I have been thinking about making an appointment with Bill Spigner to get my game back on track.  I think I have the potential to be pretty good, but this year has been awful and has shattered my confidence.  Hawthorne is not exactly next door to me, and I'm pretty busy with school and work.  An hour is probably all I could manage at this time.  For those of you that have worked with wonderful coaches before, can an hour make an improvement in my game?

Don

The question isn't whether the coach can spot the things wrong with your game and come up with a lesson plan for you to work from.

The question is - once you've met with the coach, and spent that hour, are you willing to put in the time practicing (not for score, but real work type practice) that it will take to fix what's wrong???
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-- The way we see the problem is the problem.

Mumzie-
   That is an excellent point you bring up.  When I posted, I thought it was assumed.  I already spend a lot of my time practicing, but I'm positive I'm not doing it right because the scores haven't gone up.  It's time to see someone who knows what they're talking about so I can start working on the things that need to be fixed.

Based on my personal game, I've benefitted more from going to the same coach for 5 hours of practice (1 hour sessions each time) than I would with 1 hour from a famous coach. I've been able to put the things we've worked on into focus during practice sessions, league play and tournament play- as a result seeing my timing improve, my power on my release much better and I feel like I have more confidence in different parts of my game that before I would have no clue how to improve upon.

Matt

As always I take a different view.

Helping other as aften as I do, I find it completely amazing that students believe there is a magic cure to there current problems. But the fact is, there is always only one problem, everyone has it.. its always the same thing. It is why students seek instructors and it is not anything mechanical or physical. It is KNOWLEDGE. And the thing about knowledge is that anyone can learn it completely on there own if they are analytical in there game, if they search out books and articles. The information is there but instead, they search for an instructor that can magically provide answers and when the students get those answers they dont take the time to really understand those changes and convert the physical information into knowledge.

Example, a student comes to me and says.. I am bowling bad. I raise his pushaway, slow his feet down and suddenly he is bowling terrific. So now he goes off and understands that he bowls better if he does those things and he is happy. But, he did not take the time to learn about his timing, all the issues surrounding timing and there impacts and how to adjust his own timing in the future. And soon enough he is back with the same issues.

The point here is that, with video so cheap, books, internet (websites like this one and many others) and the dedication to becoming a real student of this sport, every bowler can teach themselves easier than seeing a coach. You know your game, you feel every shot you take everytime. The coach may see you for one hour every so often. It is difficult for coaches to see the big picture.

I think it is much more effecient to teach a man to fish, than to give a man a fish to eat. The man who knows how to fish will eat forever. The other man is hungry the next day.
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