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I only own one ball, a 15 pound polished resin ball. I can get some good late hook action off it with my deliver, and on a good day will get 6-8 strikes per game (average is about 175-180). Does using it for spares (often with different deliveries to adjust the amount of hook) cause problems with my first balls? I'm pretty good at using it for spares (except that goddamn bastard 7 pin, as I'm a lefty), but just wondering if there's anything I should note or adjust for regarding oil left on the ball or anything.
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Oct 28, 2011 22:32
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| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 08:51 |
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Good point about the oil patterns. Sometimes I'm driven nuts wondering why I can't pick up some random single pin as my ball spins helplessly rather than hooking in. I'm pretty bad at maintenance though. I pretty much never wipe oil off. Or get it polished. Or do anything with it really except throw it then put it back in my super-cheap bag. Oh well.
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Oct 29, 2011 07:27
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Went bowling with a few friends a couple days ago. One was okay, averages about 120, has about a 10 step approach but somehow manages to end up okay. One didn't really know anything about bowling. Like, nothing. The other had a multi-step approach (varying between 4 and 8 steps) that always ended with a quick step on his right hopping immediately into a stop rather than a slide. He ends up sideways, and brings his arm around like a wrecking ball to balance his momentum. I took it upon myself to try to correct their approaches, thinking that the bulk of their immediate issues were all related to poor balance rather than (as they were assuming) arm positions. I felt like after every frame I'd have something new I'd see that'd demand correcting. Was teaching an approach the best first step? I tried to instruct them to use their arm as little as possible (just move it like a pendulum, let gravity swing it rather than bicep/tricep), and focused more on keeping them in line. I felt like in the end the guy who was the worst at first had the best approach of them all. I think maybe he had the fewest poor habits ingrained that needed unworking. Still...I think I'll try to point the one who hops to some youtube videos. Just not sure when I'm actually bowling with them what I should focus on helping them with.
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Dec 21, 2011 22:28
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mattfl posted:So, just getting back into bowling here. Used to bowl in leagues when I was a kid. Have pretty good form, somewhere between a stroker and a cranker. Currently using a 15 or 16 pound Ebonite Evolve bowling ball. I need to double check the weight I think it might be 16 though. That's actually pretty typical from my experience. It's as if those forearm muscles are only ever used for bowling, so they get broken down and rebuild after every week. I recommend stretching as best you can, pointing your middle two fingers straight out and holding it. If you want to go lighter that's fine, but if you feel you can control a 15/16 pretty well then there shouldn't be a problem with sticking with it in terms of health.
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Jan 18, 2012 22:31
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mattfl posted:Alright this took forever to edit in iMovie, on my freaking phone so you guys better watch it! It looks like you're basically planting your last step in order to balance yourself and generate the torque needed to release the ball. I see my brother do this all the time to throw a heavy ball faster. I'm not sure if that's a huge problem, or what the solution would be (lighter ball, slower approach, higher backswing, longer slide, etc). It's just something I notice that seems like it might contribute to the difficulty in aiming your shots (a number of releases ended up way left). Your spare shots seem a little slower, too.
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Jan 20, 2012 23:32
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mattfl posted:My average speed is between 14-16. I'm using a 4 step approach now and I seem to be taking the ball back about when my third step is coming down, so doesn't seem like much time to have a good backswing and then put the ball onto the lane. Maybe I'll experiment with a 5 step, or bringing the ball back sooner in my approach. Really? Wow, looked 17+ on your strike release. Figured it was a 4-step approach. I do a 4-step too, and I'm usually bringing the ball back on mid-step-2. Changing the approach is hard as hell...it's still my best guess as to why you're having inconsistent release aims.
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Jan 21, 2012 00:00
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153 - 226 - 247 last night. Best series I've ever posted by about 10 pins. First game opened with a 5-7 (as a lefty, I hate the 5-7) and then a 4-7-10 (almost...almost). After about 6 straight 8/'s, I finally got a couple strikes to salvage the game. Opened with a 2-7 game 2,which I hit, and realized I was throwing my ball too slowly. I kept getting too high all game 1, leading to near-splits and solid 8s. After throwing faster I ended game 2 with mostly strikes. Game 3 was awesome. X X 9/ 9/ X X 9/ X X X X X I'll take that. All my strikes were those great devastating types, and the 9s all had a fair chance of getting kicked. One of those nights I wish I could keep going.
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Apr 5, 2012 15:37
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Threw five games last night. Something like 145, 199, 168, 191, 176. Something was off the whole time, because no matter what I tried to do I ended up high. I'm a lefty with a strong curve, so I ended up leaving a dozen 2-4-7's on the night. When I gave up my curve and just threw center pocket I was getting more consistent strikes, and when I didn't strike I'd get 8 or 9 down rather than 7 or split 8s. First game had 3 nasty splits in the first 5 frames. I never clean my ball (have had it for about 5 years), and use it for spares as well. Should I just follow the cleaning advice in the OP and pretend like I'm not an idiot? Would it help? I feel like at this juncture I'm so used to how my ball performs that I don't really need to do anything with it. Also: holy poo poo has rock climbing helped my bowling stamina. Used to be that 4 concurrent games would wear out my middle/ring finger tendons to the point where a 5th game would start hurting me, and trying to make a fist would feel sore for a few days afterward. Been climbing for a few months now, and my arm's not sore after 5 games last night at all. At all. Guess the two activities share the same muscle groups, and rock climbing's just a lot more demanding. Anyone else that bowls and climbs notice this?
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Jun 19, 2012 21:58
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toenut posted:And chameleon kicked my rear end this week as ToaH can attest to. It was the first time I had to bowl with another lefty though. We are such spoiled bitches, aren't we? Lefty power!
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Jun 25, 2012 18:49
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mattfl posted:Plus it's only a 8 team summer league so there's not much else for her to do. Maybe sandbag more the first few weeks?
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Jul 5, 2012 18:52
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Whale Cancer posted:Still using house balls but tonight I bowled 143, 138, 148. Not too bad considering a month ago I was lucky to break 100. Still straight bowling house balls until I can make the drive to get my Slingshot drilled. Nice. I doubt I could average 140 with a house ball! Suggests you have a pretty good level of control, keeping it around the head pin and hitting a fair number of spares. It's super-easy to leave splits when you can't hook, too. Finger-tip grip on a resin ball will change how you view bowling.
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Dec 27, 2012 21:44
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I hurt my shoulder bowling on Wii Sports. Somehow, it was more intense than actually bowling with my 15lb ball.
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Jan 8, 2013 21:03
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Protocol7 posted:I went to one of those family fun centers this Sunday and spent most of the time bowling. I haven't been to an alley of any sort in 4-5 years, and... I loved it. I loving loved it. I'm not great, but for something to do with a group of friends? What a game. I'd guess that bowling with the middle/index finger would unbalance the ball, requiring more torque on the thumb and fingers to keep it stable. That doesn't account for the larger difference in finger lengths that might further complicate gripping and releasing it. Seems very uncomfortable, with a higher probability of spraining something.
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Jan 8, 2013 22:19
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I'd focus more on basics than developing a hook or curve. How's your approach? A lot of the release is in the legs, which requires timing, balance, and coordination, which requires repetition and practice. Your arm will hate you if you can't take some of the load off by a good approach. I'd definitely have recommended a lighter ball to start with. Release point accuracy is more skill and practice than simply being strong. Consistency is way more important than ball movement, and it's easier to start lighter and work your way up than to just start heavy and wear your arm out. I'd recommend starting with a 13 lb. non-fingertip ball and just look for consistent releases that feel smooth. Don't worry about pin action or ball movement as much to start with, because generating those are incremental skills that are built upon solid fundamentals. Beyond that, there's not one single great way to learn by yourself other than lots of practice and maybe youtubing some advice videos that seem reasonable.
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Dec 17, 2014 21:21
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Poque posted:I'm still in the process of converting from a straight ball to a hook and the biggest hurdle right now is just straight-up muscle memory when it comes to my aim. Bowling for so many years has made it incredibly unnatural to start my throw directionally to the right like in image A so I've had more luck with B. My hook also doesn't seem strong enough when I work with shot A, either. It doesn't seem to make a difference in the outcome when I DO hit the pocket, it's just that I hit the pocket much more often with shot B. I never see anybody start from over to the right like that, though, so I'm wondering if there's just something I'm missing and I should practice more to throw a shot like A. Kills my stamina, since max efforting a 16 lb ball with torque is kinda tough on the forearm. But it works for a few games.
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Apr 24, 2015 19:21
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Thom P. Tiers posted:Move your feet a board or two to the left and aim over the same general area that you have been (assuming you are right-handed). Upping your speed and staying consistent is very difficult to do, which is why you should be moving your feet left and throwing a normal, comfortable speed ball. I understand all this, like I said it's this thing where I can't hit that mark! I have very solid single pin spare accuracy, so I know it's entirely a mental thing, where I move a little bit to the right (I'm lefty), and aim at my normal mark (I generally aim at boards, about 10 feet down the lane). Except my arm/brain connection gets confused and I end up throwing it dead straight still. I don't know why, it's only when I try to replicate my strike approach that I screw up like that and can't aim right. Sometimes I try to really really focus on it, like over-correct to just get my aim right, but then it doesn't hook back to the pocket for obvious reasons. The other thing I can do is slow the ball waaay down, like from my normal 16.5 mph to 14.5 mph. It curves, but god knows where it'll go. Sometimes it does the great Norm Duke style curve, but nowhere near enough to bank on. I haven't been in leagues for about 3 years, but when I was I booked about a low-180s average. The theory is there, the execution is not.
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Apr 25, 2015 03:43
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Ned posted:So I have decided to take up bowling because a friend told me there is this place that is super cheap that offers up to 15 games for a fixed price(about $9) between 10am and 1pm every day except Saturday. I bought some cheap bowling shoes and plan to buy a ball sometime in the near future as I think that is the best investment I can make early on in order to improve my game. There's really only two skills to bowling. The first is maintaining good balance, which allows a transfer of leg momentum to arm momentum. The second is ball release, which utilizes the momentum you generate and balance to make the ball go somewhere consistently with a good angle. The approach is a lot more important to your arm's durability than the ball you use. A good approach provides balance and allows for a smooth release, which reduces the wear and tear on your body by a considerable amount. Find an approach that feels natural and practice it. Strongly recommend a 4 or 5 step approach. It takes time to getting it to feel natural. Provided you don't do something foolhardy like try to heavily torque a ball with finger holes that don't fit, your wrist shouldn't get hosed up. If you use a ball with good finger holes and keep a balance approach, your forearm will wear down a LOT faster than your wrist. Which is fine! You should probably be able to get through 3-6 games before your forearm starts tiring, which will generally be the limiting component for you. Give it a couple days to get back to full strength, rinse and repeat. Other people can talk about balls or finger holes (see: really informative OP). I'd recommend non-aggressive drilling for your first ball, like avoiding finger tip grips or no-thumb styles, and a less reactive ball surface. If you want to jump into the deep end and generate good hooks early on then go for it, I'd personally recommend figuring out how to throw a ball consistently straight where you want it to go before you really worry about hook, though.
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Jun 16, 2015 16:36
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Thom P. Tiers posted:I would honestly dive all in and recommend a traditional fingertip ball right away. Release from a non finger-tip ball and one with a fingertip ball are entirely different in my opinion and if you are going to be bowling a lot you will get used to it pretty quickly. You can always get a ball re-drilled. If he's somewhat gunshy about wrist injury, I think a finger-tip grip, which assumes a level of comfort with release point, would be a bit excessive to start with. It sounds like Ned isn't buying a ball yet, so I don't think he'll have much of a choice when learning initially. Getting your own shoes is good. If you're using house balls, find a ball that's not too heavy with holes that will allow you to maintain good control over your release (nothing sticking, or too big that may let your fingers slip out).
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Jun 16, 2015 16:55
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buffto posted:One time I was subbing in a league for the first time, so I was establishing an average. First game we ended up behind by one pin, which meant for us to win that point, I would have to end up with at least 2 pins of handicap. Basically anything below a 218. We won the second game outright and we were well ahead at the end of the third. I was anchoring and came up in the tenth frame. I threw a strike on the first ball and left the big four on the second. If I get zero, one, or two pins, I set a 217 average and we win the first game and sweep them. Anything more and I set a 218 and we tie the first game. Perverse incentives due to handicap suck, sandbagging sucks. You did the right thing.
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Apr 25, 2018 01:45
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Hulebr00670065006e posted:Any advice to a dude with hammer/clubbed thumbs (short and wide) who only bowls once in a blue moon. It's always a struggle to find a few balls that I can even kind of use. I can never find a ball that I can grip comfortably. Either I can't fit my thumb in the hole at all or they are too far apart and I will often slightly drop the ball during the release if I even try to give it any speed. Are you talking about using house balls? Nah. Get your own ball. I've got a clubbed thumb AND I'm left-handed, so really the only house balls I could ever use were the comically oversized variety that were impossible to do much with beyond hoping to aim straight. Usually they were plastic and 16 lbs. If you get your own ball you can get your thumb hole fit for you. It's, uh, nice and necessary. The other option is to just learn how to throw without the thumb in a hole or two-handed like Jason Belmonte. That cuts out the middle man, but most house balls probably won't be reactive enough to actually hook back, which makes aiming a bit harder.
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Apr 30, 2018 19:53
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Hulebr00670065006e posted:Well I'm also a lefty (that's bad too?). I'm not at a point where I'll get my own ball at the moment so I guess I'll have to start bowling without my thumb in a hole. Know of any resources I can check out before the next time so I might make less of a fool out of myself until I readjust? Well, I mean, there's only two states of existence in bowling: 1) Amateur/semi-pro in at least one league a week 2) Looking like a drat fool having fun with friends once every few months and no in-between Embrace looking like a fool.
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Apr 30, 2018 22:32
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| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 08:51 |
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"picked up" is the typical slang so far as I've heard.
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Jun 15, 2018 23:32
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