Ask wrongarm300/siccjay about BOWLING

[wrongarm300]

I am sure one of us will have an answer to your questions!

[J_V]

How do they pick oil patterns for tournaments? Why can't they make it dry on the outside and oily on the inside, so I can strike all day with my weak hook?

[Yahtzee]

What is a standard average for a professional bowler? How would a professional bowler score on the lanes/oil patterns that normal recreational bowlers usually use?

[ooinsight]

I know it is generally recommended when choosing a ball to go 10% of your weight plus a pound. Would this apply for women as well as men? Last time I was bowling I didn't really know what advice to give some of the girls who were this us

[JBB]

How do you feel about the cheetah pattern?

[wrongarm300]

"How do they pick oil patterns for tournaments? Why can't they make it dry on the outside and oily on the inside, so I can strike all day with my weak hook?"

Most tournaments try to make the patterns harder than the normal "league pattern". When you bowl in a tournament it's suppose to be a test of skill. Bowling on a pattern with hook out and hold in is not a test of skill. It becomes a carry contest and the best bowler has a lower % chance to win. However, on a few tournament patterns I have bowled on where there is hook in the middle and hold out, you find that luck is very much involved in who wins. That type of pattern leads to cross-over strikes and once again, negates the test of skill.

"What is a standard average for a professional bowler? How would a professional bowler score on the lanes/oil patterns that normal recreational bowlers usually use?"

In order to get your PBA card I think you have to have averaged 200 for two years or something of the sort, but don't let that kid you. If you are averaging only 200 on a league pattern, you have no business in the pba tour. I bowl league with a PBA member. He is averaging 235 and 237 in two different houses. This is about right for the higher caliber bowlers. Most PBA members average in the 230-240 range on league patterns.

[Tinga]

I would love to improve my bowling game. I believe that in order to improve my game, I am going to have to adopt the hook-style of throwing. I cannot grasp the proper way to do this, still.

I took a bowling class in college, however there were no proper mechanics taught to us by the teacher, and we were just free to bowl. I tried working on the hook during that time, but it was not working.

I have picked up the book, Bowling Execution by John Jowdy, which I have heard is a good book about improving your game. However, I hate reading books (if it's on the computer, I can read and read, weird), and haven't gotten around to reading much of it yet.

Could you point me in the right direction on the proper mechanics to throw a hook-ball? If that is not what I should be concentrating on, then what should I be looking to do?

Also, any material that you recommend that I take a look at to help better my game would be of great interest.

Thanks!

[wrongarm300]

"How do you feel about the cheetah pattern?" By far the easiest pattern on tour. As long as you don't bowl with someone throwing a dull ball, thus 'torching' the hold. As long as you bowl with someone that knows what they are doing, you should stand 10, throw it at the gutter and watch your ball split the 8-9

As for ball weight, that all depends on how strong your arm/wrists are. I know 240 pd PBA members that use 14 pd bowling balls, and I know 150 pd PBA members that use 16 pd equipment. It all depends on how much weight you can control through your swing and develop a consistant release with.

[wrongarm300]

If that is not what I should be concentrating on, then what should I be looking to do?

It's amazing the turn in bowling these days. 10 years ago he who hooked it struck and won the most. Today, with the high performance bowling balls, most high level players are learning how to NOT hook the ball. The less your ball hooks, the higher your carry % is going to be. The idea is simple, if your ball is heading straight down the lane it is going to be more consistant when heading into the pocket. If you are hooking the ball all over the place you leave yourself open to a number of miscues. If you grab it at the bottom too much, you split. If you throw one too hard, you split. If you miss it at the bottom, you split.

Read the Jowdy book. He is one of, if not THE best coach out there. And he is one of the #1 guys out there right now teaching the "straight is great" strategy.

[toss]

What are your thoughts about the horizontal spin method? You know that technique where you spin the ball nearly completely horizontal from start to finish. That style that more popular in asian countries I think.