Shoulder Dropping & New Shoe Issues

[Punkrulz]

Hey guys,

Unfortunately I wasn't able to complete my goal of a "turkey" of 600 series games. For two weeks I had a 600 series, and then this past Friday I wasn't able to do much with bowling. There may have been a few issues at play, but I'm going to discuss some of them here to get some assistance.

First and foremost I've been attempting to play with a new pair of Dexter shoes (The Tony version) for the past two weeks. I have several gripes about these shoes, and haven't been able to find a happy medium with them. While I did bowl my highest series in my league so far for me I feel as though it's been a fluke. Primarily my biggest gripe with the shoes is that I do not have a consistent slide. Sometimes I'll throw and I'll slide too much. The very next ball however, I'll stick. Sometimes this occurs after wiping my shoe because I slid too much (no, there is nothing on my towel). It just doesn't make sense. I've used scotch pads & a bristle brush on the shoe pad and have seen no results.

The other issue with the shoes is that they are completely flat... they don't have an arch like my last pair, or even my sneakers have. Couple this with the way the heel is and I now seem to feel every piece of nitty gritty anything on the bottom of the shoes. I want to try to get used to the shoes however I'm afraid that at the rate I'm going I'm going to wind up getting hurt using these... that, or it's going to continue affecting my game negatively. I'm about to go back to my other pair of Dexters that I've had since 2002-ish.

The other issue that seems to be troubling me a lot is the fact that I seem to be dropping my shoulder more and more constantly during my release. It's something that I haven't been able to figure out, whether it's mental or physical. I know that sometimes when I throw I start to get lower and lower as I throw. I've tried to rectify that, and I've tried to stay more level when throwing but it's not something I've been able to combat.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[J Anderson]

Sorry I can't help with the shoes. When I have slide problems it is almost always sticking caused by me going over to the snack bar without a shoe cover.

With your shoulder problem, are your shoulders level in your stance, ( before starting your approach ) or is your ball side shoulder dropped slightly? In theory you should let the weight of the ball pull the shoulder down so that you don't waste energy fighting the weight of the ball. It has the added benefit of putting your eyes closer to the path of the ball. Hope this helps.

[Punkrulz]

J,

My friend has pointed out to me that when I typically stand my ball side shoulder is typically lower than my opposite shoulder. He actually thought that this would've been causing me to drop the shoulder. I did juggle around maybe for two throws what would happen when trying to hold the ball balance between both shoulders... it felt more awkward for me to hold that way and didn't change the end result. So typically my ball shoulder is lower.

[J Anderson]

J,

My friend has pointed out to me that when I typically stand my ball side shoulder is typically lower than my opposite shoulder. He actually thought that this would've been causing me to drop the shoulder. I did juggle around maybe for two throws what would happen when trying to hold the ball balance between both shoulders... it felt more awkward for me to hold that way and didn't change the end result. So typically my ball shoulder is lower.

So does it drop even lower at release?

[DanielMareina]

New shoes will take awhile to get worn in. I don't suggest using a brush on them until they are broken in either. The slide pad on a new bowling shoe will be completely white most of the time. It takes time to fill the pad with enough dust to make an even slide. When this happens, it will turn to a light gray color. Shoe manufacturers tell me that you should walk around on carpet at your house with them to get dust in the pad. Not slide around, but simply walk around in them. They always stress to avoid moisture, which is more likely at your home than the bowling approaches.
As for the shoulder, if you feel it dropping more than usual, that usually is a result of the ball getting farther away from your body in your forward swing. Either that, or just getting tired. I will drop my shoulder every once in awhile after 4 or 5 games. I agree with J that it isn't worth fighting to keep your shoulder perfectly level, but you sound as if it is going below what you would usually have it at. That is not good. I would try and focus on keeping the ball close to the body, and make sure that your shoulders are showing good posture in your release. Your shoulder should be even with your slide foots knee at the point of release. I hope this helps.

[Stormed1]

One thing i notice is when i start dropping my shoulder i find i'm too upright at the lene(not getting enough knee bend). Concentrating on getting dowwn at the line tends to cure it for me

[Punkrulz]

I guess I can describe that my shoulder is getting lower for me during release. I may be able to understand this if I was bowling 4-5 games, but on Friday this was happening from the get go. The reason this is a problem is aside from the semi-occasional "double dribble", primarily I'm missing my mark because I'm crossing my body with my shoulder. I can't explain why I had more issues last week than the week before where I really only noticed it towards the end of the series.

I hope that I'm describing this correctly, and not thinking that it may be something else so I am going away from the problem. I personally feel that my shoulder is dropping too much causing me to pull towards the left of my body and away from my mark. When I wasn't dropping my shoulder, it felt like my hand was going around too much of the ball. I did try to increase my knee bend more so than normal last Friday as I know that's been an issue of mine too, however it didn't seem to alleviate the issue. The only other thing I can think of is that sometimes I think I'm looking more down than normal and it always seems to happen when I drop my shoulder. I need to make more use out of looking at a mark.

Dan, thanks for addressing the post per my request, it's greatly appreciate as with everyone. I didn't do anything bad to my shoes by already using the brush to them did I? It's just a real pain that I expected to have a semi-consistent slide, but since it's been quite a few years since I've bought a new pair of shoes I didn't know that I had to "break them in at home" to collect dust. Do you recommend still using my old shoes on the lanes while breaking these new ones in every chance I get at home? I try to avoid any / all moisture but sometimes it's difficult due to the wet weather we're getting out here.

Edit: One thing I just realized when you said "keep the ball close to the body" is that I think I may have changed my approach which may affect my shoulder. In the past when I was more focused on my rev rate (still am), I knew that throwing the ball slower will enable me to have more hook. I used to have a high backswing, and I had this because I would keep the ball somewhere in between my chest and my belly, then push out and swing. To slow down I would start lower and not push out as far. Do you think it's a possibility that since I've gone back to the bigger back swing, it's maybe getting around behind me a little bit and subconsciously I am maybe trying to over-correct, dropping the shoulder?

[DanielMareina]

I do not think that you have hurt your shoes by brushing them. It just won't help the slide be consistent. I advise using new shoes during practice throughout the week, and once you get them broken in, then I would suggest trying them in league. It shouldn't take more than a few times to get used to them after walking on some carpet.
As for the bigger backswing, If your arm is slow behind the body, then you may compinsate by pulling it forward. If this is the case, then that could cause the your shoulder to drop on occasion. I would definately suggest checking your timing, and make sure that you allow your arm to swing at an even pace. You can definately change ball speed by not pushing the ball out as far ahead of you. The key is to alter your foot speed to match the timing of the pendulum you create with the new arm swing.

[Punkrulz]

Alrighty, I'm going to keep walking around my apartment in the shoes and hoping that I can pick up additional dust. I'll go back to my old shoes for league play, and will maybe pick up a few more games during the week (Really haven't been practicing like I should) with the new shoes. Hopefully my mind doesn't decide to play tricks on me in it being different switching between the new shoes and such.

As per the timing... that seems like that's going to be something that is not easy to correct one bit. I have been meaning to get up to the lanes and work with my pro-shop guy, but he's busy in Reno bowling in the Masters. :P I was thinking though that perhaps me standing further up on the approach than I had been during the past couple of weeks could have affected something, so at least I'm on the right track. I honestly don't know why I was standing so far up, usually the dots at the top of the approach are good for me. I have a 4-step approach. I don't know how I can go about adjusting this myself... ugh.