bowling better at one centre than another. is it pyshcolgical?

[H3RBSKI]

As title suggests is it all in your head? If you read my last post about getting fed up of my league then you will know I do terrible at the centre.
Bowled again today at my brothers centre and I'm so Much more accurate and I dont mean hitting the pocket I mean hitting my Mark on release. Today I didn't pull it left or bowl too far right and I did pretty well. Yet bowling at my league center I always mess up, miss my Mark, pull it left or gutter on first ball etc. Is it all on your head? Anybody else like this?

[bowl1820]

Norm Duke on the Mental Game


After physical abilities, the element that separates all great athletes is their ability to function mentally. Many people ask me, “What percentage of bowling is mental?” All of it! As soon as you can physically get the ball down there and knock ten pins over once, it’s conceivable to mentally do it every time.

Knowing how to play the game

For a long time, I had one of the worst mental games. At first, this was because I didn’t know enough about the game of bowling to separate myself in terms of the knowledge factor. I had to learn how to play the game properly and then apply that knowledge. It’s one thing to know something; it’s another thing to be able to apply it. Several of today’s top players are seemingly peaking in their late 30s, after their physical skills are actually starting to dwindle. What separates them is their ability to play the game on a higher level mentally and apply what they have learned from experience.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses

Another part of developing my mental game was recognizing that I have weaknesses. I learned a long time ago that you can practice for two or three hours on something that you’re very good at, but you will improve very little. If you want to improve quicker, you should take something that you really stink at and dedicate resources to that weakness and make it your advantage. Keep an open mind so that you can actually recognize your weaknesses because sometimes they’re not easy to find unless you’re looking for them.

Confidence

Confidence is the hallmark of the mental game. It is what separates great players. But you don’t just dream up confidence or wake up confident. Confidence comes from knowledge, experience, and preparation. It is impossible for me to be confident unless I know I am physically capable of repeating shots. I have to be able to repeat many different types of shots and select the appropriate shot from many possible ones – and it has to be done on demand and without fear. Preparation is what makes this possible. If I put preparation off, what I’m doing is trading that time with someone else because somebody is preparing at that moment. You will lose a lot of battles if you make too many bad time trades.

Preparation also means that you’ve got to learn your body – what it is that makes you tick, mentally and physically. You have to know things like when to eat so you don’t get hungry in the middle of a round. You have to know when you need rest and when to work out. You also need to know how to relax and what level of nervousness you perform the best under. Learning and applying all of this knowledge is now part of my mental preparation, just like practice.

Controlling your thoughts

Another important part of the mental game is controlling your thoughts. No one or no thing controls your thoughts. You have the choice to be happy or sad. You have the choice to be smart or dumb. You have the choice to see yourself in a good light or a bad light. No matter what happens, your thoughts are still your choice. It really is a choice that you make, and a positive outlook will always beat a negative one.

You can’t keep stewing on past mistakes. If you’re going to get stewed up every time you make a mistake, then bowling for a living will be a long and miserable life! Mistakes will come in droves, but the great shots will come too, and my job is to minimize one and maximize the other. If all I think about is that I threw a bad shot, I’m maximizing the mistake portion and minimizing the successful portion in my head. Everything is a weighted measure – what you’re not putting on the positive side, you’re packing on the negative. Sure, you have to find out what your problems are, but you do this to learn, not to fuel the negative. Quickly determine what is happening and why you’re not enjoying success, and then decide what you need to do to get the job done. After that, you can just discard the shot in your mind.

Controlling your behavior

One big difference between great players and good players is behavior, especially in adverse situations. Some players can leave a solid 8 or a solid 9, and it’s like it doesn’t faze them. That sort of behavior is what I think all of us need to strive for. It’s not that I want everybody to go out there and be mechanical or not be emotional. I’m a very emotional person, but I require a certain type of behavior from myself because staying composed brings many benefits. It allows me to keep my heart rate and blood pressure down, which allows me to stay under control. It also shows my competitor that I can handle the situation – and not only can I handle it, but I can handle it and still be a threat, which can scare the heck out of them.

You see players sometimes who look like they’re about to pop. We call them “hot heads.” They’re just trying to get it out – that’s all they want to do; they just want to get all that “stuff” out. Well, the reason they need to get it out is because it’s in there in the first place – that is the problem! What I’ve learned to do is try to control what is allowed to enter my head – that is the key.

You can’t let it show when you’re nervous. You know other players get nervous, but some just don’t show it. Walter Ray doesn’t sweat profusely or do some of those physical things that make it obvious that he’s nervous. So, when I look at him and he looks like he’s about to go get the paper, he hasn’t given me anything and, in my mind, I haven’t rattled him. I need my opponent to be in trouble. I would like to see sweat, shortness of breath, and all the other physical changes associated with nervousness. If I don’t get any of that – but I feel it myself – the advantage will be with my opponent.

Set yourself apart!

These are just some of the elements of my mental game, but the development of the mental game is really never ending – and the more you learn about it, the more you learn you don’t know. Don’t get discouraged because it can be overwhelming, especially to younger players. I think everybody can use help. If you can acknowledge the importance of the mental game and get the help you need to develop yours, it will give you the ability to set yourself apart from the good bowlers and help you become a great bowler.


Norm Duke
USBC Hall of Famer

[J Anderson]

As title suggests is it all in your head? If you read my last post about getting fed up of my league then you will know I do terrible at the centre.
Bowled again today at my brothers centre and I'm so Much more accurate and I dont mean hitting the pocket I mean hitting my Mark on release. Today I didn't pull it left or bowl too far right and I did pretty well. Yet bowling at my league center I always mess up, miss my Mark, pull it left or gutter on first ball etc. Is it all on your head? Anybody else like this?

My accuracy seems to vary day by day, even game by game. Monday in warm-ups it felt like i was lucky just to hit the lane I was bowling on, let alone my mark. By the last game I rolled a 206 on a sport pattern with no opens. So it could just be coincidence that you were better today than normal.

On the other hand, if you're expecting bad lane conditions, you might not have the right focus to make good shots. You might get too tight because you think your shot has to be perfect. You might not use as much concentration since you know the lanes suck, it doesn't make any difference if you keep your eyes on the target or not. Sometimes, even a lane malfunction like a stuck ball return or waiting to have a pin reset, by making you wait will throw off your rhythm and mess up your accuracy.

Oh, and sticky approaches can throw you off too. One stick or slip and your mind starts worrying about your feet instead of the target.

And bowling in a different center may relax you or at least make open to throwing a relaxed shot since you don't have any expectation of a bad reaction.

Okay, so it is mostly in your head. What are you going to do about it?

[H3RBSKI]

learned that about the sticky approaches today! game 1:191 game 2 opened with a double, went to buy a drink came back for ball 3. went to slide and just jammed my foot to the floor as i had gotten something sticky on my shoe which jarred my knee like crazy (had knee surgery on that knee 2 weeks ago) couldnt bowl the rest of that game until i could slide again and hit an 88 lmao.
and you could be right about the mind set, we go each week to league already annoyed as we know what to expect, constant problems, sticky approaches and 6/10 times the lanes havent been dressed for days. so before i even get a ball in my hand im annoyed!
i try to stay positive at the start and usually have a good first game, but coming up to the second by the time we have had 10 faults im starting to get annoyed and it starts to show, i forget my follow through and pull it too the left or i go way to far right. i hit the pocket and have terrible carry and leave a 5/7/10 or something stupid but then the guy on the other team hits the 6 pin and gets a strike or goes straight through the nose and gets a strike so now im even more annoyed lol
i just cant seem to kick out of it, yet if i bowl at the other center i dont care much if i miss it doesnt phase me so i tend to have good games each time.
any tips on how to over come it?

[J Anderson]

i try to stay positive at the start and usually have a good first game, but coming up to the second by the time we have had 10 faults im starting to get annoyed and it starts to show, i forget my follow through and pull it too the left or i go way to far right. i hit the pocket and have terrible carry and leave a 5/7/10 or something stupid but then the guy on the other team hits the 6 pin and gets a strike or goes straight through the nose and gets a strike so now im even more annoyed lol
i just cant seem to kick out of it, yet if i bowl at the other center i dont care much if i miss it doesnt phase me so i tend to have good games each time.
any tips on how to over come it?

You do start off with the right attitude. The lanes may not be good but the other team has to deal with the same lousy lane condition as your team, so it's fair.

The problem is if you watch the other team make bad shots and get good breaks it doesn't seem fair. The trouble with bowling is there is no defense. You can't block shots like basketball, or sack the quarterback like football. The only thing you can control is yourself and your shot.

The first thing is not to look at the score. Your job is to make a good shot each time you pick up the ball. It doesn't matter if you're 100 pins down, 50 pins up, or dead even, you need to make a good shot!

Second; don't watch the other team bowl. While you can learn about how the lane is transitioning from watching them, if seeing them get a bunch of lucky breaks is going to bother you, don't do it.

Third: stay focused on the shot at hand. Go through your pre-shot routine, set up in the right spot, focus on your target and throw. If you hit your target and don't strike remember where the ball wound up so you can figure out what adjustment to make later. For now re-focus on what you need to do to make the spare. If you missed your mark it's most likely one of three things. You may have taken your eyes off your target before the ball got there. You may have gotten your swing behind your back or gotten it too far out from your body. Lastly your timing may be off. You may know immediately what you did wrong, you may not, but 9 times out of ten if you focus on having and keeping your eyes on target you'll hit the next shot on target.

Lastly; breathe. Or rather take a deep breath then slowly exhale, either before stepping on the approach or as you set up.

[e-tank]

if this hasnt been said already, there are real differences from center to center. From the lanes themselves, to oiling, the approach etc. I bowled in a different center last weekend and i was shocked by the difference in just about every aspect from my home center

[Aslan]

if this hasnt been said already, there are real differences from center to center. From the lanes themselves, to oiling, the approach etc. I bowled in a different center last weekend and i was shocked by the difference in just about every aspect from my home center

Agreed. The mental game is definitely a factor in why some nights you bowl well and some nights not so much...but when you're talking one alley to another alley...most casual bowlers don't realize how different the conditions can be from one lane to another.

[H3RBSKI]

but with my situation its basically exactly the same, we both use the same kegal phoenix lane machine, same oil/conditioner and same ths. the only thing the centre i always do bad in has is a longer/heavier oil pattern for league games. our centres were built in under a year apart with the same synthetic lanes and amf 8290 xl machines.
i think for me its because i go there expecting a bad night now. when i got to my brothers centre i know im going to have a good time, sure i still make terrible shots from time to time but no where near as much as i do at my centre

[jhoff5489]

Houses are different! It is obvious when state tournament time comes around, and the tournaments are run as 100% of 235 handicap (basically pins over average). Everyone from one particular house is an automatic donor to the prize fund in these events (I was paired with someone who had a "224" book average, in the first game of the tournament, this bowler missed the headpin six frames in a row; I think the score for the game was 130-something). Meanwhile, there is another house whose bowlers clean up at the tournaments. Where they bowl, a 170 average means you're rockin' awesome.

If you want to raise your average 20 pins, don't worry about putting in time to practice. Just join a league at the house where the shot is like a funnel and the bases of the pins are shaved so they go down if you so much as blow on them (yes there is such a place and EVERYONE around here knows exactly where it is). Your average will skyrocket! Then go to state tournament and get your head handed to you (get beat SCRATCH) by real bowlers who carry averages in the upper 160s in a second shift league (no re-oil) at their boneyard house with the heavy pins.

[Pauley]

I regularly bowl at two different centers (occasionally a tnird) because I want to learn how to bowl in different conditions. One has great approaches with heavier oil. The other has sticky approaches with much lighter oil. The third is kinda in between.

I do this to make sure I am improving my mental game (and overall knowledge) along with my physical technique. Even if both centers were 100% identical condition wise there is always the mental/confidence aspect that has to be recognized. I have played a good bit of competitive golf and there are courses that are generally viewed as the most difficult that I consistently scored very well on. On the flip side I have played plenty of courses that on paper are much easier and consistently struggled on. This is not indicative of my physical skill level, it points more towards my mental game. So much in ALL sports comes down to confidence and the strength of your mental game.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!