To slide or not to slide, that is the question...

[Gunz1911]

For my slide, I seem to have an issue where my heel will hit and then i skid to a very uncontrolled stop, Or I will try to over compinsate my heel hitting and end up planting my toes. I have a pair of Dexters and the back half is all rubber (Universal type). Is there anything I can try or use to help my skid? I feel most comfortable with my heel almost touching the approuch, however with the rubber its just breaking me. I really don't want to have to buy a new pair of shoes to get one with a skid pad on the heel, if i can help it.

[J Anderson]

For my slide, I seem to have an issue where my heel will hit and then i skid to a very uncontrolled stop, Or I will try to over compinsate my heel hitting and end up planting my toes. I have a pair of Dexters and the back half is all rubber (Universal type). Is there anything I can try or use to help my skid? I feel most comfortable with my heel almost touching the approuch, however with the rubber its just breaking me. I really don't want to have to buy a new pair of shoes to get one with a skid pad on the heel, if i can help it.

Usually, hitting heel first causes a dead stop not a skid. I use a similar pair of Dexters when I practice so I can switch hands without changing soles back and forth on my SST8s. The practice shoes are now at least six years old and the rubber has gotten so hard that the heels have more slide than the front part of the sole, which makes it feel less controlled when the hell touches down. Is this the problem you're having?

I have thought about taking a utility knife making a number of cuts across the heel to see if I can get some more friction, but I haven't tried it yet.

[Gunz1911]

I should probably say when I feel my heel touch I try to bring it up slightly, resulting in a wierd half breaking. It doesn't happen extremely often. But when it does, it seems to mess me up alot cause then I try to force my heel to not go down, thus toe planting. It is not so much a dead stop, cause I will still go forward a little bit, but it defenitly cuts my slide down. If that makes any sense at all... Or I could just be explaining it bad.

[Tampabaybob]

SLIDING....This is one of the controversial subjects in bowling. Swingset, I would say, "IF" you can stay balanced at the line by planting, then stay with it. This is one of those, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" type of thing. Not every bowler fits into the round hole, if you get my drift. You tried it, and it didn't feel right and you're uneasy doing it. So I'd say stay with what you're doing, and in a year or so, if you decide to try the slide thing again, give it a shot.

Probably the best arise I can give you is something a nine time PBA winner told me several years ago. I was having issues with the distance I drift to the foul line and asked him how to straighten it out. Explained I had tried several times but always gravitated back to my old drift pattern. He told me, and I quote "When your livelihood depends on it, you'll be able to fix it." In other words, if you're not bowling for a living.....don't worry about it !!