Making Effective Ball Change Adjustments (LINK)

[bowl1820]

NEW ARTICLE! Making Effective Ball Change Adjustments

http://www.modern-bowling.com/Bowlin...-Vegas-NV.html

Sample:
" One of the most controversial changes that have occurred in the modern edition of the sport of bowling is the need to have, and use, multiple bowling balls. Many traditional bowlers continue to lament the days when they went to bowl league with one ball in a single ball bag, and a pair of shoes that they had been wearing for the past fifteen or twenty years. While lamenting those days is certainly an acceptable activity, refusing to adapt to the requirements of the modern game is not, at least not if you want to score to the best of your ability."......................................... ......

[dnhoffman]

Great link, thanks for sharing!

[dpatrickv]

Good stuff. Thanks for the read.

[Aslan]

What was the phrase DHoff suggested for 2014? "not for me."

From the article;
The list varies from bowler to bowler. Some can make minor speed adjustments easily, while others can make slight hand position or loft adjustments without totally abandoning their A games.
I agree. Personally, I find making slight adjustments to loft or speed do well for me. So, nice read, something to think about, but "not for me".

One last point, before we conclude this discussion is, how do you know when it is time to change balls? The answer here is pretty simple, if you have any clue that you should change, do it!
Kinda disagree with that if you're talking a beginning bowler. I think a beginning bowler may misinterpret that a little and make ball changes almost on a whim. Sometimes I change my "spot" (starting) after a shot that doesn't hit where I want it to. But sometimes I wait 2-3 frames to make sure it wasn't a beginner"ish" issue where maybe I laid it down flat or held on too long or maybe my shoulders weren't exactly parallel.

Here’s a news flash: there are four boards between the second arrow and the third arrow, and all are available as targets. Ideally, you should target a board
Definitely agree with this. So many beginners target either the 2nd or 3rd arrow. Targeting dots or boards can add so many possibilities to your game.

I'm gonna have to check out some of his other articles. With the recent "barrage" it makes me think this guy is only focused on "ball changes" but I noticed elsewhere on the webpage he has some other articles on there as well. So I'll check those out. Hopefully it's not all "ball changes" because some of his points are kinda interesting.

[J Anderson]

What was the phrase DHoff suggested for 2014? "not for me."

From the article;
One last point, before we conclude this discussion is, how do you know when it is time to change balls? The answer here is pretty simple, if you have any clue that you should change, do it!
Kinda disagree with that if you're talking a beginning bowler. I think a beginning bowler may misinterpret that a little and make ball changes almost on a whim. Sometimes I change my "spot" (starting) after a shot that doesn't hit where I want it to. But sometimes I wait 2-3 frames to make sure it wasn't a beginner"ish" issue where maybe I laid it down flat or held on too long or maybe my shoulders weren't exactly parallel.

Here’s a news flash: there are four boards between the second arrow and the third arrow, and all are available as targets. Ideally, you should target a board
Definitely agree with this. So many beginners target either the 2nd or 3rd arrow. Targeting dots or boards can add so many possibilities to your game.

If you are a beginning bowler, this article is not really meant for you. A beginner is going to have one ball, well maybe two, and should be primarily concerned with developing a consistent and relatively accurate delivery. Until they develop a feel for when they've thrown the ball well, there's not much use in having an arsenal or even in making adjustments.

Using the arrows makes it a lot easier for a beginner to see the target, for coaches to say "aim at that arrow there", and for a coach to see if their student has hit the target. There's nothing magic about the dots or the arrows or even the tracer boards on synthetic lanes. They are just big and easy to see. Once you start to understand the game they just become landmark making it easier to navigate the lane.

[Aslan]

If you are a beginning bowler, this article is not really meant for you.

Maybe thats the source of the mini-frustration we've been having on this topic lately. I think the topic of "ball changes" is something very interesting and useful to a tournament bowler or even someone that bowls at multiple houses. But I see far too many beginners or even established players that never bowl outside of one center...and they are tending towards "arsenals"...many times...like the story Rob tells in the article...if you ask them why they chose to change or why they are going to ball A versus ball B...they will just respond, "well...because I missed the headpin with the other ball." To me...and I'm no expert...but isn't missing the headpin "probably" more a "technique" issue than a slight ball/lane issue? Usually?

Hell....I bowl with a guy on Fridays who rotates through 3 balls. There's no damn rhyme or reason for it. He'll throw one...then the next frame a different one...then the next frame a different one....sometimes play the whole series like that...sometimes he sticks with one for 4-6 frames. It's uncanny. Now, in his defense...he throws older balls and has a massive slow arcing hook...almost a thumbless style...but yeah...like Rob said in the article, if you're gonna make a ball change...you should know "why". You should have a good idea what every ball does differently.

I "know" what one ball does versus the other (I only carry 2)...but I consider myself too much of a beginner to mess with ball changes during a series. Like I said before, if I change a ball...it'll take me 4-5 frames just to figure out where to adjust my approach and target. I might change balls between games in a house I've never bowled in...where it's blatently obvious I have the wrong ball. And I may change from one week to another if I struggle one week and think maybe the other ball will react better. But "midgame?" Mad props to the folks like Norm Duke and those guys that can switch from ball to ball to ball and still hit that pocket without missing a step.

[dnhoffman]

Best post I've seen so far:

This message is hidden because Aslan is on your ignore list.

[Aslan]

Best post I've seen so far:

Seriously man…you got issues. Maybe get a little more fixated on bowling instead of stalking me online. I mean, I appreciate the attention…but you're really not my type. It's absolutely HILLARIOUS that even on IGNORE…you're continuing to try and make your little insults! I'm on IGNORE….you're essentially mocking posts you CANT EVEN SEE!!

[RobLV1]

Making multiple ball changes is definitely not for the beginner, but for the bowler who even wants to improve and take the game seriously, it's definitely a discussion that needs to happen. It starts with a very basic understanding of the elements of bowling balls: core, cover, surface, and layout. I often see beginning bowlers who either purchase or are given a ball that is totally wrong for them. Using the wrong ball ball at the beginning stage of a bowlers career can end it quickly.

As far as high average house bowlers go, if you bowl exclusively in one center at the same time of the day or night all the time, you should be able to get by with two strike balls and a plastic spare ball. Yes, I know, many bowlers think that since they've always used their strike ball and "flattened out" the shot to pick up a ten pin, they don't use a spare ball. All I can tell you is this: 99.99% of the top bowlers in the world use plastic, and they do it for a reason - modern bowling balls hook all by themselves, and since you must cross the track area of the lane to shoot the ten pin, there is always a chance of the ball hooking more than you expect it to. The one main exception to the 99.99% is Norm Duke who uses his strike ball for all his spares. I asked him about this, and he told me that the main reason he doesn't use plastic is that he doesn't want to lug an extra ball around. When I asked him his technique for straightening out his strike ball for spares, he told me that if he's using a less aggressive ball, he backs it up by one board to straighten it out. If he's using a medium ball, he backs it up two boards, and if he's using an aggressive ball, he backs it up by three boards. If you are good enough to do that, hopefully you're already out bowling on the Pro Tour. If not, use plastic!

For those of you who insist that you can use only physical adjustments to adapt to changing lane conditions, all that I can say is that the changes in modern bowling have necessitated the use of ball changes. These changes include going from wooden lanes to synthetic lanes, from rubber and urethane balls to reactive resin balls, and from natural to synthetic lane conditioners. Just last week, I practiced on fresh oil on a pair of lanes with my wife. As a house bowler, she played the second arrow most of the time. I started standing 25, crossing the arrows at 12, to a breakpoint at 8, and by the end of the fourth game, I was standing 35, crossing the arrows at 17, to a breakpoint at 11. Now, keep in mind that I was the only one playing that line, and it still changed that radically in just four games. Imagine what happens when you have eight or ten bowlers bowling three games on the same pair. That's 24 to 30 games. If you are good enough to adjust that much with one bowling ball, then I hope you have plenty of room on your mantle for all of your PBA Tour trophies. Oh, wait a minute; the PBA pros all routinely use ball change adjustments. There's probably a good reason for this, don'tcha think?

Rob Mautner

[sprocket]

Since when didn't you need multiple balls to compete on different conditions and different houses? I've been bowling seriously since the early 80's, and there was at least as much difference in conditions as there are today. We had SHORT OIL (not at MY house). 24 ft. I used plastic. We had first gen synthetics. Plastic or pearl urethane. We had long oil. Dull urethane. We had medium oil. Standard urethane. We also used many different layouts, some of which are no longer used.

It's all part of the "new" bowling scam: Things are different now, you need more balls than before. Nonsense. Not unless you go back to the 70's. Do we really need to talk about bowling from 40 years ago? That's not what I hate! What I hate is new resin balls that require constant maintenance, require special sanding pads, cleaners and polish, still don't last very long and then you have what appears to be unlimited layout options that requires a PHD to figure out. You've got lane machines that must cost $100,000 to gunk a mountain of oil on the lane and then clean it off again every day.

All this to mostly bowl on THS that are blocked to the hilt! You guys get that right? You are being conned to believe that it is "modern" to need all this crap to bowl on a walled up condition! It's ALL marketing to sell high end balls. THE ENTIRE PRO TOUR is marketing to sell crap.

I have LESS balls than I used to because I used to bowl tournaments but they were GREAT balls and they lasted! The Blue Hammer. The Black U-dot. The Pearl Red Hammer. The Slate U-dot. The Nail. The White Dot.

Modern game my a$$. Last time I checked there were 10 pins 60ft away that you had to hit at the right angle to knock them all down. What do I hear the commentators talking about on "Championship Bowling" from the early 60's? Hitting the pins in the right place at the right angle to knock them all down.