What's the next step?

[editor]

Dennis, sounds like a lot of taping problems. Are you putting white tape on the front of your thumb? If so, you might try using the white tape to take up space in the back of the thumbhole and cover it with one piece of black or clear tape to have a smoother surface. Then your thumb is only making contact with the slug. I assume you are using slugs?

[trekbowl300]

I do have a drilled out thumb slug. I have started using the tape that is placed on the back of my thumb not the ball. What had happened is I rubbed my thumb nail against the slug catching the top of the tape and folding it back and making it lose its stickyness. Then it started to peel back each time I bowled. Then it was just a problem after removing it to get the replacement piece back on my thumb in the right place. I finally used two pieces to get the correct feeling and good release.

dennis

[editor]

I used to have the same problem. Here's what works for me. I buy the tape that comes on rolls instead of the one already cut in strips. Then, I cut a piece long enough to fold over the end of my thumb down to halfway on the front side. I run the tape from just short of the crease on the front all the way down on the back. This seems to hold on better because of adhesion on both sides. It doesn't take up any more room in the hole because it only goes halfway down on the front. I have also learned where to fold and clip the corners before I put it on, so that the corners where it folds don't stick up like dogears. I use "Magic Carpets" and tape in the back and side of the hole to give me a snug fit with smooth surfaces on the front and almost all the way across the back. It might not work for some, but it works for me.

[trekbowl300]

It has been almost two months since my last post and with many distractions and family life (my daughters HS soccer team trying to win a state title) taking up more time, everything just seems to fly by without even realizing how much time has gone by.

In my last post I had many problems with tape and my thumb. That problem is now gone and has been for a while. Many little things have come up and disappeared over the weeks.

I have become more consistent then ever before and am bowling the best I ever have. I now know it not just that my skill has increased but the information from the BTM super school and one bowler in my league has changed my game into one of fun and constant progress toward the next step.

I’ll start with the tape suggestion by the editor. Up to that point I had been using tape to make my thumb feel a little snugger. I also was just experiencing problems with the way I had been placing the tape on my thumb. I now tape according to the editor’s suggestion and I can’t explain how much more secure my thumb feels in any ball I use.

I have experimented with different tapes and found what works and how to get that feel exactly the way I want. This feeling is important before I start league bowling but also after when things heat up or cool down and I need to adjust, I now have a plan. I always top it off with the piece from my thumb front up and over so no more accidental rubbing it off as I place my thumb in the hole. A great suggestion that will be hard for me to ever break away from.

Being able to watch the ball all the way through the pins was hard and still is hard to do. I now watch all the bowlers (seen two 300's and several 279's against our team) and look for what their ball does as it travels down the lane. It is easier to watch someone else's ball for some reason. I was made aware of how important it was to watch my ball go through the pins and see what’s happening as it travels through them, at the BTM School. I am getting better although far from what I expect to be able to see.

I know in the BTM school ball travel and movement on the lane was pointed out as important to watch and learn what is happening. A fellow bowler in my league who I have been asking questions and learning from pointed out some places for me to focus on as the ball moves down the lane. I knew at that point from what he was seeing how much I missed and that I still need to be able to see much more in order to get to the next higher level.

As an example I was bowling on the next lane to him and noticed him watching my first two shots in the third game. I went to talk to him and he asked me what did I see before giving me any suggestions. First I didn’t see what was happening at two parts of the lane one just beyond the arrows and right before the breakpoint. I still need to focus better and maybe get my eyes checked again. He said on this shot your ball was sliding in the oil past the point where it should start to grab and then grabbing too much at the breakpoint. He then said try and understand where the oil is and how to get around it according to the type of revs and speed I was throwing. His suggestions worked like if it was magic. I bowled so much better and even finished my third game with a 244 and up to this week my 3rd game was my weak link averaging only 194.

Even with his help and ability to see these things it is an ever-slow process for me to learn. I have to continue with his suggestions because tonight after practice he asked me where I was playing (he didn’t see me bowl) he then suggested a different line just to try and suggested aiming at a point farther down the lane then what I was using. He said he watched them setup the lanes and had an idea the lanes should be similar.

Now up to this week of the season I bowled 12 times even though I have had ten 600+ series only 3 series were above 625, tonight was number 4 at 658. His suggestion worked better then what I expected. I also watched his last four balls of his 3rd game. All were strikes for a 300 and 807 series. Therefore, I now know he can just see something that I can only hope to learn and see. I still can’t convince him to coach me because he is just to nice of a guy and said giving out information and making someone bowl better is just the right thing to do. Plus he probably bowls four times a week already.

So back to me, this is my next step to be able to watch the ball and see what’s it’s telling me as it goes down the lane. Learning what to do when I do see something and learning more about my abilities and game. One thing BTM school did was improve my ability to handle problem nights and take control so I don’t fall completely apart.

This is showing in my overall improvement because of the 13 weeks I have bowled, I have eleven 600 or better series and the two others were 598 and 594. Not even in my best (206 average) season was I so consistent for such a long time period. Especially this early in the season.

One obvious difference is my ability to make the ten pin. I am at 98% and this by itself is one of the biggest mental blocks I was able to get over. I lost all confidence last year in my ability to make this spare after the year before having great success with making them. This year I just used the steps, setup and mental approach learned in the mini courses at BTM School to over come poor habits and no confidence. It is amazing how much mental confidence does for your game.

Well, I did not give my normal 7 or 8 weeks of statistics and ball by ball account instead I hope to review what my bowling is like now because I am getting away from the numbers (very) slowly and continuing to learn it’s what you know and how to apply it that is going to get me to each next higher step. Have no fear I’ll probably have a really good week and just want to review the scores.

However, for now I will try to use the knowledge I have learned and hopefully I can finally see the ball hit the pins and see what is happening and make better choices on what to do.

As always any suggestions or comments are welcome.

Dennis

[rowdy]

Trek, I really have enjoyed reading your plight at becoming a better bowler. This last post is probably one of the best I have read though, I would rather read your attitude, and mental thinking than a bunch of stats. It shows that you ARE 'growing up' and becoming a very good bowler. We all can see the improvements you are making. The best improvements are usually mental, at least in my mind. You can have all the skill in the world, yet no mental game and you are just Joe bowler. But I have seen the averaged skill bowler do very well because they knew their game, and had a very sharp mental game. These are the ones who woll tell you that even though they shot 750 that night, they didn't bowl well, or vice versa tell you that they bowled well, but only shot 550...
Shawn

[trekbowl300]

Rowdy, I will try to stay with your recommendations. Adding to my last league night another factor that lifted my attitude and possibly my game was a ball cleaning procedure I tried. I have read about a hot soapy water bath on this site on others before but never took the step to actually try and clean my #1 ball.

I have used commercial cleaners and abralon pads on my spinner for some time now but never trusted other cleaning methods. This time getting some exact steps and procedures to use I tried the hot soapy water on first an older ball, when I seen the amount of oil coming out I went right to my main ball. After 10 times through the hot water bath no more oil was coming out so I then prepped the ball in my normal way. I was surprised in the amount of reaction the ball picked up. This also gave me an extra lift and good feeling.

This positive feeling along with the information from a very good bowler gave me that extra boost that may have contributed to my ability not to have a 3rd game slump and actually bowl well the entire night. Yes, I made some bad shots even with this extra good feeling. Missing two easy spares was annoying but made me more aware of what I was doing the rest of the night. However knowing when and what I did is a good point. Then trying to reduce these bad shots is my aim, until I can bowl from start to end the way I want.

I still have to get my eyes use to seeing the ball action on the lane and through the pins as Dug Barker said. I still have a bad habit of just watching which boards the ball goes over at the arrows and at the backend but not paying attention to what it is doing in between those areas. Forget about at the pins 2 or 3 times a game I’ll follow it all the way through but if I get one 10 pin that’s where my eyes are headed after that. At least I can follow someone else’s ball all the way through and will hope I’ll get to that point for my ball.

These are some of the other feelings and positive attitudes that went with me last week that I should have added in the last post. I will try to explain some of the feelings along with my interpretation of what the ball is doing on the lane.

As always any suggestions and comments are welcome.

Dennis

[trekbowl300]

My last bowling night before the holidays was another interesting night. During practice I tried 3 different strike balls and my 10 pin ball to see how they react to the lane conditions. I am now wondering how bowlers with six balls know their equipment so well that they only try one or two balls. Another thing for me to practice, how different each ball’s reaction is.

So, I pick the ball I feel the most confident with and first shot is very light and leave the 2-4-5, then I make a bad shot at the spare and start with an open. Since I write down each shot and what I did, my thought was the lanes have changed slightly from practice.

When practice ended about 4 bowlers bowled on the lane and 3 more at the start of the game so I then decided to make a 1 and 1 board move with feet and mark at the arrows. This resulted in leaving a 7 pin on the next shot (other lane) this time I made the spare and thought about my next shot. I stayed with the adjustment and made a good shot for a strike.

Now on my next shot I tried looking a little farther down the lane about 3 feet past the arrows to get the ball more into the pocket but I missed and pulled the shot leaving the 6-10 for another spare. The next frame I stayed where I had a good hit and struck again. This made me wonder what should I do on the next shot? Looking at my notes I lowered my starting stance by 2-3 inches and hit my original mark at the arrows but went farther out by 2-3 boards through the midlane and the ball produced a nice arc right into the pocket for a strike. I was able to repeat this the next two frames and thought nothing can stop this now.

Well the minute I thought that I was doomed, I missed my mark by pulling the ball and hit the headpin square in the middle for a 4-6 split. To over confident or not enough concentration on setting up and making a good shot caused that open frame. In the 10th I went back to basics and had a strike then 10 pin and made the spare. A lucky 205 score with two opens that were caused by lack of commitment on the shots.

Well, at the start of the next game I went back to making sure I was standing low enough and aligned as before and started with the first 4 in a row. Then for some reason I could not hit my marks again for the next two frames. Once I missed outside and the next time over did it and pulled the ball inside. This also was the problem on spare shots just made 4 bad shots in a row.

I was able to get it back for only one frame with a strike but had a bad shot in the 8th frame leaving the 3-10. I was a trying not to over think at this point and just made the spare. In the 9th frame I again made a weak shot leaving the 2-4-5-8, which took five deep breaths to calm down before my spare shot, which I was lucky to hold together. However, not long enough because in the tenth frame I again get nothing on the ball and it just rolled into the headpin for a 4-6-10 split. 186 final because of the good start but I knew I had to change something.

At this point I knew there was still a shot where I had been playing I just could not hit it so I made a move to a different ball. I decided that my chances with a different ball should change my feel and hopefully bad habit I was doing. It started well with a strike using just a one board left adjustment for a stronger ball but on the second shot I again did not feel my fingers come out so I knew it had nothing on it and it hit the 3-6 pins leaving the 1-2-4-10. So, my only thoughts are what mark will make this ball cross over. I decided to stay at the same mark because since I lost it in the last game I did not want to aim for something different and lose my consistency at hitting this mark. I don’t know why but I moved 10 boards to the right just a feeling I can’t say I used any preset system. I made a lucky choice the ball crossed just like I thought it would and made the spare. After that shot I came back thinking I need to make sure I have the ball in my hand the correct way so for the next three frames it worked and strikes were easy.

In the 6th frame for some reason I let go of the ball late not enough to cross but it came in high and I left the 4 pin. I took a few deep breaths and again made the spare. I came back with a strike on the next shot but in the 8th I threw the ball too hard and straight leaving the 5-7. I know I tried too hard on that shot and just used more muscle then normal bowling form. The spare shot was again just a thought at the moment of throwing a shot that should be light for a strike ball. I moved 2 boards left and hit 5 boards right of my strike shot and the ball rolled just as I thought it would. Another nice spare after a bad first shot.

On my next shot I just did my normal thing and this time left a solid 9 pin, this was one of the few times I actually followed the ball all the way though the pins and watched it not deflect off the 5 pin just continue moving left. I made the 9 pin spare. In the 10th I did not make any changes because my last two shots on this lane were my fault so I was still thinking just make a good shot. It worked on the first ball with a strike then on the second ball I again was too fast and pulled the ball leaving a 3 pin for a spare. 218 game.

I was happy I made the ball switch in the 3rd game because the feel of the ball was able to get me back to making mostly good shots. I still have to practice on not losing my approach rhythm and release of the ball so I do not get into these routine bad shot stretches.

I still was not able to follow the ball through the pins but this week I had other things on my mind. Just trying to be consistent from frame to frame was hard enough this week.

As always any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Dennis

[editor]

Dennis, just a few observations about your post.
1. Maybe you should try and incorporate the deep breathing into your pre-shot routine on all shots.
2. You seemed to be having some physical inconsistency...maybe associated with your mental thoughts. When this creeps into my game, I always try and remember Dr. Dean's advice about making all my mental thoughts positive and not negative. Ex: Don't think...I've got to stop pulling it. Instead think...I'm going to make a great shot and watch the ball roll across my target.
3. When you have a long practice and seem to get lined up early, start trying to move yourself "out of the shot" by lateral moves such as 4 with your feet and 2 with your eyes. This serves as a reinforcement for what you've already found out. That said, if you have a long practice time with a lot of bowlers, the shot can certainly change near the end of practice. So, pay more attention and give more weight to the last few correctly thrown shots than the early ones. I think it is better to "expect" them to change and look for it than to "assume" they won't and be unpleasantly surprised.

[trekbowl300]

Happy New Year to All,

Yes, I will go back to placing my deep breathing back into my preshot routine. I checked my past notes from 2 years ago and that being my best year I found notes on breathing and counting to 10 then letting it out slowly. Along with Dr. Dean's positive saying like I belong here and others, many times throughtout the year. I can't believe I forgot to keep using this in my routine last year and this year.

I found only spot places in my notes from last year when I had streaks of 5 or more in a row that I took deep breaths. It always seemed to be when I needed to calm down and stop from becoming over excited and throwing faster and harder. I need to make a list and check it twice before bowling. I knew that saying was meant for bowling not just Santa.

I will also consider the prebowling practice session a learning experience to learn how the lanes are changing so I can make better and quicker decisions on adjustments. This next step just continues to show me how much I did not understand when I started this quest.

I had spoken to many bowlers at my house the past two years about sport bowling and the new PBA Experience leagues. Everyone thought our house should try it and finally the house made the move to start a PBA Experience league. With all my thoughts about finally getting to join a league that will further increase my will to get better the house makes it the same time and night as the league I am already on. It never fails when everything looks like it going to get better something always comes up to change it.

Although I doubt it, but I hope since they have to condition the lanes before the leagues start they use the same patterns from start to finish in the house. I guess this won't happen because some of the 215-220 bowlers would complain but I can only hope since half the house will be for my present league the the other half for the PBA Experience.

I at least will get to watch and talk to those who join the league and with a little luck maybe they will start one for the summer.

Dennis G.

[editor]

If you're waiting until you get on the approach to start counting, then counting to ten is a really long time to be up there and could be a tension-builder instead of a tension reliever. In my own game (and in my coaching), I try to time the last two deep breaths with walking on the approach to the starting spot, visualizing my target line, then count to myself (as last exhale concludes) 3....2....1....GO. And I go, right then, no indecision. when I get away from this routine a little, I usually end up feeling more pressure and making more bad shots. I think you will make fewer bad shots by going too quickly than from waiting up there too long.