lofting the ball

[tracy]

i have been releasing the ball about 1-2 ft over the foul line for about 40 years and scoring on and off but lately i have been lofting the ball (thanks to a tip from a 240 average bowler) to my marks on the alley and have been very consistant since i have started doing this. my average has come up about 10-15 pins a game and more consistantly hitting my average.is it because i am not trying to roll my ball over my target but lofting the ball to my taget and getting more out of the oil? during play, i didn't want to ask him the reason but just started to do it so i'm just wondering if that's the reason? have a great day

[The Mayor]

Generally, lofting is used when you want to take the front part of the lane condition out of play. So, many times when the pattern breaks down and becomes very dry in the heads (first 1/3 of the lane) you can loft the ball to take part of that out of play. This will allow your ball to get farther down the lane before it starts to hook which can be just enough sometimes to keep you in the pocket or allow you to stay farther right than you would if you weren't lofting it. Without seeing you bowl I can't say why lofting is helping you, but as long as it's working that's all that matters! Is it possible that before you started this, you were actually not getting the ball out on the lane as far as you thought and now you are? Just a thought.