frustration

[edpup316]

When I was younger and my early adult years I would get so angry when would start bowling bad(kicking ball returns, yelling, slamming balls down) After just a terrible year of bowling, avg only 190 which is bad for me, I told myself I had to start growing up. I tried a lot of ways such as listening to music, drinking while bowling, breathing exercises hell even reading. Finally I figured it out. I started looking at things such as leaving a solid 10 as a chance to improve my spare game instead of thinking "dammit I didn't get a strike!". So my suggestion is to look at the things that go wrong as an opportunity to work on your game instead of a failure.

[edpup316]

Bowling can be a very difficult game. We don't have a team, in the sense of like baseball, or coach to tell you what are your doing wrong. Even golfers have there caddies who spend day after day practicing together. When your in league all you have its a lot of people in the same situation as you and the advice they have usually pertains to adjustments that worked fire them and won't necessarily work for or even make it worse. Stick to what you know unless the person giving advice is actually a coach. you've got a lot of good tips on here that answer question. Look forward to hearing what worked for you.

[Hampe]

The best tip I can give for your situation is to stop focusing so much on numbers. Try to set performance goals for yourself each bowling night instead of shooting for a number; instead of shooting for 600, try to get a certain % of pocket hits, or pick up a certain % of a certain spare (I'm looking at you, 10 pin).

Also, don't beat yourself up or get discouraged if you make a bad shot. Instead, concentrate on what you have to do to correct it for the next frame, and just take it one shot at a time. Once you start thinking about how you MUST get a strike this frame, or you SHOULD have gotten a strike last frame, you stop concentrating on executing the shot your taking.

A really good book for this topic that has helped me a lot is "Focused for Bowling" by Dean Hinitz. I recommend it to anyone who is currently struggling with the mental part of bowling.

[ehanlon717]

I agree with the whole frustration thing. This is my first season back after almost 20 years off of the lanes. I love the game, but as a lefty, I'm extremely frustrated with my (lack of) performance. I'm having trouble consistently lining myself up in the same areas every time it's my turn, and I have noticed that I seem to lock my elbow while throwing across myself. Consequently, my average has only been at a 60 this year. Before this year, I recall being able to get my average up to 100. Does anyone have any tips for a struggling lefty who loves her game? BTW....my teammates are all consistently over 60 a game.

[bowl1820]

Ehanlon717 from looking at your profile, Your throwing a Zoom predrilled 6 pound plastic ball!

First thing go to the pro shop and get a properly fitted, heavier ball. Unless your a child 6 lbs is way to light for a adult.

That alone would improve your swing and double your carry.

[got_a_300]

I have to agree 100% with bowl1820 a 6lb. ball is way to light for an adult
to be throwing you should at the least be throwing maybe a 8 - 10lb. ball
as a 6lb. ball will have so much deflection when it hits the pins. Its like this
a 6lb. object vs. 30+lbs. of pins so which one is going to win..........well I'll
just tell you the pins are going to win this battle when it comes to knocking
down all 10 of them.

A 6lb. ball is alright for a very small child bowling on the youth bowling
league(s) on Saturday mornings but not for an adult. As bowl1820 said
talk to your Pro Shop operator and see what they recommend for you.

[ehanlon717]

I have to agree 100% with bowl1820 a 6lb. ball is way to light for an adult
to be throwing you should at the least be throwing maybe a 8 - 10lb. ball
as a 6lb. ball will have so much deflection when it hits the pins. Its like this
a 6lb. object vs. 30+lbs. of pins so which one is going to win..........well I'll
just tell you the pins are going to win this battle when it comes to knocking
down all 10 of them.

A 6lb. ball is alright for a very small child bowling on the youth bowling
league(s) on Saturday mornings but not for an adult. As bowl1820 said
talk to your Pro Shop operator and see what they recommend for you.

Thanks for all your helpful tips, everyone! I have thrown an 8 pounder before, and have had mixed, though somewhat better, results. To answer bowl1820's question...they're right. I bought a pre-drilled, Zoom 6 pounder. I started out bowling at 6 pounds when I first began bowling, so I naturally thought that I still should start out there. One other question I have is: when I visit the pro shop to get fitted for a new ball, are the holes for a lefty drilled in a different position than for right handers? Thanks for all your help, and I look forward to more input soon!

[bowl1820]

A 8lb is light also so unless there's some physical limitation, then you should be looking at least around a 14 lb ball. if you are an average guy with average speed and revs, .

Here's a quote I found:

The next item of interest to the testers was the predictability of leaving splits according to ball weight. It was difficult to come to any overall conclusion because of the various factors that can enter into bowling during league or tournament play.

The ramp test did show, however, that a bowler is at a definite disadvantage when using an 8-pound ball. The 10 and 12- pound balls caused a lower percentage of splits, whilst the 14, 15 and 16-pound balls were fairly even and less still.

In the simplest terms a ball layout for a lefty is a mirror image of how a ball is layed out for a righty.

[resstealth]

6 pounds is way too light. You're trying to take down 30 something pounds of pins. Try moving up to a 14 and see how you do.

[ehanlon717]

Thanks everyone for your helpful posts. I guess I'd consider my lack of height a limitation. I'm a 5', 37 year old female. Guess I never realized that the pins weigh about 30 pounds; I still have a lot to learn. I tried picking up a 10-pounder, but since I'm fairly new to the game, it's too heavy. I will see the pro shop about an 8, though. How much more do balls from the pro shop run, versus ones from the sporting goods stores?