I've been in corner pin heck for three seasons of struggling after changing ball roll, release, and timing. I've been trying to explain it to people who want to help me figure this out, and I finally figured out how to say it!

I used to have incredible carry. Yes, some people would call it stupid lucky carry - but it scored well. REALLY well. Tournament conditions, league conditions,didn't matter.

Now, since I changed release and ball roll, I don't have carry. Period. To give you an example - last year I won a no-tap pro am at one of the local regionals. I got 33 "strikes" - 18 of them no tap - all but one of those a corner pin!!!

I was talking with a teammate that I haven't bowled with in several years - and phrased it as - the pocket used to be THIS BIG, now it's only this big.

Does this make sense? Can any one help me now??? I need to make the pocket bigger again!
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We Know What Bowlers Want

Home of the HAMBONE shirt!

I sounds like what you were doing before you changed roll, release, and timing worked better than what you are doing now.

Why did you change your game?

Did this change happen before you dropped to 14# equipment?
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"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice."  Bill Cosby
"Never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level and beat you with experience."

Everything I'm doing different... Hmmmmmm....

Let me give you a little background, first. 4 years ago I was in the top 3 women in the state. Bowling was the most important thing to me, other than my family. I used to practice once or twice a week with a good friend, who is a great power player. He would work with me to get more power, and I would work with him to be more accurate. He and I (and a couple of coaches) agreed that if I could get my rev rate up, I could be the TOP woman in the state, if not the whole northwest... It turns out, it was the wrong choice.

Now I'd be embarrassed to bowl in a scratch tournament.

About 4 years ago I was constantly told to put more on the ball - that my rev rate was too low. That's why I changed everything. PAP went from 4 1/8 and 1" down to 5 3/8 and 1 1/4 up.

Now I'm told I have too many revs for my ball speed. Rev rate has gone up about 20%.

3 years ago I had fair to ok ball speed.

Now it's slow to ok.

3 years ago I didn't care who's equipment I used - I used whatever worked, but preferred Brunswick.

Now I can't use Brunswick - their stuff rolls way too early. In this case, I don't know if it's the equipment, my game, or both.

3 years ago I had a pain free right shoulder.

Now I have a shoulder that can sometimes get really sore after bowling.

3 years ago I was using a reverse pitch in my thumbhole.
Then I went to 5/16 forward.

I just changed to 3/16 forward, and I like the change.

3 years ago I used 15 pound equipment.

2 years ago I dropped to 14 (see shoulder issue, above)

3 years ago I worked for someone else. I was able to practice a lot.

Now I own my own business, and don't have time to practice.

4 years ago I was 48. Now I'm 52. It sounds funny, but that has seemed to make a MAJOR difference in how I feel...

It's really frustrating to know I can still hit my target - I can still be accurate within a board or so - not spraying the lane - and I just can't carry!!! I move up, I move back. I move left, I move right. I change hand positions. I change speed. I try different parts of the lane. My overall carry percentage on pocket hits is below 50%. It's driving me NUTS!!! Ring 10. Weak 10. Stone 7. Solid 8. Sometimes even a 9 pin. GRRRRRRR.....
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www.Shirts4Bowling.com
We Know What Bowlers Want

Home of the HAMBONE shirt!

do you have a video of yourself then and now you can compare too??  I have talked with alot of bowlers who say the same thing about dropping weights, (from 15# to 14#)they leave alot of corners and walk through shots.. without seeing your style and how you actually throw the ball, I would suggest if you have a 15#er laying around to maybe start throwing that again to see if it helps at all.. there are alot of options you can try, but I would start with that one 1st and depending on where you put the ball when starting you might want to try raising your arm a little to get some more speed... take baby steps, Iam sure you will figure something out.. keep me posted on how you make out with your decisions..      slashrr69

mumzie,

When the pocket seems to shrink for me it's usually because I'm not managing lane friction properly. For me the solution is a tiny move outside to where I don't feel like I need to make the ball hook, but just LET IT HOOK.

As you probably know when you hit friction earlier, too many revs can be a problem, so just relax and feed the ball down the lane.

Everything you've done to change your game isn't wasted effort. It's another arrow in your quiver for more demanding conditions. For house shots the rule really should be "less is more" so don't worry about the revs as much as managing friction and repeating shots.

Friction too soon and the ball hits like a marshmallow, friction too late and it's easy to lose the pocket entirely, but at least lose the proper entry angle to carry corners.

If I can give any specific help regarding a Brunswick ball (or any others for that matter) send me a PM and I will do my best to help. I hope I am understanding the problem correctly. Good luck.

 

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Lane Carter, Strike Zone Pro Shops - Salt Lake City, Utah
Brunswick Amateur Staff

I'm thinking, the key to all this is the slower ball speed. It sounds like your armswing isn't as free as it was before. Maybe this could happen in an effort to deliberately add more revs. You could have started muscling the ball a little bit. This could have led to the shoulder pain. Unless you have lowered the start position of the ball the speed now should be the same speed as before, assuming a free armswing. My suggestion would be to go practice and focus strictly on a free armswing and see what happens. At least with my suggestion your trying something that most everybody agrees is correct. Good luck.
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Moon
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So many questions, so little time but I'm having fun.

Wouldn't switching to a weaker bowling ball also help if this is the case?? She should be able to go to something like a Jazz, Neptune, or Tropical and take a step right and play a lot straighter. Or I would say she probably needs more axis tilt....but that would probably be a harder fix.

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The easiest solution is to try to increase your ball speed if possible.  You don't want to do it by muscling the ball, but rather using your legs effectively to balance a higher backswing.  Also, I wonder if your changed release is getting more revs by hitting up too much on the ball.  Your loss in ball speed suggest that this is the case.  When I went to the so called more is less release, I actually increased my rev rate consderably, without sacrificing ball speed.  You may need to make yet another change in your release, rather than go back to your old release

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