Post by: dizzyfugu on October 10, 2007, 01:35:40 AM
it was about time to make a nother video check of mine (and test new equipment with a better resolution), so I made some video shots of myself at my (deserted) club house from various angles and some slomo-sequences:
http://media.putfile.com/Style-study-Oct-2007
Overall I am quite content, since I managed to move my body's CG further back, avoid too much bend of the upper body upon release and get away from a planted final step to some real slide that has improved both balance and leverage during the release. Ball reaction and carry have improved considerably during the past 6 months.
The only thing that worries me (a little) and where I am looking for some opinions is the timing of my pushaway - I perform a 5-step-approach, and it feels as if I start my pushaway in time with the 2nd step.
But the video tells something else, I seem to ba a tad late, or too fast with me feet? Well, since I can wait in/after the slide at the foul line for the ball to come forward, this is IMHO not a big problem, early timing would surely be worse, but I am not sure if I should do something about it?
Any comments or suggestions are welcome! Thanks a lot in advance
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Edited on 10/10/2007 9:36 AM
Post by: 302efi on October 10, 2007, 09:53:47 AM
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Roto-Grip
When faced with a difficult situation, Jesus asks himself, "What would Chuck Norris do?"
Robo-Arm bowlers SUCK...
Post by: se7en on October 10, 2007, 11:36:54 AM
You could also try to not creep to the line like that and just walk as you would normally.
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Post by: nospareball on October 12, 2007, 09:48:41 PM
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-Clint
Post by: northface28 on October 12, 2007, 10:53:08 PM
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Make history or sit back and watch it. -EV
Post by: dizzyfugu on October 13, 2007, 02:27:17 AM
@ BO: Well, the video should be about 2:30 in length - maybe putfile did something to the file while converting it to Flash, I'll check that!
Hmm, I am not sure where to improve further. Before this current "state of the art", I used to walk totally upright to the foul line, with just a minute knee bend, and it caused lots of trouble: late thumb exit, no slide, slide foot pointing to the left, tons of loft, bent upper body because I'd follow the ball too long after its release.
Yes, it still looks wooden, but the flexed knees from the beginning have made things a lot smoother, and the release in itself is much better now.
I'll give a lower pushaway a try. The current style is the result of my findings that my pendulum works best when I get my arm fully extended in the pushaway phase, but I might exagerrate it (too much upward ball movement) - which also adds to the late pendulum.
About the trailing leg: yes, that's something I also recognized, but I did not pay too much attention to it. I guess I should try to focus on a straight leg - I bend the knee, so that I try to balance the body through muscle effort, not simply through gravity and an additional contact with the ground. That's something I'll also look into.
Many thanks so far, I'll re-upload the video, hopefully it will show ALL of the horror
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Post by: wasted talent on October 14, 2007, 01:31:44 AM
Post by: DukeHarding on October 14, 2007, 01:17:09 PM
Your ball is in front of your hip on on your 3rd step.
On your fourth step, the ball is at your hip.
You muscle the ball through on your last step.
I have the exact same timing, (except that I am a 4-stepper).
I spent 2 years of coaching trying to change my timing.
My coach and myself, concurred, that after 50 years of bowling,
I was fighting an uphill battle. I took this year off of bowling.
I have the same feeling of timing that you mention. When I see the video of myself, it's not what I feel.
My recommendations:
1. Lower your ball in your stance (down to armpit area).
2. Make sure you keep your feet slow.
3. Work on keeping your trailing leg on the ground. (Problem I had/have).
4. Try to get more knee bend...it will give the ball a chance to catch up with your feet.
It looks like you miss the bottom of your swing, when you release the ball.
Either that is timing related, pitch-related, or hole-size related, or a combination of all.
Feel free to PM with any questions.
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Duke Harding
Post by: dizzyfugu on October 15, 2007, 06:03:48 AM
The trailing leg is something I keep in the back of my mind, because I am with you that this causes too much unnecessary movement in the upper body through the "free" counterbalancing.
Yes, you are correct about my muscled forward swing end phase. I incorporated this 2 years ago when I'd have a completely free swing (or what I thought it was?) with a crap release. In search for some speed and revs a coach suggested to speed up the forward swing a bit, and this has been pretty successful for me, because I have the feeling of driving the ball out onto the lane. Downside is that I created lots of loft through this, which I am reducing now through better timing - at least that's the plan, and it is bitterly necessary.
Tough job to puzzle everything together. I guess I won't be able to post another video quickly, but I have taken up your suggestions and experiment with them. There is some potential left.
By the way, video has been fixed: http://media.putfile.com/Style-study-Oct-07
The original got disrupted while saving it on my PC, so I installed a copy that should run full length with some additional views
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Post by: MegaMav on October 17, 2007, 09:06:36 AM
quote:
I am giving serious thought of giving up bowling and selling all of my equipment after I finish the current season. When a person consistantly shoots 25-30 pins below what they were doing even as recent as 4 years ago, it is no longer fun.
You shouldnt ever drop that much unless there is a significant injury.
There is probably a mechanical flaw that can be fixed thats hindering your scores.
In bowling you shouldnt "just lose it" in a short period of time.
Fixing mechanical flaws is difficult to do, and nearly impossible without video feedback.
Keep getting the work in, you'll be alright.
You gotta "want it" bad to get better.
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Post by: DukeHarding on October 17, 2007, 10:08:20 AM
quote:
You shouldnt ever drop that much unless there is a significant injury.
There is probably a mechanical flaw that can be fixed thats hindering your scores.
In bowling you shouldnt "just lose it" in a short period of time.
Fixing mechanical flaws is difficult to do, and nearly impossible without video feedback.
Keep getting the work in, you'll be alright.
You gotta "want it" bad to get better.
Eric,
I can see that you haven't reached the 50-year-plateau yet...
Strange things happen with age.
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Duke Harding
Post by: dizzyfugu on October 17, 2007, 10:53:21 AM
quote:
There are great drills for overcoming timing errors and issues with the pushaway on the www.bowlingknowledge.info web site. Coach Joe Slowinski has put together a treasure trove of bowling information on his site. I have had good success using some of his drills with my students.
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T. Scott
USBC Certified Coach
Cool link, thank you for posting this
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Post by: lsf_21 on October 18, 2007, 10:59:34 PM
quote:
You're throwing it with the wrong hand.
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Post by: jfirpo on October 23, 2007, 11:04:44 PM
It's not hard to correct. Start the ball at waist level and push straight ahead or slightly downward in the pushaway. This will bring the ball into correct time.
Joe
Post by: jensm on October 24, 2007, 02:05:03 AM
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Regards,
jensm
Post by: dizzyfugu on October 25, 2007, 10:11:49 AM
quote:
Dizzy! I think you should follow the advice from jfirpo. It's spot on.
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Regards,
jensm
Yes, he is indeed. I already tried to get the ball lower in the adress position and during the pushaway. I also studies the video over and over again, and the exagerrated upward movement is the cause for the timing problem. It causes an delay in the swing, which is out of sync with the feet and forces me to psh the swing once it goes forward. O.K., this works, somehow, but it is not fluent, and jfirpo just hit the nail.
I am forcing myself now push the ball rather for- and downwards, so that the elbow becomes straight and the ball does not "fall" into the swing - and so far this seems to be a good change, because I feel I play more consistently, hitting my target much easier than with the high pushaway movement.
Again, many thanks to all and their input!
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Edited on 10/25/2007 10:12 AM
Post by: MegaMav on October 25, 2007, 10:45:29 AM
quote:
simply start your ball at the same time as your very first step and let everything else take care of itself at the line!
Bingo!
Everyone should use 4 step in my opinion.
5 step is a waste, and 1 more variable to account for.
Post by: dizzyfugu on October 27, 2007, 02:19:30 PM
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Post by: MegaMav on October 27, 2007, 02:41:26 PM
Take even, medium steps.
You'll muscle the ball less.
You'll be a better bowler fot it, less variables to account for.
..and your timing will never get screwed up.
"When you're pushing, you're going."
"No Muscles"
Thats what I tell my students.
Once you go to 4 step, you'll wonder why 5 ever felt right.
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Post by: srlunatic on October 29, 2007, 02:59:28 AM
Greetings!
What part of Germany are you in? I am over in the Kaiserslautern/Saarbrucken area.
I had the same problem for a bit with wanting to force the ball up in my pushaway (bad coaching at the time). Now i am more loose and let the ball fall into the swing at the proper time. For me the pushway starts on the mid-end of the second step to get the ball at the hip at my third step as Jfirpo stated. That is my timing key and it is a good reference for me to get back into "time" when I someone mess up my timing...
Hope this helps !
Mike
Post by: BowlerKidR on October 29, 2007, 09:15:14 AM
Im too lazy to read all the previous posts so if my suggestion was already discussed, i apologize. Right from the start, when you set yourself up on the approach there is a problem. You are starting your arm motion with the ball up at your head, and then you are pushing the ball out (away from your body) before you start to bring it down into the swing.
Try to work on getting your starting position with the ball into a lower more comfortable position. I usually start with my ball level with my belly button, or keeping my elbow bent at a 90* angle to my shoulder (which is parallel to my body), and then i raise and lower my starting position a little bit depending on if i need to throw harder or softer. Im sure you watch the PBA, almost every player on tour has a starting position around the area of their belly button.
As for the push away from the body, that technique is no longer taught. When i was down in Florida at the Kegel Training Center they taught me this. They said that you want to turn your arm swing into a "Hinge". If you look at a door hinge, it never pushes away before it starts its range of motion (arm swing pendulum), it just goes into its movement. That is what you want to try to get your arm into doing. What you want to do is since you take 5 steps, on your second step, drop the ball directly into the arm swing. Dont push out even a little bit, just drop it into the pendulum. It is going to feel very awkward at first, i know because i myself used to do that and now stopped.
Anyway, its a good thing that you are so determined to get better. I wish more people were like you in that sense. Good luck with the change.
Ryan
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"Strike for show, spare for dough"
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Post by: dizzyfugu on October 30, 2007, 04:50:31 AM
Again, MANY thanks to everyone who helped out - it made pinpointing the "next steps to success" much easier for me, and I am working on it right now
Great BR.com crowd!
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DizzyFugu (http://"http://www.putfile.com/dizzyfugu/") - Reporting from Germany
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Post by: dizzyfugu on December 02, 2007, 05:00:54 PM
1) holding the ball lower (at waist height) and doing a rather forward than upward movement wehn initaiting my pushaway. It takes much hurry and upper body bouncing out of the equation.
2) keeping the shoulders straight. Yesterday I took part in a team tournament of hobby/employee bowlers, and just after two 9/ frames I recognized that my shoulder was a bit too open. I focussed on some real square shoulders throughout the delivery - and dang! 8 in a row and a 264 game, a personal record and probably the highest of the 28 team match! Only a split in the 11th frame slowed me down. Great, great bowling, and I feel that just with minor adjustments there is still so much potential to uncover
Again, many thanks for your suggestions! It paid out
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DizzyFugu (http://"http://www.putfile.com/dizzyfugu/") - Reporting from Germany
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