June 22 practice

[billf]

Practiced with Chris today. Ball felt horrible today so I had my step-daughter bring me my camera. This was game 19. I showed Chris in the first shot so low rev, low rotation players can see what a DV8 Brutal Nightmare will react like with horrible form. He knows but with all his health issues it's about as good as it will get.
On mine I noticed that I was getting lazy again with bringing my balance arm back. My speed, revs and reaction were off PLUS it caused my hand to come up left of target instead of at the target most of the time.
If you notice anything else, chime in. I normally post my shot better but knowing the camera was going I kept trying to get out of the way. My slide sucked and I've already ordered new S10 soles by Dexter from www.bowlerX.com

[DLP]

I am not sure if its the camera angle or not, but I'm not sure if its your normal approach or not but it doesn't look like you are ending to the left or right of your starting point. It's very subtle but visible if look specifically at it.

[Greenday]

Almost immediately after you let go of the ball, you moved around and didn't hold your shot. You were falling off after each one. I feel like that'd be a major contributor to missing left.

[billf]

Almost immediately after you let go of the ball, you moved around and didn't hold your shot. You were falling off after each one. I feel like that'd be a major contributor to missing left.

It was going that way before I got the cam when I was posting the shot. When my balance arm gets lazy it throws off my swing plane. It wasn't as much falling off as getting out of the way. I do it subconsciencously when I know the cam is on.

I am not sure if its the camera angle or not, but I'm not sure if its your normal approach or not but it doesn't look like you are ending to the left or right of your starting point. It's very subtle but visible if look specifically at it.

Why would you want to end at a different spot than you start? It's called drift and it's fairly rare to have zero drift. My first step with the ball side foot is a cross over step. That, with my lack of drift, allows me to lay the ball down on the board that my left big toe starts on.

[DLP]

Thanks for that explanation, Bill! It's one of the things I catch myself doing all of the time and while my coach didn't seem to think it was of any concern, if I start being cognizant of it when I am walking up to the approach, I'll end up in the next lane (well okay, I'm not THAT bad but its bad enough).

[billf]

Drifting is alright as long as it's not to the ball side. If it is then you have to swing around your body. This is why coaches tend to teach a drift to the opposite side. Most people when trying to align the shoulders and hips to the target will end up walkng towards that direction. This makes sense logically as we normally look at where we are walking but does go against what's needed to bowl.
By using my balance hand, thumb pointing down, over the target it helps to turn the hips and shoulders to the target while making the body continually and steadily get lower.
On the pulled shots you can see where the swing slot doesn't go outside in to outside again (figure 8 or pro loop) but rather starts out, goes in and stays in. Also seeing on those shots that my body isn't as low. The knee bend isn't quite as low creating a little less slide. Even a half inch less slide creates less room for error for end timing.

For a big drift check out Mike Devaney on youtube. He's a great person, good bowler and has the most drift I've consistently seen. His starting spot is always the same and drifts to the laydown area.

[DLP]

As always, sir, you teach me something new everyday Thank you!

I watched a few videos with Mike Devaney on youtube. Needless to say, now I recognize why my adjustment of trying to get rid of drifting may be doing more harm than good (like my first set of scores after my coaching session). My hubby claims I'm one of the few people on the planet that would fail a DUI test sober. As long as I can make that work for me, I should be good to go!

[billf]

Ideally you would like to keep your drift to five boards or less. That leaves room to adjust. Watch Chris in the video; he starts way left and drifts almost the width of the lane. When he has to move left there isn't enough room.
The biggest thing is to keep your drift consistent. As long as it's always the same amount then you can compensate for it.

[Greenday]

Ideally you would like to keep your drift to five boards or less. That leaves room to adjust. Watch Chris in the video; he starts way left and drifts almost the width of the lane. When he has to move left there isn't enough room.
The biggest thing is to keep your drift consistent. As long as it's always the same amount then you can compensate for it.

It's funny. When I stand 20 and throw 10 or anywhere right of that, I drift at most half a board. When I stand far left, I'll drift 3-4 boards and it's a huge difference in my game (Not in a good way obviously).

[J Anderson]

Maybe you need to roll a few games left-handed to break your left arm's habit of being lazy. You know, like when the gym teacher makes the lazy kid run extra laps or do extra push-ups.