Coach, I’ve Got a Question! – January 2024

In this recurring feature, I answer questions from Bowling This Month readers. If you have questions, please leave them in the comment section below so I can address them in a future installment of Coach, I’ve Got a Question!

I recently changed my delivery, and now I’m missing 10 pins just to the left, mostly by a hair. I used to be quite proficient at them with my old delivery. Do I go back to the old way for these or stick with the new way and try to get that old feeling?

Without knowing exactly what you’ve changed, it’s hard to know if the change itself is what is causing this specific issue. However, given that your only complaint about the new delivery is that you are missing your 10 pin more frequently, I’m going to assume that overall, this change has been beneficial, so you definitely want to stick with that method and simply adapt your spare game as needed.

Whenever I coach someone through a change to their game, even a minor one, I generally include some spare shooting once the change has reached about 75 percent proficiency. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that when people shoot spares, they often forget about whatever change they are working on. If they were adjusting their timing, for example, the spare attempt is often a regression back to their old timing.

The second reason is that when the person continues with the change on the spare attempt, it might affect their alignment or execution on the spare. This is especially true for swing adjustments and footwork. So, if you’ve adjusted something in your ball start, for example, it might require you to tweak your ...