For Pete's Sake - SLOW DOWN!

The last two lessons I've had have been extremely interesting. Last week I was 10 minutes into one of the best sessions yet, and I threw my back out (ouch!), so we turned the rest of the hour into a discussion ABOUT bowling instead. So that was cool.

Today, I've had another great lesson. I'm FINALLY starting to see my release "work" and my follow through is not too bad. What feels like me topping the ball apparently isn't - so part of the problem is that I've been holding back on getting around the ball at the point of release worrying that I was forcing too much spin on it.

However, the biggest change has been that I'm going far too fast getting to the foul line. This has always been an issue because it seems counter-intuitive to me for two reasons. First, momentum is carried to the ball when you go from your approach to stopping at the foul line, so one would THINK that speed means more momentum, and greater ball velocity means more kinetic energy put onto the pins. Second, getting to a stopped position in advance of the ball should mean that you can come through your shot more.

But it's not as simple as that because, well - timing is everything. You can beat your arm swing to the line, but then you run the risk of forcing the shot. Also, overcoming all that inertia is tough and what typically happens is that you'll start rise into your shot.

If you're rising into your shot, odds are you're rushing to the line. SLOW DOWN! :-)

So, I really forced myself to slow down on the last two steps - not so much that I exaggerated it, but enough that it SEEMED a little more "leisurely" than I would have usually taken it.

Big improvement - the release started happening more in synch, and my follow through was greatly improved.