All Blog Entries

The best players are able to do both, making the pins explode on a strike and using finesse for a spare

IT'S AN ETERNAL QUESTION THAT rages not just in bowling, but in all sports: What wins out, power or finesse?

The fact is, there are advantages to both styles in bowling. A player who bowls strictly for power (a "hook-ball" thrower) can make pins explode, garnering "oohs" and "aahs" from the crowd, but comes up short when it's time to ...

When you're bowling in your league at your local center, chances are that two bowling balls will be enough to get the job done most nights. As you start to bowl in more leagues and even the occasional tournament, however, you'll start to encounter a wider variety of lane conditions. When you do, it's very important to go through your arsenal of bowling balls and make sure you have enough equipment to go in both directions: if the lanes hook more or less than what you usually bowl on. If you want ...

Most tournaments have a qualifying process of some kind. It may be five games or, like the pros on the PBA tour, it may be 64 games.

In the qualifying portions of the tournament, including match play, you need to be a long-distance runner. During these portions, you're going to roll good frames and bad frames, but you have to maintain the attitude that you'll have time to make adjustments and make up for your mistakes.

However, now you've made the cut to a stepladder ...

As practice progresses, you'll notice that as you get looser your ball speed increases and your wrist movement is more pronounced. At the end of practice, you should have a pretty clear idea of where you want to start.

When you begin actual competition, though, you may start to notice subtle changes in the lanes. Being aware of these changes can put you one step ahead of the other bowlers.

First and foremost, if you're bowling the first squad of the day, you'll notice ...

Let's assume you're totally prepared when you get to the bowling center. You feel at ease, you've had time to watch the bowlers bowl, and now it's time for your practice to begin. Whether it's a few shots or 10 minutes of concentrated practice, there are few things you can do to leave the lanes happy.

The biggest thing I can encourage you to do is stretch out before you begin to bowl. If you do some leg and arm stretches, loosen up your back, and maybe roll your wrist back and forth, ...

Preventive maintenance in bowling can mean different things to different bowlers, but essentially it simply means: Be prepared. Let's say the last time you went bowling your spare ball was cracked, or a grip fell out. Maybe the ball you keep polished was worn down by a recent tournament, and you notice the ball is shiny everywhere except your ball track.

Preventive maintenance means that you don't let these things go unaddressed. They may seem small, but paying attention to them allows ...

SYNTHETIC LANES

There are many misconceptions about synthetic lanes, with the foremost being that synthetics are more difficult to play. That's not true. Again, more significant a factor in difficult lane play is the lane conditioner used, not the surface of the lane.

Synthetic lanes are made with materials that vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, Brunswick's are made with aluminum oxide dispersed in a fiber-reinforced mixture of melamine resin. ...

ONE OF THE TRUISMS IN bowling is that different surfaces lead to different ball reactions. You might think that bowling is as simple as a lane, a ball, and an approach, right? Not really--at least not nowadays.

In this article, I will illustrate some differences between physical lane surfaces: wood, synthetic, and Guardian. This information can help you make better decisions when choosing a new ball, finishing your third game of league play, or starting a tournament in a new venue. ...

Determine what drills and what you can work at when at home or not in the center, e.g. the Bill Hall articles a few years ago, the general theme was learning the game from the foul line back.

Also, personally I have found that doing some of the approach drills and balance drills in my stocking feet have the additional bonus of making me more aware of balance and more importantly where my balance begins to wane! I kind of stumbled ( pun intended) on this. By the way, one of the Pittsburg ...

This Feel thing is somewhat delicate, some say you want the feel of no feel. By that I think what is meant is the feel of a marriage of the natural forces of physics and the actions of a coordinated and skilled athlete with minimal to no interaction of the analytical mind.

I've read and been taught and seen the premise of training that has the student perform the correct and incorrect actions, again this is to attune the part of your brain that allows you to walk up a familiar flight ...

League tonight was by far my worst night of the summer season. I came in tonight with a 205 average but that was soon to fall. Our team was in 4th place 1 point out of 3rd and 7 out of 1st. We use the 7 point system, so that woouldnt be too hard to make up with 3 weeks left after tonight.. Well we ended up losing all 3 games.. My games were as follow..

We had to make up ALOT of handicap tonight as well. We had 95 pins to their 315. We were down 220 pins before we threw the 1st ball.. ...

I will try to briefly describe it for you. (you can even practice this at home, but do not try to slide). If you are at the lanes, you will only be taking one step (slide step), so you should set up just behind the foul line.

Place your slide foot directly in front of your back foot (slide heel touching toe of back foot), with the back leg slightly bent (more than the slide leg). Your weight should be on the back leg, you should be able to lift your slide leg without losing balance. ...

I (and others) have noticed that bowlers during the 10 minutes of practice in league can throw strikes at will until they turn the scoring on. If you will notice, for most bowlers it is easy to throw strikes during the 10 minutes of practice, but all of the sudden it is much harder to get the ball to the pocket once scoring starts.

I submit to you that the lanes have not change significantly to cause the problem but the bowler has. When we are bowling during the 10 minutes of practice ...

Here is a way to help you maintain the proper thumb positioning throughout the swing and release.

Add or subtract tape appropriately ...

In this so called "set" position in the hole, the base of the thumb is locked in place so it won't
release too soon, in spite of being straight, yet when it does, it does so quickly, but not too early, which is exactly what's needed.

To get an idea of what this should feel like, try this little test: ...

The correct info as I know it (hehehehe)
PAP is more determined by how you normally throw the ball than any type of drilling. The key to understanding is in the word *normally*. If you have to come more up the back, make a change in your axis tilt, come around the ball more, etc.... it will change your PAP.

But as a rule of thumb, your PAP *based on your normal ball release* can be used to assist in laying out a ball to help it provide roll characteristics that you desire. ...

I've seen people write about how their practice sessions go, what they've learned, what they've worked on, etc..... which is all fine and dandy. But once upon a time I started work on a website for the sole purpose of archiving the tips/tricks/advice that I've learned from others simply so that I wouldn't have to keep it in short term memory as it were. However, with job changes that happened w/in the last year, I've not been able to keep up with that particular undertaking - plus it seems now ...

I've been looking at the updated USBC web stie @ [URL="http://www.bowl.com"]bowl.com[/URL] and I like the new look. But, there are still alot of glitches. Well, I hope they are giltches. I can't seem to access News stories from even a week ago. it's like there gone. The videos keep starting new videos (on their own) right in the middle of another video. Does anyone else seem to be having issues with the NEW UPDATED site? :confused:

Hello. I have been back in bowling after a 17 year lay-off. Which means High School. It's been awhile. I am getting ready to start my second fall season. I bowled on a Tuesday night mixed and a Monday night Sport league. And my Monday Night Sport league is going to be a sanctioned PBA Experience league this next September. I was just wondering if anyone else is backawords like me? What i mean is... My monday night Ave is about 10-15 pins higher than my Mixed league (wich is on a house shot)? ...

Pattern: Shark

Game 1- 212:

I started the night with a 212. I threw my Virtual Gavity with a 4x4 layout. The ball was recently heat cleaned so was like a fresh ball. I started with a taking speed off and keeping my revs up. I was shooting around 15.5 to about 10.5. This line was hitting very well. I ended with a clean game. Took 3/4 points

Game 2- 188:

When I started the 2nd game i was playing a close line to was i had the prior game. It ...

Tonight was my weekly tournament again.. This tournamnet was held on a 34ft sport pattern. It was some international pattern again.. not sure why he keeps using these..lol.. Well my 1st game i shot 187 and was in 6th with the cut being the to 3... moved sets and the shot just got alot better.. more oil it seemed and the ball held very well. ended up shooting 207 with a open in the 10th.. that jumped me to 1st on the board since EVERYONE bowled horrible the 2nd game.. going into the 3rd game i had ...

Hey.
Im Going to organize some bowling balls i have used that are good for entry bowlers and more skilled bowlers like myself. ill organize by performance and price.

For Entry Level.
[LIST]
Ebonite Maxim. Plastic Cover. 40-60$
Ebonite Tornado. F5 Reactive Cover 60-80$
Storm Tropical. Reactive Resin 70-90$
900 Global Link. Reactive Resin. 80-100$
Hammer Razyr. Reactive Resin. 70-105$[/LIST]

Second Level Performance. ...

So i ordered a new ball yesterday. I ordered a 15 lb 3-3.5 inch pin with 3oz topweight... They had no problems getting those specs and sent it right out/.. I got the tracking and look and saw that it said the package was 14 lbs... I called the company and asked if they sent the correct ball as the oder sheet was all correct.. They said that it was prob just a mis type when entering the weight. since the ball was being delivered today they told me to just check it and let them know.... I couldnt ...

Tonight was the 1st league night that my girlfriend missed that actualy effected me due to her being on the team. Well we dont think she actualy broke her toe now but just sprained it really bad... But enough about that..

The past 2 weeks we have only lost 2 point (1 game) and started making our way back up the board after 2 sweeps the week prior. We are still carrying the highest team average in the league so not much handicap. We were in 4th place tonight 1 point out of 3rd and ...

Hey There im Shawn i bowl in many Sport Oil Tournaments and it was hard for me to learn. took me lots of practice and time. but i found ways to make it easier to adjust to it. i started searching for people to teach me and i learned a lot. so now im gunna try and help everyone out there learn to bowling on the Shark, Scorpion, Viper, Cheetah, and chameleon oil patters.


First of all the shark.

Length: 43 feet

This pattern forces bowlers to play ...

Tonight was the Scorpion pattern. This is a 42 foot pattern very close to the looks of a typical house shot just flatter. I started durring practice stringing strikes with my Virtual Gravity. Got into the 1st game and not too sure what happened. The shot was GONE! I moved all over and then stuck with playing a BIG hook. I was standing 30, laying the ball down at 22ish and playing out to around 7. Ended up finishing with a 178. Not too bad for such a bad start. Move to the next set and played the ...