BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: todvan on August 27, 2015, 12:03:09 PM
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Instead of hijacking the lefty/righty thread any more, I will start another.
Adjusting for me has always been moving target and/or feet left or right to change my angles and amount the ball spends in the oil.
Adjusting front to back was explained in the other thread as reading the balls reaction and getting it to slow down in the proper spot on the lane.
So I have further questions or examples to try to learn how to apply this. If I am bowling on a fresh THS and have a good line for a game or into the 2nd- but then my ball starts losing energy due to my line wearing out - what is my front to back adjustment?
Thanks!
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It isn't an adjustment per se.
Imagine a block of oil where the THS is. There is nothing outside of 10 on either side and the oil stops at 42 feet. Where there is oil, there is skid and where there is no oil, there is friction.
The THS bowler uses the friction to the left or right of the block of oil. This is where their ball begins encountering friction and thus they make adjustments accordingly. Move feet and mark inside will have the ball encounter the friction further down the lane (seeing less friction). Moving outside will encounter friction closer to the foul line (seeing more friction). And this makes sense, if the lanes seem oily, you would move closer to the friction to have the ball be in the friction more and vice-versa for dry lanes.
On sport shots, instead of no oil (friction) to the outside of the block of oil, a bowler must instead rely on the friction at the end of the oil. Usually this means there is less distance the ball is encountering friction since on THS, the ball typically encounters friction before the end of the pattern. Because of this, the ball will generally see the same amount of friction independent of where it exits the oil. Throw the ball down the 1 board on a 40 foot sport shot and your ball will see 20 feet of friction. Throw the ball down 15 and it will still see 20 feet of friction. Because of this, the bowler must instead control how the ball reacts to the friction.
As an example, lets assume a ball will have a reaction shape that gives a 10° angle once it sees friction. Throwing the ball straight down the lane will see a 10° reaction. Throw the ball with a 5° launch angle and you will have a 5° reaction. Thus "controlling" the reaction at the end of the pattern to be less drastic. (This example is extremely general in nature)
And of course, there are many different ways to compound this control with ball selection, drilling and surface adjustments.
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You touch on it in your post, but the concept of finding the friction earlier than the end of the buff on the house shot is important. I have always contended that what makes a house shot so easy isn't the margin of error on the release, but the ability on a house shot to find the friction at any point that fits your style simply by controlling when you find the friction down lane. Low rev higher speed players can get the ball into the friction very early by playing further out. High rev guys can hit the dry wherever it fits their speed and rev rate. In other words you can control your break point on the THS, but you have to play the break point that the sport pattern gives you based on the buff length.
Bottom line, more people can find a comfort zone on a house shot.
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Excellent discussion IMO
I hear a lot of similar comments on the extra frame telecast when they have some of the pros on for commentary
quite fascinating to me anyways, just confirms what I have read and what i see on the lanes.
I am fortunate that I go to a gold coach for equipment and lessons, he is very in depth if you want that sort of thing
take taping of your thumbhole, the ball needs to grip you, not the other way around
thumbnail should just touch the back of the hole
this simple item will affect your release, ball roll, etc, etc
It makes a difference for me anyways
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Ok, so it sounds like its not about how you adjust to oil transition - but how you read the ball reaction.
Adjusting to oil transition does require side to side (angle and line) changes. Some one in the other thread had me thinking that there was a better way to adjust to changing your shot....
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Ok, so it sounds like its not about how you adjust to oil transition - but how you read the ball reaction.
Adjusting to oil transition does require side to side (angle and line) changes. Some one in the other thread had me thinking that there was a better way to adjust to changing your shot....
Your ball reaction will tell you how the pattern is transitioning, and you can make the call as far as adjustments with lateral moves/speed and hand adjustments/ball selection.
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There is so much involved in learning to adjust to lane transitions, but it starts with understanding your own game. After that, a lot of trial and error involved, because ball choice, horizontal adjustments, and even hand position adjustments become potential variables. The best in the world will admit they are still making educated guesses more than they would like.
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Good posts, thanks for information.
I think the THS hurts bowlers learn about how to play the lanes because there's always friction to the outside. Avabob hit this on the nose in that everyone has the opportunity to find something comfortable for them since friction is present at any length.
Bowling on flatter patterns with someone to help read the lanes will open your eyes to how much challenge bowling can offer. I get excited during the summer because I've been able to bowl a sport shot league that has different pattern every week the past few years. Length of pattern was the most important factor, then volume of oil.
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There is so much involved in learning to adjust to lane transitions, but it starts with understanding your own game. After that, a lot of trial and error involved, because ball choice, horizontal adjustments, and even hand position adjustments become potential variables. The best in the world will admit they are still making educated guesses more than they would like.
Well stated. I think OP is asking the right questions as he's on his way to really understanding bowling "theory", for lack of a better term. Once OP goes from making pure guesses to educated guesses is when he will really begin to see results.
This is a great topic. Hopefully this thread will get some discussion from some of our solid tournament bowlers as well, as I think everyone can contribute something to this topic or give a take that may articulate what is being said in another way.
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It's all about getting the ball to slow down on the correct part of the lane. Susie Minshew would say we're trying to make some front to back miss room. In other words, if your target is the front of one of the rangefinders, you ideally want a ball/line that will still strike if you hit the middle of the rangefinder.
As for playing straight, I agree and disagree, from my own experience. Yes, it's generally better to play straight. However, this needs to be practiced. If you're a stand left-throw right player on a house shot, you're not likely to be successful jumping to the right all the sudden. My straight game is still inconsistent, so I have typically found more success playing at least a little hook to keep my shot in my comfort zone. When it comes down to it, you need to make good shots, and you need to be comfortable to make good shots. JMO.
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It's all about getting the ball to slow down on the correct part of the lane.
I see this statement frequently. Isn't it equivalent to saying "It's all about getting the ball to exit the pattern on the correct part of the lane?"
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True, but you cannot control where the ball exits the oil on a fatter pattern, like you can on a house shot.
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It's all about getting the ball to slow down on the correct part of the lane.
I see this statement frequently. Isn't it equivalent to saying "It's all about getting the ball to exit the pattern on the correct part of the lane?"
Getting the ball to slow down properly is one thing and putting the ball on-line downlane is another.
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you need to do both for sure
keeping the ball online and to quick - will slide right past breakpoint
conversely, ball online and to slow - through the face just about every time
correct speed and off target, is, well off target
I tell people, if you want to watch and learn form someone, watch the gals
the PWBA for example, they have such good fundamentals.
you can see the soft hand and targeting is so good with some of them, they arent trying to hook the lane unless the pattern calls for it
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The biggest thing people don't understand is the disconnect between rev rate and hook in terms of carry in the modern game. 25 years ago before resin everyone who revved the ball a lot also hooked it a lot, and they carried better. We didn't understand that good carry through minimal deflection was achieved by the release of rotational energy independent of the amount of entry angle achieved with hook. The best players today have learned how to maintain the high rev rate yet stay behind the ball for lower axis rotation. Their goal was to keep the ball in play and play more direct on the flatter tournament patterns. However, they also can now see that smaller hook does not hurt carry so long as there is adequate rotational energy being released.
Bottom line, it is not how much the ball hooks, but how hard it is changing direction no matter how little that change is. Thus I would encourage everyone who is trying to get their game to a higher level to concentrate on learning how to stay behind the ball to gain a smaller axis rotation. Best example I can think of is watching how Sean Rash attacks patterns today compared to how he did a few years ago.
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Some others that come to mind are:
Scott Newell high rev rate, high speed, and very direct!
Michael Fagan is also quite direct for a high rev player.
Regards,
Luckylefty
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Almost every top pro has decreased their axis rotation in recent years.