Look forward to this type of bowling without practicing or lessons.......

[Hammer]

I have been bowling on this league for 27 years on THS pattern. Because of age but mostly because of osteoarthritis in the hips and knees I don't practice. If I do my hips and knees will bother me for a day or two. When I was okay in the hips and knees my partner and I would practice twice a week. I had a 190 average and on league night could bowl all three games 200 or over. I would have a few scratch series over 600 in a bowling season. I could string strikes with no trouble. My games were more consistent as far as scores. They weren't all over the place like now. An example was league night this past Saturday. First game was a 143. Second game was 227. Last game was 161. Not long ago I bowled a 191, 207 and a 225. So sometimes it does work out without practice but I am sure it is because I have been bowling for 27 years and know about the right technique to throw a ball and about adjusting on the approach to try and get a good hit on the pocket. You can know all about the right technique to bowl but you have to practice to be consistent or to get better and better. So if you don't practice at all don't get down on yourself if you bowl a bad game or games. Just accept the fact that you did the best you could that night for someone that doesn't practice. Tiger Woods is a great golfer and knows all about working the golf ball but he still is coached and puts in practice time on the tee. The right practice and some coaching gives you good muscle memory so when you do bowl it is like being on automatic pilot. You
don't have to think about it so much because your muscle know what to do. Just like driving a car. You don't have to think about your foot going to the gas or brake because you have been doing if for a long time and your feet know what to do automatically. If you want to keep getting better you have to put in the practice time. The better you want to be the more right practice you have to put in.

[zdawg]

If you want to keep getting better you have to put in the practice time. The better you want to be the more right practice you have to put in.

I agree, although I must admit being new to this sport for about two months I went a bit overboard practicing 6 days/week and bowling one league night. It's taken a toll mostly on my wrist and my knee, and as my doctor likes to remind me I'm not in my 20's anymore

That said, I've cut down to one or two good/solid practice sessions where I work on my mechanics, adding a new trick or two, or going to the coach and getting him to give me something new to work on so that seems to be helping. My wrist pain especially is starting to dissipate, and while I'm in the middle of a season I can't go without bowling for a month or two cutting back on the quantity of bowling seems to be working.

[Hammer]

You don't have to practice every day of the week or bowl 10 games of practice a day. You can get away with maybe one or two practice days a week and maybe on those days bowl three games. In each game concentrate on one thing. First game maybe your footwork. Second game concentrate on your swing and release. If you want to know what it feels like to keep your hand behind the ball up to the release area and the swing under your head and close to your slide foot ankle you can do this drill. Go to the foul line and get into your release position where your balance leg is behind you like it is when you throw your ball and your balance arm is out to your side. Your slide leg should have some good knee bend also with your head above your slide foot. All you do then is to put your fingers into your ball and let it hang straight down from your shoulder. Then start swinging it a short distance back and forth and look down with your eyes to make sure your hand stays behind the ball on the forward swing. This will train your brain to see what this motion feels like. After you get comfortable with this you can swing it back and forth a little higher and on the forward swing when you thumb comes out rotate your hand just a little and let the ball go. You don't have to muscle it to do this. If you do this right your ball will go down the alley straight and then hook. From this you will see that it doesn't take a lot of force to make the ball hook. Your third game you can work on your spare shooting or whatever else you want to work on.

[zdawg]

You don't have to practice every day of the week or bowl 10 games of practice a day. You can get away with maybe one or two practice days a week and maybe on those days bowl three games. In each game concentrate on one thing. First game maybe your footwork. Second game concentrate on your swing and release. If you want to know what it feels like to keep your hand behind the ball up to the release area and the swing under your head and close to your slide foot ankle you can do this drill. Go to the foul line and get into your release position where your balance leg is behind you like it is when you throw your ball and your balance arm is out to your side. Your slide leg should have some good knee bend also with your head above your slide foot. All you do then is to put your fingers into your ball and let it hang straight down from your shoulder. Then start swinging it a short distance back and forth and look down with your eyes to make sure your hand stays behind the ball on the forward swing. This will train your brain to see what this motion feels like. After you get comfortable with this you can swing it back and forth a little higher and on the forward swing when you thumb comes out rotate your hand just a little and let the ball go. You don't have to muscle it to do this. If you do this right your ball will go down the alley straight and then hook. From this you will see that it doesn't take a lot of force to make the ball hook. Your third game you can work on your spare shooting or whatever else you want to work on.

Thanks for the suggestion, will definitely give it a try next practice session!