Approach a New Season Realistically - getting ready for bowling season

Bowling Digest, Oct, 2000 by Jeri Edwards

It's great to be charged up and optimistic about the new league season, but don't set yourself up for disappointment before you're back in the bowling groove

IT'S THAT TIME FOR SUMMER CLEANing. It comes every year about now--and it's an exciting time. The promise of a new season always brings renewed hope for accomplishing greater feats. The greatest challenge is to be prepared to the best of your ability when the first night of league arrives.

Picking up the game again will be easier for the bowlers who continued to play through the summer because they've kept their "feel" through constant reinforcement. For many, though, the bowling ball has collected dust and sweated it out through the heat of the summer, never once visiting the bowling center. In either case, spending some time in preparation for the upcoming season can be very beneficial.

It's important to approach the start of league with reasonable expectations. Revisit your basic fundamentals: timing, armswing, and release. You also should note that the summer is a slower time for proprietors; renovations and changes in procedure may have taken place during this time. And new ball introductions are at their peak, enough to confuse even the best of bowlers, so be ready to make your decision: to buy or not to buy.

If you can find the time, it would also help to spend some time in practice getting your feel back. In those sessions, make a concerted effort to work on your 7-pin and 10-pin spare conversions. If you make your spares, your scores can never get too ugly.

Great expectations

Each year when bowlers return to their teams to begin their season, there is an excitement in the air. You get to see your teammates, share some summer stories, and dream about the upcoming year. This could be the year that your team wins the league or that you shoot a special 300.

Goals and plans are great motivators, but also take care to keep your expectations reasonable at the beginning of the season. If you haven't picked up a ball since last April, it would be unreasonable to expect a great outing on your first night of bowling. It does happen for some, but it's the exception, not the norm.

It's just plain difficult to repeat shots when you haven't been practicing. You'll experience many different timing sequences, swings, and releases when in fact you're just attempting to execute the same shot each time. When this happens, it can lead to confusion because you'll get different ball reactions.

Do your best to observe whether you threw the shot with balance and some semblance of feel, and if you didn't, make an adjustment where needed. If you've made a bad shot, laugh out loud and realize you may make many more of them before the evening is over. Go on to the next shot and focus on a favorite "key"--whether it's a timing key, a swing key, or a release key--and do your best to find one that helps you repeat shots for the night.

If you expect a lot more than this, you can set yourself up for a great deal of stress. You'll feel too much pressure to perform at your best level for the night.

Build your basics

Timing is probably the biggest key to great bowling, and timing is a lot about feel. When you spend time away from a physical skill such as bowling, your feel suffers. In fact, even the ball that fit you perfectly when you spent $200 on it last spring may feel so bad on your hand it may feel like it was drilled for someone else.

Getting your timing feel back is just a matter of repetitions with the correct plan. Your timing starts with how you move the ball into the swing in relation to your feet. After a layoff your footwork often will get lazy, and that makes good timing very difficult. Make sure your footwork tempo stays upbeat on your first night of bowling.

A good drill for timing practice is to use your left hand (for right-handed players) to control your start. This may sound silly, but your left hand can help you control your timing.

Start the drill by throwing a couple of shots with your normal motion, just to get a feel for that. Next, delay the ball into the swing slightly by keeping your left hand on the ball a little longer. This means you will have to have your left hand under and to the side of the ball. This should make your timing a little later and will probably make your tempo seem a little slower. Do this part of the drill for a few shots.

After the late side of the drill, it's time to test the early side. To do this, you'll use your left hand to gently but firmly push the ball downward into the swing. This means your left hand will need to be on top and to the side of the ball in your stance position. With this motion, your timing will be earlier, and it will probably make your tempo seem a little faster. After going through this drill, you may be surprised that your "normal" timing feels better a little later or earlier. When you talk about accuracy, your swing itself plays a big part in your success. Your swing direction makes a big difference in the direction your ball travels.