Wisdom on playing deeper

[bobforsaken]

I'm at a point now where I'm comfortable with a lot of what I'm doing on the lanes and just need to practice. A couple of weeks ago I struck on the front 10 before leaving a 7 pin on my way to a 289 by playing with a tropical breeze straight up the boards. I rarely had a chance to do that for long because of how aggressive my equipment was.. the tropical breeze opened up that line and has served me very well. However, if I don't have that line and need to start moving deeper and deeper I noticed my consistency fall of and my speed seem to drop. When playing straight up the boards my ball's path is parallel with my walk path and its very easy to transfer that power from my legs to the ball and very easy to keep balance and post my shot. The deeper I go the harder time I have posting my shot and I tend to have less ball speed necessitating a move even deeper.

For some background I do preset my angles (shoulder/hips opened) as best as I know how and I walk perpendicular to the foul line, not towards my target.


Any tips for helping improve? I've thought about Walking a C in order to get more room to push and slide toward my target, but I haven't yet attempted to do this, as it feels very unnatural.

[RobLV1]

There are a couple of things that might help you. First, even though the traditional thought is to ball down as the night progresses, I often find that I have to go to a more aggressive ball to help me to get it back, due to my lower rev rate. If you are truly walking straight, then you might try varying your method of targeting as you get left of your comfort zone. The key is to learn to move your eyes as soon as you release the ball to insure the correct angle and not try to help it. I often target at the reflections of the pins or the tracer boards during my approach, but shift my eyes back to see where the ball is actually crossing at the arrows. I've also worked with targeting at the laydown point just over the foul line, and shifting my eyes down the lane to the breakpoint once the ball is released. When you are walking straight and projecting right, it often actually feels like you are walking a C, just because you are not drifting right.

[bobforsaken]

Thanks Rob.. I often ball up as I move deeper.. I try to start the night with the weakest ball I can get to react playing straight up the boards without having to "give it a little extra". So when I move deeper I usually move to a higher flare and more aggressive ball.. (Usually the optimus).

I'll try to experiment a little with targets. I have actually had a bit more success at times when I target more down lane towards the end of the pattern, but its something I've only tried in practice when I'm getting frustrated and feel like nothing is working. It seems I get closer to my desired breakpoint more often when I target it directly instead of trying to use targets at the arrows.. This is possibly because I may drift more as I move deeper and the steeper the angle the greater the penalty for being off a board or two in terms of angle created and eventual breakpoint created.

Thanks

[vdubtx]

God advice from Rob to target downlane vs. the arrows on a burned or dry pattern. I have had success with that this past year doing just that on my higher friction house that I bowl in on Tuesday nights.

[Aslan]

Won't targeting that far down the lane lead you to loft the ball?

I have that problem where I tend to throw the ball TO my target rather than TOWARDS my target. So the further the target is away...the bigger the loft to get it there. I know thats not "right"....but I'm just wondering if those that have a good release at the foul line notice as they push those targets out...if they start to see more loft? Also, doesn't accuracy suffer the further the target is from the foul line? Isn't that why we target arrows instead of the pins? Thats what I don't understand about "breakpoint bowlers". How can you move your target out to the 8-board at 30ft and still hit it with a 1/2 board cushion on either side?

[bowl1820]

Thats what I don't understand about "breakpoint bowlers". How can you move your target out to the 8-board at 30ft and still hit it with a 1/2 board cushion on either side?

Most of the time when you see talk about things like 1/2 board accuracy, they are measuring at 15' (the arrows) not 30'-40' down the lane.

And the majority are not that accurate (Though a lot like to think they are) at least not consistently over the long haul.

[RobLV1]

Most of the time when you see talk about things like 1/2 board accuracy, they are measuring at 15' (the arrows) not 30'-40' down the lane.

And the majority are not that accurate (Though a lot like to think they are) at least not consistently over the long haul.

A few years ago, I remember reading about a study that was conducted in terms of accuracy using Team USA. What stuck in my mind was the fact that Shannon Pluhowski who is a breakpoint bowler was found to be the most accurate at the arrows, though she doesn't target there.

As for lofting the ball more when the target is further down the lane, if you are rolling the ball rather than throwing the ball, your loft should never change when you change the length to your target.