Putting the ego aside: I'm hiring a bowling coach

[BlueTrane2028]

Can't say I've ever hired a coach, but I had lots of help learning as a kid and even now as an adult. My team captain is about the most consistent over 200 roller in the league, I learn from him a lot even though our styles are different. He can pick up on what I'm doing when I start to struggle, tells me what's up and I fix it. I also am able to pick up on it myself from time to time, but I think the next step is going to be a camera at the lanes while I roll practice.

[JerseyJim]

I've picked up things from watching Fred Borden videos, and some videos from the USBC bowling academy. I've had a long lesson from Teata Semiz, a PBA hall of famer, a couple from Frank Moran who was a fairly decent regional pro, and I might take a lesson from Dave Williams who bowled on tour for a while. For me nothing beats having a trained eye watching you bowl and offering feedback.

[mattmc82]

I have asked around locally. All the coaches are booked up through end of March still. Bowling is alive and well in Pittsburgh

[jaypeesmith]

Well, I had my first session with a coach yesterday. It was an hour and money well-spent. I can share five quick things, as an example.

1. One of the first things we found it is that I need to start off further right. So, my mark (for now) will be start with my left foot on the center dot and to release toward the third arrow, aiming for the 6 pin.
2. I need to be intentional about about slowing down. Without effort, my ball can get to 18-20+ mph. He had me conciously thinking about releasing at betweene 66-75% of my current effort.
3. Follow through. Yes, this should be a given but, until I actually saw video of from multiple angles and saw how much better the ball moves, I didn't realize just how bad it was.
4. My approach had some crazy hop on the 3rd step which caused my release to go haywire. For the time being, I am going to be more thoughtful about walking my approach until I can work out of this.
5. Eyes on the target. I never realized that my eyes were moving off-target. I started off looking at my target and then to the left. Where did my ball end up? Left.

This was only an hour but, I got a lot out of it. I have some work to do. The coach suggested that I work on what we went over for about 4-6 weeks and, if I need to, get back with him for another session. Something tells me we'll be connecting again.

[J Anderson]

Well, I had my first session with a coach yesterday. It was an hour and money well-spent. I can share five quick things, as an example.

1. One of the first things we found it is that I need to start off further right. So, my mark (for now) will be start with my left foot on the center dot and to release toward the third arrow, aiming for the 6 pin.
2. I need to be intentional about about slowing down. Without effort, my ball can get to 18-20+ mph. He had me conciously thinking about releasing at betweene 66-75% of my current effort.
3. Follow through. Yes, this should be a given but, until I actually saw video of from multiple angles and saw how much better the ball moves, I didn't realize just how bad it was.
4. My approach had some crazy hop on the 3rd step which caused my release to go haywire. For the time being, I am going to be more thoughtful about walking my approach until I can work out of this.
5. Eyes on the target. I never realized that my eyes were moving off-target. I started off looking at my target and then to the left. Where did my ball end up? Left.

This was only an hour but, I got a lot out of it. I have some work to do. The coach suggested that I work on what we went over for about 4-6 weeks and, if I need to, get back with him for another session. Something tells me we'll be connecting again.

You have at least five things to change, four of which will require working to accomplish. I would suggest trying to focus on just one or two each practice session. Make sure you’ve got one down pat before adding something else.