Tip 2

The following article is the beginning of a new section of our tips and technique news section here at BowlerCentral.com. We will publish a different article each month for reading and will maintain an archive as well. Ron has also offered to come out and conduct a 3-day clinic in our region. Those who are interested in attending email me at marc@bowlercentral.com and I will send along the details.

Ron has been a student of the game of bowling for 35 years.
He and others found out about 14 years ago that he has a special gift for understanding the physics of bowling and teaching them to others. Ron is well known around the country for his unique training techniques and original thinking. He coaches some of the top Professional bowlers in the southern region

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Posted on Thurs, Sept 6, 2007
Pulling the Bal - Part 1
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

            “Pulling” the ball, also known as “tugging” is one of the most common errors in bowling. A pulled ball always goes inside the intended target line. It often produces some nasty splits. In fact, the phrase “pulling the ball” is sometimes a misnomer; the ball actually pulls you.

            Since there are so many reasons for pulled shots, I have divided this article into a two part series. Part one deals with cases where you were bowling well and suddenly began pulling the ball. Next month, part two will deal with a chronic case of pulling the ball.

            If one day, you are bowling well and then suddenly realize that you are pulling the ball, something has changed. Now, before you accuse me of pointing out the obvious, consider this. If the change were obvious you could fix the problem yourself. 

I will tell you right now that the most common example I have found for the “sudden tugs” is early timing. Early timing happens when the ball reaches the release point slightly sooner than normal. It’s the “cause” of the early timing that must be found. The causes of early timing are far from the obvious when they arrive in the middle of a game. You can’t feel the change because it is so subtle. I will go through the most common causes:

  Shortened Swing Cycle: “Swing Cycle” is a term that I made up to describe the amount of time it takes your ball to go from first motion (push away) to release. A “Shortened Swing Cycle” is when the ball takes less time to complete the swing. Since the swing cycle is shorter, the ball arrives at the release point too soon…early timing. This shorter amount of time can come from too much or too little muscle as I will explain in the next few topics.

Holding The Ball Back:  You are holding the ball back when you don’t allow it to fall freely after the push-away. This is extremely common when a bowler is feeling a lot of pressure to throw a good shot. Sometimes when we are under pressure our armswings tighten up because we want to be very precise and accurate. This makes us want to control the armswing and again shortens the swing cycle and we get…early timing.

Long first step: The length first step sometimes starts growing and that will give you early timing. This is especially true of 5 step bowlers.

Lazy Push Away: When your push away gets lazy, your arm will not go out as far and the ball will take a shortcut to the bottom of the swing. This, in turn, will lower the backswing slightly so the ball can make the whole trip in less time than normal. This shortens the swing cycle so…early timing.

Cutting off the backswing:   This occurs when we don’t allow the ball to reach the full height of the backswing. We get in a hurry to throw the ball. This shortens the swing cycle so you get….early timing. Make sure you wait for the ball to reach its full height in the backswing and start down before you add any “juice” of your own.

Bending the Elbow:  If you tend to bend your elbow between the top of the backswing and the release, you may be prone to early timing; especially if you throw the ball harder. Sometimes “elbow benders” will bend their elbows just a little more than normal and they literally shorten the length of their arm. If you don’t believe me just measure the length of your arm using a yard stick and then bend at the elbow and measure again. The more you bend your elbow, the shorter the swing cycle, thus…early timing.

Forcing The Ball:  If you force the ball more than normal without making any timing adjustments, then you shorten your swing cycle…early timing. This is not a steadfast rule because forcing the ball can make some people actually throw the ball outside their intended target. This gets complicated and involves Newton’s Third Law of Motion. “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” I am not going to go into physics because that would take up too much space. So, if you are pulling the ball just try not to force it as much and see if it helps.

Those are some of the early timing tugs that few people know about. I will now list a few other reasons for pulling the ball.

 The Grip:  If the ball starts ever so slightly sticking on your thumb, then you will start to tug it. If you start squeezing the ball more than normal, you will get the same result.

Swing Angle: Your swing angle refers to the type of swing you have and the angle the ball comes off of your hand at the end of the swing. Just about everyone has a different swing and swings are very complicated. I will go into swings more in part two of “Pulling the Ball” but in the mean time, just try pushing the ball away in different directions and see what happens.

Aiming at your target: This may sound crazy, but if you try too hard to hit your target, you will tend to pull the ball inside the target. This is simply because your vision is centered on your body, but your ball is not. For example, if you stand in the middle of the approach and point at the head pin with your index finger, the tip of that finger will be nearly in line with your nose. You’re ball, on the other hand is in line with your shoulder, not your nose. Some people have an eye dominance problem that makes matters worse. For example, a person may be left eye dominant and right handed. This makes a bowler more likely to pull the ball. So look at your target, but don’t aim at it too hard.  Just have faith you will hit it.

I hope this information will help you cure the sudden tugs when you get them. Of the 10 things listed, you will most likely only do 2 or 3 of them. Always check these 2 or 3 things first when you get those sudden tugs. They will solve your pulling problem 90% of the time. 

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Posted on Sat, Aug 4, 2007
A Smooth Landing (Part 2)
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

            In last month’s article “A Smooth Landing part 1”, I wrote about the importance of a smooth landing for today’s high tech bowling balls. If you missed that article you can find it on my website at bowl4fun.com. Just to review a little, I feel that in most cases it’s best to lay the ball down smooth and early. Laying the ball down smoothly will keep the ball from having an under / over reaction. An under / over reaction means some balls will hook a lot and others will seem to skid too much before they hook, causing you to think the lane is spotty.

            Having the ball leave your hand early (by your slide toe) helps to prevent numerous problems including an under / over reaction by the ball. If you have a late release because you hit up on the ball, (also known as lift) you will impart different amounts of revs on the ball with each shot. Hitting up on the ball often causes it to be launched in the air before it comes in contact with the lane. It causes the ball to “bang” into the lane upon landing. This impact takes some “stuff” off of the ball and it’s a different amount each time.  This results in…you guessed it, an under / over reaction.

How to make a smooth landing

            In part one of the articles I wrote about using my Multifunctional Optimal Positioner (MOP) to help you create a smooth landing. In part two I want to concentrate on the armswing.

If you try, you can actually change the shape of your armswing to make it easier to land your ball smoothly. The idea is to make your swing have a flat  spot at the bottom. Think of your armswing as a big semicircle starting at the top of your backswing and ending at the release point. Now imagine that semicircle with a short, flat spot on the bottom that runs parallel to the approach for a few inches. Kind of like a flat tire on your car.

In the photos you can see a white line and a black line. The white line shows the natural path of your armswing if you don’t create a flat spot at the bottom. If your ball follows the path of the white line, you may have the previously mentioned problems. If you make your ball follow the path of the black line your ball will land on the lane smoothly resulting in a more predictable ball reaction. One key to obtaining this flat spot in your swing is to make yourself follow-through along the black line in the pictures toward the pins instead of up toward the ceiling as we have been instructed to do for years. This does not mean to cut your follow-through off abruptly but just don’t jerk up with it as the ball leaves the hand.

What about the exceptions

            Before I get bombarded with emails saying…”what about those two pros I see on TV lofting the ball 15 feet down the lane”? 

Those two pros are Mika Koivuniemi from Finland and Walter Ray Williams Jr. from Florida. I have said in just about every article I have written that there are exceptions to every rule. These two bowlers are exceptions without a doubt. Mika has spent most of his competitive life bowling in countries where the term “lane maintenance” does not translate. The heads on some of these lanes have cracks in them big enough to lose a Volkswagen. These lane conditions rewarded bowlers that could throw the ball hard and straight and Mika certainly does that.

Walter Ray Williams Jr. also throws the ball fairly straight most of the time and well deserves his tour nickname: “Dead Eye”. If you throw the ball with very little axis rotation (side spin) like Walter Ray and Mika, then laying the ball down smoothly becomes much less important and having pin point accuracy is a must. Walter Ray, however, does sometimes hook the ball quite a bit when the lane condition demands it and I think he would do much better if he would learn to lay the ball down smoothly when he has to hook it. He is the best bowler in the world right now so I am not going to be the one to tell him.

Special thanks to Andy Scott (photos) for being my guinea pig on a weekly basis.

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Posted on Sat, July 7, 2007
A Smooth Landing (Part 1)
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

            Today’s bowling balls are kind of like airline passengers; they like to make a smooth landing. Those of us that learned to bowl way back in the 1960s and 70s were told to throw the ball way out on the lane and to “lift” up on the ball at the release. The coaches of the day would lay a towel on the lane 2 feet past the foul line and ask us to heave the ball over it. This would require a late release taking place on the upswing and a tightly squeezed grip.

            This type of loft and late release will result in an under / over reaction from today’s high tech bowling balls. These high tech spheres need to skid to the break point, grab the lane and head toward the pocket. When the ball is released from a high altitude it crashes into the lane like a dumb bomb with much of its forward momentum and revs going into the lane instead of down the lane. This is a waste of valuable energy that is lost on the lane surface instead of on the pins.

            The “lift” (today’s term: “hitting up”) on the ball late in the swing will produce an inconsistent rev rate. This will not matter very much on wide open league shots but will make a huge difference on the flatter oil patterns of MegaBuck tournaments, PBA events and Sport Leagues. More and more tournaments are starting to switch to flatter oil patterns to hold scores down. Lower scores tend to produce more entries. Bowlers don’t like to enter if they know they must average 240 to get a check.

            Another problem with a ball released late in the swing on an upward trajectory is a magnification of any mistakes made in timing or in the swing path. This can cause an imperfect shot to become much worse.

So what’s the best way for today’s balls?

There are exceptions to every rule, but I believe that today’s balls should be released early, smooth and parallel to the lane surface. The majority of the best bowlers today release the ball within a foot of the foul line. The ball is off the thumb by the ankle of the slide foot and the fingers are usually out by the toe of the slide foot. The ball lands on the lane with hardly a sound and is often totally silent. This type of release can only be accomplished with a proper fit and a relaxed grip on the ball.

I have a high tech device that I use to help me train bowlers to learn the proper ball trajectory off of the hand. I call this device a Multifunctional Optimal Positioner or mop for short. Luckily for you, just about every bowling center has one in the closet. So if you wish try my training technique, just ask the bowling center for the mop. Just don’t be surprised if they ask you what you spilled.

Another training aid you will need to go along with your mop is a chair. Place the chair in the gutter of your lane and the lane next door like in the photo. Let the stick hang over your lane a little past the foul line. Push the chair far enough away that you will not hit the stick with your follow-through.

The idea is to throw the ball under the stick. It may take a few shots to develop some trust in yourself. Usually the first shot will be laid down a foot before the foul line. This is a natural over reaction to being afraid to hit the stick. Did I tell you about the Dynamite connected to the stick? Oh, never mind.  Your goal is to lay the ball down smoothly, so you can hardy hear it hit the lane. Your ears are a good training tool to bring with you for this exercise.

            Notice in the “Before” photo the ball is flying through the air before it hits the lane. But after a little work with the mop, the “After” shot shows a smooth delivery parallel to the lane surface.

            There are a few more tricks to help you learn the “smooth landing” release and I will reveal them next month in part 2. In the mean time grab your MOPS and chairs and start practicing. You will be amazed how much this will improve your game.

            Special thanks to Andy Scott (photos) for being my guinea pig on a weekly basis.

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Posted on Sat, June 2, 2007
How to Handle Dry Lanes
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

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Posted on Thur, May 3, 2007
The "Force" Is not with You
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

            In bowling we have as many “don’t dos” as “do dos”. In a lot of cases it’s harder to “not” do something than it is “to” do something. As a bowling coach, I spend as much time teaching bowlers “not” to do something as I do trying to get them “to” do something.
 

            There are several “don’t dos” that seem perfectly natural “to do”.  The two most common ones are gripping the ball tightly and forcing the armswing. In all other sports that involve throwing a ball we “grip it and rip it”. The only problem is that those other sports don’t use 16 pound balls. When you “grip and rip” a heavy bowling ball, bad things can happen. Things like a poor, unrepeatable release, inconsistent armswing timing, poor body-to-ball interaction, under-over ball reaction and less accuracy.

            This article is about attacking the “force” problem that plagues most bowlers. Most of the time, this force takes place from the top of the backswing through the release point. This equates to “throwing” the ball just as you would throw a softball underhanded.
 

            A bowling ball is very heavy compared to a softball. When you push against a heavy object, it pushes back. Actually, all objects push back, but the heavier the object, the more it pushes back or resists movement. Don’t believe me? Try pushing a shopping cart through a store. Then put a 50 pound kid in there. You will feel the difference.
 

            We as bowlers don’t feel the ball pushing back when we force it because we are used to it and we expect it. I will spend hours trying to teach a bowler what it feels like not to force a ball. Once bowlers feel  this for first time, they can feel when they force the ball.
    

Why don’t we have to force it?

            A bowling ball that reaches a backswing peak of head high or higher at the end of a free-flowing arm will have plenty of ball speed for most conditions. It’s as simple as that.
 

When do we force the ball?

            Most bowlers start forcing the ball from the top of the backswing down; but often bowlers will get in a hurry and start forcing the ball back forward, even before it reaches the top of the backswing. This has ruined many great players’ games. Bowling under pressure can often cause us to force the ball even if we normally don’t.

            Even if you are a successful bowler that has forced the ball your entire life, you can still often find yourself forcing the ball more than normal and it will kill your game. This often occurs after a player has bowled on dry lanes for a long period of time.

            Forcing the ball more than normal will cause you to have the same symptoms as early timing. Your release will become weaker and you will often tend to “pull” the ball inside your target. You can exhibit perfect “next to last step timing” and still have early timing by the time you deliver the ball. The reason is that the forced ball will simply outrun your feet.

            A bowler that starts forcing the ball before it reaches the top of the backswing can really get into trouble. This act of impatience causes really early timing. The ball starts back forward before it even reaches the full height of the backswing, so it doesn’t travel as far in the swing and easily outruns the feet.

How do we stop forcing the ball?

            The first step is to “wait” on the ball. Try to feel the ball reach the top of the backswing and start to come down on its own.  You can picture a kid in a swing. You can push a kid in a swing really high, but you don’t have to run behind him and pull him down again. The kid in the swing will come down on his own thanks to gravity. Your bowling ball is the same way. No matter how high your backswing is, the ball will come back down on its own and at a rate of 32 feet per second squared for those into physics.

            If you have a pretty straight armswing, the ball will actually come to a brief stop at the very top before it starts back down again. If you have more of a loop-style backswing, your ball will never come to a dead stop, but you can still feel it reach the peak if you pay attention.  

            Learning to feel this brief pause at the top of your swing is very critical, even if you are always going to be a bowler that forces the ball down. In fact, when I teach bowlers how to throw the ball hard to overcome excessively dry lanes I teach them to gradually accelerate the ball after it starts falling on its own. It’s easier to accelerate the ball with less adverse effects on your body position if you wait until gravity gets the ball started first. To learn more about how to throw the ball faster and slower look up those articles in the archive on my website.

            The second step to learning not to force the ball is to ride the roller coaster. If you think about what it is like to ride a roller coaster over a big hill you will start to get an idea what I am talking about. If the hill is big enough you feel like you are leaving your stomach at the top of the hill. One thing you don’t have to do is get out and push the coaster down the hill, you simply ride it down. Your hand should feel the same way. The ball is the roller coaster and your hand is the rider. If you really pay attention and you don’t force the ball down you will actually feel what it is like to ride the ball down.

	In photo “A” Andy Scott is waiting for the ball to reach the top of the backswing then he will let his hand ride the roller coaster down. Until you are used to waiting on the ball it will seem like it takes forever to come down again.

 

            Bowlers that bend their elbow can often produce more  power but they can easily force the ball too much causing early timing. Often when these bowlers force the ball too much they bend the elbow even more in the process. This will really shorten the swing cycle and cause major timing problems.

	In this photo Storm Pro Staff member Todd Masingo displays a bent elbow for more power.    Todd has to be very mindful of not forcing the ball too much or his elbow will bend even more. This force will cause his ball to outrun the rest of his body. This leads to early timing at the foul line causing pulled shots and inconsistent releases

            Most of the best bowlers in the world do force the ball at least a little, but the majority of not-so-great bowlers force the ball way too much. You will never know the difference if you don’t learn how to not force it at all.

            Be sure to check out my live bowlers’ chat room each night after 11 PM Eastern Time. I am in there most nights so stop in and say hi.

All you have to do is click on the Lets talk button in the front page.

Bowl great!

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Posted on Thur, Apr 5, 2007
Falling Off The Shot
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

FALLING OFF THE SHOT

I believe if bowlers have a good solid finishing position, they are affected less by small mistakes made on the way to the foul line….especially small timing errors. Solid finishers can also cope better with less than ideal approaches that are too tacky or slick. Having a good knee bend to lower your center of gravity is of benefit here as well.

So how do we develop a good finishing position? 
Start by leaving your ball on the rack and just walk up to the foul line and get in a picture-perfect finishing position. This will teach your body how it is supposed to look and feel as you deliver the ball.

Another reason people fall off the shot is early timing. If your timing is too early, (meaning the ball is getting to the foul line too soon in relation to your foot work) you may tend to pop up or fall over at the foul line. Early timing will also cause you to throw weak balls with little rotation. “Pulling” the ball inside your target is one symptom of early timing.
Some bowlers put too much force into the ball near the bottom of the swing and that in turn puts torque into their bodies. This torque will turn their slide foot clockwise (right handed) as they release the ball and the bowler falls over.

Early timing

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Posted on Sun, Mar 4, 2007
Getting Deeper
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton      

Can you get deeper? Not deep into debt, that’s way too easy. I mean moving deeper on the lane and crossing more boards…a lot more boards. Bowlers that make the effort to get better at the sport of bowling eventually learn the technique of a stronger release. This allows them to hook the ball more boards than before. Today’s high tech balls also help bowlers cover more boards.

The more you hook the ball, the “deeper” you have to get with your feet. For a right handed bowler getting “deeper” means moving your feet left but keeping your breakpoint to the right. For example, if you placed your left foot on the 35 board and threw a line that had the ball crossing the 3^rd arrow and hit the 7^th board at the breakpoint 40 feet down the lane and back to the pocket. A lot of bowlers start struggling when they move their feet more than 3 or 4 boards deeper than their normal down-and-in line. When they have to get deeper than that, they start missing their target to the inside.

Here is a typical scenario: The lanes are on the dry side today so you are forced to leave the comfort of your second arrow and head for the third arrow. You make your first shot and the ball glides over the third arrow just as planned but the dry lanes force the ball to hook more than usual and the ball crosses over to the other side of the head pin. You move your feet “deeper” to the left by 5 boards and throw your next shot. You miss the 3^rd arrow to the inside by 2 boards and the ball still crosses over. You move your feet deeper still by 2 boards and try again. This time you miss your target to the inside by 4 boards and the ball crosses over again. Why is it that the more you move your feet left the more you miss your target to the inside?

The biggest reason is that you are not facing the right direction. The more boards you move your feet to the left of your target, the more you need to turn your toes to the right so you will be facing your breakpoint. You need to point your toes to face your breakpoint (or even further right) not only in your stance but at the foul line too.

The lane and its’ long parallel lines often play tricks with your eyes and your head and this is one of those times. Even if you start out facing the right direction the lane gets into your head and you will often start to square yourself with the foul line as you make your approach. Those two long gutters that outline the lane seem to turn in toward the head pin.

This is an illusion. The gutters are actually the same distance apart the full length of the lane. This “illusion” tends to turn the bowler toward the head pin as he or she approaches the foul line. So how do you combat this?

  The best way is to literally face the pins on the NEXT lane in your stance, instead of trying to face your breakpoint as you should. If you are right handed and bowling on lane 10, then in your stance try facing the head pin on lane 11. Make sure your toes are facing the pins on lane 11 and not just your head and shoulders. This exaggerates the angle you should be facing but it will work out about right by the time you get to the foul line.  This will feel really strange at first but you will get used to it.

If you find that when you face far right you tend to miss your breakpoint too far to the right, then that is a good sign. All you have to do is back off on the angle a little until you get it right. Using the head pin on the next lane is just a starting point and each person will have to find what angle works best for them.

It can also help if you use your imagination a little. Just imagine the lane you are bowling on was laid in at an angle to all the others. The 10 pin is actually the left gutter of your lane and you are just playing the down-and-in line you are comfortable with.

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Posted on Sun, Feb 11, 2007
Summer is for "Real" Bowlers
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

The fall/winter leagues have wrapped up and we find ourselves looking at summer again.  Summer is the time for "real" bowlers. That’s because "real" bowlers bowl year round, not just when the weather is bad. If you are going to be bowling this summer, why not work on your game. Summer is the perfect time to see if we can make some improvements. Open lanes to practice on are easier to find just about any time of the day. Most summer leagues are not as serious, so if your average slips a little as you learn new things it's no big deal. The summer league average does not even go into the average book.

The first thing you should do is ask yourself a few questions. The number one question is, “Where do you want your game to take you?” This will be very different for every bowler. Some bowlers may just want to raise their average. Some may want to be high average in their league or the whole center. Some bowlers may want to try some tournaments for the first time or even bowl in PBA or PWBA events. Bowlers that already bowl tournaments need to examine what they need to learn to start winning or to get more checks.

    If your goal is to raise your league average and you average less than 170 then you most likely need to work on your basic game. First, have your pro shop check the fit of your ball. It is very hard to make good shots with an ill-fitting ball. If your ball fits properly, then work on developing a free arm swing and walking to the line in a manner similar to the way you normally walk. Most sub-170 average bowlers tend to “throw” the ball. This is normal because we learn to “throw” other balls in other sports. In bowling, however, it is far better to just give the ball a good push from about waist high and let it swing freely from the shoulder as we walk beside it on the way to the foul line.
  

  Another common problem I see is that bowlers are taking too many steps before they try to move the ball. As bowlers get better, a good coach can fine tune their timing to fit their arm and leg length, but it’s best for most sub-170 average bowlers to adopt a textbook type of timing. This means while using a free armswing, the ball should drop into the swing at about the same time you take your first step in a 4 step approach.

    Another common problem for sub-170 average bowlers is trying to hook the ball too much. Hooking the ball is easy but it requires the proper technique. If you don’t have the technique then you are only hurting your game trying to do it. Ease up on trying to hook the ball so much and see if your scores rise. If you want to learn to hook the ball this summer, find someone that can teach you the technique. If it is physically hard to do, then you don’t have the technique yet. Working on simple basics will help the sub-170 average bowler the most. Getting the basics down will help prevent so many wild shots that lead to hard-to-make cluster spares, splits and poor pin count. Having a more consistent strike ball will help with spares too. I suggest investing in a plastic ball for shooting at spares.
   

Bowlers in the 170-190 range may need to work on spares the most in order to raise the old book average next year. Bowlers in this average range are starting to throw more strikes. There is nothing more fun than throwing strikes, so that is what gets practiced the most. Often they need to be working on making more spares. Each spare missed costs the bowler 10 pins. So if you are in this average range and you are missing more than 2 easy spares in a 3 game set, then you need to work on your spares. Spares are often taken for granted because they seem simple. If they are so simple why do we miss them? I suggest learning how to throw your strike ball straight or use a plastic ball for shooting at spares. This will take the lane condition out of the game. Stop hooking the ball at opposite side spares. If you are right handed for example, and you are hooking the lane to make the 7 pin, then stop it now! If you have any hopes of traveling around and bowling tournaments one day, you will die if you are hooking the ball at your left side spares. That’s because on some lane conditions, the ball will hook a bunch and on others hardly at all. On some lane conditions, it may do both.

    If you fall into the tournament bowler category, you may have to look a little deeper at yourself to determine what you need to learn in order to excel. The most common problems I see with tournament bowlers are things like: (#1) Not being able to read lane conditions or the ball itself. (#2) Not being able to keep up with lane changes. (#3) Not understanding the importance of breakpoints and how to use them. (#4) Not having enough versatility in their game. This last one is a biggie and very broad. It includes being able to hook it or throw it straight, changing the axis rotation, tilting at will, and being able to throw it harder or softer with less or more revs. I could go on and on. Today’s game when played at a high level of competition requires a lot of knowledge and the skill to do many different things.

    A good tournament bowler pays attention to the smallest things so he can be ready to make small adjustments to keep the strikes coming. When you are driving your car you see it veer to one side or the other, you slightly steer a correction to keep it centered in the road. Keeping with the car analogy, many tournament bowlers wait until the car runs off of the road before they try to steer back to center.

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Posted on Sat, Jan 13, 2007
Working Through a Slump
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

          Every bowler at every level goes through a slump now and then. A slump is not just having a bad night at the lanes but several bad nights. It is not unusual to hear a bowler say that he has been in a slump for several weeks or even months.

            Slumps are not bugs you catch like the common cold but they can infect your game without warning. You can’t feel the slump coming on it just happens. All of the sudden you just start bowling badly and your not sure why.

There is always a reason however. Something has changed. In order to work your way through the slump you have to find what has changed. First we have to analyze what part of your game has changed. I suggest you go through a quick check list.

# 1 Are you hitting your targets? Notice I said targets and not target. If you read my previous 3 part series on using your breakpoint as part of your targeting system you will know why. If you missed them then read them on my website.  If you don’t know the answer to question #1 then you may have solved your problem already. Often people don’t know if they hit their targets because they have stopped looking at them. You may start out looking at your target but somewhere along the approach you start looking somewhere else. Sometimes people look up at the pins too soon or they look down near the foul line as they deliver the ball. Looking down near the foul line is fine if that is your normal target, but if you are supposed to be looking at the 3^rd arrow and you look down as you deliver you ball you will loose accuracy. Accuracy at your breakpoint will suffer most and usually to the inside. If the answer to #1 is NO then there are many other possible reasons, most of which will be covered in the other questions.

# 2 Is your ball rotating the same way it always has? I am a strong advocate of always watching your ball rotate as it travels down the lane. If you are in the habit of watching your ball rotate then you will know if your rotation has changed. Is your axis tilt and rev rate the same?  If your ball is not rotating the same then there may be several causes. The cause could be a release problem, ball fit or timing issue. The most common release problems are turning the ball too early or trying to put too much “stuff” on the ball. If it is a struggle for you to put revs on the ball then stop trying. The reason you are not successful is because you are not doing it right. I have seen lots of bowlers bowl badly because they have seen better bowlers turn the ball more revs or hook the ball a lot,  so they try to incorporate that into their game. High revs are more technique than brute strength. There is an article on my website that shows how to release the ball if you’re after more revs or want to stop turning the ball early. If your ball seems to be rotating the same but just not have as much power as it used to, then have the pro shop clean it. You would not believe how much reaction your ball looses over a 100 game period if you don’t take care of it.

A common problem for PBA quality bowlers is squeezing the ball. The reason I say PBA quality is because lower average bowlers always squeeze the ball. If you are a PBA quality bowler then check to see if you are squeezing.

# 3 Are you stable at the foul line? If you are normally well balanced at the foul line are you now falling off of your shot? If so then check your slide step. Many times a bowler will simply stop stepping in on that last step. You have to step in so your slide foot ends up in the center of your body in order to be balanced at the line. Also make sure that you are not turning your slide foot sideways at the line. Some people just get in the habit of turning their slide foot toe in. Some do it because they are forcing the ball too much. Both are bad. If you are stepping in and sliding ok but still falling off then check your timing. If your timing is the culprit then most likely your timing is too early. That means the ball is getting to the foul line too soon. Try taking a shorter first step or speeding up your footwork a little or pushing your ball away a little later. Early timing will often cause you to pull the ball inside your target. Sometimes it’s a good idea to just move up or back on the approach a foot in order to give our bodies a new cadence.

#4 Have your changed your swing plane? This simply means you may be pushing the ball away in a different direction than normal. Everyone has a different shape to their swing path so it’s not as simple as just saying push the ball straight out in front of your shoulder during your push-away. Experiment a little. Try pushing a ball more toward the 7 pin for a few shots and see what your ball does. Then try pushing the ball toward the 10 pin for a few shots. You can learn a lot by doing this. You only have to push the ball a little in ether direction for it to make a big difference in your swing. You may find that on some of your shots you have been pushing the ball one way or the other not meaning to.

#5 Is your foot work consistent? Bowl an entire game using the same line and make note of what board you slide on each time. Often bowlers over time will develop sloppy feet and start drifting different amounts.

#6 Are you trying too hard? A very common problem is bowlers will start throwing the ball harder and trying to force the ball to hit their target. The worse they bowl the harder they throw. Try just letting the ball flow. Did you ever notice that sometimes during league practice you can’t miss the pocket but as soon as they start counting the score you can’t hit the pocket to save your life? That’s because during practice you were not really trying. You were just letting the ball flow. As soon as it counts you start trying to “place” the ball and make sure you throw it well.. Just let it flow!

#7 Is your push away getting lazy. Sometimes bowlers will get a little lazy with their push away. This will shorten the swing cycle and tend to make the bowler have early timing.

#8 Are you letting it fall? Make sure you are letting the ball fall freely from the push away. The more pressure we have on us the more we tend to hold the ball back. We would be better served to just let the ball flow and not try to control it.

#9 Are you staying in the ball too long. This goes along with squeezing the ball. Bowlers sometimes get in the habit if staying in the ball too long. This creeps up on them and they don’t realize it. This will cause you to loose accuracy and have an under-over ball reaction.

#10 Are you missing more spares? If so check the fit on your spare ball if you have one. Bowlers often will let the fit get bad on the spare ball and just live with it. It is costing them spares in many cases. Are you trying to throw too hard at spares? Often bowlers will get carried away with ball speed on their spares and start missing them. Again just let the ball flow and you will be more accurate.

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Posted on Fri, Dec 8, 2006
A Timing Tune-Up
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

A bowler’s timing is the relationship between the ball swinging at the end of your arm and the rest of your body.  A bowling ball that is swinging at the end of your arm has a lot of power. It has the power to twist your body all around if it’s not in sync with the rest of your body. Your body of course being much heavier than the ball,  also has the power to change the intended path of the ball, even if we don’t engage our muscles.

This article is basically about how to adjust your timing if you are just off a little. If your timing is not even in the same zip code as the rest of your body then these little tips will not help much. If your timing is off that much then you need a complete overhaul not a little tune up.

The most common thing I hear bowlers tell other bowlers is “Slow down”!  That one term seems to be the end all-fix all approach from our teammates. Well, the bowler could be walking too fast or too slow, but whatever pace the bowler’s body has chosen, it’s hard to change.

If you are bowling league and you are walking a little too fast it’s really hard to just slow down with any consistency. You may throw a shot or two at the slower pace, but your body will try and go right back where it was comfortable on the next shot. The same is true if you are walking too slowly.

Walking too fast or too slow can of course throw your timing off. A quick fix to try is to just change the length of your first step. If you think you are walking too slow then just try taking a shorter first step. This will have the same effect on your timing as walking faster. Taking a shorter first step completes your foot work a little sooner without you actually walking faster. You would use this if you think the ball is getting to the foul line a little too early. If the ball is getting to the foul line too soon it will feel like the ball is actually getting there before your sliding foot. In most cases it’s not, but it just has to get there sooner than normal to feel that way. This is called early timing. Some symptoms of early timing would be pulling the ball inside your target and a loss of revs. Keep in mind that this is not the only reason a bowler pulls the ball or loses revs, it’s just one of them.

Walking too fast has the opposite effect on your timing. If you walk too fast then you will beat your ball to the foul line by a large margin. This can cause you to throw the ball outside of your target. This is caused by your body feeling that the ball is a little behind, so it tries to make up for it by forcing the ball forward. This puts an outside torque in your upper body that makes you throw the ball to the outside.

Instead of trying to slow your feet down, try taking a little bigger first step the next time you practice. Sometimes that will get your timing back close but it’s not as good of a fix as taking a shorter first step for bowlers walking too slowly. Your brain will know that it is closer to the foul line after the first step and slow the steps a little in order to keep you from fouling. You can also try moving up on the approach about 8 inches in your stance. This is often a better fix and will usually slow your feet nicely and sometimes that’s just the trick to get your timing back on track.

It has been my experience that bowlers tend to lengthen their first step over time; especially those that take 5 steps. This slowly but surely gives the bowler early timing and is often the cause of pulled shots. The cure is of course to just take a smaller first step.

Believe me you can’t feel the length of your first step, so if you decide to cut it in half you will actually only shorten it a few inches. Your muscle memory will try to put the step back where it was each time so you will have to remind yourself to change the first step before each shot. If you have to, in practice look down and actually watch yourself take the first step then look up at your target. That way you can actually see if your first step is too long. 

If you don’t feel comfortable looking down at your feet for your first step, have a friend help out. Put a piece of tape on the approach where you wish your first step to go. If your friend sees you miss the tape he needs to say “stop” and you should stop and start over. That’s the quickest way to reprogram your muscles to do what you wish.  After a while your muscle memory will get reprogrammed and you will not have to think about it anymore. 

Another common timing problem comes from not letting the ball fall freely in the push-away. This can cause you to shorten your swing cycle which in turn causes early timing. The more pressure on the bowler to throw a good shot the more likely this is to happen. I covered this in detail in a previous article called “Just let it fall”. The remedy is of course to just let the ball fall freely immediately after the push-away.

The next most common reason for bad timing is not waiting on the ball in the back-swing. The bowler gets in a hurry to throw the ball so they cut the back-swing short, not allowing the ball to reach the peak of the back-swing. This one can have an effect that is a little unpredictable on your timing. Cutting off the back-swing has the effect of shortening the swing cycle which would give you early timing. But the added muscle of stopping the ball short and forcing it forward can sometimes offset the early timing effects by forcing the shoulders open more. Usually this will just cause an inconsistent performance.

Make sure you try out these “tune ups”  in practice so you can get a feel for how they will affect your game

Bowl great!
            Ron Clifton

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Posted on Sun, Nov 12, 2006
The Bowler's Release
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

The bowler’s release is the “grand finale” of the approach. You can do everything with the precision, timing, and grace of a ballet dancer and have it all botched by a poor release. Just like the rest of the approach, there is no one best way to release a ball.

In fact, I believe in learning to release the ball many different ways to match up with the lane condition. One of my specialties as a bowling coach is to teach bowlers different releases to meet the demands of PBA or megabuck tournament oil patterns.  A wide variety of releases should only be learned after you have perfected a very good basic release.

The best basic release in my opinion is the one being used by many of the top players on the pro tour. This is demonstrated well by Chris Barnes. If you ever watch Mr. Barnes bowl, you will see that he has a very effective ball with plenty of revs. He does this with very little effort or force. This allows him to repeat shots and have a very predictable ball reaction. I could never stress enough how important a predictable ball reaction is.

Easier said than done? Yes of course. Most worthwhile things are. Can anyone learn to do it? No, I won’t kid you about that; but the closer you get, the better, if your goal is to be a better bowler. I know you want to be a better bowler or you wouldn’t be reading this.

Do you have to be super strong? No, but you do need some strength in the wrist. Not everyone has that. Some people do and just don’t know it. Those people just have a “lazy” wrist.  Others can be helped some by using a wrist brace. You can never do the release exactly right using the wrist braces that I have seen, but again, the closer the better.

To test your wrist hold your ball down by your side with your palm facing forward and your wrist relaxed. Then cup your wrist forward and count to 10 slowly. If you can hold your wrist cupped that long then your wrist is strong enough. If you can’t then I suggest you consider a lighter ball if you goal is to have a good strong release. Throwing a weight that your wrist can support is much more important than throwing a heavy ball.

The first step in learning this release is at the very beginning, with your grip on the ball. To have a good, clean, consistent release, it’s imperative that you don’t squeeze the ball in your stance. The holes in the ball are called “gripping holes” and that is the worst thing we could have ever called them. You need to hold the ball like you are holding a baby bird or an egg in your hand. If your ball fits properly you should not have to squeeze the ball anywhere in the swing or during the release. If the ball wants to slide off of your thumb, unless you squeeze it, then add tape or Ron C’s Magic Carpet to the hole to snug it up.  If your thumb wants to slide out no matter how tight you make your thumb, then have your pro shop check your pitches. You may have too much reverse pitch or some other improper fit. Remember, if you squeeze the ball, you have to subconsciously tell yourself to let go. There is no way you are going to be able to do that the same every time. The more pressure on you to make a good shot the more likely you are going to hang on to the ball too long.

Once you have your grip sorted out it’s time to get started. Start with your hand under the ball in your stance and have your wrist cocked to the left (right handed). Spread your index finger about 1 ½ inches. With your wrist cocked, your index finger should be pointed almost straight ahead toward the pins. This should be a moderate amount of cock in your wrist so even those with little flexibility should be able to do it.

Cup your wrist a little as this will help get the weight off of your thumb at the bottom of the swing and help you keep your wrist firm. In picture "A" above you can see with the wrist bent back that part of the weight of the ball will be resting on the base of the thumb. In picture "B" you can see that the weight can be carried in the fingers. With a cupped wrist and a proper fitting ball the ball will hang onto your hand until the release. There is no need to squeeze the ball. 

During the push-away and the-ball-falling-into-the-swing, keep your wrist cocked and cupped. When the ball reaches the bottom of the swing after the push-away, your wrist should still be cocked toward the inside and your index finger should be pointing straight down. You can use the index finger to help support the weight of the ball and to take some pressure off your cupped wrist.  

No matter what you do with the ball at the top of your swing, make sure that you get your hand back in this same position before the bottom of the swing. For most people, it’s best if they just maintain this cocked, cupped and index finger down position from the push-away to just before the time to release the ball. As the ball nears the bottom of the swing, (coming down from the back swing) you start un-cocking and un-cupping your wrist and slightly turning the ball until the ball leaves your hand. I know this sounds complicated, but stay with me. This motion should start no sooner than when the ball passes your hip. The very best players with the strong wrist can wait until the ball nears the heel of their slide foot. The strength of your wrist and forearm will determine how late you can start the motion.  Most people start turning the ball way too soon and that causes them to lose revs. I am not saying that you can’t bowl great without being a high rev player, but I see a lot of players that are trying to get more revs by lifting the ball with the fingers past the toe. This causes an inconsistent ball reaction on anything but the easiest of lane conditions.  
            The proper motion is often described as turning a door knob and indeed that is not too far from the truth. If you walk up to a door knob with your palm up, your wrist cocked and cupped and turn the knob you will be close to the right motion. The only difference is your arm is not traveling forward at the same time. You don’t have to turn the ball much more than it takes to open the door ether, unless you need more axis rotation.  A lot of people think they have to turn the ball a lot to get the revs on it. That’s not the case at all. Another description of the motion is to take a football and lay it in the palm of your hand. Cup and cock your wrist and put the seams of the football under your fingers. Throw the football underhanded and make it spiral toward the catcher. The only bad thing about using the football is the release will happen past the toe, but it may help train your hand.

    The next step is to make sure you are ready to release the ball at the right time. This is called release timing. You have to time your arm swing and foot work so you are able to clear the ball by the end of your sliding foot’s toe. Often this will just mean that you have to be willing to let go of the ball much sooner than you think. Most people that have less than ideal releases stay in the ball too long. If you don’t squeeze the ball, it will be much easier to learn an early release. At first, it doesn’t feel natural at all for us to release the ball by the ankle. We want to “throw” the ball within our vision.  In all sports (except bowling) involving a ball that is thrown, the release takes place out in front of us where we can see it. In bowling, the best release is completed by the end of our noses. This takes some getting used to and a bit of trust. If you stay in the ball much past your toe, then you take a chance on altering the ball’s path. A ball released by the ankle is a little less fussy about timing and will stay on course.

  The only real muscle involved in this release is keeping your wrist cupped until its time to unwind it. The beauty of the release is that you can generate a good amount of revs without even trying. The revs come from just having your hand in the right position at the right time and teaching your wrist when to un-cock and un-cup and turn slightly. We don’t have to use much muscle because we are making use of the kinetic energy already built into our arm swing.  

Bowl great!

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Posted on Sun, Oct 01, 2006
Breakpoints and Drawing Lines on the Lane (Part 3)
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

   This is the last of a three part series about how to find your breakpoint on the lane and how to use it as part of your targeting system. Part One discussed how to find your breakpoint and how to train your eyes where to look in order to pick up where your break point should be. In Part Two we learned to pick a spot at our breakpoint and draw a line back through our target, continuing back to where we are going to lay the ball down at the foul line. Part Two also discussed some of the reasons why I think this type of targeting system is so important.

    It takes two points to make a line. That is why we use the breakpoint as one point and a target somewhere much closer to us as the other point. If you only consider one point, say the 3^rd arrow, then that point can be crossed in any direction. With today’s lane men using the oil pattern to manage scores up or down, the path your ball takes through the oil can make a huge difference. Some people may be tempted to just go ahead and look at the breakpoint as their one and only target. If you are bowling on a typical league shot where you have a lot of oil between the 10-boards, and your only concern is that you hit the 7-board at the break point, you could get into trouble. Let’s say you throw one ball that crosses the arrows at the 12-board and one ball that crosses the arrows at the 9-board and both balls nail the 7-board at the breakpoint. Those two balls will have completely different reactions. The ball that crossed at the 12-board traveled through deeper oil for a longer period of time. The ball that crossed at the 9-board got out of the deep oil much sooner and hooked much more. The problem is: if you were only targeting the 7-board at the break point, you may never know this information. You will just think that you can’t get a consistent reaction.

    In Part Three, I will mostly focus on the ball from the breakpoint to the head pin. This is the most critical part of the lane when it comes to throwing strikes.

    We need to carefully watch our ball roll all the way down the lane, but we really need to pay attention to the ball during the last 20 feet of travel: from the breakpoint to the head pin. On a freshly stripped and oiled lane, this is the point on the lane where the ball is no longer skidding through the lane oil and is rolling on a dry surface. How our ball reacts to that surface will determine our strike percentage. Here are a few things to look for: 

    If you throw a hook ball, then you apply axis rotation (side turn) to the ball when you release it; that’s what makes it hook. Depending on many factors, your ball will maintain or give up a little axis rotation as it easily skids through the first 40 feet of a freshly oiled lane. I believe that to have a consistently high strike percentage, your ball must give up a good amount of axis rotation between the breakpoint and the head pin. This can be done a little at a time as the ball approaches the head pin or nearly all at once just before it hits. Many of today’s balls are so strong, they get to the breakpoint and refuse to give up any axis rotation. In other words, the ball wants to just keep hooking and hooking all the way through the pins. This looks great from the settee area but it will not produce the most strikes. A ball that refuses to give up enough axis rotation will be hard to control and will tend to cut through the pins leaving too many 4-pins, 9-pins and 8-pins. I call this giving up of axis rotation “burning up”. To make an analogy, look at your car; it has a built-in safety feature called caster. If you turn your wheels to the left (like the side turn or axis rotation on your ball) and let go of the steering wheel, your wheels start turning back straight on their own. Your car, just like your bowling ball, would be harder to control if you let go of the wheel and the car just kept turning sharply.

    We need to watch our ball closely that last 20 feet to see that it gives up the right amount of axis rotation. If the ball is too strong on the back end, we need to change to a weaker ball or a weaker hand position. If the ball is still too strong on the back end, then you may need to play deeper and cover more boards to make the ball burn up more.

    If the ball burns up too much it may fail to turn the corner or hit the pins too weakly leaving 10-pins. Going back to the car analogy, it’s like we are making a sharp turn but let go of the steering wheel too soon. The wheels straighten up too soon and we don’t make the turn.

    A ball that maintains its axis rotation, but fails to make the turn is most likely skidding; the ball has enough axis rotation to turn the corner, but can’t get enough friction with the lane surface. Going back to the car, it would be like trying to make a sharp turn on an icy road. You can turn the front wheels to the left all you want but the car will not make the turn. It will just keep skidding straight.  It is very hard for some people to tell the difference between a ball that fails to hook because it is skidding and a ball that is burning up too much. This is especially hard for people that have a lot of axis tilt. If the ball fails to turn the corner due to skidding, then you need to slow it down, scuff the ball, go to a stronger hand position, change your line, or switch to a stronger ball.

    Every time a ball is thrown, it will track some oil into the breakpoint area all the way through the pin deck. After a few games, you may start to notice your ball is not hooking as strongly or tends to wiggle the last 20 feet; this is called carry down. If you are carefully watching your ball roll the last 20 feet, you will pick up on this and start adjusting sooner. Bowlers who don’t pay close attention to their balls at the breakpoint will waste several shots before they start to understand what is happening. If you see the ball start to wiggle and you start leaving 10-pins then the ball is hitting skinny streaks of oil caused by today’s high flare balls. If you see that start to happen, then you need to adjust your line slightly to see if you can go around the wiggle spot.

    Admittedly, some of this is for the advanced bowler and I am only scratching the surface when it comes to ball reaction. But even if this is over your head at this stage of your game, I suggest you save these coaching tips and reread them as your game advances.

Bowl great!

I can be contacted through email at rclifton@triad.rr.com

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Posted on Thurs, Sept 07, 2006
Breakpoints and Drawing Lines on the Lane (Part 2)
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

    When I say breakpoint, I am NOT talking about the moment you left just one too many 10-pins and decided to throw all your balls in the river. I am talking about a spot down the lane where the ball starts to hook toward the head pin. If you followed last month's coaching tip on how to find your breakpoint, you are ready to learn how to use it. Keep in mind that this tip is mostly for bowlers that hook the ball.
    First of all, as with everything in bowling, there is no one system that works for everyone on every lane condition; but you will find that on most lane conditions, your best carry percentage will place your breakpoint between the 5 and 8-boards, 40 feet or so down the lane. This will give you a good angle of attack on the pocket for your best carry percentage. This also puts the ball outside the river of oil that runs down most house oil patterns between the two 10-boards. It’s very important to have your breakpoint outside that deep oil. A lot of the 10-pins I see left in league come from the bowler not getting the ball outside the 9-board at the breakpoint. The ball looks great to the bowler. He hit his mark and threw the ball well, but there stands the 10-pin. This happened because the ball hit the 9,10, or 11-board at the breakpoint and never had a chance to grip the lane well enough or have enough angle to carry. Most bowlers do not notice where their ball is at the breakpoint, so they just feel like they got robbed.
    Now that we have learned to watch our ball at the breakpoint, how do we use it in a targeting system? First of all, decide what part of the lane you are going to play around the arrows. This will be dictated by the oil pattern on the lane and how much it is hooking, but let’s say we want to cross the lane at the 3^rd arrow.

Walk up to the foul line and look at the 7-board down the lane where your breakpoint lies. Then draw an imaginary line from that 7-board back through the 3^rd arrow to your bowling shoulder. We now have a line to throw the ball down. You can target with your eyes anywhere along that line, but for most people it’s easier to just look at the 3^rd arrow. We need to make sure that when we deliver the ball we are facing our breakpoint so the ball will travel along our imaginary line. Because our balls go straight once we release them until they get to the breakpoint, we don’t have to try and make the ball follow our line, it just will. The idea of course, is to throw the ball, crossing the 3^rd arrow and continuing to the 7-board at the breakpoint before hooking to the pocket. Now don’t expect to actually nail the 7-board at the breakpoint every time. How accurate you are at the breakpoint will depend on the level of your game. The best pros on tour can hit a breakpoint about 2-boards wide, while the best amateurs will be closer to 3-boards wide. The goal for a good league bowler should be about 4-boards.  

    One of the most important things about having a line to throw down is to know when we really didn’t throw a good shot, even if the ball still went into the pocket. On the first day of geometry class, they told you it takes two points to make a line. Using just the 3^rd arrow as the only target is not good enough because that is a single point on the lane. You can cross that point in any direction. That means you could hit the 3^rd arrow, but only make it to the 10-board at the breakpoint instead of in the area of the 7-board. On a league shot, that ball may still go into the pocket; heck it may even strike, but often it will be a 9-count. On a flatter oil pattern like they use on the pro tour or at one of the megabucks tournaments, the shot will go through the nose or even cross over. Knowing and watching your breakpoint can keep you honest, even on the easiest of lane conditions. If you are paying attention, you will know if you made a good shot or if the lane man got the strike for you.  

    This is how we use our breakpoint as part of a targeting system. So when you hear me say “are you hitting both targets”, you will know what I mean. You will have to make adjustments depending on the lane condition and know what to do if you make your breakpoint and the ball fails to go to the pocket. Using the breakpoint, we can shorten the lane to about 20 feet. That's because we only have to worry about what the ball does between the breakpoint and the pocket. We need to pay very close attention to the ball and how it is rolling the last 20 feet of the lane. I will discuss that next month in Part 3 of “Breakpoints and Drawing Lines on the Lane”. 

Bowl great!
Ron Clifton

I can be contacted through email at rclifton@triad.rr.com

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Posted on Fri, Jul 07, 2006
Speed Control Part 2.....How to throw the ball faster
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

     Last month I talked about how to throw the ball slower. This month I am going to talk about how to throw the ball faster. There are times when we need more ball speed to overcome a drying lane condition, or to just make the ball in our hand match up better to the lane condition. There are basically 3 levels of increased ball speed.  The first is a situation where we need just a little more ball speed. Maybe you notice that you have depleted enough oil on the lane that the ball is starting to hook a little too early or that the ball is starting to roll out on you.  In this situation you may decide that you need just a little more ball speed.  At this first level we are not trying to break the sound barrier but just trying  to make a minor adjustment. In that case most people can just hold the ball 3 or 4 inches higher in the stance. I always suggest that most people try holding the ball about waist high for there normal ball speed. That gives you somewhere to go if you need to amp it up a little.  When you hold the ball higher you will get a boost of speed from the help of gravity. Gravity is a very powerful force and raising a  bowling ball just a few inches higher in the stance will in turn make your back swing a few inches taller, which will add the extra speed you need.  It is best to always use more gravity over more muscle because gravity is the most constant force on the planet. That means that a faster shot that was thrown by using gravity, is more repeatable than a shot where we just used more muscle to propel the ball down the lane.  

     The second level of increased ball speed is more than just a minor adjustment to get the ball to skid a few more inches. This next level of speed may be needed to overcome a much dryer lane condition.  If we need to amp it up a couple MPH, then we need to hold the ball even higher in the stance. Try holding the ball anywhere from 6 to 12 inches higher. This will change your swing cycle, so you most likely will need to move back on the approach, by about the same amount that you increased your ball height.  This will stretch out your steps and make them a little quicker, to better suit your new arm swing. This helps you keep good timing and is much easer than actually telling yourself to walk faster or slower.  Try holding the ball at different heights and standing in different places on the approach to see how much speed you can generate without loosing control.  Try to only use the added speed of gravity and not additional muscle in your swing.  

     The third and final level of increased ball speed is a big one. This is a last resort move that we make if the lanes are way to dry for us to overcome with conventional methods. At this speed level, we will need to apply some muscle. But we need to apply it the right way and at the right time. We need to apply the muscle in a manor that compliments  and works with gravity. This will make best use of our muscle power and have the least adverse effects on our approach and accuracy. We still use the higher ball position and move back on the approach that we used in level two. This time though we are going to do the big no no. We are going to muscle the ball down, AFTER the peak of the back swing. This is a critical point and a big mistake that a lot of people make when they try to throw the ball harder. We need to wait on the ball to reach it's peak in the back swing and then start to fall on it's own. Then and only then, do we apply a downward pressure on the ball and increase that pressure gradually until the ball nears the bottom of the swing. 

       Remember that one of Newton's laws of motion in physics is "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". This equal and opposite reaction becomes torque in the upper part of your body that will tend to open your shoulder more as you force the ball forward. We minimize this by waiting on the ball to start falling and gradually increase the pressure to accelerate the ball. This is using the laws of physics to our best  advantage.  When you throw the ball at this kind of speed, you will need to make sure you have a quick enough approach to keep your timing in line. Since we are forcing the ball after the peak of the back swing, the ball can start to out run us to the foul line. This will give us early finish timing and cause us pull the ball inside of our target and or make us have a weak release.  It is a good idea to push strongly with the right  leg (right handed)  into your slide as you complete your next to last step. This added approach speed will also add some speed to the ball. If you find that even with your increased speed, the ball still hooks off  the lane, then I suggest that you open your wrist some to take some revs off of the ball. This is especially important for high rev players. If they don't open the wrist some, then they add as many revs to the ball as they do speed and the ball hooks just as much as before.

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Posted on Tues, Aug 01, 2006
Breakpoints and Drawing Lines on the Lane (Part 1)
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

    When I say breakpoint, I am not talking about the moment you left just one too many 10-pins and decided throw all your balls in the river. I am talking about a spot down the lane where the ball starts to hook toward the head pin. If you tend to throw the ball pretty straight or maybe only hook it 4 or 5-boards, this will not matter as much to you; but if you hook the ball more, then you need to learn about breakpoints. 

    Learning how to use your breakpoint can help you in many ways. It can help you play the lane in a way that produces the most strikes. It can tell you if it's the lane condition that is keeping you from getting strikes or if you are actually throwing the ball badly. This last point in many ways is the most important: I have seen  many bowlers complain because they are not getting strikes; yet they are missing their breakpoint by a zip code. 

    Using your breakpoint as part of your target line can simplify the game greatly. Using this method, we can shorten a 60 foot lane to only 20 feet. That's because our break point is going to be 40 to 45 feet down the lane in most cases. If you learned to bowl before the advent of reactive resin hook monster balls, then maybe you have never even heard of using your breakpoint as part of a targeting system. When Mark Roth was setting the pro tour on fire in the 1970's, his plastic yellow dot ball made a long sweeping arc toward the pocket. The shape of today's ball paths look much different. Today's balls go pretty much straight for a long distance, then turn sharply toward the pocket. Even balls and drillings that are called "arching"  layouts still fit into this category. This is mostly due to the slickness of today's oil and to the design of today's balls. 

    The shape of the ball path today looks like a long straight line about 40 feet in length with a sharp turn toward the head pin. This sharp turn is called the breakpoint. The breakpoint is not actually a single point on the lane, but we treat it as such. Some balls indeed can go across the lane passing over the 4th arrow and out to the 7-board, 42 feet down the lane and just turn sharply toward the head pin. Other balls thrown will travel the same path and maybe hit the 7-board at the 40 foot mark and actually reach an equilibrium, riding on that 7-board for 3 or 4 feet then turning toward the pocket. This riding of the 7 board for three feet will not likely be noticed by the naked eye unless you really look for it. I do a lot of coaching using a good digital video camera and I can zoom in on the ball like it was three feet in front of me.

In the photos below, I placed pieces of tape on the 5-board and the 9-board, 41.5 feet down the lane. The lower dark marks on these Brunswick lanes are preprinted and start at 40 feet and end at 43 feet. They are placed on the 10-board on each side. When you throw your ball, this is the area where the ball will hook. The area between the two pieces of tape represents the area of the lane where your breakpoint will have the best chance of striking.

    So how do you find your breakpoint? This is easier on some lanes than others. If you happen to be lucky enough to bowl on the "Brunswick Anvilane Pro Lane"  there are breakpoint markers printed right on the lane, 40 feet down, to help you out. This is the type of lane I coach on at Creekside Lanes. It makes it much easier for a student to see his breakpoint and catch on to the idea of how to use it. Some synthetic lanes have light and dark boards which can help you pick out where the ball is. The hardest lanes to work with are the synthetic ones where every board is the same color. If you bowl on wood lanes, there are usually light and dark boards down the lane that will help you judge where the ball is. To find your breakpoint, simply throw the ball from an inside shot and watch it go down the lane. Try to see where on the lane the ball stops going toward the gutter and starts to turn toward the head pin. The first thing you have to learn is to notice how far down the lane the ball is going. We don't have to know the actual number of feet, but we do need to learn how far to look down the lane to expect the ball to hook. You will find that your breakpoint distance will be about the same everywhere you bowl. Yes, if there is an extremely short or long oil pattern or if the oil has been mostly depleted, your distance will change a little, but in most cases your ball's breakpoint will be within two or three feet of the same distance from the foul line. 

    Now that you can see about how far down the lane the ball is going, try to notice what board the ball actually starts to hook on at the breakpoint. First, try to pick out the 10-board and the 5-board as reference points down the lane where your breakpoint lies. When you are first learning to use your breakpoint, try to learn to notice if you are keeping the ball between the 10-board and the 5-board each time. Practice watching your ball from the time it crosses your mark at the arrows all the way to the breakpoint, making note each time where the ball breaks . Notice I am not saying use your breakpoint as your target to look at. Use your normal target to look at, and simply follow the ball all the way down the lane with your eyes. Don't get in a hurry and look up toward your breakpoint trying to beat the ball down there; just watch the ball roll.

    Next month I will go into more detail about the breakpoint and how to use it in a targeting system and of course how to get more strikes. In the meantime, practice picking up your breakpoint as your ball rolls down the lane. 

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Posted on Fri, Jul 07, 2006
Speed Control Part 2.....How to throw the ball faster
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

     Last month I talked about how to throw the ball slower. This month I am going to talk about how to throw the ball faster. There are times when we need more ball speed to overcome a drying lane condition, or to just make the ball in our hand match up better to the lane condition. There are basically 3 levels of increased ball speed.  The first is a situation where we need just a little more ball speed. Maybe you notice that you have depleted enough oil on the lane that the ball is starting to hook a little too early or that the ball is starting to roll out on you.  In this situation you may decide that you need just a little more ball speed.  At this first level we are not trying to break the sound barrier but just trying  to make a minor adjustment. In that case most people can just hold the ball 3 or 4 inches higher in the stance. I always suggest that most people try holding the ball about waist high for there normal ball speed. That gives you somewhere to go if you need to amp it up a little.  When you hold the ball higher you will get a boost of speed from the help of gravity. Gravity is a very powerful force and raising a  bowling ball just a few inches higher in the stance will in turn make your back swing a few inches taller, which will add the extra speed you need.  It is best to always use more gravity over more muscle because gravity is the most constant force on the planet. That means that a faster shot that was thrown by using gravity, is more repeatable than a shot where we just used more muscle to propel the ball down the lane.  

     The second level of increased ball speed is more than just a minor adjustment to get the ball to skid a few more inches. This next level of speed may be needed to overcome a much dryer lane condition.  If we need to amp it up a couple MPH, then we need to hold the ball even higher in the stance. Try holding the ball anywhere from 6 to 12 inches higher. This will change your swing cycle, so you most likely will need to move back on the approach, by about the same amount that you increased your ball height.  This will stretch out your steps and make them a little quicker, to better suit your new arm swing. This helps you keep good timing and is much easer than actually telling yourself to walk faster or slower.  Try holding the ball at different heights and standing in different places on the approach to see how much speed you can generate without loosing control.  Try to only use the added speed of gravity and not additional muscle in your swing.  

     The third and final level of increased ball speed is a big one. This is a last resort move that we make if the lanes are way to dry for us to overcome with conventional methods. At this speed level, we will need to apply some muscle. But we need to apply it the right way and at the right time. We need to apply the muscle in a manor that compliments  and works with gravity. This will make best use of our muscle power and have the least adverse effects on our approach and accuracy. We still use the higher ball position and move back on the approach that we used in level two. This time though we are going to do the big no no. We are going to muscle the ball down, AFTER the peak of the back swing. This is a critical point and a big mistake that a lot of people make when they try to throw the ball harder. We need to wait on the ball to reach it's peak in the back swing and then start to fall on it's own. Then and only then, do we apply a downward pressure on the ball and increase that pressure gradually until the ball nears the bottom of the swing. 

       Remember that one of Newton's laws of motion in physics is "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". This equal and opposite reaction becomes torque in the upper part of your body that will tend to open your shoulder more as you force the ball forward. We minimize this by waiting on the ball to start falling and gradually increase the pressure to accelerate the ball. This is using the laws of physics to our best  advantage.  When you throw the ball at this kind of speed, you will need to make sure you have a quick enough approach to keep your timing in line. Since we are forcing the ball after the peak of the back swing, the ball can start to out run us to the foul line. This will give us early finish timing and cause us pull the ball inside of our target and or make us have a weak release.  It is a good idea to push strongly with the right  leg (right handed)  into your slide as you complete your next to last step. This added approach speed will also add some speed to the ball. If you find that even with your increased speed, the ball still hooks off  the lane, then I suggest that you open your wrist some to take some revs off of the ball. This is especially important for high rev players. If they don't open the wrist some, then they add as many revs to the ball as they do speed and the ball hooks just as much as before.

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Posted on Sun, Jun 04, 2006
Speed Control Part 1.....How to throw the ball slower
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

     Ball speed is one of the most important factors in shooting high scores. Your ball speed must match up with the lane condition and the ball you are throwing at the time.  If the lanes are too slick for your ball speed, the ball will skid right past the break point. The break point is of course the spot on the lane where the ball needs to start griping the lane and start hooking toward the pocket. Think of the break point as the mouth of  a driveway that you need to turn your car into, and you are traveling on an icy road.  At the end of the driveway is a garage with a very narrow entrance that you must drive you car into. This garage entrance is the pocket to the pins that we need to hit in order to throw a strike.  If your ball speed is too high, just like your car is traveling too fast on the icy road, it can't make the turn at the break point and drive toward the pocket. 

     So if our ball speed is too high for the condition how do we slow it down? A lot depends on your bowling style. If you use a fairly free arm swing, adjusting ball speed is much easier. If you use a very muscled arm swing, where you tend to really pull the ball down from the top of the back swing, adjusting ball speed may be harder for you. As I have said many times, there is no one way to bowl.  But here are some things that I have found that work for most people. Number one, unless you already hold the ball very low in your stance, lower your ball. If you only need to slow your ball speed a small amount then  lower your ball two or three  inches. If you need to lower your ball speed a lot, then lower the ball 8 to 10 inches in your stance. It can also help to bend your knees a little.  

     The next thing is to move up on the approach about the same amount that you lowered the ball. When you lower the ball in order to throw it slower, you are changing your swing cycle, the amount of time it takes the ball to go from first motion to the release. Even though you are throwing the ball slower, the ball may complete the swing cycle quicker than before, because the ball is not traveling as far. I have found that for a lot of people moving up on the approach will keep them in time. Your brain knows that it is closer to the foul line and it will compress and slow the steps the correct amount. You will have to practice this and see how well it works for you. You may find that you have to move up a little more or less to keep your timing correct. If you really practice this you can change your ball speed in very small degrees. 

     Some lane conditions require us to only slow our speed a little, while a flooded condition my require us to cut our normal speed almost in half.  I suggest practicing your slowest ball speed often, if you are a bowler going out and competing at a high level.  Flooded lane conditions are very rare  and you will not be ready if you don't make throwing the ball slow part of your normal practice routine.  If you already hold the ball low in your stance or tend to force the ball a lot,  try just moving up on the approach a little. Try to think of your hand as a passenger on the ball just along for the ride and not a engine  that's pushing the ball forward. When you are trying to throw the ball really slow it's important that you not do a strong follow through. All you need is the momentum of your arm swing going through the ball. A strong follow through or an attempt to rev the ball more, will only result in more forward momentum and the ball will skid farther and be less controllable. A good way to practice slow ball speeds, is to throw a plastic ball if you have one, and try to make it hook more and more by throwing it slower and slower. 

     Next month I will cover throwing the ball with greater speed than normal. 

I can be contacted through email at rclifton@triad.rr.com  
Bowl Great!
Ron

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Posted on Sat, May 04, 2006
What Weight Ball? Could 14 LBS Be your "Sweet Weight"?
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

     How much should your ball weigh? The traditional thought is, if you are a big burly man you throw a 16 pound ball and if you are a smaller man you throw a 15 pounder.   If you are a lower average lady bowler then of course you throw a 10 or 12 pound ball. If you are a REAL bowling female, then you have to get up there with the men and throw 15 or even 16 pound rocks so you can knock those big heavy pins down. 

      Well times have changed and so has ball technology. Bowling balls are so good now at knocking down pins that you no longer have to choose the heaviest  ball you can pick up, in order to carry the pins. I am of course talking about the new high tech balls that you buy in your pro shop, not the house balls that the open bowlers play with.  Today's 14 pound balls can actually carry the pins better, for some people, than 15 and 16 pound balls. There are several pros on tour that have dropped down to 14 pound balls and I am sure there are more to come. Today's 15 and 16 lb balls actually "hit" too hard. They often don't deflect enough in their path through the pins. This lack of deflection causes lots of 9 pins, 4 pins, 8 pins and even 4-9 splits (right handed) on what looks like great pocket hits.  Contrary to what most people think, its not the sheer weight of the ball that knocks down the pins but a combination of forces, with the most important being the friction between the ball and the lane surface. This friction gives the ball a drive that is much stronger than the sheer inertia of a heavier ball. For instance if you oiled the lane all the way to the pins, where the ball could not get any traction with the lane, a 16 LB ball would bounce off of the head pin like a 10 LB ball on a normal lane condition. The 16 LB ball would have a hard time even carrying the 5 pin, must less the whole rack.

      For a lot of people, 14LB balls will be the "sweet weight" . The weight  that carries best. The weight that is easiest to control. The weight that is easiest on their bodies. 14LB balls do react differently than heaver balls. 14LB balls are easier to throw harder if you need to. They also hook more than heaver balls. The light weight allows them to change direction quicker. Just as a light weight sports car can change directions faster than a big heavy car. You will also throw the 14 with more revs with the same amount of effort. When you first make the switch to 14's you may start to leave more 10 pins. That's usually just because you are throwing the ball a little too hard. The ball is skidding a little past the ideal break point. All you have to do is slow it down a little and you will be stringing strikes.

     So should everyone go out and buy 14LB balls and throw the 16s in the river?  Well no of course not. The right weight ball depends on the bowler. A high speed hi rev player throwing 16LB equipment would most likely not be able to adjust to the lesser weight of the 14. That player would throw the 14 too fast and it would skid right through the breakpoint in most cases. But a player with medium speed and revs could in most cases adapt to the weight of a 14. I find that most people throw the 14LB balls a little harder at first, but then after they get used to the weight, the ball speed drops back closer to normal.  If you are a smaller person, with a body weight closer to 150 than 250, there is a side benefit to throwing a 14LB ball. With a 14LB ball being less of a percentage of your body weight, your timing becomes a little less critical. One of the things that can happen to us when our timing gets off, is the ball is out of sync with our bodies. Then the ball's inertia can literally pull us off line. The lighter ball will do that a little less. 

     Who should throw what weight? I think to decide that we need to look at the bowler, the style of play and the bowlers wrist strength. If you are big strong guy that muscles the ball a lot then you need to be throwing 15s or 16s. If you are an average guy with average speed and revs, then a 14 may be best for you. I believe that the vast majority of women should be throwing 14LBs or less. The first thing I check when trying to pick a ball weight is the persons wrist strength. I have them hold the ball down by their side with their wrist relaxed. Then I ask them to cup their wrist forward. They should be able to hold that position for a slow count to 10 or the ball is too heavy. This goes for men and women. I have seen a lot of men and women that could fire a 15 or even 16LB ball down the lane but can not pass my wrist test with them.  If you can't pass the wrist test, then you can't have a good strong release or much versatility in releases.  I know there are a lot of senior bowlers out there that would be much happier with a 14lb ball, but are struggling along with a 15 or 16 because they are afraid they would loose too much carry.  Fear no more. The ball technology is here today. Just visit your local pro shop.

I can be contacted through email at rclifton@triad.rr.com or through Creekside Lanes 336-771-9800.
 

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Posted on Sat, April 05, 2006
Next To Last Step Timing
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

     There have been many books written on how to throw a bowling ball. They all cover the subject of timing. Most, if not all, pretty much cover timing the same way. They say that bowling is based on a four step approach. That if you hold the ball around waist high. That you push the ball away from your body at the same time you take your first step and let the ball swing freely from the shoulder. The basic idea behind this is to counter balance the balls weight and motion with the opposite side of your body as you make your approach. These books go into great detail about  how your ball should be here, and your leg should be there, for each step. The problem is, this doesn't work for everyone. This system does not take into account that everyone's arms and legs are not the same length. Now it's obvious to everyone, that some people are taller than others, but the problem is not the height of the bowler but the ratio of the length of the arm vs the leg. Some people have long arms and short legs. Some have most of their height in their legs and short arms. With these people the "text book" way of doing things doesn't work out so well. If you have longer arms than legs, (ratio) you will have a longer swing cycle than someone  the same height but who's arms more closely match the length of their legs. The swing cycle is the amount of time it takes your ball to swing from first movement to the release. The longer your arm, the longer your swing cycle. So if your arms are longer than your legs, ratio wise, your legs will easily out run the swing cycle of your arm. If most of your bodies height is in your legs and you have shorter arms then you will have a shorter swing cycle. If these people try to do the "textbook" approach their timing will never work out right. The swing cycle of the arm will easily out run the natural pace of the legs.
It's a lot like putting tall tires on the right side of your car and two short tires on the
left side of your car and expect your car to roll straight and not pull to one side. There are other
factors that complicate this, other than the arm length to leg length ratio. Things like where you 
start your ball in the stance. What type of push away you have. How high your back swing is. Whether or not you force the ball in any direction.  What type of foot work you have. These all affect your swing cycle and hence your timing. I have most of my height in my legs. I can in some cases be 3 or 4inches taller than someone else and sit down beside them in a chair and they become taller than me. Try it, it's fun to see how people match up.
     The first thing you will notice when you visit a Tour stop and watch the best bowlers in the world, is that most of those guys forgot to read the book. Many of them take two or three steps before they move the ball. Their initial timing is nothing like the books say. You quickly find out when you study the game of bowling that there is no one way to do anything. There are some things that most of the best bowlers in the world have in common though. One is "next to last step timing". If you video tape the best bowlers you will see that most of them are near the top of their back swing when they compress on their next to last step. The guys that don't hook the ball a lot will be just a tic late at the top. Meaning that when they compress on the next 
to last step you would have time to say the word "FOOT" before the ball reaches the top. The players that hook the ball a lot will be later getting to the top of the swing. You would have time to say the word "Football" . Some are late enough that you could say it with a southern draw "Foootbaall". Yes there are even exceptions to this, but this will cover the majority of the best bowlers. 

     The best way to check your timing out is to have someone video tape you from the side as you bowl. Timing is a very complicated thing and can really affect your performance, but you can get yourself close by using this method. Try to work out your foot work and ball movement to meet at "next to last step". You can make your push away earlier or delay it to make your cycle work out right. If you have long arms and short legs its really hard to get your
timing to work out using only 4 steps. I suggest those bowlers try 5 steps and push the ball away at or near the same time you take your first step. You can also change the length of your first step to aid in getting your timing right. If you can't seem to work it out on your own, try visiting a professional coach, just make sure they understand that everyone is not built the same.

I can be contacted through email at rclifton@triad.rr.com or through Creekside Lanes 336-771-9800. 
Please email me if there are any tips you would like to see covered in the future

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Posted on Sat, Mar 04, 2006
Just Let It Fall
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

     Just let it fall! Easily said, harder to execute. I guess our whole lives we try to keep things FROM falling. We fight against gravity every day. That invisible force that holds us all firmly planted to the earth. But in bowling gravity can be our biggest asset. If I had to pick the one single thing that hurts the most bowlers that come to me for help, at every level, professional or amateur, it’s just that. They will not just let it fall. I am talking about the first couple feet of travel by the ball. Different bowlers have different ways of getting the ball into motion and that's just fine. But once the ball starts its downward motion you need to let it fall freely. It is a very natural tendency to hold the ball back. To slow it from falling at the speed of gravity. To make matters worse, the more pressure we have on us to make a good shot or if the lane condition will not allow us much room for error, we tend to slow the ball down even more. When the pressure is on, our brain tells us we want to be very precise in our shots. So we unconsciously hold the ball back or slow it down in the drop swing. That is the last thing we need to do. If anything we need to loosen up our arm swing when the pressure is on. Remember, there is nothing more precise than gravity. For those of you that tend to Pull the ball inside your target when the pressure is on, you are most likely a victim of this. When you hold the ball back, the total length of your swing shortens. Your ball does not go quite as high in the back swing and so the ball arrives at the line too soon. Making you have early timing and you throw the ball inside of your target.      
     I suggest people hold their balls about waist high and push slightly up and out so you will have a rounded motion at the end of your push away, this keeps the ball smooth. But however you start the ball in motion it is extremely important that you let the ball fall as fast as gravity will take it. Believe me, most of you don't. The benefits of letting the ball fall freely are:
     1. Increased ball speed without adding any muscle power. This is really great for many of the ladies. 
     2. Improved accuracy due to the fact that falling objects always fall in a straight line.
     3. More consistency in ball speed and arm swing timing because gravity pulls at the same rate every day 24 hours a day.
     4. Less of a tendency to throw the ball slower or pull the ball inside your target when the pressure is on, or the oil pattern is not allowing much area.
     5. You will have much less of a tendency to pull the ball behind your back. 
     6. I believe if you do this, you have much less of a chance of developing tendonitis in the forearm or elbow area. 
         Or if   you already have tendonitis, letting the ball fall at the speed of gravity will in most cases allow it to heal. 
                                                                                         

Let the ball fall freely from point A to point B. Most people have a tendency to hold the ball back here.  Special thanks to 2 time PBA regional champion and Storm staffer Todd Masingo
Just let it drop, pull down slightly if you have to	At this point the ball should feel weightless to your hand	Now just relax and let the ball flow up to the backswing

     So all we have to do is let the ball drop at the speed of gravity. How fast is that? Well it's thirty two feet per second squared. But you don't have to know that. Everyone that has tried this sees a positive change in their game right away. The problem is, unless you teach yourself what to look for, you can't tell if you hold the ball back or not. You can't feel it because it's so natural for you to do it. A simple test you can do to see if you are holding the ball back is to simply pull the ball down. When you push the ball away and it starts to drop then help the ball down by pulling it down into the swing. You will most likely see the ball fall much faster than before. But it's not so much because you are pulling it down because in most cases gravity will outrun your hand. Yes you can pull harder than gravity if you try and that's not a good idea ether. But I have found that most people that I ask to pull the ball down do not outrun gravity. They at best just keep up with it and that's the idea. The way I test myself to see if I am holding the ball back is to see if I can remove all the weight of the ball out of my hand on the way down. If I can make the ball feel weightless to my hand then my hand is falling at the same rate as the ball. Imagine there is a thumbtack between the ball and the palm of your hand. If you can keep the ball from pushing the thumbtack into your hand on the way down then your hand is falling at the speed of gravity. The only time I should feel the weight of the ball is very near the bottom of the swing. Keep in mind I am only talking about the first couple feet of ball travel from the pushaway. I am not talking about the back swing at all. I feel in most cases you should mostly just let the ball fall from the backswing too, but that is a whole different thing. 

Bowl Great!
Ron

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Posted on Wed, February 18, 2006
Finger Dancing
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

  In today's world of the average bowler bringing 8 balls just to bowl league, I think a very important part of the game is not being learned and practiced. This is the fine art of releases and hand positions. With different releases you can make a hook monster go straight or a very tame ball hook the lane.  But that is the extreme of what a bowler with a good hand can do. In this article I am going to talk more about how you can fine tune your ball reaction to increase control just by using different finger positions. This can greatly increase your carry percentage and give you easier spares to shoot at.  You have to try each finger position yourself and pay close attention to your ball reaction.
  

First let's look at the position of your index finger. That little guy can make a pretty big difference in your ball reaction.  I suggest you start with your index finger spread in a comfortable position, about half as far as you can spread it wide away from your middle finger.  Keep your little finger flat on the ball and tight against your ring finger. I call this our "base"  finger position and the one I think we should always start of with. Throw a few shots and get a good idea of your ball reaction. Notice not only how much the ball hooks but the shape of the hook.	This is our "base" finger position.
Now spread the index finger wider and throw it again. In most cases that will give you a stronger back end reaction. Sometimes that alone is enough to get the 10 pin out or make the ball "turn the corner" a little harder when you need it to. Just by moving this index finger in and out a half inch at the time you can fine tune your ball reaction a great deal.	Index spread wide. In this photo the little finger is curled.
Now try  pulling your index finger in closer to your middle finger but leave just a little space. This is less spread than our  "base" starting position. For most people it is best not to pull the finger all the way in tight against your middle finger, because the ball can feel a little unstable in your hand. So leave just a little space. This time when you throw the ball it will go longer down the lane with a less pronounced back end. You can use this when your line just starts to dry out or you just need to get the ball further down the lane before it hooks.	Both fingers are in. You may want to leave just a little more  space between your index and your middle than this picture shows. But if you can pull it in this tight and not have the ball feel unstable in your hand that's great.
Now let's look at the little finger. It can work in concert with the index finger to give you different ball reactions. With the index finger in the middle "base" position or a little wider and the little finger spread wide your ball will have a much weaker back end. If you watch the pro's on TV you will see them use this position a lot, if not most of the time. It causes the ball to have a back end reaction that diminishes as it gets closer to the head pin. In most cases you don't want the ball to just keep hooking and hooking. This can cause bad pin carry and cause the ball to be much harder to control.	Both fingers are spread. Most common position on the pro tour. Keep in mind though that those guys have lots of RPMs.

Next let's slide the index finger in and leave the little finger spread wide. This will give you more end over end roll and take a lot of hook off of the ball. This is good to use when the the lanes are hooking a bit much or you need to play a very direct down and in line. If you really need to get behind the ball then try also to roll the ball more with the little finger. Yes I know your little finger is not in a hole so how can you roll the ball with it? Well what I mean is, guide the ball with the little finger. Make your little finger go toward your target and feel your little finger come up the back of the ball.  If you have never tried it, you will be amazed how much you can change the roll on a ball just by rolling it more with the little finger  or your index finger. You can also squeeze ever so slightly with your ring finger in the hole and lead and roll the ball more with that finger than the middle finger to yet again change your roll and ball reaction. The same goes for your middle finger.

The little finger is wide and the index is in. This is a good way to do it if you need to throw the ball pretty straight. I shoot at my spares like this. Just by keeping my hand directly behind the ball (actually it feels like I am throwing a back up ball but I am not) and coming up the back of the ball with my little finger I can throw the ball almost dead straight. It helps if I make my little finger go  toward my target.

For our next trick let's try curling the little finger under and spread our index finger wide. To curl your little finger just bend it at the first joint so the ball will be next to the finger nail. This can be a little painful the first few times you try it. But most people don't have a problem with it after a while. Now when you roll your next ball it will tend to go longer down the lane but come back strongly on the back end.  Some people have a hard time with this one with pain in the hand or fingers. If that happens to you then don't keep doing it.

Little finger curled under and the index finger spread wide.

 Notice I have not said anything about changing your revs or changing your release in any way. Only changing your finger positions. These finger positions are for fine tuning your ball reaction to help it match up better with the lane and knock
down more pins. To be able to use these finger positions effectively, you must practice them and understand what they do for you. I will expand this in a later update so check back often.  I will include wrist positions and show step by step photos of how the best pros in the business throw their balls.
Any questions?  I can be contacted through email at rclifton@triad.rr.com

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Posted on Wed, January 4, 2006
High Planes Drifter - Part Two
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

Link to part 1

     Last month I discussed the importance of a consistent approach. Where your sliding foot ends up on the same board each time at the foul line. If some of you used my advice and checked your drift pattern, you may be having a hard time getting a consistent approach. If your approach tends to wander or you drift more than you would like here are some ways to fix it. 

     First you have to learn what your feet are doing on the way to the foul line. The best way to learn this is to have someone video tape you. This way you can see what each foot does at each step. When I do bowling clinics I always bring along a good video camera. It quickens the learning curve a great deal. Believe me, you can't feel what your feet are doing. They operate entirely on muscle memory. One way to see what your feet are doing is to look down at your feet as you make your approach. This seems hard but I have not had anyone fall on their head yet. Try it a few times without the ball and make your approach. Just look down at your feet and notice where each step goes. Chances are it's the same foot each time that's in error. After you do it a few times without your ball, try it with your ball. Just stand on the middle dot and look at a target like the 3rd arrow just to get your bearings. Then look down at your feet and force yourself to make your approach without looking up until the ball is delivered. Your peripheral vision will keep you from falling on your nose. Well it does for most people.  It will take a few deliveries for you to get used to looking at your feet, so don't give up too fast on being able to do it. If your left foot steps too far left each time then you will know it. It is a good idea to stop as soon as you see yourself take a wrong step and start over. You have to make your feet go where you want them to go, until they get the hang if it. A very common misstep is to not step in on your last step. If you don't step in toward the center of your body as you push into your slide you will end up off balance and to the left of where you should end up if you are right handed. I suggest you pick a dot at the foul line that you wish to end up on. As you approach the foul line looking at your feet, pick up that dot as you near it and slide to it. Don't be satisfied until you can nail that dot every time. Now believe me, as soon as you start looking at your target again your feet will go back to their old habits. You can train your feet to do anything you want, but it takes some time.

     Another little trick is to take a bright colored sponge with you to the lanes. One that is only
about one inch wide. Place that on the board you wish to slide on, just on the other side of the foul line. You can see the sponge in your peripheral vision and you can walk toward it, even if you are looking at your target. If you would like to learn to walk straight, which comes in very handy if you are playing the twig, just make your feet touch the same board with each step. Once again stand in the middle of the approach. Straddle the 20 board with your feet and make an approach looking down at it. With each step, force yourself to step in enough that you touch the edge of the 20 board each time. It's like walking the yellow line for the cops only you don't go to jail if you can't do it the first few times.  Bowler's that drift way to the left (right handed) can have a really hard time when they have to square up on the gutter. If you read my tip on playing the twig you will see why.  If you need to land your ball on the 3 board at the foul line and have the ball ride the 3 down the lane to the break point, you will be in big trouble if your sliding foot is ending up on 12. Your feet operate totally on muscle memory. They have to be trained how to do something different.  If I raised all the steps in your house a half inch you would fall up them for the first few days. Then your feet would learn they need to raise up just a little higher each time. Learning new foot work in bowling is the same  way.  It takes some time so don't give up. If you find that you can nail your foot work just fine without the ball in your hand but go off course when you actually throw the ball then that tells you something. It means you are working against your ball as it swings not with it. You need to check your swing timing and maybe even your swing plane.

Bowl Great!

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Posted on Wed, December 7, 2005
High Planes Drifter - Part One
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

     Just about everyone has their on style of approach. Most people drift toward the inside of the lane when they walk. Some bowlers have learned to do this on purpose, while others have just turned out that way. There are several reasons why some bowlers and coaches believe this inside drift is best. Some bowlers wander all over the place as they go to the line. Still others drift differently depending on what line they are playing. Whether or not I think drifting is a good or bad idea is a whole other article. Keep in mind that when I say drift, I mean the bowler does not walk in a straight line. You can walk caddy corner across the approach and still be walking in a straight line. The most important thing, whether you drift or walk straight. You must do it the same every time for the same shot line. If you start your approach standing on the 20 board with your slide foot, and end up on the 25 board at the foul line, then you need to end up on that same board every time. Playing the same line, you can't end up on 25 one shot, 27 on the next shot and 26 on the next. If you do, each of those shots will result in a different path to the pins. At the very least you are looking at some single pin leaves on balls that you thought should have been strikes. Yes you may be able to twist your body around and hit your target at the arrows while varying your approach 3 boards. But it is your accuracy at the break point that will really suffer. Granted on some of the easier, walled up league shots, you may get away with "spraying" the ball that much and still get to the pocket. On a strong wet - dry condition, where it is very wet in the middle and dry on the outside your carry will suffer greatly. If you ever bowl a megabucks tournament, or try any level of the PBA you will have very limited success if you end up on a different board each time. Bowling in those events, where the oil patterns are flatter, and accuracy is a must, you will be looking at wash-outs and big fours not strings of strikes. This variance in the drift pattern is often overlooked when players are having a hard time getting the ball to the pocket. Most better bowlers take great care to start their approach on exactly the same board each time. Some even down to the half board. They know they would not fare too well, if they started their approach on a different board every shot. But I have found that very few bowlers think about the other end of the approach. Ending up on a different board each time, is exactly the same as starting out on a different board each time. I can ask a player what board the started on and most of the time they can tell me. But if  I ask what board they ended up on most have no idea.
  

   So how do we know if we end up on a different board each time? It's easy, just look. Go up and throw a few shots. Make note of what board you started on and what board your sliding foot ended up on at the foul line. Do this with a line that crosses the 2nd arrow. Throw a whole game and write down what board you ended up on each time. Do this same test with 3 different types of shots. The first will be a normal 2nd arrow shot. The second should be a straight down and in shot over the 1st arrow. The third should be a deep inside shot with the ball hooking as many boards as you can. Write down your drift pattern for each type of shot. You need to know your drift pattern for planning a line anyway. If you find out you don't end up on the same board each time, then you've got some work to do. Just as bowlers have a pre-shot routine where they may wipe off their ball and maybe juggle their dry sack....they need to start a post-shot routine. While still standing at the foul line they need to make note of the break point the ball just hit, the board at the arrows the ball just crossed and what board their slide foot ended up on.
 

   Be sure to watch for part 2. Part 2 will give you some ideas on how to end up at the same spot each time and how to learn to walk straight if you wish. Also part 2 will show you how your drift pattern can make you miss your target as you move deeper chasing the oil.

Bowl Great!!
Ron

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Posted on Mon, November 7, 2005
Ok it's Match Play, What's Your Attitude Toward Your Opponent
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

    You have bowled your heart out. You have finely made match play. Now it is a little one on one each game. In the new format of the PBA it's get by this next guy or go home. Or maybe it is the big roll off for league. Your team must beat the challenging  team or no grand prize for you. Well 2nd place is not bad. BS! you want to WIN!  So how do you think about your opponent?  There are tons of things you can think about other than your opponent but for most people thoughts of your opponent will creep into your mind. Do you sit there as he bowls and think "Come on split" or " OK Big 4" I know a lot of people do that. The problem is, if you think that negatively about your opponents bowling then every lucky break he gets will really get under your skin. He will suddenly become the luckiest man on earth. "Did you see that? He went right through the nose and got a strike". The other problem with this attitude is it will start to mess up your game. After a few lucky breaks from him and you ring a 10 pin or two all of the sudden now you are the most unlucky man on earth. That my friend is a bad combination.  I suggest a totally different train of thought. Instead of thinking so negative about your opponent and trying to put hexes on him all the while trying to manage a fake smile. Get on his team! That's right I am saying root for your opponent. Now before you call the guys in the trucks with the pretty flashing lights to come take me away hear me out.

     I actually root for my opponent like he was my doubles partner. He gets a strike I jump up and slap his hand sure, but I mean I cheer for him.   He gets a lucky break  I feel like he is on my team and we needed that. In short I draw a positive energy from any good thing that happens to him. The best part is if he gets a bad break I know deep down inside he is not on my team so it  does not effect me in a negative way at all. Have you ever bowled on a team and all of the sudden it gets hot. You feel the positive energy from your teammates and you just get better and better? Well this is the same idea. I really believe in positive thoughts even when you are bowling poorly. I think they can help.  I know that negative thoughts can hurt your performance. I always wanted the people that I bowled against to bowl well. I just wanted to bowl better. Give it a shot.

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Posted on Mon, October 10, 2005
How to Hold the Ball for a Good Start and Maybe Prevent Tendonitis
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

 
    There is no ONE way that everyone should bowl.  There have been several books written on how to bowl, but it only takes one trip to a PBA tour stop to see that an awful lot of these guys forgot to read the book. There are a lot of successful bowlers that use forced arm swings, hit up on the ball, have what appears to be bad timing. They don't slide, they drift all over the approach. I could go on and on. When an already successful bowler comes to me for help and he does all of these so called bad things, I don't just  start taking him apart and try to make him into something he is not. I first give him a few test to see what he is good at and where his weak points are. Then we first attack his weak points. This tip on how to hold the ball will mostly benefit bowlers that are attempting to bowl with a free arm swing. It will however help any bowler that holds the ball around  waist high to help prevent tendonitis. I believe that most cases of  tendonitis in the forearm and near the elbow comes from the way the ball is held in the stance. Holding all the weight of the ball in the bowling hand is a good way to get  tendonitis started. I suggest holding as much weight as you can in the non bowling hand. If you are strong enough to hold all the weight in your non bowling hand that is best of all. This allows you to totally relax your bowling hand, forearm and bicep muscles. If you are attempting a free arm swing this will be a big help. Your bowling arm should not even know it is bowling until your ball reaches the bottom of the front down swing. Through pictures I will suggest a good way to hold the weight of the ball in your non bowling hand but if you work at it you may find a better way that suits you best.                      

Try doing it this way. Balance the weight of the ball in your bowling hand. Take your non bowling hand and make it into a V like the picture in Fig 1.  Then move your V under the ball and  let the ball's weight roll over and fall into your the V of your non bowling hand like in Fig 2. IF you are strong enough hold all the ball's weight in your V. Even if you are not strong enough at first, if you keep working at it you may be able to transfer all the weight in time.

Now that all the weight is in your non bowling hand go through this check list before you take off. Relax your grip in the ball. Hold the ball like you had a baby bird in your hand. Make extra sure you relax your thumb. If you need a few more revs you can try squeezing slightly  with just your fingers. If you can't swing the ball with a relaxed thumb then you need to work on your thumb hole. Maybe you need to add tape or Ron C's Magic Carpet. Next relax the muscles in your forearm and your bicep. Relax your whole bowling arm. If you are able to hold 100% of the weight of the ball in your non bowling hand and your bowling arm and hand are totally relaxed then your bowling arm does not even know it is bowling at this point. When your check list is complete you are ready to take off.  Do your push away with the thumb of your non bowling hand (fig 1 & 2) . Your bowling hand is just a guide to the direction you wish to push the ball. Once you have pushed the ball the desired distance and direction with your non bowling thumb you deliver 100% of the weight to your bowling hand and it should not resist the weight at all. The ball should fall as fast as gravity will take it. Your bowling hand should hardly feel the ball till it reaches the bottom of the swing. 

If you would like to keep your bowling hand more under the ball you can do it like the picture below. These suggestions are not the only way to get the weight off your bowling hand but I know these work. I will be the first to admit it feels really strange at first. But what major change doesn't at first. I usually can see a major difference in a students swing the first time they do it. Even at the professional level.

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Posted on Sat, September 10, 2005
How To Play The Twig
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

    There are many times that both right and left hander's need to be out on the twig to score well. The twig being the 1-2 board. It has been my experience that very few people are able to play there or have enough confidence to play there when there is big money on the line. Today's tournament bowlers have to learn to play every inch of the lane or their scores and their wallets will be left behind. We know we need to learn to play the twig but how do we get started. 

    I suggest you start off with a plastic ball if you have one. If not use the least hooking ball you have. Often on a league shot the gutter is very dry and that makes it hard to throw a lot of today's hook monster balls. Don't worry about knocking pins down at first. You only have to learn to set the ball down at the right spot and have it stay on line to the break point. 

    Next you have to realize that when you are playing the gutter your ball trajectory has to be parallel to the gutter. You can't loop the ball. You have to set the ball down at the foul line on or right next to your target board. I suggest you start out trying to hit the 3 board first. That gives you a little room for error.  It is very helpful if you can get a friend to watch you bowl from behind. Have your friend watch you throw a normal ball and see what board your ball lands on as soon as it hits the lane and what board your slide foot is resting on. You need to know how many boards right of your slide foot you set the ball down. Let's say that number is 5. This means that if you slide on board 20 on a normal shot then your ball lands on the 15 board near the foul line. 

    The next thing you do is walk up to the foul line and get into your finishing position. Using the example above you need to put your slide foot on the 8 board. This means that if you end your slide on the 8 board that you should set the ball down on the 3 board, our target board. Make sure your shoulders are square to the foul line. Remember this is the most down and end shot of all down and end shots. You can't have an open shoulder or you will toss the ball in the gutter. Now you know where you need to end up at the foul line. 

    The next question is where do you start from? That depends on your foot work. If you are a straight walker you got it made. Just start out on the 8 board and see if that is where you end up at the line. If you drift in your approach then you will have to figure your drift into the formula. It doesn't matter where you start from but you have to end up on the right board at the foul line and your shoulders square. If drifting is a problem and it is for a lot of bowlers when it comes to playing the twig, you have to consider your drift like a current in a river. If you were going to drive a boat straight across the Mississippi you would have to aim the boat a little up stream in order to end up at the right spot on the other side. If you were to aim the boat directly at your dock on the other side you will miss the dock and end up way down stream from where you intended to go. A drift in bowling is the same way. If you are right handed and you tend to drift 5 boards to the left then you better start out 5 boards to the right of your target slide board. Just like the boat, it may be a good idea to face a little up stream. That may cut down on your drift a little and help get your shoulders square at the line. I work with a left handed pro that has to stand as close as he can to the ball return when he is playing the twig on the right lane and face the 7 pin on the left lane. This is a little awkward but it is something he has to do if he is going to live with his drift pattern. 
Now that we know where to end up at the foul line and how to get there what's next? 

    If the center management will allow it place a piece of white tape doubled up on the 3 board beside the 1st arrow. Put another piece 3 feet past that one and one 3 feet before it. All 3 pieces of tape are on the 3 board. Now go up and throw some balls. Look at the middle piece of tape on the 3 board. Have your friend watch your set down point and whether or not you hit the target piece of tape. If you do everything correctly the ball will set down on the 3 board at the foul line and continue rolling on that board to your break point around 40 feet. BUT that is not how it goes for most people just learning to play the gutter. There is a multitude of things that can happen to make this difficult for you. The number one most common problem is trust. Most people are afraid of the gutter. Like it was the Grand Canyon or something. IF you are afraid of the gutter I suggest you go ahead and toss one in there. Believe it or not I have seen that help a lot of people. Believe me EVERYONE that plays on the gutter throws one in there now and then. 

    The #2 most common problem is it looks like to you that the piece of tape you are supposed to hit is in the center of your body. It also looks like if you end up at the line where I say and you throw the ball where I say it will go straight into the gutter. This is all an illusion brought on by what's called the diminishing vanishing point. If you look down a lane it looks like it gets narrower at the other end. That is not the case but it does look that way. You have the same problem with the gutter. It looks like the gutter tilts in toward the center of the lane. You just have to trust that it doesn't.  It helps some people to overcome this by looking farther down the lane. That is why I said put one piece of tape 3 feet past the first one. Look even farther if you have to. It has even help some people to look shorter so try looking at the 1st piece of tape if you have problems with the middle one. The biggest thing is you just have to keep doing it till you get it. Moving out onto the gutter is also a good way to straighten up your swing. You can't have much swing angle if you play there. The ball has to come off your hand pretty square.                     

What it "Looks" like to your eyes

The way it really is

    Another good tip is to resist the urge to throw the ball harder. We often feel if we throw the ball harder it will go on line better. That is usually not the case. If anything you will tend to throw the ball more toward the gutter. When playing the gutter trust is a must. You have to trust and "KNOW" you are going to hit your target don't aim at it. You have to practice playing the twig during  every practice session. You have to be 100% confident playing there or you will never be able to do it when there is money on the line. You also must be able to use different hand and wrist positions to make the ball come off the gutter at just the right distance down the lane. Good luck!

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Posted on Tues, August 9, 2005
How To Practice On An Easy House Shot 180 Average and Up
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

A lot of high quality players don't think they can practice on an easy league shot.  But you can if you are honest with yourself. It is no great task for a good bowler to string strikes on today's walled up house shots. If you pay attention to your ball path and be honest with yourself you will know if you are making good shots or not.  I suggest in practice you ignore the strikes and concentrate on the ball line.  Are you hitting both targets? How many times out of 30 do you actually hit both? The times you miss. Do you tend to miss inside or outside? I suggest keeping a chart. You will see a pattern and it may not be the one you expect.

When you missed your target did you miss by just one board or 3? Write that down too. Do the chart for both targets. What I mean by both targets is this. It takes two points to make a line.  Your 1st target which may be around the arrows and the
2nd target which is the break point you wish to hit at around 42 feet.  IF the manager of the center will allow,  always try to get the end lane  if you are right handed. In most centers there is a walkway beside the lane that will allow you to walk down
beside the lane in order for you to place a tape target for you to shoot at. ( ALWAYS REMEMBER T O REMOVE THE TAPE WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED )  Also don't go past your break point. Never reach into the  area were the pins are. Some centers have light beam type of triggers that if broken will make the rake come down and it will not care if your
head is in the way or not.  Take a piece of bowlers tape and place it on the 8 board about 42 feet down the lane. This will help you find your break point.  If you are a pretty good bowler chances are you have a few guys around the center that like to watch you bowl. Have them help you practice. Most times they will be honored to do so and it keeps them
out of your hair. Have your friend go down and place the tape where it looks like your break point is on the length of the lane and on the 8 board. Place a 2nd piece of tape on your target. Let's say that you wish to target the 17 board  at the arrows.
Place the 2nd piece of  tape there and try to line up so if you hit the 1st target at 17 your break point is around the 8 board at 42 feet. Now that we know where your break point is move the piece of tape on the 8 board to the 9 board and place another piece of tape on the 5 board. The idea is to go between the two without hitting them. That gives you 3
boards of area at the break point.

Have your friend watch for you if you can. Tell him to watch the very bottom of the ball and report each time what board the ball rolled over at each target and have them write  it down. It is your job to hit or come very close to the first piece of tape
and go between the two at the break point. Watch your ball at the break point to see if it turns the corner and heads for the pocket. Watch your ball go all the way through the pins and into the pit. You may ask the question when you review your chart, how close is good enough. Here is my opinion on how accurate you should be.  If you wish to be a pretty good league bowler then 3 boards of area at your 1st target would be your goal. That means the board the piece of tape is on and one
board on each side. You can't miss 2 boards left of the tape and say "well that is within 3 boards because the piece of tape is on the 3rd board". Your second target should be within 4 boards to be a pretty good league bowler. If your goal is to bowl at any level in the PBA or the WPBA or make money bowling as a scratch amateur then I suggest 2 boards for both targets should be your goal. That means 2 inches. That is how accurate I think you should be to compete and be a true contender at that level of play.  That means your target board  and only half of the board on each side. If you use one inch wide bowlers tape for your targets you can put 2 side by side and get your 2 inches.
If you hit the first target tape you will often hear the ball roll over the tape which helps verify that it was indeed hit. It will not affect your ball path enough to mess up your shot. To get your 2 inches for your break point I suggest you place 2 pieces of
tape so there is a 2 inch gap between them and try to make the ball roll between the two pieces of tape.
That way on a good shot you can see an honest ball reaction. I can hear some of you screaming now!  "I have seen some of the PBA tourneys and a lot of  those guys don't seem to have 2 inch accuracy."  You are right, a lot of them don't and often
you see them spray the ball the most in the later games after the lanes have broken down some and opened up due to oil depletion.  But if you watch the first squad of the day on the fresh very flat oil, you will see the guys with the highest scores do indeed have 2 inch accuracy.  You can be a power player and still have accuracy and believe me if you try to compete at that level and you don't have it you will loose money. You can't be successful in the PBA if you have to give away pins to the more accurate players until the lanes come to you. If you give those guys a head start you will never see them again.

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Posted on Wed, July 8, 2005
What do you do with that trail leg?
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

I think the trail leg is one of the most over looked and misunderstood movements you can do in bowling.  If you watch a lot of bowlers you will see the trail leg (non sliding leg) doing all kinds of things. Bowling is just a series of very simple motions. But just like NASA bowlers need to consider the laws of physics when they bowl. You don't have know enough physics to put a man on the Moon like NASA but just enough to get by.  One of the laws of physics that covers the motion of the trail leg and all the other motions we make as bowlers is this:  Newton's 3rd law motion. "Every force or action has an equal and opposite reaction."

What that means to us as bowlers is this. When your ball swings from your shoulder it creates a lot of force that we can easily see. But there is also an equal and  opposite force that we can't see unless we look for it. This force can been seen as torque and it is applied to your body. To best see a demo of this, sit down in a swivel type of chair or stool.  Pick your feet up off the floor so the chair will swivel easily.  Now, hold your ball straight down by your side. Then push your ball forward.

IF you are right handed your chair will start to turn to the right.   You don't have to push very hard to see this.  Now if you are say a 200 pound man and the gentile push you just gave the ball can rotate your whole body weight imagine how much force is applied to your body during a full swing of the ball. One of the most useful tools a bowler can use is the counterbalance. The better bowlers use it all the time. We put our non bowling arm out to help counter-balance our ball as we make our approach. If we have good timing the whole opposite side of our bodies works to counterbalance the ball's weight and motion. The trail leg can do a lot to counterbalance the motion of your ball as it comes through the bottom of your swing.

IF you use a little force and kick your trail leg back and to the left that is a very good counterbalance. Your leg is very heavy compared to most of the other parts of your body. That makes it a very good counterbalance. The heavy extended leg also raises your polar moment of inertia. This makes it harder for the torque of throwing the ball to upset the direction you should be facing. To demonstrate this go back to your swivel chair and hold your legs in tight to the chair and have a friend try to spin you around. Now stick your legs straight out and have him try and spin you again. He will notice that it is much harder to turn you now.  I suggest when bowling that you try and keep your trail leg foot on the approach as you do this. Some people can do this better than others but it helps to have a deep knee bend. . If you try this you will see a change in your ball right away. You pick up ball speed and power with very little effort on your part. So how far to the left should your leg go?

The answer is as far as it can go and still keep your hips square to your target. You don't want to go so far that you open your hips and shoulder more than you should  at the line.

If you would like to see some one the Pro tour use this just watch Parker Bohn.  Bob Learn Jr (Mr. 300) literally stomps his trail leg into the approach. That gives him a ton of power.

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Posted on Wed, June 5, 2005
Seeing Better By Closing Your Eyes
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

Sometimes, you can see a lot better by closing your eyes. For a lot of reasons, your eyes can sometimes fool you. It may be because you have astigmatism or the wrong eye is dominant. It can also just be because of the diminishing vanishing point that we all see. You know when you look down a rail road track and the rails seem to get closer together the farther you look down the track?  Well, a bowling lane is the same way. The boards, arrows and the lane it's self seem to get narrower as you move your sight toward the pins. I think this can confuse some people.  Now, to complicate things, move your feet to say the 30 board and look at the 3rd arrow. That can really screw with the mind and/or vision.  This is why a lot of people miss corner pins.  So, what can we do about it?  Well, close your eyes. To start out, try to get lined up on your favorite target.  Let's use the 2nd arrow.  Now, when you feel the ball is about halfway down from the top of your backswing, close your eyes until you have delivered the ball. This does take a little practice, like many other things that you wish to master. You have to learn to trust yourself a little. After you can do this with some comfort, start closing your eyes sooner.   Try to at least learn to close you eyes at the top of your back swing. You may very well find that you are hitting your target more often with your eyes closed than when they are open. Now that you can strike with your eyes closed, move to the corner pins. You may be surprised the that 10 pin or 7 pin is not so hard to make any more.

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Posted on Wed, May 19, 2005
Pressure Shots
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

How do you throw a quality shot when the pressure is really on? You have to strike on the next ball to win a tourney or shoot a 300 game  What you do under pressure has to be learned in practice. After all how often do these shots come up? First, you take a look at your individual game.   I am willing to bet that you can find 2 things that are "KEY" to you making a great shot.. Two things, that if executed well, makes the shot as a whole a quality one. We will call these two things your "2 KEYS".

Your first key needs to come at or near  the start of the approach. That key for you may be something like "OK short first step" or "OK strong push away" or "OK let it drop free"...

The second of your keys need to come at or near the end of your approach. That for you may be "OK get out early" or "OK extend" or "OK stay down low"...

Your keys often are your problem areas. The things you get lazy about doing some times and they creep into your game; causing you to make bad shots. After you have found your two keys use them in practice for every ball you throw. When we are really bowling well we don't have to think at all. Just go up and do it. Everything just flows. Even when that is the case you still need to focus on your keys every 2nd or 3rd shot.

Here is the reason:  If you are bowling league and you have the first 11 strikes in a row you can start to wonder as you get set for your last ball how in the world did you throw the first 11?

This is why you must do your "Keys" even if you are striking at will.  Sometimes, we can throw a ton of strikes even when we are not on our best game.  If you don't do your keys then you can wonder if you were doing them all along. Assuming you were using your two keys during the game , this is what you do when the pressure is on. You get set on the approach and the only thing you think about is your first "key".  Let's say that is " OK, good push away".   So at the start of your approach you say to yourself ( out loud is OK ) " OK, good push away" and you do it.  After you have done your first key and you have executed it well,  you switch your mind to think only about your 2nd key. Let's say that is a deep knee bend. You are half way through your approach and now you say "Deep Knee Bend". That is all you think about and you do it. You will do it well and at the right time because that is all you have  been thinking about for the past few seconds. You do your deep knee bend and you got it. A great shot when it counts the most. One reason this works well on high pressure shots is because you keep your mind busy. You don't have time to have negative thoughts or worry about tossing a bad shot. Your mind is simply too busy thinking of your keys and doing them well.

I hope this helps someone win the BIG ONE !

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Posted on Wed, April 20, 2005
Ten Minutes of Practice
By Ron Clifton
Courtesy of Ron Clifton

It's the big tournament you've been waiting all week to bowl in. The time has come for you to get 10 minutes of practice on your pair of lanes before the real action starts. What do you do? Do you stand in your favorite spot and aim for your favorite target and see if your ball goes into the pocket like you hope it will? That's what most people do. But, I suggest an entirely different tactic.

To start with, learn what it looks like when your ball starts to read the lane. To do that, you need to practice before the day of the tournament. It would be helpful if you put a piece of bowlers tape on the center of your ball (between the finger holes and thumbhole) so that you can watch your ball roll. If you throw the ball really slow and watch the tape as it rotates around the ball you will see immediately when your ball starts to grip the lane surface. Make sure you remove the piece of tape before you throw that ball during any type
of competition.

The idea is that you want to go up and throw the ball at about 1/2 your normal bowling speed. When you throw the ball that slow, the ball will start to read (grip) the lane shortly after it reaches the point where the oiling machine stopped.

What we're looking for is....where is the lane a little oilier and where is the lane a little drier? So, here's what we do. Slowly walk up and throw the ball between the first arrow and the gutter at about 1/2 speed, and watch the ball closely to see how far the ball goes down the lane before it begins to hook.

Make a mental note of how many feet down the lane the ball went before it started to hook. Lets say it went 25 ft. Now on your next shot, move your feet 5 boards in and move your target 5 boards in and throw the ball the same way. This will have you throwing the ball down the 8 board or around the 2nd arrow. We don't have to be exact in our shots at this point so if you just get close that's ok. Note we made a parallel move with our feet and target so we are pretty much trying to throw the ball down the boards more than swing the ball.

Again, make a note how far the ball travels down the lane before it begins to hook. Lets say it went 35 ft. The next shot we continue by moving in 5 boards with our feet and 5 boards with our target and we throw the ball again. This will have you throwing the ball around the 13 board. Let's say the ball started to roll this time around 40 ft.

If you have time you can do the same thing and throw the ball right down the middle of the lane. The idea here is that we're trying to get a mental picture of what type of oil pattern the lane plays like. If the ball goes a little longer with each shot then we know we are bowling on a typical house shot or wall type of pattern. Use a medium-hooking ball, not your most aggressive or plastic ball to gauge this.

Next thing we do is shoot a 7 pin and a 10 pin. This is mostly just to let your body see what it's like to throw at that angle. For most people that is the only time they will see that angle...when they are shooting a 7 or a 10. You don't want that first time to be when it counts.

All these shots are helping you gather vital information and allowing your body to warm up and get loose. It's not going to do any good to get up there and start trying to throw quality shots. Your body is not ready and will go through changes as it warms up. Until your body is ready we need to just gather information. Then armed with the information, we have an idea how the lanes were oiled, so we can now find our strike shot and score well today. This exercise will tell us in practice, not during the tournament, if we have an out of bounds or some other little surprise the lane man left us. We are not only gathering information for the start of the tournament but for later when the lanes start breaking down. Remember during our first four shots, we don't care if the ball ever comes in contact with the head pin. We only want to watch the ball to see where it reads the lane.

Now in our remaining practice time, we find a line to the pocket and I suggest that you throw the ball a little aggressive. I have seen countless times when guys in practice will throw strike after strike and when they turn the lights on, the ball heads for the nose or washes out. Then they come back to say, 'boy the lanes really changed from practice". What really changed was "them". What happened is, when we started keeping score and the shots mattered, they threw the ball a little harder or added more revs because it counts now. They wanted to make sure they threw the ball well. That's the worse thing we can do. When the score counts try to stay relaxed like you were in practice. If you look back at the shots you were making in practice, they were often better than the shots you are making now. It's all because it didn't matter then and you were relaxed. Your body will go through changes as it warms up. We have to be as sensitive to that as we are to lane changes.

Remember, it takes 2 people to bowl a game in a tournament. You and the lane man. The lane man already did his job, but he's not talking. We have to find out what he's done. It is a big advantage if we can find that out during practice instead of the first spare we miss because we didn't know what the lane man did. I strongly suggest that people throw plastic (straight, don't try to hook it) at all their spares or learn to throw their strike balls straight. This removes the lane man's influence on the second ball if you didn't strike on the first. I know everyone thinks you can't throw straight at sleepers because the ball will deflect and miss the sleeper. That's just not true. You just have to hit the front pin a little more full in the face. I am pretty sure the margin for error is about the same ( vs hooking) but even if I am wrong and you have a slight advantage in pin contact area by hooking the ball, I can just about guarantee, you will more than make up for it by taking the lane condition out of the picture. That's what you do when you throw straight at spares. You should make the same number of spares regardless of the lane condition.

Look for an advanced tip using breakpoint strategy in the near future.

Bowl great!
Ron Clifton

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