I've found a very similar correlation and even had the same discussion with a fellow bowler last week, seems like it's a common tendency with people to hurry a little and throw a little faster when getting caught up in the excitement of competition.
Funny that in my case I'll get going throwing it a little faster than my normal 13.5 and the other guy I was talking to throws at about 15 or 15.5 normally, so it's not really a factor of overall speed, just an increase over your normal easy throwing speed.
In recent weeks I've paid attention to this and found in nearly every case where my shots were errant, I was leaving splits, washouts or other undesirable spare shots that when I settled down to my normal speed shot the ball was in the pocket and I was back to scoring well.
Bookmarks