If you are trying to determine what you should do/practice then you need to tailor it depending on your own needs.

If as you suggest your timing is off then that is what you should practice first and foremost. The best thing to do would be to get someone knowledgeable to watch you as sometimes with timing issues its hard to pinpoint what exactly is going wrong without the aid of a second person or a video camera.

When you do practice you should focus on ONE and ONLY ONE thing. Anything more and you will find it harder to identify/improve any problems. Also you should practice enough so that you develop some muscle memory but not so much that you start to get tired as if you do you will lose any benefit you may have gained.
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I would have got away with it if it was not for those pesky kids (Behind my lane) and those blasted 10 pins.

Here're a few thoughts on practice... (Long post!!)

First of all, and most importantly, I make a plan before I go. I cannot stress the utility of this enough. Decide what you're going to practice and for how long before you leave the house.

My practice sessions are usually in the region of 2-2.5 hours (I usually pay for six games, which take me about 2 hours or so). I try to be fairly regimented about my practice to make sure that I get as much out of it as I can.
The other thing I find most useful is recording. Make a note of what you're trying to accomplish during the practice and see if you accomplished it (obviously, the way you do this will depend on what it is you're trying to look at)

In my pre-practice planning session, I will try and think about whether there's anything that I have specific concerns about in my game, normally I try and jot these down so I don't forget them later.
 
I have been coached by Dick Ritger among others, and find great utility in using and applying the drills that I have learned.

So, I warm up with 4-5 shots first, this is usually enough for me to loosen the muscles and get warm and start to feel for the ball coming off my hand nicely. Then I move onto the foul-line drill and will spend about 0.5-0.75 games on that, noting things like balance and release-feel. I also use this time to add pieces of tape to my thumb where necessary to achieve a proper fit. Then I'll move onto a two-step drill and spend about the same amount of time on that, again thinking about balance, release, and relaxation in the armswing.

Then I'll pick a medium ball and make a few shots with it using my full approach, no more than 4 or 5 just so I feel comfortable with everything, and can find the approximate ball path to the pocket.

I then pick up my polyester ball and go through a full rack of pins one at a time, recording misses/hits as I go. I will attempt all ten single pin leaves at least 3 times in the two hours, but it can be as many as 6 depending on how my sparing has been of late.

Then over the course of a few weeks I'll look at accuracy over a range of targets, with a range of balls, recording my accuracy at the arrows and breakpoint (sometimes using tape at the breakpoint as a marker).
If I have any specific concerns like balance or timing then I've got specific thoughts I can trigger which make me think about the causes of my issues there.
And that's pretty much that
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Reporting from England
EDIT: my word that was a nightmare to read... sorry.

Edited on 1/5/2009 12:53 PM

Thanks for the ideas guys!  

I think I'm going to sit down and make a regiment for what I want to work on, one practice session at a time.  I like that idea a lot...also the cosmic bowling too, that's a neat idea to work on game by feel more than anything.
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Obviously, you aren't a golfer.
Some stayed in the foothills, some washed logs like teeth.
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Assuming that you will work on one thing at a time on any given shot/throw/delivery, one of my coaches suggested the following regimen:

Identify 4-6 areas/items that require improvement. It is important to do that first. Each item should be as specific as possible such as a slow first step, relaxed follow-through, posting the shot, keeping your head still, etc. Write the 4-6 items down each on its own line.  Then fill in a graph as below:

        A   B   C   D   E   F   G
------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Item1 | 1 |   |   |   |   |   | 2 |
------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Item2 | 2 | 1 |   |   |   |   |   |
------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Item3 |   | 2 | 1 |   |   |   |   |
------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Item4 |   |   | 2 | 1 |   |   |   |
------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Item5 |   |   |   | 2 | 1 |   |   |
------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Item6 |   |   |   |   | 2 | 1 |   |
------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

Consider A=Monday, B=Tuesday, C=Wednesday, etc. or A=First practice session, B=second practice session, etc.

Practice for 1 hour during each day/session. Divide each session in half, 30 minutes. Practice your first item (Marked 1) and only the first item, during the first half of that session.  Practice your second item (Marked 2) and only the second item, during the second half of that session. Fully commit to bettering yourself at that one single thing you're working at the time to the exclusion of all else. Including scoring.

Cycle, repeat. Add and remove to the list as necessary, but try to cycle completely through the list before doing so to ensure you're practicing every item you believe needed work.


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J.J. "Waterola Kid" Anderson - "Better than Jello" - Kill the back row


Edited on 1/6/2009 12:31 PM