JULY

YOU'VE ENTERED THE NON-CARRYING ZONE
To continue with my article from last month (or two) I wanted to touch on a couple of things you can do when you start to find yourself not carrying as well as you initially did in the series.  These changes are suggestions as each situation will be different and based on your equipment surface and drill pattern YOU will need to experiment to determine which adjustments will work best for your style.

So you shot 220+ game one and now the lanes are starting to transition.  The first question you must ask yourself is what do you normally do in this situation?  For most people it's one of three things:

1) Change Speed
2) Change Angle (move deeper or further out)
3) Change Balls

While all three of these are correct, understanding which one works best in certain situations is dictated by what the lane and transition is giving you.  I'll touch on each change over the next few months and describe from my experiences what I believe is the best reasoning for each situation and from there, you can apply it to your game and experiment to see what is comfortable and easier for you to accomplish.

CHANGE SPEED
Changing your speed to carry is probably the hardest of the three things, because you in essence are changing your rhythm and timing which if you're not accustomed to doing can lead to several problems in your delivery and release.  In my experience, there are only 2 instances where I change my ball speed.  

SLOWER - I will slow down my ball speed when i'm on heavy oil conditions, the most surfaced ball I have is skidding down the lane, and I'm unable to create any area with my normal ball speed.  The other time I will slow down is when I need to cover alot of boards swinging inside to out and I know that my normal ball speed will not allow the ball enough time to recover.  Usually in these cases I'm using balls that are polished and have a long PIN to PAP drill 4 3/4 all the way to 5 3/4 distance.  

FASTER - I will get faster with my ball speed when i'm on shorter oil conditions, my equipment is going to hook sooner, and when there is alot of friction to the right.  These conditions allow me to bank my shot off the dry area and stay aggressive which keeps me out of trouble.  The other time I will get faster is when I'm playing straighter, or on a reverse block condition, when I know that moving left will make my ball hook more and decrease my angle to the pocket.

Both of these methods are produced by doing a couple of things with my stance and approach.  When I want to slow things down, I will move up on the approach as far as 1 to 2 lengths of my bowling shoe, heel to toe.  The other is that I will lower my ball's position from waist high to just below my waist and keep my pushaway of the ball from my body very short which will allow the ball to only descend a short distance slowing down the speed.  Moving up on the approach will shorten my steps thus allowing my rhythm and timing to stay consistent with the placement of my ball.

The opposite holds true for throwing the ball faster (or harder as you will sometime hear).  In these cases I will back up no more than 1 shoe length and instead of holding my ball above my waist I hold at waist height.  I will lengthen my pushaway with the ball and treat it as if I'm pushing it over a small bar that is in front of me.  By visualizing this, I can consistently apply the pushaway allowing myself to maintain good rhythm and timing throughout the approach.  One other thing I do, which I do not advise for the beginner or even intermediate bowler at this time, is changing the positioning of my hand.  I'll re-post that article in the future as it's an aspect of bowling that should only be worked on after the BIG 3 above are understood and you've had a chance to evaluate yourself and your abilities.

BEST OF LUCK TO ALL AND IF YOU HAVE ANY TOPICS YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE TIPS POSTED ON, FEEL FREE TO EMAIL US BY CLICKING THE CONTACTS LINK ABOVE.

APRIL

THIS ARTICLE IS FOR ALL THE BOWLERS OUT THERE, BE IT LEAGUE OR TOURNAMENT WHO GET EXTREMELY WORKED UP (PISSED) WHEN THEY ARE NOT CARRYING EVERY POCKET HIT THEY HAVE.

THIS PAST WEEK I HAD A BRIEF DISCUSSION WITH A LEAGUE BOWLER, AS IT WAS NOTICEABLE TO ME THAT THEY WERE GETTING A BIT FRUSTRATED AND UPSET BECAUSE THEY WERE STRUGGLING TO CARRY THE CORNERS.  NOW, WE ALL HAVE OUR MOMENTS WHEN WE REALLY WANT TO STRIKE AND DON'T, BUT ASK YOURSELF, HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT SITUATION??

MY ADVICE IS TO THINK ABOUT THE SITUATION IN THIS MANNER.  WHEN YOU RELEASED THE BALL, DID YOU HIT YOUR TARGET, BOTH AT THE ARROWS AND AT THE BREAKPOINT?  WHEN THE BALL ENTERED THE POCKET, DID IT DRIVE THROUGH CONTINUOUSLY OR DID IT HIT AND KINDA FADE BACK?  WAS THE CORNER PIN LEAVE STRONG OR WAS IT WEAK/FLAT?  

BASICALLY THESE ARE THE TOP 3 QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF AFTER THE FRAME IS OVER AND YOU'VE MADE YOUR SPARE.  BELIEVE ME, IF YOU CAN ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS, THEN YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE TIME, NOR THE DESIRE TO GET UPSET BECAUSE BY THE TIME YOU'VE COME UP WITH THE ANSWER AND DETERMINED WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IN ORDER TO INCREASE YOUR ODDS OF STRIKING, YOUR BACK UP TO BOWL.  

NEXT MONTH I'LL DISCUSS SOME OF THE ADJUSTMENTS YOU CAN MAKE TO HELP GET THROUGH THAT NON-CARRYING ZONE WHEN IT HAPPENS.  JUST REMEMBER, IT'S NOT YOUR JOB TO STRIKE ALL THE TIME, LEAVE THAT TO THE PROS WHO NEED TO IN ORDER TO MAKE A LIVING!

MARCH

I'M GOING TO PUT MY TAKE ON A DISCUSSION PRESENTED BY MR. RON CLIFTON, AN EXCELLENT INSTRUCTOR AND SCHOLAR OF BOWLING.  MATCHPLAY SEEMS TO BE THE ULTIMATE TEST OF A BOWLER'S CHARACTER AND ATTITUDE.  HOW A BOWLER HANDLES HIMSELF/HERSELF IN MATCHPLAY SITUATIONS CAN REALLY ATTEST TO WHO THAT PERSON IS AS A BOWLER.  THE SAME HOLDS TRUE FOR ACTION (SIDE BETTING) BOWLERS AND THOSE IN COMPETITIVE MATCHPLAY TYPE LEAGUES.

SO HOW DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR OPPONENT?  THERE ARE TONS OF THINGS YOU CAN THINK ABOUT, AND FOR THE MOST PART WHEN BOWLERS ARE BOWLING OTHER BOWLERS THOUGHTS OF "COME ON SPLIT", "OPEN", "OK BIG 4" ARE THE TYPES OF THOUGHTS THAT CREEP INTO THEIR MIND.

THE PROBLEM THAT ARISES FROM THIS TYPE OF THINKING IS NEGATIVITY. WE'VE ALL DONE IT AND IF YOU CAN RECALL, HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN THAT PERSON TRIPS OUT A SPLIT FOR A STRIKE OR ROLLS THE BUCKET FOR A STRIKE?  A LUCKY BREAK LIKE THAT WILL GET UNDER YOUR SKIN FASTER THAN YOU'RE ABLE TO RECOVER AND SUDDENLY THE BOWLER YOU'RE FACING IS NOW LUCKIER THAN YOU.  THE OTHER PROBLEM WITH THIS NEGATIVITY IS THAT IT WILL GRADUALLY FILTER IT'S WAY INTO YOUR GAME, MAKING YOU PRESS YOUR SHOTS TO TRY AND MAKE UP FOR THE LUCKY BREAKS YOUR OPPONENT SEEMS TO BE GETTING THAT YOU ARE NOT, ALL OF THE SUDDEN, YOU'RE NOT THE MOST UNLUCKY PERSON ON EARTH.

RON CLIFTON SUGGESTS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT THOUGHT PROCESS. INSTEAD OF THINKING NEGATIVELY ABOUT YOUR OPPONENT, GET ON HIS/HER SIDE, ACTUALLY ROOT FOR YOUR OPPONENT.  RON SAYS TO TREAT THE OPPONENT AS IF THEY WERE YOUR DOUBLES PARTNER.  

MY PERSPECITIVE ON THIS IS NOT THE SAME, HOWEVER, STAYING POSITIVE ABOUT THE SITUATION, SHOWING SPORTSMANSHIP, AND ALLOWING YOURSELF TO FOCUS ON YOUR OWN GAME IS WHAT I FEEL IS MOST BENEFICIAL.  I WOULD NEVER ROOT FOR SOMEONE ELSE THAT I'M BOWLING AGAINST, BECAUSE I WOULD NEVER WANT MY OPPONENT TO FEEL COMFORTABLE BOWLING AGAINST ME.  BUT TO EACH HIS/HER OWN, AND MAYBE ROOTING FOR THE OTHER PERSON IS WHAT MAY WORK BEST FOR YOU.  MY TIP HERE IS FOCUS ON YOUR GAME, I NEVER WATCH MY OPPONENT THROW A BALL UNLESS I'VE GOT A GOOD REASON TO (I'M NOT LINED UP, THEY ARE OR WE'RE PLAYING THE SAME PART OF THE LANE AND I FEEL A TRANSITION IS COMING UP AND I WANT TO CATCH IT BEFORE THEY DO).  

IN CLOSING I LEAVE YOU WITH THIS QUESTION, DO YOU THINK TIGER WOODS EVER WORRIES ABOUT HIS OPPONENTS??  WHY DO YOU THINK IT'S ALMOST INEVITABLE THAT WHOEVER GETS PAIRED WITH TIGER NORMALLY IS DESTINED FOR A SUB-PAR ROUND.