Better technique?

[billf]

There are many areas in one's game that can be improved upon and can vary from very minor changes to major ones. You should probably trust in your fellow teammates or other good bowlers to see what they think are the areas to work on first since they know how you bowl. A video record will help you understand what others can see you do.

Good bowlers can also have different types of releases or techniques. Perhaps he is bowling at a center that encourages and rewards his type of release/shot. Without being able to see or understand the "problem", there could be many factors, not just one. So maybe bowling at varying lane conditions can also help teach/help someone figure out how to bowl differently to help improve his/her game. If bowling at a house/tourney with long oil, a shot with too much side probably would not succeed very well. But as for the specific result of turning the ball too early, I wouldn't think a bowling coach would be needed for that one factor. If there are several other areas to work on, then yeah, go for a coach or better yet, have a friend/someone you trust help you out for free!

As for fundamentals, picking up spares for me is a fundamental, in fact, I take it as a foundation. I believe you can get better by increasing your spare conversion percentage. Of course, if you also leave less spares by hitting more strikes too, then that's a plus plus.

Good Luck and congrats on a great improvement this season!

spare shooting is fundamental. Now just because a center has some good bowlers doesn't mean they know what to really look for. A lot of release issues start with improper ball start position. Is the first step too long throwing the timing off? How many league bowlers actually know how to properly analyze the video? Just because a person sees the effect, will they know or be able to see the cause? Maybe the USBC has it all wrong; instead of devoting whole courses to analyzing video they should just give coaching credentials to anyone who averages over 200 a game.
I still stand by my statement that reinforcing bad habits at a different location will not correct the bad habit. Too long of a first step in Illinois will still be too long in Japan. Just because an oil condition helps hide a fault to some degree doesn't mean the fault isn't there.

[billf]

Hi. I have never followed bowling courses. I have been playing for 5-6 years, stopped during the time I went to university and since the last two years, I came back to bowling. Laft year, I finished the season with an average of 182. This year, I am at 207 (always on a house pattern). I know that my technique isn't that good. I have always had difficulties to keep my hand behind the ball. My hand is always turning besides the ball to soon. This lack in my technique has the effect that I am not able to givea lot of RPM to the ball.

So now, my question is: Is improving my technique help me to raise again my average? I don't know if I would take some courses, or if I would take the summer to practice that particular element to improve.

What do you think?

Take some video preferably with front, side and rear views. Either post them here or send them to my email.

[vgw]

In reading this conversation trail, I don't think there was any intent to shoot down coaching, but some people are obviously getting defensive and offended for some reason. There is more than one way to fix a problem or become a better bowler. Sure, a bowling coach is one way, but there are other ways as well, and this conversation appears to be very one-sided. I thought the purpose of this website was to share information instead of forcing one idea to everybody; this isn't a religion or cult. Not everyone is willing to spend money on a bowling coach, so I originally offered other ways for someone to analyze it yourself by taking a video and/or asking people that know how to bowl for help.

It's like if there's a problem with your car. Do you go straight to the dealer or do you go to a repair shop? Do you go to a repair shop or ask a friend to help? Do you fix it yourself? If you get a flat tire, do you wait for someone to come help or do you pull the spare out and do it yourself? Can you check your fluids or air pressure, or do you have to have the dealer do it? Let's keep an open mind and try to help each other out rather than shooting down ideas.

[JerseyJim]

I would check out Joe Slowinski's site, http://www.bowlingknowledge.info and check out the articles on changing your axis rotation. Fred Borden's site, http://www.mybowlingcoach.com is also good if you can't find a decent local coach. They will critique your bowling from video, and give you things to work on. I remember that they had specific instructions on the angles to film from.

[10-in-the-pit]

I never said bowling coaches or the USBC don't know what they are doing. I actually think it's great that bowling has come this far throughout the years. Bowling schools, videos, technology - all these things are fantastic. I also never recommended asking any 200+ bowler for advice. In fact, I've said that I have seen my share of bowlers over 200 that don't know what they're doing or don't have a good overall game. You guys can take whatever parts of my suggestions however you want, but please don't put words in my mouth or say I said something I didn't. I am not a bowling coach but I've been bowling for about 30 years. I guess to some, I don't know what I'm doing and that's your opinion. I have helped my buddies out in the past, and they've helped me. That is my experience and I thought it would be nice to share that with other people. I didn't presume it was a law that I could only ask a bowling coach for help. But if I'm in the minority so be it. From now on, should I just say to everyone to go find a bowling coach? I also think that bowling on different lane conditions helps to improve one's overall game. I've also seen lots of one-house bowlers and that's not something that I would want to be. If you feel otherwise, then that's fine, but I did not say your idea was wrong. I only offered other ways to help solve a problem.

[billf]

10, my apologies. I misread your post. You said to have a friend or someone you trust help while the good bowler line was in a different paragraph. My whole point was; look at the average league bowler. Most can't even tell you their lay down point, break point, etc. Nothing wrong with that if it works for them but how can someone struggling expect that person to pick out the root cause of the concern?
Most of the bowlers who bother to read and post on this site are the exception to the rule. Why? Because we care enough about our personal game, the sport and our competitors to do the research and offer opinions. I keep reading how coaching is expensive. Look around. I haven't charged a soul for any coaching yet. There are two reasons; 1. build the trust of the bowlers in my community 2. If it takes a few free hours of my time at the alley a week to get more people bowling, then it's worth it.
Part of my defensiveness comes from having gone to several of the top bowlers in my area for advice/help/coaching. My game was so screwed up after. My average dropped to 130 before I decided to forget what they said, took the coaching classes myself and started with my own flawed performance to critique. I wasn't trying to put anybody down but I don't want to see anyone else get to the point where they want to quit because progress doesn't come.
Bowling at multiple centers will help overall game, I agree, but the post wasn't about overall game but rather a specific problem.

[aussiedave]

Hi. I have never followed bowling courses. I have been playing for 5-6 years, stopped during the time I went to university and since the last two years, I came back to bowling. Laft year, I finished the season with an average of 182. This year, I am at 207 (always on a house pattern). I know that my technique isn't that good. I have always had difficulties to keep my hand behind the ball. My hand is always turning besides the ball to soon. This lack in my technique has the effect that I am not able to givea lot of RPM to the ball.

So now, my question is: Is improving my technique help me to raise again my average? I don't know if I would take some courses, or if I would take the summer to practice that particular element to improve.

What do you think?

If you have a 207 ave, I would suggest there isn't too much wrong with your game.
I have found that the "technique" we develop as individuals is what suits us best. Of course, there are some sound principles to follow, and some of these I will share with you.
Your own style is what is going to serve you best - make it the best it can possibly be. This usually means consistency, first up. Everything you do, should be identically and minutely the same every time. This is where you will learn some real accuracy. This takes practice and concentration.
If you don't already, shoot straight at your spares.
ad.

[v33dubfox]

Thanks for the "bump" to that discussion. This question takes a lot more importance to me, since I had been invited to a tournament recently. The oil pattern used was something like the sport pattern in which I needed to be very precise to throw the ball on a precise board. Where I usually play, I can throw some boards inside or outside and it will also make strikes. So, during the 10 games of the tournament, I could only keep a 185 average, so around 20 under my "house shot" average.

I absolutely need to practice my precision while throwing the ball.

[dgz924s]

From what I have seen averages on house shots are higher than on sport. If you are doing well on the house shot and want to change release to raise the sport average you may just screw up the house average. From my experience on the sport patterns was more an issue of alignment and ball SPEED. I really had to take the speed out to get it to hook, once I found the hook I had to move to get on target.

Now I am not a coach and not saying you should not take the others suggestions, just offering a different approach to solve the issue and it is a safe one at that. Just roll your normal roll just take the speed out of it then move if needed.

[billf]

From what I have seen averages on house shots are higher than on sport. If you are doing well on the house shot and want to change release to raise the sport average you may just screw up the house average.

You brought up a valid point. Bowlers change things, that's an adjustment. Sometimes though it does mess with us. Personally, I increased my axis rotation to get the ball to the brreakpoint and back how I wanted. After that I accidently kept that extra rotation on our house pattern. For some reason I didn't notice what was wrong and screwed up all kinds of stuff trying to get the ball to float out far enough. Almost a year later I'm finally getting back to where I should have been although four times tonight I rolled with a 90 degree axis rotation. When I do that on a house pattern the ball grabs way too soon and barely, if at all, makes it past the 20 board before hooking.

Whatever advise you get remember that it is based off of the masses and may not work for you. There are many things that do help the highest percentage of bowlers such arm creating a swing slot, keeping the hand inside the elbow, etc.
There are two websites that I would recommend
bowl4fun.com by Ron Clifton
bowlingknowledge.info by Joe Slowinski