I would advise you not to quit, because I've been exactly where you are and worked through it.
From the time I started throwing a hook, I started developing bad habits. Then, I had the misfortune of working with a coach who was nice, but who taught outdated methods for hooking a bowling ball (especially as it related to grip, span, etc.).
I reached a certain ability level in 1999, and couldn't get over the hump. I was fine on my caked-up league shot, but as soon as I went out of town, boom.
In 2003, I started working with a new coach, basically out of desperation. His first question was, "How bad do you want to get better?" I told him I'd do just about anything at that point. So he proceeded to completely rebuild my game from the ground up.
I'm not talking little things. Here's just a partial list of what I changed: Starting point on the approach, target, walking speed, hand position, ball drilling, wrist brace type and position, ball speed, hand position at push-away, shoulder and neck position at release, torso launch angle. I'm sure there are others, but I forget.
What happened is my average almost immediately dropped 20 pins, then came back up 30 pins over the course of the next six months. When I first started, I wanted to hit him. I had to relearn spare shooting completely. In the two years since, my average went up another 20 pins, meaning I'm up about 30 from when I changed coaches. I have more revs on the ball, I'm more consistent by a factor of probably twenty, and I'm much more able to walk into an unfamiliar house and score.
It was a tough, long road, full of exasperating times, and it took me a full year to get confident again in what I was doing. Now I wouldn't trade that year in purgatory for anything.
Jess
