Smiling Bowler Practice Sessions

[SmilingBowler]

After some internal debate, I chose to start a thread to discuss my practice sessions as well as share video. I'm doing this to keep my notes all in one place, so as not to continue to post extended stories on the sticky feed. I'll reserve that feed for my league scores.

To start, I'll back-date a few practice sessions.

02/24/13: 182 198 178: 558/3 = 186.00
02/17/13: 150 183 ---: 333/2 = 166.50

Practice Session Average 891/5 = 178.20

I didn't start recording my practice session scores before I found this board. There are many other practice sessions, only wish I had taken the time to record the sessions. The highest game I ever threw in a practice session was a 238 this past January. I wrote that one in my datebook, as I do with a lot of my best games. I define a "best game" as a 220 or over because I've only landed that mark or above 12 times in my life.

So, from here on out I'll post all of my practice sessions in this Thread and keep a running tally of my Practice Session Average. Plus, I'll likely talk in-depth a bit, about how I was hitting and what other notes I may have had about that morning.

I practice every Sunday morning 9-11 AM at Thunderbird Lanes, Willow Grove, PA 19090.

[jbeck]

Do you have a smart phone? I use the app "Best Bowling" to record my practice sessions and league scores. It's pretty simple and can record individual pin carry as well to give averages. I didn't start recording until late November, but I've seen my average go up each month! It's a great tool to see how you're progressing.

[SmilingBowler]

Do you have a smart phone? I use the app "Best Bowling" to record my practice sessions and league scores. It's pretty simple and can record individual pin carry as well to give averages. I didn't start recording until late November, but I've seen my average go up each month! It's a great tool to see how you're progressing.

Great tip JBeck! I just got that app last week, and though I can not include images to a post here yet, I have uploaded the screenshots of my games last Wednesday and Thursday to Twitter.

I would've been scoring my games today, too, but I left my iPhone at home on the charger by mistake.

[SmilingBowler]

Had a good morning at practice. Found out a thing or two about my Jacked Raw Hammer, made some slight adjustments in my timing and even made a ball change from the Innovate to the Black Widow in the third game.

There was a lot of oil today and I found that the Innovate would find the pocket, but only if I threw it under 13mph - which I don't do often. I average 14.0-14.8 mph on my ball speed. I threw seven straight strikes between the 9-10-11-12 of the 1st game and the 1-2-3 of the 2nd game, before the Innovate stopped finding the pocket and struggled clearing the deck. After opening in the 8-9-10 of the 2nd game and 1-2-3-4-5-6 of the 3rd, I switched to the Black Widow.

Made the switch too late, which is something I wouldn't have done if this was league play.The Black Widow was on-point today. 7th and 8th frame were perfect pocket strikes, the 9th was a pocket 8 pin spare and then a strike in the first of the 10th followed by a jersey side baby split that I missed - I wanted to see what happened if I threw it out even further and found out quickly.

181 177 146 = 504

Practice Session Average: 1395/8 = 174.38

About the Jacked Raw Hammer: I've had it since 2010 and haven't thrown it in nearly four months. After close examination, I've decided it needs some help if I plan to take it States. To start, I'll have the thumb hole re-drilled and give it a new thumb slug so it fits my thumb like my Innovate and Black Widow. They're slightly oval, though not an oval slug; a circle slug and then use a Dremel to sand out the sides to fit my over my thumb knuckle. Then I'll consider having the grips drilled out and have new ones, especially if I have the ball resurfaced or at least baked. It'll be a work in progress, but I'll be sure to share before and after photos when I have it all done and may start a new thread at that time so we can chat about it further.

For now, I'll keep focused on practicing with the Innovate and Black Widow. I feel confident with them.

[billf]

Why would you have to drill out the grips?

[SmilingBowler]

Well, to start, the thumb slug and ring finger grip each have a chunk out of the coverstock near the grip. You can see what I mean in the image I have as my Twitter header. I'd just have them both drilled out to give me a smooth edge and then they can place a wider grip in there.

This will take place, if I don't decide to retire the Jacked Raw Hammer before States. I may do that if I opt for a new ball. I have another thread of balls I'm considering here.

[SmilingBowler]

I'll be back practicing in just about 5-6 hours and will post all the details here.

[SmilingBowler]

Worked on a couple different things this morning in practice. Focused on starting lower so I could finish lower, therefore getting the ball out about 24-30" beyond the foul line. First game I felt confident that was a good solution. From there, I went ahead and sped the ball up a bit (as I tend to do far too often - but this time, to help me with my spare game).

Overall I was 17/23 (73.9%) on spares (includes 1/3 on splits - made the 2-4-10 and missed the 2-4-5-8-10 and 4-9) but as you can see here:

I shot a 172 169 161 for 502 series.

Far from terrible. Besides, if my aim was to bowl like my Dad (who shot 732) today, I may have just focused and played my game. Slowing the steps to slow the ball down always helps and that's the only thing I needed to do to hit the pocket. I'm confident I'm well on my way and next Sunday I'll bowl "for real" in practice to see how Dad and I match up as doubles partners for States.

[Tampabaybob]

Looks pretty good, but I'm looking at your score sheet an see a couple of things, if I may. i always tell my students to look at there score sheets and try to analyze what was happening during those three games.

First of all I see several 1st ball shots (12 to be exact) where you only had 6 - 7 - or 8 (plus 1 gutter ball) on the that frame. What it tells me is you're probably missing your spot and not hitting the pocket well. Of course the main objective of this game is to get the ball in the pocket every time on that first ball. Doing so, besides giving you the best shot a getting a strike also gives you the best chance at leaving something that's "makeable". What I think is happening, and this is only an educated guess, is you're lifting your eyes off of your spot a micro second before you release the ball. You MUST, I repeat, MUST, watch that ball go over your spot/arrow every shot to gain accuracy. It's the only way you can make good adjustments to the lanes and the only way to know what your ball is doing. Accuracy is one, if not the most important aspect of this game. Be sure you're hit tinting that spot with pinpoint accuracy each and every ball you throw. Keep this in mind "You can't hit what you don't see".

Good luck keep up the good work. Sounds like your DAD is a good bowler , have him spot you on every throw. If he tells you you're missing your spot, then I'm correct. Keep your eyes down.

[SmilingBowler]

TampaBayBob!!! Great advice my friend.

Tonight I was able to keep my eyes on my mark and stare at that mark until my ball took my eyes to the pocket.

Threw a 610 and you can see the scoresheet here: