Thank you, those are very valuable suggestions!Arkansas wrote:With a 10.5 mph ball speed at the deck your looking at maybe 12 mph off your hand, 12 mph off the hand is considered matched at around 50 rpm. You're 150 rpm. So the ball is going to read friction hard.
You're also 90* rotation and 0* tilt. So the balls is going to jump when it sees friction.
You have 2 basic options as I see it. Physical game changes or embracing the friction.
1. Physical game changes
A. Reduce rotation - this would smooth out the back end reaction and is the easiest physical change to make. It doesn't require a grip change or anything. Just change your hand position from carrying the suitcase at your side parallel to the lane, to carrying it at a 45* angle to the lane. I'd imagine you could master this in about 5 minutes.
B. Increase ball speed - this would also smooth out the back end reaction and also shouldn't be that difficult. It's just a matter of increasing your foot speed and making sure you stay in time and smooth.
C. Increase tilt - This would require some retooling. Grip change and hand position change. It's the most difficult and the most beneficial.
2. Embracing the friction
A. Use urethane or plastic - this is pretty much what you've been doing. In my estimation the reason this works, to the extent that it does, is that it controls the backend for you, compensating for your rev rate, rotation and tilt combination. The problem is that your extremely limited in where you can play on the lanes and adjustments you can make. You have to have early friction (when the ball speed is highest) to smooth the backend, but if your ball looses too much speed (due to the early friction) it's DOA. You can't play inside because you're burning your rotation earlier and there's no pop on the back. You could move left when your ball is burning up, but you have difficulty controlling the shot because of the revs and rotation I mentioned at the beginning. This is exaggerated later in the block.
If you're going to continue to pursue option 2 you might as well embrace the fact you're not getting much left of 12. Your ball lineup should be sanded flaring urethane, sanded low/non-flaring urethane, sanded plastic, and 2000-3000 grit plastic. Live on or right of 12. Learn to see when the ball is reading too early and move left as far as 12. If you're having to go inside of that, ball down. Also, you can roll the ball left-to-right from outside second arrow. You don't have to throw it straight up 10 or 5 to 10 (left to right). You can roll it 7 to 5 or 5 to 3. In other words you can get way, way outside. You need help with entry angle. That's why you can't move left.
Pick a strategy and commit to it for a while.
That's my 2 cents.
Actually, last night in league I made a breakthrough in technique.
As I was warming up suddenly something came to me like a light bulb turning on.
It was a very simple discovery that allowed me to:
-Increase ball speed with no effort
-Greatly increase accuracy
-Greatly increase the release consistency of the ball off my hand
-Increase hitting power
-Reduce total effort and stress required to bowl
What was it?
Well, normally when I get set before my approach I am either, bent over forward with locked legs, or bent over forward with bent knees.
Tonight I stood fully straight up and totally relaxed.
As I made my approach I pushed the ball out naturally and in a relaxed manner and remained straight up until I was making my final steps and then I bent my knees to get low to the lane while remaining more erect rather than bending forward.
This allowed my arm swing to remain a pendulum and very straight as it went back and forward.
It allowed me to push the ball further forward and come further back and thus increase ball speed with no effort or muscle.
My arm was able to come forward naturally with no muscle and I was rolling through my target effortlessly.
Additionally I took the earlier advice of TomaHawk and used a ball that goes straighter and has no funny business in the back end.
I used my Purple Hammer urethane ball which only flares 1 inch, has a very high RG of 2.65 and a super low diff of .015 and just rolls easy with a subtle arc.
I had the ball at 2000 grit.
The end result tonight was:
Game 1: 190 clean game
Game 2: 184 with one open
Game 3: 193 with one open
I averaged 189.
This was the best I have bowled in several months!
The opens were totally my fault and I know what I did wrong and why they happened.
But more importantly than the scores and average was that I was super accurate and the release off my hand was silk.
I was able to read the lanes and play at different places on the pairs and find the different strike lines because I could hit half a board at the arrows virtually every time now.
I was moving half boards right with my feet on the right lane because it was flat 10'ing.
After 4 moves and still getting the flat 10, I moved my foot left one board and my target right one board and told my teammates what I did and what my expectation was.
I hit my target perfectly and 10 back.
With my new approach method I could now hit my target every time and that is how I got all my spares but two.
I really felt I would have three clean games!
The Purple was a perfect ball because it is strong but has amazing control, especially with my added ball speed.
And after those 3 games there was zero fatigue or soreness in arm or shoulder.
Usually I have a little or more depending on my technique.
I will work with this new approach and my Purple and have two other urethane balls, one stronger and one weaker than it and employ the strategy you suggested.
Thank you.