I leanned Something Watching Wes Mallot Compete

[GeoLes]

Interesting that with little body action and swing Wes Malot gets a ton of spin on his ball. He sort of saunters up to the foul line, leans forward and lays the ball down. It flies away with a blur of spin. - Amazing how he does that. While that amazed me, This is what I discovered.

It was astutely pointed out by Randy Pederson that Wes begins his approach while visually spotting his break point down lane. As he walks forward he gradually shifts focus along a line through to the foul line. By the time of his release, he seems to be firmly focused on the foul line only.

When I bowl, I fiocus on a spot the board/arrow 12-15 feet down lane. I was taught to have one focal point, and not to move until the ball rolls through my target on the floor, then look up following the ball to the pins.

I have focused on the foul line in practice during release drills and have gotten the occasional good result, but how different is his "scannning the line of travel" focal practice to what others normally do when not just practicing technique?. It's new to me. How about you?

[mc_runner]

Malott had knee surgery a little while ago, I don't think his range of motion is fully back yet. With that said I saw him bowl after and was surprised that he had little/no negative impact on his game (other than with his form). Still has the ability to go out and win on the pro circuit... impressive.

I look at my mark at the arrows; when I'm zoned in I can watch it as I release and as the ball goes over and down the lane. When I'm not zoned in I just kind of heave the ball out there and don't really see it hit the mark - pretty sure that's when my follow through and balance is awful too. I'm certainly not good enough to have a variable targeting system right now if I can't even watch a single mark consistently!

[MICHAEL]

I know a good bowler who never looks at the arrows, but targets the dots at the foul line! He heaves the ball down the lane and gets a lot of lift on his ball. He almost come off the ground when he puts his hand into the ball. This guy is about 6 foot 4 tall.

He has a 225 aprox average on several league. He said he is much more accurate using the front dots then the arrows. I know it works for him! I might give it a try some time, might be an interesting experiment!

I watch every week, (record the bowling), and watch it at my leisure. I have a huge appreciation for what they are able to do, under the lights, and on sports oil!

So many things to learn, and try!!

When I bowled my last two 300 games, its funny,,,, I was in the zone!

Like you mentioned, its so hard to get into that ZONE, but when you do, and focus on your mark, and follow through Great Things Happen!!!

Mallot is an ANIMAL.... a true warrior!!!

[RobLV1]

Regardless of where they target, a great majority of the touring pros know where their balls are from the laydown point, through the pins. Robert Smith told me that he targets a spot a little bit past the arrows, but picks up the balls location as it crosses the first dots before the arrows. By the way, one of the exercises that I recommend to help players to learn to play more inside is the target the laydown point just over the foul line. Many house bowlers have trouble moving left because as soon as they do, they walk right back to their comfort zone to play the second arrow. So, if you have moved from your "normal" spot at 20 to hit 10, and you've moved left to 30, your laydown point should be somewhere around 22 to hit 15. If you look at your laydown point at 22, there is no way that you can walk right and still hit it.

Rob Mautner

[GeoLes]

Regardless of where they target, a great majority of the touring pros know where their balls are from the laydown point, through the pins. Robert Smith told me that he targets a spot a little bit past the arrows, but picks up the balls location as it crosses the first dots before the arrows. By the way, one of the exercises that I recommend to help players to learn to play more inside is the target the laydown point just over the foul line. Many house bowlers have trouble moving left because as soon as they do, they walk right back to their comfort zone to play the second arrow. So, if you have moved from your "normal" spot at 20 to hit 10, and you've moved left to 30, your laydown point should be somewhere around 22 to hit 15. If you look at your laydown point at 22, there is no way that you can walk right and still hit it.

Rob Mautner

Extremely helpful info. I assume that I walk straight down the same board. It should be interesting to see if that is the case. I have seen a few bowlers who actually drift left on approach. I have tried that a couple of times and it seemed to open up the lane enough to get me off the Brooklyn side, but not consistenty. I will have to try placing a small post-it on the floor where I want to lay ball down and see if I an drifitng or not.

Thank you.

[Geneo2u]

Regardless of where they target, a great majority of the touring pros know where their balls are from the laydown point, through the pins. Robert Smith told me that he targets a spot a little bit past the arrows, but picks up the balls location as it crosses the first dots before the arrows. By the way, one of the exercises that I recommend to help players to learn to play more inside is the target the laydown point just over the foul line. Many house bowlers have trouble moving left because as soon as they do, they walk right back to their comfort zone to play the second arrow. So, if you have moved from your "normal" spot at 20 to hit 10, and you've moved left to 30, your laydown point should be somewhere around 22 to hit 15. If you look at your laydown point at 22, there is no way that you can walk right and still hit it.

Rob Mautner

I tend to do that, the more left i am the more my feet drift towards my target. Standing on board 40 and throwing across 20 is difficult. How do you fix that, I want to take my eyes off my target to see where im going. that is bad??

[Perrin]

I start at address focusing on my breakpoint. then I move my eyes in a line from the breakpoint to my target at the arrows. when my eyes get to my mark at the arrows I start my approach. for whatever reason going through this routine helps to prevent me from drifting right in my approach.

I will have to try the dots/area just past the line sometime to see that would help me open up the lane more.

[sprocket]

I spot just past the foul line to get my approach back in synch and also anytime I am playing a line where I can't seem to visualize the line. You would think in those cases I would want to look further down lane but especially when playing way inside that is not the case. When playing way inside the angle to the break point looks much more severe than it actually is. The tendency then is to drift right thinking I am walking straight up the target line when in actuality I am drifting right and off line.

What it takes is to stop and write down some notes or at least mentally figure out where you slide foot should end up. From there you can figure out where the ball should first contact the lane and use that as your target. You also need to figure out what board you should be starting your approach on. This can get a little complicated because you also need to figure in you natural drift when playing your most comfortable line.

[RobLV1]

For starters, figure that your slide foot should end up the same distance from your starting board as it always does. Most bowlers drift a little bit, left or right. For me, it's two boards right. My goal is to make sure that I drift my same two boards right when I'm standing on thirty-five as when I'm standing twenty two. For starters, pick a number, for your laydown point based on where you are standing. For me, I use ten boards right of where my left foot starts. Given my two board drift to the right, that means my laydown point is actually 8 boards right of where I start on the approach, so, start at thirty-five, slide at thirty-three, lay down on twenty five. Just remember to open your hips and shoulder slightly to project the ball out to your breakpoint.

Rob Mautner

[got_a_300]

Malott had knee surgery a little while ago, I don't think his range of motion is fully back yet. With that said I saw him bowl after and was surprised that he had little/no negative impact on his game (other than with his form).

Talk about having a wired approach and form check out
Wayne Garber's form goes to show you different strokes
for different folks.