Note to self for striking on league night-slow and easy..........

[Hammer]

I wrestle with this all the time. But I have found when I start trying to bowl too slow and easy that it doesn't do what I need it to do. As soon as I put a little bit more speed in my approach I watch pins explode and X's appear. For some this may help for other maybe not. I agree you can't muscle it down the lanes but you need to find a happy medium and whatever may work for you.

The slow approach only works if you have the right ball. An aggressive resin ball and layout probably will not work on this style of bowling. Like I said above the ball I use is a urethane Blue Hammer with a length layout and the pin above my ring finger. This type of setup gives it a controlled hook. If I add too much speed it hits light in the pocket leaving a lot of 7 pins(I am left handed). So if I can control my adrenalin on league night I will have more pocket hits. That is what I like about this ball. I don't need high revs and speed to get a good pocket hit. And it is good as a spare ball also.

[Tampabaybob]

I wrestle with this all the time. But I have found when I start trying to bowl too slow and easy that it doesn't do what I need it to do. As soon as I put a little bit more speed in my approach I watch pins explode and X's appear. For some this may help for other maybe not. I agree you can't muscle it down the lanes but you need to find a happy medium and whatever may work for you.

Scott, I'll agree to a point with you about a bit of speed. If you try to "baby the ball", you'll end up trying to point it too often. Some speed on the follow thru is required. It's a very fine line that you want to meet between having too much speed and not enough and we all struggle trying to find that happy medium. When I said that to etank, I was referring to not overpower the ball.

Bob

[Hammer]

If I am not mistaken when pros or anyone that throws the ball coast to coast wants the ball to hit the break point and go to the pocket I don't think they put a lot of speed on the ball. They hit the ball with a lot of revs but I think they give the ball average speed so it doesn't go into the gutter and instead makes the turn to the pocket. So they have to be careful with the speed they put on the ball.

[Tampabaybob]

Sunday, I watched the PBA tour stop that was in Vegas. I was very surprised to see them throwing the ball as fast as they were. I would estimate they were averaging about 17mph. They were bowling on the shortest pattern that was very, very dry on the outside, so i imagine it was for that reason they were really pitching the ball hard. The top 4 in the elimination all averaged OVER 250 for the 16 semi-final games. That's outrageous ! Many years ago when I held a PBA card and shot tournaments in the Northeast, we never were told what the oil pattern was like they do today. We always traveled with a trunk full of balls and hoped we brought something that would work. All of the full time touring pros all received free balls from the ball manufacturers they bowled for, so they could just walk out to the truck and have them drill something different if they needed to. A lot has changed over the years.

Bob

[billf]

There are plenty of pros who throw it hard, Tommy Jones, Robert Smith and Sean Rash all consitently hook the lane at over 20mph at the pins. Speed is just another variable that is bowler specific.

[Tampabaybob]

True, but the "average" bowler shouldn't try that. Speed is a killer to someone just starting out, and I think you'll agree to that. I try and get people and kids to stay at or below 16mph. If they can learn to control the ball and move their speed up from there fine, but a slower speed gets them used to 'feeling' whats going on.

Bob

[GoKidd]

Is there a good exercise or something to help me regulate my speed? This is a very helpful thread for me.

[e-tank]

e-tank.......Power lifter ?? At least we know where the speed originates. Just remember ...nice and easy does it. Relax and let the ball do the work for you.

Bob

Yea especially now that i learned to bowl with 3 fingers, i can just let gravity do the work since i actually have a backswing now. Focusing on spares has helped my accuracy tremendously aswell.