moving up and slowing down

[WolfGirl1980]

I know I have gotten better since I came to this message baord and my average has gone up it would have even more if was beginning of the league cause it was ending couple of weeks ago and now I just started a new league the summer league that is and I get to fight to bring that average up even higher as long as I practice every week and I will be tomorrow I rested this week cause of my wrist and now it feels better so hopefully I be back to new no more hurting and I can keep aiming for those 200's.

-Sara

[J Anderson]

Good points. I teach my students that spares are more important than strikes. WHY ? Because if you can develop your accuracy on all of your different spare shots, eventually and without realizing it, that accuracy will roll over to your first ball shots and you'll start seeing a higher strike percentage. Here's a goal for you......

Men Women
Single Pins Spare % 85% 82%
Multi Pin Spare % 52% 50%
1st Ball Pinfall 8.5 8.2
Max. Opens per 2.0 2.5
Game Strike % 37% 32%

These are the scores that we aspire to have in order to compete for a national championship:

 Men Women
Single Pins Spare % 95% 92%
Multi Pin Spare % 65% 62%
1st Ball Pinfall 9.3 8.8
Max. Opens per 1.0 1.5
Game Strike % 50% 42%

These are goals for one of the best college bowling teams in America. I know because my Daughter bowled for this University. IF, you can achieve goals such as the ones above, you will see great changes in your scores and average.

Good luck, let me know what you think about those.

I can see where women since most of them throw lighter balls would have lower goals for 1st ball pinfall and strike percentage. Why would their goals for spare % be lower than the men's goals?

[Tampabaybob]

You know John, I'm not sure either. I'm sure some of the Women Pro's would take issue with that. Would love to see Kelly Kulick's response. Are you listening Kelly???

[budda]

As for me, being a person who went from standing with my feet off the back of the approach to standing at the 1st set of dots, it can make a world of difference.
I did lose some ball speed, but the accuracy has been much impoved. It is much easier to hit a mark when I am not running to the line and hurling the ball down the lane.
It is something that will take some time to get used to, but when you do, you will be pleased.
Good luck!

[vdubtx]

When and if someone decides to move up on the approach. Making sure you have good timing is crucial. If you have late timing you will be pulling the ball rather than letting it swing. Also, late timing can make you have fast feet.

[Tampabaybob]

As for me, being a person who went from standing with my feet off the back of the approach to standing at the 1st set of dots, it can make a world of difference.
I did lose some ball speed, but the accuracy has been much impoved. It is much easier to hit a mark when I am not running to the line and hurling the ball down the lane.
It is something that will take some time to get used to, but when you do, you will be pleased.
Good luck!

Thanks for re-enforcing what we typically tell people on the boards. If someone doesn't get it and looks at your credentials, maybe they'll take it to heart and work a little harder to slow down. We've all seen bowlers that run like heck down the approach and then wider why they don't score well.

Great comment, thanks for adding it here.