Practicing with lighter ball

Have our certified coaches analyze your game!

Moderators: TonyPR, deanchamp, Moderators

Forum rules
In this forum you can post your YouTube videos for the coaches to review.
Users can only create new posts, only Certified Coaches can respond.
Make sure your questions are thorough, registered users can only create new topics and edit, not reply.
If you have a change in your game or would like to reply, you can edit your post then bump it using the BUMP link.
Post Reply
TonyPR
Trusted Source
Trusted Source
Posts: 1386
Joined: December 14th, 2014, 3:08 am
Preferred Company: Radical
Location: San Juan, PR

Practicing with lighter ball

Post by TonyPR »

Hello, I just came back a few weeks ago from a half day at Kegel. One of the main things coach Del Warren noticed was that my ball speed was to slow for my revs. After looking at the slow motion videos he found that 1) I was pulling the ball down from the top of my backswing at the same time my slide foot was moving forward and 2) since I am a planter I was loosing any energy I created in the approach. Basically I was throwing the ball with my upper body.

His fix was to work on my slide by pushing off my back foot and thus creating a power step and to focus on creating "lag". By lag he meant that while I was creating a forward force by sliding with my newly developed power step, an opposite equal force in the opposite direction would pull my ball back and straighten my elbows and as a consequence my slide foot would move forward before my ball (lag) thus giving me more time and leverage to transfer energy to the ball. Now this only works if I focus on not muscling the ball down and only use shoulder rotation to get the ball into the "swing". I wrote swing with parentheses as he also told me to think "two handers have no swing, it's more about rotating shoulders to get the ball into the swing and using your legs", very similar to golf.

I have been doing 1 step drills, 2 step drills and then alternating between first ball drill second ball full approach and in a week I have developed a slide and am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am practicing 6 games a day every day as we now have the AMF Summer Pass working at my local alley. Del also recommended I go down from 15lbs to 14lbs until I get this technique down. I have been playing with the 14 lbs but at practice I have been using a 12 lbs house ball and sometimes a 10 lbs by the last game if I am feeling a bit tired. When practicing with the light balls I try to go a bit slower and focus on quality of form and trying to do a smooth approach without tensing my muscles which has been a problem/struggle as I am a strong guy.

My question is, is practicing the quality of motion smoothly with a light ball productive in helping create myelin (getting the conscious to become unconscious) or is it doing more harm than good? Obviously when I bowl in league I will use my 14 lbs at full speed but I have felt my swing getting smoother and less muscled practicing with the 12 and the 10 lbs balls. Any other advice is greatly appreciated.
Silver Level Coach
Kegel KCMP1 and KCMP2 Completed /Approved Exam
Kegel KCMP3 Completed
Kegel Certified Pro Shop Operator
Free agent
JMerrell
Trusted Source
Trusted Source
Posts: 1440
Joined: August 1st, 2010, 1:45 pm
Positive Axis Point: 5 1/8" x 1/2" up
Speed: 16 mph @ foul line
Rev Rate: 230
Axis Tilt: 20
Axis Rotation: 50
Location: Florence, Ky

Re: Practicing with lighter ball

Post by JMerrell »

Buckle up Tony as this is long.

Dictionary definition of lag……..to be late

Lag in the Golf Swing

In the down swing the lower body moves forward first followed by the upper body & arms……this sequence of movement creates lag in the golf swing (arms & upper body lagging behind the lower body). This lag helps the create elastic tension between the lower body and upper body. Which in turn helps create an efficient transfer of energy to the golf ball.

1) Notice how the lower body moves towards the red line as the angle between the blue and yellow lines remains constant for a long time during the down swing (lag).


Two-Handed body rotation

See the slide sequence of Jason Belmonte below.
1) After ball placement in slide 1, his upper body rotates naturally following the movement of the arms & ball into the position seen in slide 2.

2) While still on step 3, the ball is lifted vertically within 95% of his completed back swing position.

3) Traditional teaching says that this position of the ball relative to the feet is call early timing. The ball being ahead of the feet at this point in the approach.

4) In slide 4 the ball moves upward completing the back swing. This short movement of the arms
& ball creates the need for only a short 4th step. This short step (often called a power step) gets
the feet and swing back in time.

5) In slide 5 Jason’s lower body starts moving forward, while the ball is remains close to the top of his back swing position. This movement is creating lag (slide foot moving ahead while the down swing lags behind).

6) In slide 6 as the ball reaches the right knee area his upper body has began to unwind (rotate) slightly. His slide foot is still ahead of down swing (lagging behind)

7) In slide 7 as he delivers the ball his upper body has rotated back perpendicular to his launch angle.


Timing of the feet and ball

Let’s first look at the traditional timing positions of Doug Kent’s 5 step approach

1) After ball placement in slide 2, Doug's swing & ball move near the bottom of his swing arc in slide 3. (Out on 2, down on 3…….Traditional timing)

2) The green triangle in slide 3, reflects what the late great Don Johnson coined as the “Pro Zone” position. Reflecting slightly early timing.

3) In slide 4 his swing has reached the top.

4) Slide 5 showns the position of the ball when his slide foot has stopped.


How early timing is created

1) After the ball placement step in slide 2, the next step is much longer.

2) This longer step gives the swing more time to travel further upward. (Past the traditional timing position shown by the yellow line).

3) This is followed by a shorter quicker power step in slide 4.

4) The slide will then move ahead of the down swing creating lag. Which in turn helps us to maximize our transfer of energy to the release.

5) Of interest is the position of the ball when the slide foot has stopped in slide 5 (lag).

6) I also drew a blue line under the ball in slides 3 & 4, showing how little the ball travels upward during the power step. While this isn’t a constant distance for each player……it is unique to each player.


In Summary:

Early timing will quicken the pace of the fourth step…quicker feet equate to more ball speed.

As far as a lighter ball helping create myelin….whether using a lighter ball or a heavier ball…..most importantly is that you move a speed that will enable you to maintain balance throughout your approach.

Correct execution is far more important than speed when working on swing mechanics.

After digesting all of this, I believe the most important thing you can accomplish to develop early timing (get the ball ahead of the feet).

With early timing you will develop quicker feet and lag as a by-product.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
-JMerrell
"Simplify the Motion.....Maximize the Results"
Post Reply