Sorry for the length, but there is lots of information to relay.
Day 1
First BT measures each bowler's pieces (i.e.: arm length, torso to legs ratio, etc.). Then he asks that each person leave a ball for him to measure the grip specs. Make sure that this ball is slugged or you don't mind it being slugged because he will most likely be sending you to the pro shop to change the thumb pitches. Then BT talks about bowling. Most of his lecture is stories from way back when with some bowling concepts mixed in here and there. If you know the basics of his bowling philosophy and can do without the stories, then go to be measured and leave a ball and go.
Day 2
BT measures your hand and determines your what your grip specs should be. If he is sure of the specs, he will send you to the pro shop to have the thumb drilled to match his specs. If he is not sure and needs to see you throw the ball first, then you do not go to the pro shop until after he works with you on the lanes.
Move to the lanes where he takes one or two initial participants and coaches them with everyone standing right there so that everyone gets the basic concepts that he will cover with everyone. After the initial couple of people, everyone splits up onto the available lanes and starts bowling. BT then calls names down the list in order and works with each person individually. Some people get A LOT of his time and others get very little. I guess it depends on how far off your game is from his vision.
Day 3:
On the lanes again, BT walks around and works with people in what appears to be random selection. If your thumbhole needs another adjustment, he will send you back to the pro shop to get the thumb slugged and drilled again. Just as for day 2, some people get lots of time and others very little. When your time with BT is done, you can continue to bowl until the squad is over and he may give you a little pointer here or there.
My experience:
Day 1 was interesting for the stories. I did not really learn anything about bowling because I had already read quite a bit about his bowling philosophy. In retrospect, I would have left after being measure and tried to bowl the last two games of my league.
Day 2 was frustrating because he decided he needed to see me throw the ball before recommending thumb pitch changes. I was the second to last person on the list and after ten minutes with him he told me to go get my ball done. However, the pro shop was closed so my day was over.
Day 3 was initially more of the same from day 2. Squad 1 was scheduled for 10am-2pm but the pro shop did not open until 1:00pm. So I had to use an old ball for three hours. Not that it mattered because BT had his hands full with all the people who were there. The big problem was that 22 people signed up for the class. Those people were split up as 13 for squad 1 and 9 for squad 2. That was great for Sat. But on Sun, 17 people came for the squad 1 (presumably because they wanted to go watch the Super Bowl). So I got no time with BT until about 2:00pm. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed by that time. Anyway, basically everyone had left and BT came to me and told me he had been saving me for last to have more time (that must mean I was a wreck). He spent about an hour with me and recommended another thumb change about halfway through. Of course, the pro shop was closed again, so I will have to do that later. That kind of pissed me off too because then he could not see me throw the final drill and make sure it was what I needed. He then said he had to take a break to eat but would work with me some more after eating. Well, that never happened. I stayed through the whole second squad. The five guys who showed up each got lots of time with BT but he never came back to me. After he finished with the last guy I asked if he would check that I was still doing things correctly. He agreed. Then David Ozio arrived for his session and BT's attention was fully directed to him. So I packed my stuff, said a brief goodbye to BT and left about 8:30pm. During our goodbye, he told me that he really can only efficiently handle 8 bowlers to a squad. I did not say so but I thought that if that were the case, then it should have been limited to that number.
I have no idea how many games I bowled, but it was A LOT - about thirteen hours total with with anywhere from four guys on a pair to me alone. BT did say during our goodbye that he sends a sheet to the participants with individual instructions for learning each piece and the order to learn them.
Summary:
Overall, I am a little unsatisfied with the whole experience. Of course, the effect on my bowling remains to be seen but the re-training process will be difficult because of the drastic changes he gave me. If I had to do it again, I would probably spend the money on individual sessions with a reputable local coach instead. If they had placed a limit on the number of participants and there had been a semblance of coordination with the pro shop, then my experience would have been MUCH better.
I hope this review helps someone else decide where they will spend their coaching dollars.
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Regards, ClutchClay
