Would a heavier bowler need slicker soles?

[JasonNJ]

I think falling off balance is usually more of a timing issue than a sliding issue. People will naturally slide what they are comfortable doing unless you specifically practice on footwork and sliding.

The sore knee I would imagine is just the force on your knee from your weight, as Fordman mentioned, him dropping about 30 pounds made a difference. Also in my case, I was around 255 and I'm about 230 now and I rarely get a sore knee now. There was an ESPN Sports Science show with Sean Rash and they measured that there was 7 times his body weight in terms of pound per pressure was applied to his knee when he slide. So in my case, 255x7 = 1785 pounds of pressure on my knee compared to 1610, almost 200 lbs of pressure off of my knee for every ball I throw.

[boatman37]

That is a lot of force. I am going to try to work on my timing but like I said, my shoes don't feel slick at all. They are more like the rough side of leather. I do think I throw to hard and Rob watched one of my videos and mentioned I was 'heaving' the ball. I would love to slow my ball a little which would probably help my game and my knee. Our lane sensors show me at about 17.1-17.5 MPH consistently where most others are at about 16.0-16.5. My spares are closer to 18 and I'm not trying to throw those any harder.

[djp1080]

Boatman, With my S8 sole I can take my thumb and rub in cleanly over the sole. It's pretty smooth. Just beyond the sole itself is a hard rubber part that's not as smooth as the S8 sole. Next is the heel and it's a solid piece and it's pretty smooth as well. At the back edge of the heel part though, it's kind of sticky and apparently provides some braking abilities.
I was watching a couple of the recent PBA50 tournaments last night on YouTube and the announcers were commenting about the speed of the senior bowlers. Parker Bohn III was the highest speed guy at around 17.5 mph. Most of the guys were somewhere around 14.5 to 15.5 mph from what they said. I'd say that you are heaving the ball, too.

[boatman37]

Boatman, With my S8 sole I can take my thumb and rub in cleanly over the sole. It's pretty smooth. Just beyond the sole itself is a hard rubber part that's not as smooth as the S8 sole. Next is the heel and it's a solid piece and it's pretty smooth as well. At the back edge of the heel part though, it's kind of sticky and apparently provides some braking abilities.
I was watching a couple of the recent PBA50 tournaments last night on YouTube and the announcers were commenting about the speed of the senior bowlers. Parker Bohn III was the highest speed guy at around 17.5 mph. Most of the guys were somewhere around 14.5 to 15.5 mph from what they said. I'd say that you are heaving the ball, too.

yeah. not sure how accurate our sensors are so might not be 17.5 but either way it is a good 1 MPH faster than most in my league (about 100 guys in our league)

[boatman37]

Seemed a little better tonight.