Progress Report

[BudKennedy]

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 investigate this problem and ran across a video that was a super slow mo of a whole bunch of releases showing the hand positions of a wide variety of bowlers. After thinking about that it dawned on me that I need to pay closer attention to my hand position from the set up through the delivery in order to get a consistent and powerful roll on the ball.

So lets talk about the sore thumb. I had actually developed a sore along the inside side of the thumb next to the index finger thanks to coming over the top of the ball. Although painful it was not that big a deal but surely pointed me to find out the problem. The fit on my new ball is excellent so no problems there. After watching the video I realized that my hand position was in reality nearly 90 degrees away from where it needed to be to stay behind the ball. To work on this problem I put the ball on the credenza behind my desk and each time i would go in that room I would pick up the ball and put it in the correct hand orientation and let the ball swing back and forth a few times. This happens about 10 times a day. Then I would increase the length of my practice swings and started to realize that I was now in the correct hand position with the hand behind the ball and the thumb pressure what little there is was now on the palm side of the hand. Well this fells really good so I decided to take this information to the lanes today.

I bowled three games today with the correct hand position and had remarkable improvement with the revolutions applied to the ball but also was a lot more accurate at hitting my spot. This proved to be very exciting for me. Not only did the scores go up but the down lane power on the ball as it hit the pocket was almost a night and day difference than earlier in the week. I bowled three games today and for the first time since my return to the game all three games were over 200. My games were 207-216-223 for 646. I am hoping that I have learned enough from this corrective action that has the potential to return my game to its former glory. I will have to see how this goes the next couple time out but I certainly am encouraged. For sure the performance of the ball now may allow me to play different lines as needed where before the ball just did not generate the movement to play some of the inside shots.

I am still working on the approach that is having some problems due weak quadracep muscles. This too is getting better but I sure would like to get rid of this wrap brace as soon as I can. Last week I removed the brace on my last game and I can attest that it was a mistake to do so. The pain almost immediately returned. Todays activity was with the brace and will have to be that way for a little while longer.

On a side note, my ball speed is now consistently around 14mph and my approach although still needing some work is much better and my backswing is straight vs being slightly behind my back. All in all the improvement has been steady.

[star]

Awesome news Bud, keep up the good work.