Gravity swing can increase your scores......

[bowl1820]

Here's the article:


CONTROL YOUR ROLL INCREASING/DECREASING BALL SPEED
By Bryan O’Keefe

Bowling is about the ability to repeat shots and the readi- ness to adjust to changing conditions.
Today, we have bowling balls that absorb oil and we compete on an invisible playing field that changes with virtually every shot that goes down the lane. Bowlers need to con- stantly adjust to those changes.
Too often bowlers immediately feel the need to adjust by moving on the approach, left-to-right across the lane. Remember, the lane is 60 feet long but only 39 inches wide. There’s much more room to make front-to-back than left-to-right adjust- ments. Sometimes the best adjust- ment is stay on the same line and
simply increase or decrease the ball speed to better read the changes in the lane. If you need the ball to slow down faster, throw it slower. If you need the ball to not slow down quite as quickly, throw it faster.
Of course, increasing and decreasing ball speed is not a new concept in bowling, but the manner in which people attempt to adjust their ball speed is the subject of con- siderable debate.
One misconception is that you can adjust your ball speed by using your upper body. It’s a mistake to think that you can keep your lower body the same and simply use more muscle to throw the ball harder, or slow the ball down by grabbing it more and forcing yourself to throw the ball slower. In truth, you may

“The best way to increase or decrease ball speed is by using your legs, not your upper body.“

In truth, you may actually accomplish faster or slower ball speed, but your accuracy and consistency is going to be very difficult to repeat.
The best way to increase or de- crease ball speed is by using your legs, not your upper body. Using your lower body to adjust your tem- po to the line will allow you to main- tain a fluid, natural swing and will greatly increase your ability to repeat shots.
To increase ball speed, start your approach a step behind your normal starting point, which will give you more room so that you can walk faster. By moving faster to the line, your stride will be slightly longer. That extra pace to the line will get your lower body working while your upper body stays relaxed and ball speed will still increase.
Conversely, if you want to decrease your ball speed, move up a foot in your approach. Whether you’re using a four-step or five-step approach, your steps will be shorter and your pace will be slower.
Naturally, a byproduct of quicker/ slower tempo to the line is that your timing must adjust with the tempo, and that’s where the biggest misconception about adjusting ball speed comes in.
Prevailing wisdom suggests that in order to throw the ball harder you start the ball higher (lengthening your swing), and to slow it down you start the ball lower in your stance (shortening your swing).
By adjusting your tempo to the line, the opposite is actually true. Start with the ball about six inches lower if you want to increase ball speed, and start with the ball slightly higher if you want to decrease
ball speed. Confused?

Here’s how it works: By speeding up your tempo to the line, you’ve actually got less time to get the ball from your stance, through your swing and to the release point. Let’s say your normal swing takes four sec- onds from stance to release point. There’s a natural tempo, so your feet are instinctively going to keep track of that to keep you in your timing. Now, if you cut your swing to 3.5 seconds, your feet are going to move faster to stay in synch.
It’s all about the distance your swing travels. If you take a shorter swing, your feet automatically have to go faster in order to stay in time.
In essence, your feet have to move faster to make up for the lost distance in your swing. If your swing is longer, your feet have to move slower to maintain proper timing.
So, to increase ball speed, move back one foot on the approach and adjust the ball position six inches lower in your stance. To decrease ball speed, start one foot forward on the approach and position the ball six inches higher in your stance.
To a certain extent, the distance of your swing dictates your foot speed. Adjusting the length of the swing shorter or longer than normal will allow you to increase or decrease ball speed.
That can come in handy because often times you’re on the right part of the lane. Instead of moving left or right, adjust your ball speed to adapt to the changing lane conditions.
— Bryan O’Keefe is Assistant Coach and Facility Manager at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.

[bowl1820]

And this was my thought to go with that:
"There's a old book "Bowling: Knowledge is Key" by Fred Borden in it there's a part where he talks about "vertical placement" (Holding the ball higher or lower).

In it he talks about not holding it higher or lower to increase or decrease speed. But use it as a way of controlling arm swing timing to match the tempo of your feet movements. Raising the ball retards the arm swing in relation to the feet movement, lowering the ball advances the arm swing timing in relation to the feet movements

So Bowlers with a naturally fast tempo, hold the ball lower to match up with their footwork. Those with a slower tempo, hold the ball higher because it retards the swing.

Now if holding the ball higher retards the swing, that would mean it would be basically a longer, slower swing. And so the higher you hold it, the longer and slower the swing be.

Now if your trying to increase speed , using a longer and slower swing wouldn't help. You would wind up having to accelerate your arm through that longer, slower swing. Not only To make up for the speed you lost with the longer swing, but to get that extra speed you wanted in the first place. That would mean adding muscle to the swing, but muscling isn't something we want to do.

Now if you increase or decrease speed using foot work (as Bryan O'Keefe's article suggests). then using a lower ball height for faster and higher one for slower makes sense, because it's just matching up the swing timing with the foot work. Plus you can still have a free swing, with no muscles involved to increase the speed.

It just seemed to me that you could infer from Fred's idea above, that if you wanted to increase ball speed by faster footwork. You would have to hold the ball lower. And that is the basic idea put forth by Bryan O'Keefe's article. Increase ball speed by holding ball lower with faster footwork. Hold higher with slower footwork for slower ball speed. So to me it would seem to support Bryan's idea.

It's kind of a old idea, now new again. "

[J Anderson]

The interesting thing about bowling swings...there is no "right or wrong".

I tried to remove "muscling" out of my swing/approach...ended up dropping 75% of my shots into the right gutter. It wasn't natural...it didn't work...it didn't feel right. It turns out...that in my attempts to "muscle" the ball...I was straightening my shoulders. Without that "muscling"...my shoulders didn't get parallel.

I watch a lot of different pro bowler swings...nearly all of them apply strength to their forward swing. Some are smooth, some, like Walter Ray, are more "jerky"...but it's rare to see a bowler just let the ball swing down due soley to gravity. And if you DID do that...your timing would always vary. "Muscling" allows you to bring the ball to the release point right when you want it there (sometimes too soon). Waiting for gravity...requires the ball to reach the exact same point in your backswing...at exactly the same time...with exactly the same delay. Very hard to time that. And the pin carry will be less because gravity alone will limit you to 14-16mph.

Just a quick question Aslan, How many steps do you take?

[dnhoffman]

Saying you should muscle through a bowling swing is beyond ridiculous.

It's the equivalent of saying a golfer should swing back and forward as hard as possible or a baseball player should muscle an at bat really hard.

Muscling may "bring you to 160" but I guarantee it'll always limit you below a 180 average.

[noeymc]

The interesting thing about bowling swings...there is no "right or wrong".

I tried to remove "muscling" out of my swing/approach...ended up dropping 75% of my shots into the right gutter. It wasn't natural...it didn't work...it didn't feel right. It turns out...that in my attempts to "muscle" the ball...I was straightening my shoulders. Without that "muscling"...my shoulders didn't get parallel.

I watch a lot of different pro bowler swings...nearly all of them apply strength to their forward swing. Some are smooth, some, like Walter Ray, are more "jerky"...but it's rare to see a bowler just let the ball swing down due soley to gravity. And if you DID do that...your timing would always vary. "Muscling" allows you to bring the ball to the release point right when you want it there (sometimes too soon). Waiting for gravity...requires the ball to reach the exact same point in your backswing...at exactly the same time...with exactly the same delay. Very hard to time that. And the pin carry will be less because gravity alone will limit you to 14-16mph.

what you just posted was one of the dumbest things i have read on here and i never attack anyone here but this statement is bad you should be waiting on the ball. 2nd no muscling the ball will mess your timing up... as where gravity never changes so that takes it out of the picture 3rd my ball speed is 16-18 mph i adjust as needed but normaly run around 18 with gravity i am not sure where u get your logic or your research but please post something to back up your statements id love to see who told u this brosince

[Hammer]

Pro bowlers are not muscling the ball even though it looks that way. When their ball gets to the top of their backswing they time their approach so as the ball starts to come down with gravity they are in their power step which is the step right before their slide step and they push off into their slide which is usually a long slide which gives them the speed they want for the conditions of the alleys they are playing on. Their swings look like they are muscled because they have such a relaxed arm that it is free to swing as fast as they want.
Ball speed is controlled with the legs believe it or not and not the arm.

Their backswings can get high because when they swing back their shoulders open up so they are parallel with the alley gutters and that combined with the right upper body tilt will let the shoulder get the ball that high. If they tried doing that old school by keeping the shoulders square to the foul line the bowling shoulder wouldn't have enough flexibility to get the ball high.

[Hammer]

I forgot Aslan to once again say click on bowlingball.com and at the top right of the page cover BowlVersity with your mouse and in the second column of the drop down box click on Improve Your Game and you will find everything you need to know about getting your game together the right way. If you dispute what they tell you there is the right way then you will reach a certain level of bowling and never get better with time.

[classygranny]

Pro bowlers are not muscling the ball even though it looks that way. When their ball gets to the top of their backswing they time their approach so as the ball starts to come down with gravity they are in their power step which is the step right before their slide step and they push off into their slide which is usually a long slide which gives them the speed they want for the conditions of the alleys they are playing on. Their swings look like they are muscled because they have such a relaxed arm that it is free to swing as fast as they want.
Ball speed is controlled with the legs believe it or not and not the arm.

Their backswings can get high because when they swing back their shoulders open up so they are parallel with the alley gutters and that combined with the right upper body tilt will let the shoulder get the ball that high. If they tried doing that old school by keeping the shoulders square to the foul line the bowling shoulder wouldn't have enough flexibility to get the ball high.

This is described very well in Mark Baker's book "The Game Changer"

[bowl1820]

Ron Clifton wrote
The most common mistakes bowlers make
http://www.bowl4fun.com/ron/tip34.htm
3. They try to “throw” the ball like in other sports: In other sports like baseball or football we use our muscles to “throw” the ball by accelerating it quickly. Bowling balls are much too heavy for that. When you try to quickly accelerate a 15 pound object it resists greatly, that is basic physics. This resistance makes it very hard to “throw” the ball with any consistency. Learn to allow gravity to throw the ball for you.

[Aslan]

what you just posted was one of the dumbest things i have read on here

nice

Just a quick question Aslan, How many steps do you take?

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