Making Effective Ball Change Adjustments (LINK)

[swingset]

For every bowler that has worked on their release first and then successfully had the rest of their approach fine tune itself around it, there is another guy that tried to do the same thing and now, 15 yrs later, he still has a terrible, forced approach where he basically stops at the foul line, thus negating his entire approach, and then does just his release and only that. He might as well have just stood at the foul line and released the ball. Then he wonders why his wrist hurts, why he has to wear a tendinitis band, why he has no speed, why he is so rev dominant, why his ball hooks the second it hits the lane, and why he has never improved.

You misunderstand me. I don't mean to work on the release first, but to REFINE it first. This assumes a basic approach with somewhat sensible and natural timing has been established (which is always step "A"). I think refining the release to a person's more natural inclination will allow the approach to work towards a more natural game, overall, instead of forcing a player into body mechanics which are out of his physiological tendency to repeat over and over.

It's my theory, anyway.

[Hammer]

Rob Mautner: I liked your articles in BTM magazine that I had for a year before it went under. I always read your stuff first. I read the whole link at the beginning of this post. The one that helped me the most on league night last night was the topic of Playing Deep Without a Parachute. I was mostly a slide foot arch on board 20 and throwing in an area of board 5 to 10. That was good for my Blue Hammer urethane ball but was bad for my Raw Hammer Anger ball. When I tried to play deeper then that I didn't know how to make the approach right to swing the ball out to a breakpoint so it would hook into the pocket. I remembered the playing deep subject in the link and used it last night. I will admit it took some real concentration to as you said walk straight and throw left-I am a lefty. Because of BTM magazine I was more aware of my setup with opened shoulders and hips and a lowered bowling side shoulder. Once I got confidence in walking straight and throwing left with the arch of my sliding foot on board 30 to 33 and my swing perpendicular to my shoulder line I was hitting my target at the arrows more consistently and started my third game with six strikes in a row and finished the remaining frames with a strike and 9 pin spares the rest of the way for a 246 game.

I didn't know at the time that people were coming from other lanes to watch what I would bowl after the first six strikes. I couldn't believe that playing deep for me would be so exciting. For a guy that will be 67 soon it only goes to show you that you are never too old to learn something new even if you have been bowling on your league for 27 years. Now I am not afraid to get out of my comfort zone.
Happy to have you on this FORUM. I received a lot of helpful advice from your articles. Keep up the good work.

[RobLV1]

Congratulations! I'm glad I could be of some help. Once bowlers realize that their love affair with their comfort zones is a preference and not a religious rite of passage, if they try to move in, they are often surprised at how easy it is.

Rob Mautner

[Hammer]

I forgot to add that playing that deep I don't have to help the ball make the turn from the breakpoint to the pocket. My Anger ball pin location is a little to the left of the ring finger and slightly down from there. It is reactive resin of course with a 2000 Abralon surface. So because of these features and the layout it needs no help. Being a modern bowling ball it has a mind of it's own if you give it the right release and knows it's way to the pocket without help.