An Early Swing Can Bring Early Elimination - bowling

Bowling Digest, June, 2000 by John Jowdy

If the timing of your arm and leg movement isn't synchronized properly, you'll find that it's tough to hit the ideal release point

A FREE ARMSWING IS ONE OF THE greatest assets for a solid fundamental game. Free armswings are the trademarks of stars like Brian Voss, Norm Duke, Dave Husted, Parker Bohn III, David Ozio, Mike Aulby, Jason Couch, John Mazza, Amleto Monacelli, and Pete Weber. Tom Hennessey and Dick Ritger, two superstars of the past, bowled their way into a number of Halls of Fame with particularly impressive free armswings that seemed driven purely by gravitational force. Neither man applied excessive revolutions to the ball, but both hit the pocket with deadly accuracy--they exemplified the proverbial "poetry in motion."

Nonetheless, free armswings can sometimes contribute to subpar execution. Badly timed synchronization of arm and leg movement in the pushaway is particularly detrimental to hitting the ideal release point. It can lead to one of the most glaring mistakes that occur to bowlers who use free armswings: a weaker leverage point.

This error can be baffling because in the attempt to execute a muscle-free, undeterred swing, it's difficult to distinguish an early swing from a perfectly executed shot. The tempo, the release, and the entire delivery seem satisfactory, yet the outcome and conclusion are less than adequate--the direction is spotty, and the desired power is sorely lacking. The failure in execution is virtually undetectable and becomes one of the most frustrating predicaments imaginable. Realistically, it can only be detected by an astute coach, someone very familiar with this person's game, or a keen student of bowling.

This dilemma isn't confined to non-professional players; it has become a bugaboo for some of the top professionals on tour too. Brian Voss--arguably the most fundamentally sound player of the past decade--is sporadically plagued by this enigmatic error. Voss has been consistent over the years, as demonstrated by his 12-year run of at least one title per year. Yet, as he gets older, this chink in his armor has slowly but surely taken a toll on his game. The smooth stroker has been a picture-book bowler throughout his career--his textbook form is a model of fundamental soundness--but during the past few years he has been victimized by an early swing.

Voss is not alone in this. Three of my favorite players have experienced this difficulty during the past few years. Dave Husted, another of the PBA's brightest stars, constantly fights to overcome an early swing. He possesses one of the highest backswings on tour yet plays with the soundest fundamentals in the game, as attested by his 14 titles (including three U.S. Opens and a Touring Players Championship). Despite this glittering record, though, he is occasionally plagued by this flaw.

Rick Steelsmith, another favorite student, was hampered by an early swing and made adjustments to overcome this fault, which I will explain later in detail. Tim Criss, a late bloomer on the PBA tour, has on numerous occasions experienced early-swing woes. Many others are also affected by this flaw, but inasmuch as Husted, Steelsmith, and Criss are members of the Columbia Bowling Staff (which I am associated with and occasionally coach), they have been singled out.

In order to overcome the deficiency of early armswings, several adjustments can be utilized. These adjustments are all related to the release point. An early armswing produces faulty leverage and results in "hitting up" on the ball--that is, releasing the ball on the upward motion of the delivery. In principle, this late release occurs when the thumb leaves the ball beyond the ankle, which is the point of maximum leverage.

The ideal leverage area can be best described as a position parallel to the shoulder and the ankle. A perfect way to determine the correct release point would be to pick up a weighted object, such as a double-ball bowling bag, and let it hang perpendicular to your shoulder and ankle--its position will show you where the most effective leverage point is. Actually, any point up to two to three inches behind the ankle is equally as effective, as long as the fingers propel the release outward into the lane, rather than dropping the ball behind the leverage point.

Always remember that the fingers apply revolutions to the ball, and a quick exit of the thumb translates into genuine finger rotation--that's the source of the bowling terminology "putting fingers in the ball." The bad execution of the early swing can hardly be sensed by the bowler, because although the leverage is lacking, the weight of the ball feels the same. However, any release that features the thumb still positioned in the ball past the leverage point enters the lane in an upward direction and creates two damaging situations.

First, the ball is spinning in mid-air prior to making contact with the lane, which not only creates a bounce but also has an adverse effect on the direction of the ball, causing it to go off-line. Second, the ball does not enter the lane in a smooth, even fashion. A properly delivered ball should make contact with the lane the way a plane touches down on the runway: soft and smooth. Any plane that meets the tarmac moving downward instead of parallel to the ground would undoubtedly bounce, veer from one side to the other, and ultimately crash.