Hey everyone,

  My physical game has improved by leaps and bounds over the past couple of years, but my mental game has not improved nearly as much. Case in point: last night I needed to win 4 out of a possible 6 points to secure myself a spot in the playoffs for my scratch match-play league. The format is set up so that you bowl best 3 out of 5 game matches against two bowlers at the same time, with one point awarded for each game. I didn't throw the ball bad, 840 for four games, but I still lost 1-3, 1-3.  The bowlers that I was up against are both very good, and they threw the ball well. But I gave away pins in games 1 and 2 with single-pin spare misses late in both games. I am a solid spare shooter, so, although I was not thinking negatively, my mind had to have come into play in those misses.
  My question is this: how do you work on getting mentally tougher? I don't have conscious, negative thoughts, but I still seem to find ways to allow bad things to happen to myself in crucial situations. I try to think positive thoughts and to just conduct myself as I do in every other situation on the lanes, yet I still choke when it matters. Is there anything that can be done to help this, or do I just need to keep putting myself in the same situations and keep plugging away until I come through a few times and begin building more confidence? I just feel lost. I know how to work on mechanical flaws, but I don't know what to do about my broken head.
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Bowling is without a doubt the dumbest, most pointless, most idiotic excuse for a game that has ever been invented. So, what time are we bowling tomorrow?

I’m not really sure how you cultivate it.

Some comes from naturally to some bowlers. They have a self confidence that they can perform. They expect it and if they don’t come thru then they shrug it off and say next time.

Some is from being there before. If you have had success before then you let your mind take you back to that time and feeling. You simply recreate that successful feeling in your mind and use it for this time.

But a lot is simply staying in the moment. A particular shot is not life or death and there is no more pressure than what your mind creates. You’ve thrown hundreds and strikes and spares before and this is no different, only the situation makes it different. Block out the situation and then execute your routine as you have before and success will follow.