Consistancy Tips?

[Lloyd6770]

Hi All! I just joined the forum, and my main reason was to get some tips to improve consistency. I'm happy with my overall average where it is, but I get frustrated with the lack of consistency, and was hoping you guys might be able to help me out.

I've broken down my last 8 weeks of bowling to kind of give an idea of what I'm talking about by highlighting the top/bottom 15% of my scores.



Thanks!

[fortheloveofbowling]

First of all, welcome to the site. Give us a little back round on your game such as how long you have been bowling, the equipment you are using, dry or slick lanes, etc. That may help with understanding what is going on. Anyway, what stands out to me looking at the scores in your 3rd game average. It is 11 pins lower than the overall and 18 lower than the 2nd game. That tells me transition may be causing a lot of issues. Reading lane conditions is something that comes with time and as you learn more it will help your average a lot. Consistency comes with practice though like everything else. There are some things that can help though. Give us some info on the things i mentioned before and i'm sure a lot of us will have tips. Maybe more than what you want. HAHA

[Amyers]

As fortheloveofbowling said give us some more information. I noticed the drop off in the third games of the series also. Let us know what your throwing conditions and as much of your stats (ball speed,revs) as you can and maybe a general idea of what lines and adjustments you've been making.

[Aslan]

Yeah, the scores are less indicitive of the problem than is your style and the details (spare %, strike %, splits, leaves, atc...)

I used to be very inconsisteny. And the solution was improved spare shooting and a focus on accuracy over rpms/mph. With only the scores to go on, my initial conclusion is you bowl thumbless or are a cranker or 2-handed. Those styles tend to yield higher scores and be less consistent.

Also would explain why the 3rd game is averaging lower. As the lanes dry up, you can't keep the ball right of the headpin with higher rev styles...or at least not as easy to do. But again, just a guess...it could also be you play primarily 2nd arrow and by game three that line has dried up...which affects every style.

Hard to say with just the scores.

[Shaneshu87]

i have always felt that part of consistency is timing, i'm not sure how your timing is but there are some great videos on youtube that illustrate proper timing in your approach. i do have to agree the looks of your games shows that your not handling game 3 very well. is your ball over reacting? under reacting? is your arm/wrist/hand tired or maybe swollen? there are allot of changes that happen during the course of three games that can force you to make changes. on a house shot as the night progresses you tend to move left (if your a righty) into the oil to compensate for the over reaction of your ball. if your put allot of power behind your ball, by game 3 you could just be getting tired, that can be fixed with enough practice. my thumb tends to swell up through the night and i'm am forced to use easy slide to prevent sticking, or thumb tape before game 1. those are just a few things to consider.

[Lloyd6770]

Thank you for the replies! I will do my best to answer the questions, but I won't be able to answer some.

Background - I started to get more in to bowling about 12 years ago, that's when I got my first ball. I've never bowled in leagues or tournaments or anything like that, it's just always with friends/family. However, in the last 2-3 months, I've gotten back in to it. There was a span of about 5 years where I probably went 2-3 times per year.

Equipment - I throw a 15lb. Brunswick Slingshot. I'm a righty. I do not own a spare ball (yet). For the 4/7/8 pins, I throw my normal throw, but slow the ball down a bit. I know it's not right, but for the 6/9/10 pins, I throw the ball left-handed with a big sweeping hook.

Grip - I have a normal grip, not thumbless or two-handed. I do not use a fingertip grip either. However, my hands are pretty large, and I'm assuming as in baseball, larger hands equals more spin on the ball. I don't specifically try to crank the ball when I throw, but I do get a decent hook at the end of the lane. Revolutions, I couldn't even begin to guess.

Throw - I use a 5-step approach, although it's more like 4 1/2 steps, as my first step can't be any bigger than about 4-6 inches. When I release the ball, my left foot is just inside toe 2nd to the left dot. My ball fades out to the right to roughly the 2nd from the right arrow. Ball speed pretty consistently stays around 15.25-15.5mph.

Conditions - I honestly don't know. I don't know what an "average" lane condition is. I rarely have trouble with my ball hooking too little, so I guess I'd have to say the lanes are usually on the average to dry side by the end of the night? Don't quote me on that one though.

By game 3, I think it's a conditioning issue with me, not with the lanes, hah. Maybe both. I have a tendency for game 3 to not get my ball out to the 2nd arrow, so it naturally ends up hooking too far left. Now as for strike/spare percentages, that's not something I'd ever considered keeping track of, so any number I put out there would be a pure guess. I will start trying to keep track of those stats as well.

[mc_runner]

Just a quick thing, if you do end up joining a sanctioned league you won't be able to bowl the right side spares with your left hand, if you're throwing everything else righty.

For your third game... maybe try a 2-1 adjustment (2 boards left wiht your feet, 1 board left with your mark). Also, work on spares! that's where you'll pick up the most average. 1 more spare per game can be an extra 10 pins on your average.

[Amyers]

Thank you for the replies! I will do my best to answer the questions, but I won't be able to answer some.

Background - I started to get more in to bowling about 12 years ago, that's when I got my first ball. I've never bowled in leagues or tournaments or anything like that, it's just always with friends/family. However, in the last 2-3 months, I've gotten back in to it. There was a span of about 5 years where I probably went 2-3 times per year.

Equipment - I throw a 15lb. Brunswick Slingshot. I'm a righty. I do not own a spare ball (yet). For the 4/7/8 pins, I throw my normal throw, but slow the ball down a bit. I know it's not right, but for the 6/9/10 pins, I throw the ball left-handed with a big sweeping hook.

Grip - I have a normal grip, not thumbless or two-handed. I do not use a fingertip grip either. However, my hands are pretty large, and I'm assuming as in baseball, larger hands equals more spin on the ball. I don't specifically try to crank the ball when I throw, but I do get a decent hook at the end of the lane. Revolutions, I couldn't even begin to guess.

Throw - I use a 5-step approach, although it's more like 4 1/2 steps, as my first step can't be any bigger than about 4-6 inches. When I release the ball, my left foot is just inside toe 2nd to the left dot. My ball fades out to the right to roughly the 2nd from the right arrow. Ball speed pretty consistently stays around 15.25-15.5mph.

Conditions - I honestly don't know. I don't know what an "average" lane condition is. I rarely have trouble with my ball hooking too little, so I guess I'd have to say the lanes are usually on the average to dry side by the end of the night? Don't quote me on that one though.

By game 3, I think it's a conditioning issue with me, not with the lanes, hah. Maybe both. I have a tendency for game 3 to not get my ball out to the 2nd arrow, so it naturally ends up hooking too far left. Now as for strike/spare percentages, that's not something I'd ever considered keeping track of, so any number I put out there would be a pure guess. I will start trying to keep track of those stats as well.

For starters you may be losing ball speed as the night goes on. You may want to bowl your practice session in 5 game blocks that way when you are doing your 3 game league its actually less than you practice.

You will also need to move your targets and feet to the left as the night goes on. As you throw over the same line you deplete the oil there making the ball hook sooner and more.

I would get out of the habit of throwing lefty on the spares as you may want to bowl a sanctioned league or tourney where that would not be allowed.

[Shaneshu87]

yes the best way to improve your conditioning is to practice more, and by more i mean more games at a time, i personally can bowl 10-20 games in a practice session (switching lanes every 3-4 sets) and if i'm bowling alone i can tend to whip them out in about an hour, i don't focus on high scores when i practice i focus on things like consistency, release, targeting, and timing

[Lloyd6770]

I am planning on giving up the lefty-spare throwing as soon as I get a plastic spare ball. I actually have a gift card somewhere that would allow me to get a 2nd ball, just a matter of finding it. I know it's not a good habit to be in.

I will work on the conditioning (In the last 2 weeks, I've joined a gym, so hopefully as I lose weight, that will help with the conditioning all on its' own). Another help would probably be bowling more than once a week. Maybe I'll try to up it to twice a week, and then we'll go from there.

I will try adjusting my approach for game 3 when I bowl tomorrow, and I'll report back here on how it goes.

Thanks for all the tips guys, I appreciate it!