am hoping some of you might be able to give me some tips. I really feel I should be able to be a scratch bowler with some consistency. I hit a LOT of strikes... but I also seem to leave a lot of open frames. Again... consistency. If it helps any.. I am 5'11. It just seems like I look at the other guys and they dont stand so far up like it seems I am supposed to. I feel like my steps are normal walking steps too.

Ok, thats about all. Please someone give me some tips/questions or something. Im hoping to keep this topic active so I can continue some help till I can figure some of this all out. There is no reason I should bowl a 237, 151, 169, 188. I am all over the board.

[Stormed1]

As far as the fit goes have your pro shop check it. Staying behind the ball and not turning early is an issue i had for years and i corrected it with practice and concentration. One thing about practice is don't worry about score and just concentrate on what you want to work on.

[skeeb]

Well I bowled the other night in my league and though I didnt do well... my ball was more consistent. It will take some time but I focused on staying behind the ball and I hit the pocket probably 95% of the time the whole night. Hardly any brooks and maybe 1 or 2 light. I was hitting heavy a bit and sometimes not... for some reason I was getting screwed on strikes. I think my last game I had probably 5 frames with 9 on first ball. My teammates even couldnt believe the luck I was getting. The great thing is that the ball was moving well. Of course now that I am working on this my spares were sparse. I missed a lot of spares... my score stunk.. 460 I think... but I was probably a 460 going on a 600 if that makes sense.

Ill keep this up... Im thinking my grip may be ok and it was just all in the turning of the ball. I noticed on spares I had a tendancy to go back to my old ways and it would mess up my angles. I have a plastic ball that I bought for spares but I put it away long ago. SInce I dont bowl a huge hook my reactive ball does just fine at 10 pins (when I hit the mark right). Im thinking of picking up a ball for light oil conditions. I have noticed in other houses that my reactive hooks pretty bad if oil is light.

Well... any more tips on here? Do you all think I am on the right track? I know 460 is a horrible series.. I should be shooting 550 or better but I need to be consistent first.

[DanielMareina]

When you go to practice, try focusing on a mark and hitting it. Don't look where the ball goes, just pick an arrow and hit it consistently. If you can hit your mark consistently, then the rotation of the wrist is the only thing that can mess you up. Therefore narrowing down your problem. If you have the ability to videotape your self and post it, I would be glad to give you some pointers. Just remember, a game with 0 strikes can still be 190. Spares are much more important to practice than strikes. Strikes only mean something if you can shoot them in strings. So my advice is SPARE SHOOTING, spare shooting, and SPARE SHOOTING! Good Luck!