I was fortunate enough to be able to attend this clinic in Sheboygan Falls with 230-n-up-or-bust earlier this morning. I was coming from Rockford so I chose to stay overnight in a hotel next door. I did not find the stay pleasurable, but it certainly was memorable and the guys got a chuckle at my expense. Getting propositioned while cooking a hotel waffle wasn't what I expected. No she was NOT attractive. Onto the seminar...
I had the great pleasure of being able to meet and pick the brains of Hank Boomershine, Chris Sand, and Steve Richter. I want to start off by saying that first and foremost, they are 3 of the nicest guys one could ever hope to meet in the industry. I'm a hack and I know it, but I was never talked down to or made to think that I wasn't good enough to be there.
While John worked with Hank, Chris got the task of fixing me up. This part was your standard throw a few shots and get taped and analyzed with BowlersMap. I always dread sitting down with a coach and watching the vids. Chris really surprised me with what he told me. I won't get into the details of my game, but he found a flaw that previous coaches saw in my game, but never found a good way of teaching me how to fix it. Chris took the time to explain to me what was going on, why it was causing other smaller issues, and showed me exactly how to correct it. This fix isn't comfortable yet (change never is), but the results were immediate and trickled down to the rest of my smaller flaws. The explanations that I got were thorough and clear, and anything that I didn't understand was further explained to me.
It didn't take long for Chris to declare that he didn't see a need to make any other change to my game, which felt wonderful for someone like me that has little confidence. I then spent a lot of time with Steve working on grip analysis and other aspects of ball motion. He re-measured my PAP since it had been awhile. We then looked at a few of the balls I had with me and discussed what I might want to do in the future with additional layouts. Steve recommended a couple pretty large changes with my thumb pitch and layouts that were way different from what I usually use. It was nice to be able to throw a few of the Roto/Storm balls that they had on-hand because the pitches were so different from what I use.
I was having issues with a Gravity Shift that wouldn't do much on the lane. Steve weighed it up and brought it back to Hank. Hank scribbled on it and Steve took it to punch a new x-hole in it. This ball previously had an x-hole but I had the shop plug it because I thought it might be the culprit. After the new hole, it was like the ball came to life. Hank saw me throw it and explained what was going on with the core and why it wasn't working right before the hole. The guy is just really, really smart.
I got a nice goody-bag of stuff to take home with me, along with a sheet that had all the recommendations for changes to my game, layouts, recommended balls, and new grip specs to try.
This was seriously the most enjoyable experience I've ever had with bowling. I can't say enough about the character of the guys I met today. I hope I am invited to attend again next year. It also makes me proud to use Storm/Roto equipment. These guys are class acts, and the clinic was top notch in my book.
John and Steve- thank you very much for allowing me to attend.
Don
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"You cannot change the stripes of a leopard."
~Emmitt Smith
