Yesterday the league lanes were bone dry. Even the traditional puddle in the middle of the lane was dry. It did not matter where you threw the ball it always returned without any, None, Nada oil tracks on the ball. The Phaze 2 and the Black Widow were both hook monsters and very hard to control. No ...

It has now been six months since my return to bowling. This certainly has been a bit of a humbling adventure but the ongoing improvements have made this effort a lot of fun. My original decision to focus first on the fundamentals has turned out to be the best thing I could have done. The fundamental...

Since returning to bowling all of my outings have been as open bowling. Until yesterday each visit to the lanes usually followed league play and the basic conditions tended to be quite variable. For the most part the back end tended to be fairly dry as well as trying to shoot spares on the right sid...

You are correct with your assumption. My speed is typically from 13.5 to 14.25 as measured by the lane equipment. At my age there will be no possibility of creating any more speed.

It is my personal goal to only use one ball and forego the temptation to use another ball just for certain spares. In particular I struggle with the 10 pin and miss a whole lot more than I make. I am using a Black Widow 2.0 hybrid for all shots. On current lane condition the ball does finish hard an...

Been off the lanes for the past 5 weeks due to a bout of pneumonia. I am not yet 100 % but I am almost there. Hit the lanes yesterday after being off for 5 weeks. Had a little more rust than expected but things were getting better once I started to bowl. An illness like this at my age is a fairly to...

Returning to bowling after a 30+ year hiatus has proven to be much more challenging than I had expected. My original thinking made me believe that since I had a solid set of fundamentals in the past all I would have to do is brush off the rust and my game would be back to normal. It did not turn out...

Since my return to bowling a couple months ago, I have been unable to stay behind the ball during my delivery and release. Due to this problem I was coming over the top of the ball and or coming off the side of the ball. This resulted in low revolutions and a very sore thumb. I decided to investigat...

Eric, so far so good. You are right that I still am having problems on the delivery and just not getting any lift during my release. This is a work in process although it has produced a low 600 set for me. The lack of rotation is causing me to leave a bunch of 10 pins that in turn have not been my m...

Picked up the new Hammer Black Widow 2.0 Hybrid yesterday. PSO spent time to first watch me throw a couple shots with my existing equipment and looked at my track pattern. We then had a discussion about what I was wanting from the new ball with regards to how it reacts on a normal house shot. It was...

The new Black Widow 2.0 Hybrid came in today. I have an appointment with the PSO Friday at 1PM for the fitting, drilling and a quick test drive on the lanes. Pretty excited as this is my first ball that is designed for today's modern conditions. I am at the mercy of the PSO about what the layout sho...

After my weekly practice session, I feel like my timing is well on its way towards improvement. This week I used a 4 step delivery and have been able to notice a significant improvement in my overall tempo. All 4 steps are consistent and the finger leverage at the point of releasing the ball was equ...

Pro Shop re opened today so I was able to go over and order the Hammer 2.0 Hybrid @ 14LB. They anticipate delivery by Wednesday of next week. I am excited to get it fitted and drilled so I can give it a whirl on my normal Thursday bowling day.

I am getting a new ball as I stated in another post. It will be the first one in over 20 years but I do have a slight memory of my drilling spec from when I was in my early 20s. I seem to remember having my thumb hole with reverse pitch but I don't remember what it was. I further remember that I als...

I have decided to upgrade one of my balls to current technology and have selected a Hammer 2.0 Hybrid. I went yesterday to make the purchase but the pro shop was closed until Thursday. I will make the purchase at that time., I have no idea how long it will take him to get the ball as I don't think h...

Over the past month, I have viewed numerous videos made by well know professional bowlers. Each one has their main points but I am finding that it is not uncommon for their tips to quite variable from each other. Although the basic premise is the same the main points especially with regards to the p...

After considering the timing problem, I understand what was going wrong with my 5 step but I have also been encouraged to return to the 4 step delivery as a smoother less problematic method especially for us senior age bowlers. Obviously I can do both approaches simply enough but indeed I was very i...

The past few weeks have been a struggle as I continue to find my way duiring my return to this sport. I have been overthinking just about everything to a point that there is so much bouncing around in my head that I have failed to pay attention to the important but fundamental elements of the game. ...

Interesting conversation so far. I can tell you from personal experience that over 50 years ago this was a topic of discussion. At that time all of my balls were drilled to provide for an offset thumb but little was done for the ring finger. Although this was a different time under much different co...

I guess it had to happen but today was a real stinker of a bowling outing. Last week was a good experience but this week was just terrible. I could not get my timing right and still appear to be starting a bit early with the lift during delivery. Momma said there would be days like this. No matter w...