Bowlers Journal International - April 2008 - (Page 18)

FRAMEOFMIND BY BILL HALL SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT MYTH: There should not be any rotation movement of the upper body (i.e., the shoulders) in the shot. FACT: All of the great bowlers allowed at least a slight rotation of the shoulders in their shot execution, some much more than others. That is true of stars from previous generations — such as Don Carter, who rotated his shoulders only slightly — to modern-day stars such as Pete Weber, who rotates his shoulders to an extreme level. The key factor is that they allowed the bowling shoulder to rotate back to a square position, but not any further than that. They also allowed the We don't yet need the Misinformation Police, but it non-bowling shoulder to rotate “forward” and not “in“ to balwould help if everybody got their facts in order. ance out both sides of the body and to keep the swing from going off-line. FOR THOSE WHO REALIZE THAT BOWLING IS AN ACQUISIMYTH: You should not “grip“ a bowling ball. tive skill as opposed to one requiring innate natural ability, FACT: Any time you try to hold something in your hand, it knowledge about the sport is critical. Accordingly, when the requires some form of grip pressure. The main thing is to information about the game is misleading — or even downknow how to hold the bowling ball properly with the least right inaccurate — it not only can make bowling more confusamount of effort. As an example, try carrying a plastic grocery ing than it already is. It might even prove an insurmountable bag with your fingers through the loops without any grip preshandicap in your goal of becoming a good sure. The guess here is that the bag won’t be bowler. It is easy to say that you want to avoid in your hand very long. You should hold on the misinformation but, unfortunately, myths to a bowling ball in much the same way. The abound in our sport. thumb should be the brace against which you squeeze your fingers. We're sure you've heard some of these myths that pass for fact. If not, read on MYTH: To be a good bowler, you have to throw a big hook. MYTH: Always use a consistent pace for your approach. FACT: The only thing that needs to be provided here is a list of names — Earl Anthony, FACT: A bowler should be able to control “different paces” on the approach when cirWalter Ray Williams Jr., Norm Duke, Mark Roth, Don Carter, Marshall Holman, etc. Even cumstances warrant. For example, if you need to increase your ball speed, you should also though Roth and Holman applied a lot of revs to the ball, their ball tracks actually didn’t increase the pace of the footwork in your approach. The reason is that a slightly faster “cover a lot of boards,“ contrary to popular belief. approach allows the swing and the feet to gain momentum. This allows you to increase MYTH: Keep your wrist cupped to throw a lot of revs and/or hook the ball a lot. the ball speed without losing control at the foul line. The main thing is to start with a comfortFACT: This probably is one of the most misunderstood notions in bowling. A player can able pace, then allow the momentum to gradually increase during each step before the slide. cup the wrist, but in order to exact revs from On the other hand, if you want to decrease the Glenn Allison got Hall of Fame rec- the ball, the wrist needs to go from a cupped ball speed, use a slower, more deliberate pace ognition by both PBA and USBC. So position to an uncupped position at the point in your approach. In this way, the pace of the why's he so proud of the spare ball of release. This is not a new technique, by the way. It has been used for many years, swing would be slightly more deliberate to that he's clutching? from Eddie Lubanski and his two-holed balls match the slower pace of the feet. MYTH: Each step on the approach should gradually and in the 1950s, to the modern day “two-handed“ player, Jason increasingly be longer than the previous step. Belmonte. FACT: The majority of the game's greatest bowlers took their MYTH: A plastic ball is a spare ball in the sense that it is longest strides in the first two steps (of a 4-step approach). only used for shooting spares, except under the most unusual Another part of effective footwork is that the step before circumstances. the slide is shorter than any of the previous steps. Having a FACT: Glenn Allison shot his 900 series with a plastic ball in ordinary league play. Even today, a polyester ball still can shorter stride in the third step allows you to position the trailing leg “under” you to help provide good leverage at the foul produce strikes under the right circumstances. Proof? Two line. If the step before the sliding step is too long, the position bowlers recently finished in the top five in a tournament in of the sliding step would be too far out in front of you, causing Malaysia using plastic bowling balls. a loss of balance and a loss of leverage at the foul line. BOB JOHNSON 18 bowlers journal international APRIL 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Bowlers Journal International - April 2008

Bowlers Journal International - April 2008 Contents Leading Off Letters Bowlitically Incorrect Calendar Par Bowling The Coach Frame of Mind Inside Line The Truth Be Bowled Tournaments Pro Bowling PBA Bayer Classic PBA Pepsi Championship PBA Don Johnson Classic Regional Roundup Cover Story Up Close Senior Tour The USBC Move USBC Convention Pattern Play Anniversary Flashback Time Capsule Media Beat No Holes Barred Shop Talk Spotlight Marketplace Hall Marks Profit Prophet Advertisers' Index Classified Advertising Intelligencer Business Calendar Business People Strikes Me

Bowlers Journal International - April 2008

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