Originally Posted by MICHAEL
I believe that I need to share a little of my history with you. I started bowling at the age of 37 when, while playing softball four nights each week, my main thought when I came up to bat was, "Gee, I hope I don't have to slide." You see, at the time I started bowling bowling, the physical problems that I have now had already started, with the exception of the arthritis in my neck. Since I stopped playing on the team that was sponsored by the company for whom I worked, they told me that they had an opening on the company bowling team, and asked if I was interested in learning to bowl. I joined the team, went to K-Mart and bought a bowling ball and a pair of shoes. This was in 1986, and I averaged 137 that year, but I quickly developed an interest in the game and started to work at it. I decided to take some lessons, and that summer I averaged 183 which was pretty good in the urethane era. I continued to bowl recreationally until the late 90's when I started bowling in a few local tournaments and joined a scratch league. I began taking lessons once again and improved my average to right around 200.
When I moved to Las Vegas in 2004, I started bowling in local NABI tournaments. While I never won one, in 2006 or 2007 I was the points leader with the most top 5 and top 10 finishes. I had begun to take lessons from Wendy Macpherson, and when the owners of the NABI bowling publication, "The Bowling Connection" found out that I was a writer, they asked me if I would contribute. I asked Wendy if she would like to co-author some articles where we could expand on the things that I was working on in my lessons, and she agreed. So began my career as a bowling writer. As a result of my interest sparked by those lessons and articles, I developed a keen interest in learning both the mechanics of the game, and trying to understand modern bowling balls. I attained my Level I Certification in 2005, my Bronze Certification in 2006, and my Silver Certification in 2007. I also began seriously doing research on modern bowling balls.
All the while from around 2000 when I still lived in California through the time when I moved to Las Vegas, I worked with a series of coaches who helped my game, though I never really put in the practice time required to really improve. In 2006, while participating in the discussion forum on the PBA website, I met a bowler who lived in California, who after many years of not bowling, said he was moving to Las Vegas and was interested in starting to bowl again. He asked if anyone would like to practice with him and I said that I'd be happy to. Imagine my surprise when we met to practice, and I saw one of the best releases that I had ever seen! I can only describe it as looking like a hot knife going through soft butter. It turns out that before stopping bowling for those years, he had been the PBA Western Regional Rookie of the Year, and also won the ABC Nationals All Events Title in 1992.
I saw such potential, that I began to help him to modernize his game (if you look at my website, www.Modern-Bowling.com, he is the bowler pictured in the red shirt in the montage that tops each page. I also suggested that he needed to learn about modern bowling balls, so I really redoubled my efforts to learn about them to help him to learn. A few years ago, he began to work at a bowling center, and worked his way up to the proshop where he learned to drill bowling balls. He now drills all of my bowling balls.
When I retired from full time work a couple of years ago, I decided to really start to work on my game as I would finally have the time to practice. My driller and I had become good friends, playing golf every Tuesday, and bowling in a recreational league every summer with my wife and another friend. Last summer, during the league (where he averaged 243), he said to me, "You know, you've helped me a whole lot, do you mind a few pointers?" I told him that I'd greatly appreciate it. It turns out that he was able to do something that no other coach had been able to do for the past 13 years; he fixed my feet!
So, Michael, to answer your question, no, I was never a 220 average bowler in my youth, because I was not a bowler in my youth. As I am currently averaging 205 in the one summer league that I take at all seriously, and 207 overall in competitive situations since the beginning of the year in several different bowling centers, I think I can say with confidence that I have a pretty good shot at reaching a 220+ average despite my age and physical limitations. Why? Because of three things: Desire, a massive amount of practice, and COACHING! Those of us who were not born with THE GIFT still have a chance to reach our goals with enough hard work and determination.
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