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Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 3:10 am
by MegaMav
I find myself every summer using the time to practice and get better by either sport league or structured practice or both.

I consider summer the season of sweat, not just due to the temperatures, but working hard on the lane to practice.

Summer isnt exactly the best time to bowl, but its really the only time I can focus on the important things. I know most take the whole season off.

Who else here uses the summer as practice season?
What are you working on, and how is it going?

-Eric

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 3:18 am
by kellytehuna
I've using the summer league as a more casual bowling league. I'm trying to remind myself to take my time on spares and let the ball go. I'm shooting everything with a strong ball so I make sure I flatten out my hand properly. I'm finding that if I don't take my time and let the ball just come off and miss by a bunch. It's all mental.

I'm also focusing a lot more on my volleyball coaching duties at the moment. It mixes it up for a little, which is good.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 4:14 am
by Triplicate
Summer is just another season for me with really no change to my bowling schedule with regards to tournaments. I bowl 2 minimum a month and sometimes more.

The summer gives me more time to practice so that's what I try to do. I'll spare for a summer league once in a while but don't commit to summer leagues since I'd rather practice for 3 to 4 hrs than bowl only 3 or 4 games in a league. Even though I participate in fewer leagues I bowl more per week in the summer.

Summer is also a good time for me to adjust ball surfaces, and do other experiments with the goal of improving my versatility even more. It's also my time to reflect back on last seasons results.

I'm not afraid to try new things and on occasion keep some of the changes I believe will help. Usually the new stuff does not improve my game no matter how much I try however there are the occasional exceptions.

I always practice with my movie camera running and do video analysis afterwords to set new goals and objectives.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 4:21 am
by TH58PZ700U
Summer for me is all hands on deck. I have more youth bowlers to coach, I have a limited amount of time before the collegiate season kicks off, and I always have a lot to work on.

I reduce the amount I bowl during the summer and increase the amount I coach. I coach on Monday's and either tuesday or wednesday, bowl on thursdays and fridays and the weekday that I don't coach. During the year I bowl every day of the week except for some saturdays.

The only league I bowl during the summer is a Kegel Challenge series league. We just bowled Route 66 tonight and boy was it a challenge! Can't wait to tackle it again next week. I also bowl a lot more singles tournaments during the summer as compared to the fall season.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 2:34 pm
by crazyjim
Commited to one sport league and one THS league + 25-35 games of prac /wk usually no more then 5-7 per day. Work on one or two things each outing taking notes on what worked or if I learned something new.

Last night after league I bowled four practice games on extremely fried lanes. Got some help and figured out how I could still play the track by being very smooth with the release and throwing very tight to the oil line. Was a good night o prac after blowing up in league on lanes where my Natural would not hold the line playing 20 at the arrows and 10-12 at the BP.

Still taking lessons once avery six weeks. Usually come away with at least one thing that really improves my game.

Just ordered some SST6's to replace my 12+ year old SST's and have purchased ten new balls this year (had'nt bought a new ball since '03).

I'm fifty years old now and the number of games I'm getting in is starting to take a toll on my feet (aggravating a mountain bike injury) so I may back off the prac schedule this fall but for now I want to learn as much as I can. Last years avg was 191, this year is 210 and I'm hungry for more. Having been coached professionally now for nine months I can see the little things I do wrong that can be easily corrected with enough games to engrain it into my system.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 2:51 pm
by Slap
Over the past two summers, I've been bowling less and less. In previous years I bowled two summer leagues. Last summer I didn't bowl league, however I practiced twice a week. So far this summer I've done neither. I haven't touched a ball in ~six weeks. The fall season was really a grind. I felt that I needed a mental break.

That said, I haven't been totally slacking off. Since the spring I've been on a fitness kick. I think getting my body in better shape, especially my core and legs, should have a positive impact on my bowling.

Our fall season starts in September. After the clinic next weekend I will have a sever or eight weeks to prepare.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 2:55 pm
by SpaceCadet
My summer is a lot like Triplicate's. I'm using this time to drag out balls that I haven't thrown in a while to see if I can make them work, either through different layouts or surface changes, and also to spend time on sport shots when I can. I'm bowling just one THS to keep my hand in that arena for winter, but I learn a lot more on wetter/different shots.

I'm also taking a lesson or two. I have obvious flaws that I can easily spot and (try) to correct, but it's the little insidious ones that I'd like to guard against. So, for this year, I'm working on smoothing out my approach, and strength and conditioning.

And looking at cute girls in summer outfits.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 8th, 2011, 8:31 pm
by Mike
I'm bowling a THS league weekly, a lesson about every 4-6 weeks, and probably 6-8 hours practice/week.

I'm primarily working on trying not lifting before my thumb is out and a cupped release. I'm throwing 2-handed in the summer league just to try it out..

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 9th, 2011, 3:38 am
by jbungard
I bowl in a four game scratch trios traveling league on Wednesday evenings: Two games on one pair and move a pair to the right, same opponents, for the 3rd and 4th games. The traveling league rotates between three centers: five weeks at each center for a total of 15 weeks. Good competition and a nice change of pace. The league is in its fourth summer season and has been maxed out on teams for the past two seasons. Good fun and more challenging than bowling in one house on one pair of lanes.
Several of my long-time friends and I practice on Sunday mornings: Perhaps my favorite time of the week. The bowling center we frequent conditions all 40 lanes prior to 8:00 am putting out nationals shots and various sport shots on 4 to 6 pairs and the normal house shot on the rest. I work on different lines, use different balls at various surface finishes and work toward putting together a good league and tournament ball progression prior to the fall/winter/spring league and tournament season.
Finally, I sub from time to time on a summer 4-bowler match-point scratch league.
Some years, I reduce this a little, depending on the burn-out factor. Not this year, as I seem to be on a motivation upswing. Good bowling friends and good progress on improving my game are helping me stay positive this year.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 9th, 2011, 9:30 am
by Ajvand0
Summer is the time when I work on something new. This means hitting up coaches to see where I need to improve then work on thoes aspects. Changes to my game will often bring my scores down for awhile so doing it in th summer gives me time to work, and not feel stressed about loosing games and points for my team. I can focus on the execution part and not the results on the scoreboard. Plus with a sport league in the summer, scores are down for everyone so I don't feel too terrible.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 9th, 2011, 1:34 pm
by scotts33
My GHIN has dropped from 12.2 to 11.6 this summer. :D

Scott

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 9th, 2011, 5:09 pm
by EricHartwell
I've been pitching batting practice for my daughter's fast pitch teams all summer, not quite bowling but working the core and balance muscles just the same. Her batting avg. is up this year

My bowling this summer is in the way of learning here.

Thanks to all that are sharing their knowledge

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 9th, 2011, 5:23 pm
by StrikeTheory
I'm not sure why I bowl in the Summer. It feels like a Summer of missed opportunities.

It seems like I fight over/under all season, and just end up frustrated before fall leagues start.

I'm thinking I'll take next summer off, and just practice weekly. At least then I would be able to throw a few quick games, and make it out of the alley before the sun really start to heat the place beyond unbearable.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 9th, 2011, 9:56 pm
by kidlost2000
I usually do a 2-3 weeks before it starts back. This summer has been the summer of golf, and it has been awesome. I've played 1-2 a week and scored the best I have ever played.

I will be ready for bowling soon, but now isn't soon.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 9th, 2011, 10:55 pm
by magicmike
I call it the season of sweat too, but thats because it is so hard for me to catch the good bowling centers that use the AC during the summer when I find some time to bowl.

I do use the summer not for leagues as score importance, I use the summer as a chance to relax from the competition that sometimes can draining and also to work on my game, striving to make improvements.

There is a lot of good that can come from bowling in the summer and yet most avoid it, but then again golf is a little bit more of a priority for me as well in the summer.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 10th, 2011, 3:57 pm
by glssmn2001
The season of work, I could say practice,but, in the end it more resembles work.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 11th, 2011, 2:38 am
by BCP27
Seeing as I just got back into bowling this summer, I've been spending about 3 days a week practicing (usually about 7 games a session, I try not to look at the score for obvious reasons). I tried to join a league, but the lack of people joining resulted in canceling.

I need to use my practice time better though, time to work on spares until I just don't miss them anymore.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: July 11th, 2011, 2:43 am
by magoo
Pretty much the same as in the Fall except one league is a PBA league.Bowl two leagues.Practice almost every day.Fortunate enough to have two local tournaments running all summer long so I bowl at least 2 tournaments(3-4 squads) every weekend either local or out of town.

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: May 15th, 2019, 9:53 pm
by kajmk
Good time to bump this one up.

Do you have goals, objectives?

Re: Summer - The season of?

Posted: May 16th, 2019, 8:27 pm
by vicsmyth
Try a different house, local mom and pop owned (actually father and son, both PBA members) that is well maintained, that is into the sport of bowling, not entertainment.