Bowling Instruction

House Balls to the Rescue

2007-06-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

I went to pick up my new ball today or in this cased used, but the pro shop was closed. I didn't have much time left on my lunch break, so I decided to bowl anyway. It’s been awhile since I used a house ball. The ball I used was 14lb with oversized holes. When I rolled the ball, it looked like it glided down the lane instead of rolling.

I only bowled one game with a score of 134. Not to bad with a house ball. The first couple of frames ruined my score. I probably could have gotten around 150 or better.

The pro shop opened while I was bowling and I got to pick up my new ball. I’ll bowl with it at my lesson on Thursday.

7th Bowling Lesson

2007-06-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

There was fresh oil on the lane. This was a first. I usually end up bowling on dry lanes. As a result, the ball did not hook nearly as much. And for the first time I was able to line up on the right half of the approach instead of the left.

I bowled four games. Scores were 87, 124, 150, and 170.

First thing, the instructor noticed was my slow push away. I did not notice it myself. He said I was pushing the ball up instead of out. I struggled with it for several frames. Eventually I got it going faster, but it felt weird. It did help with timing issues. My shots were straighter and the few that came across my body were the result of a slow push away.

One thing I did different was to not aim for a target. Instead, I lined up and rolled the ball straight.

Another piece of advice the instructor gave me was to not think while bowling. Let the thoughts disappear and just bowl. I focused on one thing and that was getting the push away right. Once the push away was over, I let the thoughts disappear and just let everything else happen naturally. It seemed to help.

After the lesson, the instructor informed me it was time to move up in ball weight. So I bought a used 14lb storm charger for $50.00. It should carry the pins better than the 12lb Brunswick strike zone.

Should you take Bowling Lessons?

2007-05-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

If you want to increase your average in the shortest time possible, bowling lessons are the key. You can read books on bowling, purchase bowling DVDs and go to the alley to practice, but there is no substitute for lessons. Books and DVDs can help your game, but you need a coach to watch you so he can point out your faults. Without him, you probably won’t be able to do that on your own.

If you are looking for an instructor, visit your local pro shop and ask someone there. More than likely they will know someone. If not, just go up to the front desk of the bowling alley where you pay for your shoes and games and ask them.

The cost of lessons will vary. The fellow who teaches me charges $20.00 to coach me during three games which take about an hour. I also have to pay the shoe rental fee and for the games. So the total cost for the lesson comes to $28.75.

Some coaches are certified by The United States Bowling Congress. They offer different levels of certification that coaches can go through. The different certifications they offer are level 1, level 2, bronze, silver and the highest certification is gold. If your instructor is not certified, it does not necessarily mean he is a bad coach. It is just an added benefit in working with someone who has been certified.

If you do decide take bowling lessons, here is some advice that can help you out. Always ask your instructor questions when you don’t understand something. Sounds like common sense, but sometimes we don’t ask questions because we don’t want to sound dumb. If you know you are having trouble with part of your game, let your instructor know. You can get better much faster by helping your instructor figure out where you need help. Don’t expect your average to jump up to high each lesson. Your average should increase but it will probably be gradual.

No two students are alike and if you are like me, you will have highs and lows starting out. Sometimes you’ll bowl well and other times you won’t.

In the long run, you will probably save money by taking bowling lessons, than by doing it through trial and error.

Bowling Instructional Videos

2007-05-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

There are quite a few instructional bowling videos out on the market. All the ones I’ve seen are in DVD format. The biggest advantage they have over books is they give you a visual to look at. Now you can see for yourself what good bowling form looks like.

I purchased one several weeks ago called, Bowling Faults and Fixes by Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Mark Baker. It was a little expensive at $30.00, but most seem to run for about the same price. I thought the video was quite good.

On the video, you get to see bowlers of different averages ranging from 120-208 bowl a few frames. Then Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Mark Baker give each bowler advice on how to improve their game. The bowlers then bowl a few more frames to see if the advice helped.

One of the nice things about the instructional video is Walter Ray Williams Jr. lets each bowler see him bowl a couple of times. So throughout the video you get to see him bowl several times and in slow motion so you really get to see what good bowling form looks like.

I learned a lot by watching the other bowlers on the video. Some bowlers made their pushaways to long, which threw them off balance. Others walked the approach too quickly, which threw off their timing. You’d be surprised how much you can learn from a bowling video. I know because I was.

Another Sad Day at the Alley

2007-05-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

After my four strikes in a row in my last game yesterday, I got the itch to go bowling today. I was hoping that I could bowl a 200 game or achieve some high scores of 170 or above. That didn’t happen. Instead my scores were 101, 134, and 124.

It seems like the more I go the worst I get. It makes me mad because I put a lot of time and effort into getting better and it doesn’t seem to be paying off. I enjoy bowling, but what I really enjoy is getting better.

Compared to other sports, I figured you could probably get better a bowling a lot faster since there is less to it. You simply roll the ball down the lane and knock over 10 pins. How hard can it be? I have a deeper appreciation for those who can carry high averages. It is obviously a lot harder than it looks.

One good thing did happen today. My accuracy got better. I hit the right pocket several times and when I missed, I didn’t miss by much. The hard part was making adjustments. I never throw two shots alike so it’s hard to be accurate. If I good get to the point where everything was the same: my timing and release, then it would be easy to figure out where to stand and be able to hit the pocket every time.

Even when I did hit the pocket, most of the time there would be pins left standing. You must have to hit that pocket just right or with the right angle to strike.

Another thing I need to work on is my spare shooting. I missed a lot of one pin spares. Had I picked them up, my scores would have been much higher.

This weekend I’m going to start rereading my bowling book and see if it can help.

Today's Cost: $10.75
Total cost to date: $120.50

6th Bowling Lesson

2007-05-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

I didn’t know what to expect from this lesson because I bowled poorly a couple of days ago. Before my lesson began, I explained to my instructor that my ball kept hooking to the far left last time I went bowling. He seems to think it was due to ball speed. I think he’s right. Maybe I was rolling the ball to slow and it had too much time to hook. That explains why it would hook past most of the pins.

I try to have a natural arm swing. I want the weight of the ball to control my back and forward swing. I’ve been told not to use my arm muscles. The problem is when I release the ball it doesn’t have much speed behind it and therefore hooks earlier than it should.

During my first couple of lessons, I thought I rolled the ball too slowly. But my instructor said the ball speed was fine, so I didn’t think much of it. So why am I know rolling the ball slower than before? Maybe I’ve gotten so use to the weight of the ball and need a heavier one.

To correct the problem, I started to muscle the forward swing a little bit to give the ball more speed. You’re not supposed to do this, but in this case it seems like a must. The ball goes further down the lane and starts hooking much later. As a result, my accuracy improved.

My scores today were 152, 101, and 170. My second game wasn’t too great, but the other two were pretty good. I got 4 strikes in a row on that last game.

Cost for today: $30.75
Total cost to date: $109.75

Stinking Up the Alley

2007-05-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

I was excited about bowling today. I went in thinking that today I could bowl my first 200 game. After three games, that dreamed was murdered. My scores were 78, 98, and 126. I wasn’t kidding when I said I stunk up the alley. My scores were better before I started taking lessons. So what in the hell went wrong?

The one thing I did different today was I tried to develop some accuracy. I followed the advice in the bowling book I have and made adjustments based on where the ball hit the pins. I kept the same target and just changed my starting position.

No matter where I started on the approach, my ball would always hook far left. I still can’t figure out why? Was the lane to dry? Does the ball I have tend to hook more than other balls? Could it have been my release? Who knows.

Up to this point I was making good progress. My scores were getting better each time I went. When I left the bowling alley, I felt embarrassed. I thought today might be the day I got 200, instead I barely broke 100.

This was a sad day in the alley.

Bowling cost: $10.75
Total cost to date: $79.00

A Good Bowling Book

2007-05-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

Bowling Fundamentals, A Better Way to Learn the Basics by Michelle Mullen is a great book to help improve your bowling game. I haven’t read any other bowling books so I can’t compare it to anything, but I thought it was a fantastic book.

Everything I read in the book is the exact same information my instructor is trying to teach me. Since the author of the book is a member of the professional womens bowling association, this reassures me that I have a good instructor.

The book is only 120 pages, but it is jammed packed with information. It discusses everything from stance, approach, swing, timing, release, throwing a hook etc… It goes into detail about targeting for strikes and how to throw spares. Basically it does a fantastic job of covering the fundamentals inside and out.

The pictures in the book help bring the text to life. They do a good job of clarifying what you’re reading.

5th Bowling Lesson

2007-05-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

My lesson on Thursday went very well. First thing my instructor asked me to do was just let my arm go on the forward swing. I tend to get the ball down pretty low to the lane when I roll it, but this time I just let it go from a little higher up. It seemed to improve my timing and accuracy.

My instructor said I had a couple of really good shots. The shots he said were good didn’t hook that much. The ball would spin down the lane and as it neared the pins, would then start to hook into the pocket. I thought the ball should have more hook, but according to him it shouldn’t.

I guess the less the ball hooks, the more accurate you can be since the ball isn’t hooking all over the place. Scores for my three games were 143, 162, and 117.

The last game I didn’t due to well because my fingers seemed to swell up and get stuck in the ball as I rolled it.

Next week my instructor is going to video tape me so that I can see for myself where my bad areas are and what I’m doing correctly.

Total cost for lesson: $28.75
Combined from previous weeks: $68.25

New High Score

2007-05-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

I went bowling Tuesday to see how good I could due since getting my best score the week before. I bowled pretty well. I achieved a new high score of 187. First game I scored 161 and the second was 187. I bowled a third game trying out something new and my score suffered as a result. Third game score was 121.

One thing I did notice though was that I don’t have much consistency. Sometimes I would hit the right pocket and other times the left. Sometimes the ball would drift so far left I would miss the left pocket completely.

I think my consistency has a lot to do with my release. Sometimes I think I rotate my wrist to early and other times to late.

Cost of bowling: $10.75
Combined from previous weeks: $50.50

This Weeks Bowling Lesson

2007-05-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

I had my bowling lesson during my lunch hour at work this past Thursday.

The lane must have been pretty dry because my bowl was hooking a lot. So my instructor showed me a new technique. Instead of lining up on the right hand side of the lane, he had me line up on the left hand side. I was told to open up my shoulders a little bit and roll the ball across to the right hand side of the lane. As it neared the gutter, it would hook into the right pocket.

This was hard to do. I threw several gutter balls and sometimes I would end up rolling my ball straight instead rolling it across the lane. When it worked out, it was a cool thing to see.

He also let me use a wrist guard during my lesson which didn’t seem to help or hurt me.
The final scores from the three games I bowled were 143, 98, and 101. For some reason, I always do my worst when I’m taking lessons. It’s probably that I’m nervous. On the other hand, he was showing me a new technique so that can account for some low scores as well.

Cost of lesson was $20.00 plus bowling fees.
Total cost this week was: $28.75
Combined from last week brings the total cost to $39.50

Selecting a Bowling Ball

2007-05-09T09:48:00.001-07:00

I found out early on you need to have your own ball. It's hard to throw a hook with the plastic balls bowling alleys have. Throwing a hook is important because it increases your chances of throwing a strike.

I didn't have a clue as to which bowling ball I should get. I just knew I didn't want to spend a fortune for one. So I let my instructor pick out a bowling ball for me. I ended up getting a Brunswick Strike Zone for $95.00.

The biggest problem I had was deciding on the weight of the ball. The heavier the ball the more impact it makes with the pins. But on the otherhand, I didn't want a balll that would be to heavy. I read that the weight of the ball should be 1lb for every 10lbs of body weight plus an additional pound. I weigh about 145 so a 14lb or 15lb ball would have worked, but they felt to heavy to me. So I went with a 12lb ball.

I kind of wish know that I had gone with a heavier ball. I’ve hit the pocket on a couple of shots where my instructor said if the bowl was heavier, it would have destroyed the pins.

High Score

2007-05-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

I went bowling during my lunch hour today and achieved my highest score yet. I've been averaging about 120. The scores for my three games today are: 143, 172, 185. I couldn't believe I actually got a 185.

The main thing I wanted to work on today was my slide. I found it difficult to execute though. The floor at the bowling alley didn't seem slick enough. I was proud of my scores, but my form seemed to be lacking. I need to work on this.

My ball seemed to be finding the pocket pretty easily though. When I missed on the right it would usually hit the left pocket. I tend to get more strikes using the left pocket than the right which is kind of weird.

I'm going to keep track of my bowling fees to see how fast they add up.
Shoe rental: 2.50
Three games: 8.25
Total cost: 10.75

Bowling Instruction

2007-05-06T19:14:00.001-07:00

Welcome, this site will document my bowling progress as I go from a beginner to hopefully bowl my first 200+ game. Along the way I'll throw in some interesting articles related to bowling, from taking lessons to the proper equipment to use. And hopefully the information can help others who are interested in becoming a better bowler.