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.
Reid and Hacker tearing up the lanes
Hacker shoots #2… 6 days after his first!
For those of you who remember last months article… We had mentioned that one of my students (Cliff Hacker) had persevered to shoot his first ever sanctioned 300 game. You may also remember that I had written that it would be the first of many honor scores for Cliff…Well… as it seems and as I have written on numerous occasions, practice pays off as Cliff shot his 2nd 300 game just 6 days after his first one. However it was 2 days after the Desert Bowler had gone to press. So keep up the hard work Cliff. As I like to say, the more you practice the luckier you get!
Reid pumps em out in Payson!
Josh Reid who is employed at Rim Country Lanes in Payson has been tearing it up ever since we took “Lessons with Leverage” on the road. Since then Josh has been working very hard on his game and he has recently pumped out 2 series in the 790’s as well as his first and second ever 800 series. Congrats again to Josh for his exceptional bowling the last 2 months!
The importance of good timing
If and when you have great timing you will most likely make a good or even a great shot. However if you’re timing is bad you are more than likely doomed to make a poor shot. So what exactly is “timing”?
Timing is the relationship between your feet and your arm swing and how how they work in unison to get you to the foul line the same way every time. More often than not with the 150 plus people I work with in lessons, I see a lot more “late timing” than “early timing”. Late timing is basically when your feet arrive to the line before the bowling ball. The result of poor late timing is the ball always goes left of your intended target. The reason for this is that as a bowler you have “muscle memory, which means your muscles know how to bowl properly. When your feet arrive to the line to fast and before the ball and the arm swing, the brain realizes this and basically tries to get the ball to “catch up” to the feet at the last minute. However what almost always happens is the brain “freaks out” and over compensates and actually over corrects and the result is you miss your intended target to the left (to the right if you are a lefthander).
The question is how do we fix it?
The key to timing is as I mentioned to get the feet and the arm swing in “harmony” or “unison”… This is actually an easy fix especially when you have a trained eye watching you. The key to good timing is getting the “push away” timed with your feet. So if you are a 4 step approach bowler, you must push the ball away just as you are moving you first step. Its almost as if there is a steel rod connecting your right knee to your right elbow. If you can get these to started in motion at the same time your timing will more than likely be very good!
If you are 5 step approach bowler, your first step is with the left foot and the ball should not move at all until the second step. Your second step is with the right foot and just as we said before the right foot and the push away move exactly at the same time as if connected. Just as the four step bowler if you can do this, your timing will be fixed and you will get back to hitting your target.
Thank you to all of the people who have been emailing in real questions and ideas for upcoming articles. We always appreciate any and all input as we are always aspiring to help and educate bowlers so they can knock down more pins. As always you may email me at: daveleverage@yahoo.com.
"TEXT the Coach" As a new feature if you are having a problem and need a quick answer to that problem, send me a text message during your next practice session, league session, or tournament and I will do my best to reply in a timely manner. Text to 6025505788.