Bowling

General Philosophy

Here are some philosophical points that seem to have helped me when evaluating and developing my game.

Bowling Zen
The Investment Model of Bowling
Evaluating Your Own Bowling Quality

Bowling Zen

There's so much that could be written here, but it boils down to one thing:

The quality of a bowler is not written on the scoresheet.

A good bowler is someone who works at and derives enjoyment from the sport of bowling. A good bowler does not stop trying to improve his or her game.

"Ty, what did you shoot today?"
"Oh, Judge, I don't keep score."
"Then how do you measure yourself with other golfers?"
"By height."

— Judge Smails and Ty Webb in "Caddyshack"

The Investment Model of Bowling

In the financial world, there is a "clean" (heh!) separation between capital spending and investing. In bowling terms, think of the capital as the time you spend bowling (or, if you insist, the money it costs you to bowl the games). In these terms, spending is using the skills you already have to maximize your score. Investing is putting a different priority ahead of scoring. Bowling is rarely a combination of both of these approaches, but it can change on a frame-by-frame basis.

Here are some interesting places to invest your effort for future payout:

Repetition: Throw the same ball (same grip, same approach) on first and second balls. This gives you twice as many repetitions per game and increases the amount of practice you get.
Spare System: Develop a system of adjustments to help you get spares (e.g., "move feet three boards right and lane spot three boards left to make the 2 pin"). The system should be keyed from a perfect pocket strike. This has the benefit of allowing you to cross-check your strike spot when you throw spares!
Spare Practice: Work on your hard-to-make spares and splits. Don't bother with the ridiculously hard or obscure shots. Focus on the ones that cost you big pins, like the baby splits, the 5-10 split, the 7 pin, the 10 pin, etc. This might mean throwing at these pins on your first ball!
Deadeye: How precise are your shots on the lane? Do you always hit your target board on the lane? Work on shrinking your margin of error until you can hit whatever board your eye focuses on.
Adjustment Skills: Test your ability to diagnose your game. When you have a perfect strike shot going, move a few boards away (on the lane or with your feet) and see what happens. If you had never found the strike pocket, would you have been able to guess where it was based on this latest shot?

One dictum of investing is worth remembering: the sooner you start, the more wealth you accumulate.

Many of these investment opportunities are long-term. I don't recommend most of them during league play, of course.

Evaluating Your Own Bowling Quality

A good bowler strives to throw a quality shot. A quality shot is one in which every part of the shot (approach, release, results) are predictable and repeatable. In other words, little is left to chance in a quality shot.

In order to throw a quality bowling shot, the following things must all happen (in increasing order of importance):

Bowler's grip is correct
Bowler's arm swing is correct
Bowler's foot pacing is correct
Bowler's release point and position are correct
Bowler's foot placement is correct
Bowler must know where to throw the ball
Bowler must be correct regarding where to throw the ball
No random error-causing event must occur

Let's take these in order:

1. Grip

The grip must be firm enough that the ball is not slipping around your hand. Not so firm that skin rips off, though.

The grip must be the *SAME* every time you throw the *SAME* kind of shot. For some shots, you may want to change the grip (to kill your hook) but otherwise the *SAME* grip should be used every time.

2. Arm Swing

The arm swing begins with the push-away on the first step. The arm swings down and back, smoothly. Only gravity is used to move the arm; there is no need to muscle the ball through the swing. To make the ball go faster, push the ball away at a slight upward angle. Push it slightly downward to make it go slower.

3. Foot Pacing

Boom-boom-boom-boom. That's all there is to a four step approach. You just need a consistent rhythm (like a song) for pacing.

Key point: Do not change it! Whether you're throwing your first ball, last ball, trying for your 12th strike and a perfect game: don't change it! [Unless it's wrong, of course.] This is why you need a song for pacing---your heartbeat is a very bad thing to use!

4. Release Point/Position

Is the wrist straight, cocked, or wobbly? Is your hand behind above, around the ball? Did the ball drop into the ground like a bunker buster? This is probably the hardest thing to do correctly. If you achieve it, you then have the difficult task of doing it consistently.

5. Foot Placement

Do the steps go in the right places? Ask yourself:

Are then in a line toward the target?
Do they drift to the right or left? If they drift, do they do it consistently?
On the last step, where is the left foot pointed?

[The best answers are: Yes; No (or Yes, No); and "toward the target"]

When bowling across the lane (like at the 10 pin), the line for the feet is DIAGONALLY down the lane. For strikes, the line should be directly down the lane unless you have NO HOOK or TOO MUCH HOOK.

6. Where to Throw the Ball

Do you know where to throw the ball to get a strike or convert a spare?

7. Bowler must be correct regarding where to throw the ball

Are you sure about #6? There are usually multiple answers to where you *can* throw the ball, but fewer answers to where you *should* throw the ball.

The key to improving your average is to make the best decisions here. "Best" in this case is not "the one that works" (judged after the shot) but "the one that has the best chance of working as often as possible". You will throw at most spares a lot of times and, over time, your average will improve if you throw the shot most likely to get the spare under the widest possible conditions. Or, another way to think of it is: throwing the most idiot-proof shot.

8. No Flukes

Shit happens. Flashbulbs, doors slamming, lanes being turned on, idiot neighbors, etc. You can do 1-7 right and 8 will trip you up.

Reduce the likelihood of it (tie your shoelaces, keep your shoe bottoms and hands clean, etc.) and hope nothing weird happens.

Self-Analysis

So, let's analyze me. Consider what happens when I lock on and start throwing bunches of strikes (i.e., I'm in "the zone."):

Grip: My hand is stretched around the ball so I always have the same grip (unless my hands are slick!) until my fingers swell.
Arm swing: Always the same once I've thrown about 15 balls. I'll adjust the speed to match lane conditions, but that's about it until I get tired.
Foot pacing: Always the same until I get tired.
Release/position: Stabilizes after I've thrown about 10-12 balls. It only changes when I start sticking in the ball or if I have to radically change speed. I have different releases for cross-lane vs. head pin, of course, but all of my left-to-right cross-lane releases are the same.
Foot placement: Always weird. From ball one to the last shot, I couldn't tell you where the feet are really going to go. But *they* know where to go. As long as I don't trip, my feet are generally consistent (and weird).
Where To Throw: After I find the pocket and see where the lane oil is, I know where to throw to get strikes and to hit pins near the head pin.
Where To Throw *REALLY*: See # 6. I ignore the non-pocket strikes (left of head pin) and watch the light and heavy pocket strikes to see which pins might not fall down every time. I pick the shot that is easiest to throw and leaves the fewest chances for a pin to stay up. Key to throwing lots of strikes: biggest margin of error!
Flukes: My alley is like an obstacle course.

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