Changes!

After another team challenge where I posted what I believe is a sub-par performance, I decided to take a hard look at how well I match up to various patterns. My belief is that my 3 3/4" pin to PAP whirl-O-rama release is pretty awful on a good portion of lane conditions.

The excessive amount of "thumb-down" that I generate at the release does a number of things. Rather than label them as good or bad, here's my assessment of what it offers:

1) It creates backend reaction.
2) It creates very high angle.
3) It increases the distance the weight block has to travel in order for it to stabilize.
4) It magnifies minor transitions.
5) It creates a larger pocket.

Specifically, the biggest issue I have with "my old A release" is that it forces me to hit the dry further down the lane than is desirable. This forces me to play deeper and use weaker equipment. At most tournaments I'll be an arrow deeper then lefties that have more hand than I do, because of the angle my release generates. Guys that can roll the ball can hit dry earlier and the ball doesn't bounce off the dry as hard, so they can stay further left, use stronger equipment, and stay in the dry longer and sooner.

As a lefty, the number of times where a deep inside shot is a "good look" is relatively low. Unfortunately, it's what my release forces me to play on far too many environments.

I'm of the belief that in general (not always, but usually), playing further outside with stronger equipment yields better results than playing deeper with weak stuff. (This is a general statement. You should always do what the lane tells you to, but given the option, starting further out would tend to be more conducive to scoring).

I had some quality discussions with John Eiss, Dave Hoppenrath, and Chuck Vashaw to get some feedback, and the general consensus was that my opinion was correct. In choosing to change my A-release, I'm taking the hard road. It would be far easier to choose different layouts, but it also won't be as effective. (Note: I did drill up a few lower pin balls and they do transition smoother, but it's still way too much overall hook).

Then I talked to Don White, my instructor of 10+ years. He summed it up with "You're throwing the ball well, the problem isn't physical". So, I'm left with one or more of the following real possibilities:

1) I can't read a lane.
2) My mental game is bad.
3) I don't match up on the majority of environments.

Note that 3) and 1) could be tied together.

After the discussion with Don, in which he agreed that we should give it a go, I stopped in to get started.

Thankfully I'm able to do a fair amount of different things to a bowling ball. Within about 20 minutes, I had the track raised up considerably, with a straight version and a hook version of this new release. I was physically sharp, but the release just needed lots of games so that it becomes automatic.

I practiced all week, probably about 50-60 games.

I bowled the sport league at Country Club and shot about 760 for 4 games, which was incredibly disappointing considering my enthusiasm for this new ball reaction. (Oh and by the way, the low pin equipment went from great to terrible, which is to be expected considering the new release).

I had my track re-measured that week, and it came out at 5" straight across, which to me is nearly ideal.

I went back to Don for another look, and things looked good but not great. I was a bit aggressive in my starting motion, and that seems to be the theme when I start to bowl bad.

That Wednesday I bowled league at New Hope, on a house shot (a house shot that gives me retarded over under with my old release) and fired 231-279-300=810 (#21, #6 respectively). I was happy in that it showed me how well the new release matches up, but I was still objective in that my execution of the new release still needs work. I had about 6 bad shots in that set, it's just that the bad shots were right on target, they were just off at the bottom of the swing (I spun them a bit and lucked out).

Then I capped off the 810 with a trip to Alexandria, where I struggled to average 200 even for 18 games. I left SIX of those 4-count splits (ball takes out the 1-3-5-9).

I tried throwing surface.
I tried shiny.
I played as far out as 3-3 and as far inside as 22-17.
I tried low pins
I tried high pins
I tried straight equipment
I tried hooking equipment
I tried the high track release, both straight and with a higher rev rate.
I tried the old release.

I had 3 chops and 1 single pin miss over 18 games. I can tolerate missing a single pin in 18 games, I think that's reasonable. I could have done without one or two of those chops, but overall my execution wasn't awful. It wasn't stellar, but it was nothing to be ashamed of (again, I'm speaking about execution, not lane play). I left somewhere between 30 and 40 splits, from all over the lane, with all of the above tools being used.

In hindsight, my only real regrets from a lane-play standard would be that I spent too much time searching and not enough time trying to get into a rhythm. This is a pretty big fault of mine, but I don't see myself shooting over about 650 on that environment.

The right side looked to me like you had to be really, really on top of transitions and you had to find a way to keep your break point for the entire set, and just find a way to get the ball there each time. There didn't seem to be any noticeable friction spot. As the lanes broke down, you'd get roll in the heads and carrydown (lots of it on the right) but you never got any really big bump outside of the carrydown.

It did seem to me that most of the righties were playing the same break, so you'd get a nasty transition that would happen pretty fast, then they'd settle for a game or game and a half, then you'd get another one. Our righties were almost all on the same break point and they ended up with a playable shot. Top score that I saw for the weekend was Lumpy with his 300-772.

On a personal note, this is probably the most discouraged I've been with my bowling in a long while, but it's also the most motivated I have ever been to improve.

I put in over 100 games in the past two weeks, most of them practicing the new release. Clearly 100 games isn't enough.