Bowling with Leverage
by David A. Leverage
David A. Leverage is a Former exempt PBA Player, Silver level certified coach,
an ASU Bowling Alumni member, A 6 time PBA titleist, has (40) 300 games
and owns 2 Phoenix area Pro Shops.
Bowling is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. Have you ever felt like this while you are bowling? Like you are having an out of body experience? Like you have never bowled before? To the contrary have you ever had those nights where you could do no wrong? Where you have been in "the zone"?
Well don't worry you're not alone. We as bowlers have all felt just that. Like we couldn't hit water if we were sitting in a boat! The question is how does this happen? And why?
There are a number of reasons why this has happened to you as a bowler. There are also little tips and tricks you can use as a bowler to try to fix certain problems you may be having on a given night.
1. "I am missing my target to the left consistently and cannot seem to stop it"
This is one of the most common errors for bowlers and is one of the easiest to fix quickly. More often than not this problem is caused by your feet moving too fast causing you to miss your target to the left. Think of ot this way...Your arm is supposed to swing at a certain speed and your feet are supposed tomove at a certain speed. If your feet are slight;y faster than usual, your feet will get to the foul line too early and subsequently your brain says "uh oh" and you try to over compensate and make up the difference and thus the ball is yanked left of target. With our busy lifestyles and coming usually from work to the bowling center from league we are often in a rush to get their for shadow bowling so we fight rush hour traffic and when we get to the lanes we are a little rushed and hurried and it carries over right over into our league play and usually has a negative impact on your game.
A good way to combat this is to take your first 3 or 4 practice shots and walk heel to toe. This will slow you down just enough to recapture your timing and pace to the foul line. The other thing some pro golfers utilize is slow everything down. When you get your drink, putting your shoes on, getting out your ball, do everything slowly as you are preparing and getting ready to bowl.
2. "I just cant seem to hit the pocket consistently"
A very simple golden rule is if you "Miss Right"..."Move right"...Meaning if you are missing the headpin to the right and hitting the 3 pin intead of the pocket move your feet 4-5 boards to the right and keep your target the same. This will increase your angle to the pocket and give you a better chance of hitting the pocket.
The same holds true if you are missing the pocket to the left. In this case you want to simply move your feet left and keep your target the same again changing your angle to the pocket.
3. " The lanes are hooking more this week"
First of all if the lanes are hooking too much you need to "chase the oil". This means you need to move your feet to the left so that your ball rolls more in the oil and less on the drier boards on the outside boards towards the gutter. If this doesn't work another option is to move your target further down the lane. Typically people target at the arrows (15 feet from the foul line). Simply look another 5 to 10 feet further down the lane and this will create the ball to skid a little more and hook a little less.
This also proves true if the lanes have too much oil on them, The reverse is true. In this scenario you can move your target at the arrows and instead aim at the dots which are 7 feet away from the foul line. This will get the ball into a roll a little sooner and will read the "midlane" better.
ASK THE COACH
As always if you have any comments or yopu have anyquestions you would like answered in next month’s Desert Bowler feel free to email me at daveleverage@yahoo.com