Ugh

[littlelegs]

First league game after Xmas and it was nasty. Just couldn't pick up the spares. The stupid thing is I knew every time what I was doing wrong but couldn't see to stop (pulling my arm across my body a little and so missing left) yet wasn't making the mistake on my strike ball.

Oh well. Another league game on Sunday so perhaps I can get my brain into gear for it and not repeat the same stupid mistake each time.

[DanielMareina]

I am sorry to hear that you had a rough night of bowling! The most common cause for the problem is timing. Lots of people change their hand position and speed for spare shots. By doing this, it throws off their timing just enough to create a push or pull response. If you are tugging the ball left, that means that your feet are beating the ball to the foul line. When this happens again, focus on slowing your feet down just a touch, and it should fix it. Best of luck in the future!

[littlelegs]

You're spot on with the timing issues. The silly part was I knew every time what and why but couldn't seem to get my head around not doing it. The few times I treated the spare as a strike ball I made the shot. Oh well...like most sport, especially those that demand accuracy, at least half the battle is a mental one.

A good example of how bad my spare shooting was...2nd game I made 6 strikes including a nice streak of 5...but only got a 190 (I was making a few little mistakes on the strikes too but nothing like the spares).

On the plus side there's always the next league match Although...I just cut my thumb. We'll see how the skin paint holds up else it may be a no thumb series. Fun but sometimes...unpredictable

[got_a_300]

I know exactly what you mean about spare shooting I had one of those nights
last night I just could not make hardly anything on the right side of the lanes.
It seems that our lane man decided to put out a reverse block on the lanes last
night from the second arrow out was out of bounds and second arrow in was bone
dry making it extremely difficult to hit the pocket consistently and shoot across lane
at the 10 pin. I was throwing my plastic spare ball but it still wanted to hook right
in the center of the lanes so I had to throw it so hard that it threw my timing way
off on making my spares.

[J Anderson]

"The silly part was I knew every time what and why but couldn't seem to get my head around not doing it."

That's probably because you're caught up in thinking about not doing it. you need to focus on something to do, like Daniels suggestion of slowing down your steps or eyes on target.

[littlelegs]

I think focus that particular night was my issue though. As I say when I did what I knew I should be doing ie treating it as a strike ball rather than (for some reason) throwing it differently I was fine. I just seemed to get up there and rather than over-thinking do the opposite and switch off each time and throw it weirdly. Odd night.

Point taken about thinking about not doing a certain thing though. Thinking about any area too hard during a shot will always kill it for me (and I suspect most people). If I have to work on a part of my game I usually do just that these and during practice so that points don't matter and I can concentrate on just that area.

[tumblebug1949]

I have my Senior Winter League starting the 3rd of January. We are three to a team and one of my team members had shoulder surgery and so we are short one.

I had just started last league season and my average isn't very good. 131 I think. The last time I was out, I was bowling against my son (31) for fun. Even for fun, we each were working hard to win. I won two games and my son won one. My scores were 161, 149 and 179. If I can be anywhere close to that and just focus, I will be satisfied on our first winter league day.

I have been practicing with a wrist support and getting a lot more revs on the ball. Not setting any records but a lot more than the none I had before. I need to find a starting location and just role the ball while focusing on consistency for now. I have been moving around a lot and not rolling consistently either. That makes it hard to learn anything because each time I am seeing something different.

So, starting in one place for a while and focusing on rolling the same spot is what I need to do.

Tom

[J Anderson]

I bowled on the same team with my dad for over thirty years. My wife always accused us of being more concerned with beating each other than with beating the other team.

[tumblebug1949]

Yah, I understand the affliction. I didn't do much sports in school. My little school only had basketball and track. And, my senior year, I worked on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Not much time for sports.

I learned more about being competitive in the military. I spent 23 years in the USMC or the Army competing for one thing or another.

Anyway, now I play golf and bowl. I have learned that when I play golf, I am not competing against anyone but myself. Others scores mean little to me. All I focus on is "my" golf. That is until my son comes out. then "Let the competition begin.

It is actually a healthy contest. Of course we each want to win but we want the other to have a good round also.

Oh well. I guess that is life.

[littlelegs]

I bowled on the same team with my dad for over thirty years. My wife always accused us of being more concerned with beating each other than with beating the other team.

I'm often very much like that in league play. Winning is nice as it means the end of season prize money is that little bit higher but...beating a team mate who's on a similar handicap or higher is much more fun

It seems to confuse some of the other teams we play that we'll almost cheer when the other person on our team misses but it keeps the whole thing competitive but in a fun, relaxed way.

I take my own bowling very, very seriously (probably a little too much so) but at the same time go to have fun and when not taking a shot that's what we try to do as a team - have fun. Never have understood the people who bowl (often badly) in league but take it all so very seriously and spend the whole evening grumbling and scowling. Even many of the pros in a major tournament will have a little light-hearted banter or at least a wry smile when they do something wrong.