Ebonite

Well.....Bowled a 3rd game last night, mainly because I was so infuriated by my first game. A 148! 5 open frames that game. I left so many splits that first game it just wasnt funny. My ball speed must have been low because the ball went brooklyn just about every throw. Every frame I would move an inch or 2 closer to the foul line, ended up almost 2 feet farther up than I normally do. Did finish out that game with a strike and 2 spares. Wasnt very happy. However, the pop/soda/soft drink drill does work. The second game was better, rolled my first turkey with the ball and was well on my way to a 200+ game when...you guessed it. Darn 10 pin! Ended with a 181. Wanted to bowl a 3rd just to prove to myself the 2nd game wasnt a fluke. Bowled a 182. Still the bowlers fault. Missed my mark on 4 of my 10 opens. Three 10 pins and a botched 3-9 attempt. I'm simply not getting the messenger sliding across the lane to take out the 10 pin. I experimented with my 10 pin p/up a bit and I've found that I get closer by standing 8 boards in from the left and practically aiming for the gutter right in front of the 10 pin. Matter of fact, my only 10 pin conversion was using that technique. I was all proud of myself, until I missed the other 2 tries. Guess I need more practice.

I am not familiar with the pop/soda/soft drink drill?

IMO your last 2 games,means your being consistant with your shots. BTW do you look at the arrows,boards or pins when you bowl? For me I look at the 8 board or 2nd arrow(10 board) and I try to keep my eye on that mark when I release the ball. When I bowl I take a deep breath,find my mark then bowl without thinking of anything and so far it has worked.

You may want to get a plastic/urethane ball for 10 pins and have it drilled for 0 hook. I had to do this because my balls are hooking last minute in dry backend. Always good to have 1 when regular ball isant working.

Splits are caused by the ball losing enrgy by the time it hits the pins or the ball hitting high on the head pin. You can try moving a board or 2 to the left or try getting more speed on the ball or both and see if that helps.

I would suggest a practice league. They usually are $10-$12 a week and you usually get some free games cards to use for when you practice on your own.

Good luck & good scoring!

Zothen

bradl wrote:

nova75mike wrote:

Y'know. I completely forgot to weigh the darn thing. I'll have to do that tonight and post back. If anything, I could use a hair bit more hook. that would make it even easier for me, but I can easily live with the way it is now. Just gotta figure out a good way to pick up those pesky 10 pins.

This part is easy and doesn't require much more into the ball. It's at this point where you change the bowler, and not the ball.

When I was bowling in juniors, my coach taught something simple; to remember the pop/soda/soft drink:

7-up, 10-back for right-handers, 10-up/7-back for lefties.

If you leave the 10 pin, move back on your approach half an inch. Move up for the 7 pins. All this should do is change the entry angle for your ball, with everything else being equal (same line, same ball speed, etc.). when you start to trip 4 or 6 pins is when you should consider moving left or right.

Another thing you could do is move half boards left or right to cover the corner pins, but that could lead to light/swish shots or starting to trip 4 or 6 pins. but up/back works best from what I have learned.

BL.

Above is what I was referring to with the soda/pop drill. I aim for the 1st arrow on the right side and IF i hit it I am usually always in the pocket. My ball speed has been much slower lately because my wrist is so sore, its probably only been around 12 mph. My bowling center keeps track of the mph and it lists my AVERAGE mph at 10.5 mph. Thats an average since we started the "kids bowl free" program in June. I was having so much trouble with my old ball that I slowed WAAAY down and cranked the ever loving crap out of it. Hence, sore wrist. Anyways, you say about the ball losing energy and with my wrist being sore, the ball speed being lower, etc...it all points to the cause of WHY the ball might be losing energy. We'll be going again on sunday and I'll try to put some more ZING on the ball and see what happens. 1 thing that puts me at ease is the fact the 250K is predictable. I know where it's gonna go as soon as I let it go, which means I have to make ME just as predictable. There are times I miss my mark by 4-5 boards, just barely catch the head pin and leave a nice solid 10 pin. I know what I'm doing wrong but fixing it can be frustrating. I'll work on my concentration and see what happens. I'll post back monday.

Now I know the problem and my suggestion is to take a week or 2 off and let the wrist heal or look into getting a wrist brace. Not being a doctor and having the same problem when I used this year to relearn to bowl,I was forced to take a couple weeks off after I strained the tendons & ligaments in wrist and muscles in forearm. 2 weeks of rest and a good wrist support made all the difference in the world.

Zothen

I bought a wrist support last saturday and used it for the 1st time last night, and my wrist does feel a little better than it usually does the day after I bowl. I'll be using it again sunday. After this sunday I'll take a week off and see how it all feels, and see if it makes a difference. I'm kind of an addictive person in the way that....I KNOW I can do better, and I want to keep going at it until I hit a 2 game series over 400. However, I do need the rest. Hopping back into a routine where we bowl twice or more a week, after not bowling at all for over 2 years, kinda takes its toll. I feel old. I'll be posting back. Good luck on the lanes!

Bowled 3 games on sunday. The first was pretty rough again (148), but once I got the lane figured out properly I rolled off a 192 and a 201. In my defense though, I gotta tell you that we are not allowed any practice throws at all. The first 4-5 frames are practice for me and having 3-4 opens in the first 5 frames isnt a good way to start. The wrist support is helping as well, feels much better the day after. Taking a week off and hitting the lanes again sunday should help as well. Thanks for all the advice everyone has given and good luck on the lanes.

Glad to hear the wrist brace is helping!

I usually bowl 4 games(Typical 4 sport leauge)with the 1st being practice(about 10 warm up shots before leauge play)and then I just count the 2 3 4 games as the real games. 192 & 201 is showing that your hitting your mark consistantly. The true test will be in league play!

Good luck on your next practice session!

Zothen

Darn 10 pins. LOL. missed 3 more on sunday and ended up with 169 and 178 games. Too many opens again. More practice is in order. I do have a "sort of" excuse though. My step son bought a new (never drilled) Game Changer for a really nice price. Its his first "hook" ball and I spent alot of time coaching him. He had a 105 average straight bowling and he has already bowled 138, 125, 131 with the new ball. Spares are killing him too.

nova75mike wrote:

Darn 10 pins. LOL. missed 3 more on sunday and ended up with 169 and 178 games. Too many opens again. More practice is in order. I do have a "sort of" excuse though. My step son bought a new (never drilled) Game Changer for a really nice price. Its his first "hook" ball and I spent alot of time coaching him. He had a 105 average straight bowling and he has already bowled 138, 125, 131 with the new ball. Spares are killing him too.

I think I've mentioned it here before.. if so, I'll mention it again!

While a bit brutal for us to have to go through, my head coach at Nebraska when I bowled collegiates had us do this one challenge before going home for the night. In our 40-lane house (1st and 2nd team men and women), start on lane 1, and take the 7 pin and 10 pin off the rack only. Nothing else. Once we did that, move to lane 2 and do the same thing. Once we did that through all 40 lanes, we could go home. I was the 4th person done in about 45 minutes. The rest took a little under 2 hours. All of our practice sessions were on a Monday as well, so keep in mind we still had class the following day!

Long story short, doing something like that - take a couple of practice games and forget the scores, and try to take just those pins off the rack. When you do it, do it again. And again. And again. not only will you see your skill and confidence build up when dealing with those pins, but being accurate with them will also help you with say, the 6-7-10, 6-7, or should you leave it, the 4-10, 4-7-10, or 2-4-8-10.

As far as other spares go, I don't know if 3-6-9 will still work for you or your son. It certainly did for me, but that was 20 years ago. The jist of it is that depending on what pin you leave, move 3, 6, or 9 boards left or right of where you stand for your strike ball, and try to hit your same mark. that should get you where you need to be. For example:

Head pin or 5 pin: Do not move.
3 pin or 9 pin: move 3 boards left of where you stand for your strike ball, hit your same target.*
6 pin: move 6 boards left of where you stand for your strike ball, hit your same target.
10 pin: move 9 boards left of where you stand for your strike ball, hit your same target.
2 pin or 8 pin: move 3 boards right of where you stand for your strike ball, hit your same target.*
4 pin: move 6 boards right of where you stand for your strike ball, hit your same target.
7pin: move 9 boards right of where you stand for your strike ball, hit your same target.

reverse the moving if you are left-handed.

This should get you some rudimentary fundamentals on what you can do, and that is without changing equipment. Give those a shot, and let us know what happens.

BL.

* for the 8 pin or 9 pin, those may be true taps, which means you may not need to move. If they were very light or very high shots that left them, adjust accordingly.

After speaking extensively to one of the bowlers at the pro shop, I think 1 of the biggest culprits may be the lanes themselves. By the time we get to them on sundays most of the oil has tracked down to the pins so the ball uses most of its energy just getting down the lane. I try to get a lane that hasnt seen much action, like I did the other week when I rolled off the 192 and 201. The center had a tournament last weekend and only oiled 8 lanes for it. My stepson knows the manager there and he told us the lanes hadnt been cleaned and reoiled since the friday night league (this was sunday around noon), probably because of cost?. They were just plain worn out. Once the fall leagues get going I dont think that will be a problem because they will be stripping and reoiling the lanes every day. I'm not trying in any way to make excuses for myself, but I know there are other factors for my inconsistancy besides me being slow in making adjustments.

With all of that being said, you do have a VERY good idea that I hadnt even thought of. If the wrist feels OK on sunday, I think I will bowl another game or 2 just working on the 10 pin...7's arent a real big deal for me as I'm right handed and my ball naturally hooks that direction. I'll post back.