My hook went away

[zdawg]

I think I know the cause, but figured I'd ask and I know it's a guessing game since I don't have any actual video of my practice session today.

Quick history, I met up with Mark Baker two days ago for a lesson, and he changed a lot regarding my approach (wants me to go faster), backswing much higher, and a lot of other stuff.

So today, I bowled 8 games or so and basically could not get the ball to hook AT ALL. If I jerked it or muscled it, I could hit a few Brooklyns but other than that I might as well have been using a plastic ball. I was getting revolutions as opposed to when I do throw the ball straight to pick up the 10 pin, so I know I was using my regular release - in fact Mark complimented me on my release and revs during the lesson. For a while I thought I was going crazy, but figure it must have something to do with the changes we made. The lane I was on was fresh too, so it should be more or less the same conditions as when I bowl in my league at night since they apply oil just before our league starts.

My guess is my timing is completely off now since we changed just about everything I do prior to the release. Faster feet, much larger backswing = my timing is off I suspect - a good thing is that I'm sliding more with almost zero drift which is another problem I had prior to my lesson. I'm guessing I might start rev'ng (not sure what the proper term is) the ball earlier than I should be due to the increased backswing.

Just wondering if this makes sense, I want to try to get some ideas before I go back tomorrow for more practice.

Also, for those that are able to record themselves when bowling, how do you do it? Do you use a special camera, and/or where do you set it up? I usually practice alone so I would have to be able to set something up and I don't think my iPhone 4 is capable of performing the task.

Ok so this post was longer than I intended, thanks if you've made it this far and I would greatly appreciate any and all feedback.

[zdawg]

One other thing I should add, Mark wanted me to get the ball speed up (which is why we changed a bunch of stuff), and I averaged about 4-5 mph more today than I normally do. So I went from 14-15 mph to about 19-20 mph, this might also be contributing to my new revolving straight shot

[Aslan]

1) If you're bowling on moderate/heavy oil synthetic lanes...increasing your ball speed will = a straighter shot. I used to throw 19-20mph on low-oil and then when I tried bowling synthetics/heavier oil I've had to slow my speed to 14-15mph or the ball just skids past any break point. But I'm a lower rev player throwing a symetric ball...so how you throw and your type of ball will have an effect as well. Pros throw incredibly fast...and get very nice hook...but they're throwing balls designed and drilled for maximum hook.

2) I either bowl alone or with teammates that don't want to tape me so in order to tape myself bowling I will set up a shoe on a chair or ball return or wherever you can get a good angle...then put my phone in the shoe...get it aimed at my approach...then hit "record". It's how I recorded my last session. Takes a little more time...but if you are kinda setting it up while waiting for the teammate in front of you to bowl...not too much of a delay.

[zdawg]

1) If you're bowling on moderate/heavy oil synthetic lanes...increasing your ball speed will = a straighter shot. I used to throw 19-20mph on low-oil and then when I tried bowling synthetics/heavier oil I've had to slow my speed to 14-15mph or the ball just skids past any break point. But I'm a lower rev player throwing a symetric ball...so how you throw and your type of ball will have an effect as well. Pros throw incredibly fast...and get very nice hook...but they're throwing balls designed and drilled for maximum hook.

2) I either bowl alone or with teammates that don't want to tape me so in order to tape myself bowling I will set up a shoe on a chair or ball return or wherever you can get a good angle...then put my phone in the shoe...get it aimed at my approach...then hit "record". It's how I recorded my last session. Takes a little more time...but if you are kinda setting it up while waiting for the teammate in front of you to bowl...not too much of a delay.

Thanks for the reply, I think I'll try slowing it down tomorrow just to see how that affects my hook. Since this is the same lane I've been bowling on for the last 10 weeks, and they use the same oil pattern the only factor that has changed is my approach and ball speed so that has to be the culprit.

Also I'll play around with the shoe/phone idea and see if I can capture some video, I think that will be very helpful moving forward

[noeymc]

ball speed will kill a hook thatd be my first answer

[zdawg]

ball speed will kill a hook thatd be my first answer

Thanks, yeah fortunately that should be easy to test tomorrow, I'll just use my old approach/speed and see how the ball reacts.

[Hammer]

What lane conditions do you bowl on dry, medium oil or heavy oil? What kind of ball are you using, plastic, urethane, resin or solid? Does it have a drilling for conventional or fingertip type ball? Do you keep your hand behind the ball up to the release? These things can dictate what kind of hook you will get. Plus going into the release you have to have your wrist straight or a little cupped. If your wrist breakes backwards during the release you will lose revs to make the ball hook.

[zdawg]

What lane conditions do you bowl on dry, medium oil or heavy oil? What kind of ball are you using, plastic, urethane, resin or solid? Does it have a drilling for conventional or fingertip type ball? Do you keep your hand behind the ball up to the release? These things can dictate what kind of hook you will get. Plus going into the release you have to have your wrist straight or a little cupped. If your wrist breakes backwards during the release you will lose revs to make the ball hook.

It's fairly heavy oil I believe, its a resin ball albeit more of an entry level ball (Ebonite Cyclone). It's drilled for fingertip, I do keep my hand behind the ball up to the release.

Thing is, I'm 10 weeks into my league and bowling in general (not counting rare visits to the alley when I was younger), the first two weeks I used house balls and bowled straight, third week I got my ball and have been hooking it ever since. One night league bowling a week, and lately 3-4 days practice plus the coaching session with Mark Baker day before yesterday. Today was the first time this has ever happened, although 10 weeks is a small sample size. It was really really odd, this is my league bowling alley which I average 3-4 visits weekly so the lane conditions, etc. have not changed.

I normally have my wrist fairly straight or maybe even a little cupped, however with this completely new approach and backswing my wrist might not be as firm as before. Thing is, the ball was getting revs, just not hooking where it normally would.

[Perrin]

an incresed of 4-5 miles an hour on a Cyclone I would expect to reduce hook by 5-10 boards(with my release). so if you had say 8 boards of hook to start with it is entirely possbile that you are now just throwing it though the breakpoint.


Did you try moving outside and throwing it down say the 5 board and see if it picks up quicker and turns the corner?

[e-tank]

1) If you're bowling on moderate/heavy oil synthetic lanes...increasing your ball speed will = a straighter shot. I used to throw 19-20mph on low-oil and then when I tried bowling synthetics/heavier oil I've had to slow my speed to 14-15mph or the ball just skids past any break point. But I'm a lower rev player throwing a symetric ball...so how you throw and your type of ball will have an effect as well. Pros throw incredibly fast...and get very nice hook...but they're throwing balls designed and drilled for maximum hook.

your ball goes straight because youre very speed dominant which is why if theres anything other than dry lane your ball goes straight. Slowing down your speed to somewhat match your rev rate is something that you should do as according to kegel, only a slight dominance in either rev or speed produces the best carry. Most pros dont throw the strongest balls, if you want to hook like a pro you need a release like a pro.