(On our house lane condition) Most of you may not know that if you lay the ball down anywhere right of the 2nd arrow, the ball will hook way more than a shot thrown on or left of the 2nd arrow. Also, if you throw the ball close to the gutter, it will hook even more. So don’t be afraid of the gutter! Too many of you only want to throw the ball over the 2nd arrow! This is because the oil is applied primarily from the 2nd arrow on the left to the 2nd arrow on the right. However, if you lay the ball down left of the 2nd arrow and swing it to the outside boards near the gutter, your ball may not hook back. This is because you have laid the ball down in the oil and it was in a skid for the first 20+ ft of your delivery. This makes it very difficult to hook back.

The rule of thumb (right-handers): if your ball is not hooking up to the pocket enough, move your stance and delivery to the right (small amounts: 1-3 boards at a time). If your ball is coming in too much, then move left with the same system.

Thank you for reading.

This week we will focus more on general bowling advice rather than a specific bowling tip.

Some of you may know that Indianapolis is hosting the US Open this week, and you may know a local bowler or two that has entered. While I applaud these people for entering the most prestigious tournament in bowling, I would like to point out the reasons why this tournament, and PBA tournaments in particular, are almost always graveyards for these people.

The most obvious thing is the lane conditions: the oil is totally flat. This amplifies any errors the bowler makes by 10. League conditions hide the errors. So when you see your favorite league bowler average 220-240, he or she is likely to be clueless when it comes to this type of tough bowling environment. I compare this to a local city “hack” golfer that may have a zero handicap going to Bethpage Black and playing against the top PGA pros. It borders on insanity. Sure, you gain experience, and you make many people giggle, but you realize that maybe you should have looked into this a little more before taking the plunge. I won’t name names, but one of our league bowlers is running a close 1000 pins back of the leaders right now; he’s looking to string (6) 300’s in a row to get back in the hunt. Whoa!

The first step to be even remotely competitive is to gain knowledge about these conditions (feel free to contact me if you are seriously wanting to learn), then join a PBA Experience League. (We will have one of these this spring!) If you can average 200+ in one of those, you are ready to try a PBA event. Anything short of this is like taking a bath with an electric eel… not a good idea.

This week’s tip will focus on a myth in bowling…  ball speed!  Most people believe that if you throw the ball harder, you will knock down more pins.  This is almost always false.  I say this because a “rolling” ball will deliver more energy than one that is “sliding” down the lane.  (We have a staff member here at Pinheads that really needs to study this week’s tip… he often gets “robbed” on seemingly good hits, when the ball was actually just skidding too much.)

Ideally, the revolutions on the ball need to match the ball speed.  How?  Well… what you want to look for is the ball rolling through the 5 pin and then in between the 8 and 9 on a good shot.  If the ball is bouncing towards the 9 and 10 (for right-handers) (8 and 7 for left-handers) then the ball is likely skidding too much… and you need to slow down.  If the ball is cutting too hard and you are leaving solid 8s or 9s…  then you may want to add some speed.

We have many events coming up…

Even though they are our competitor… we are in the bowling business together… and I strongly recommend stopping by Woodland Bowl to see the US Open next week…  Feb 22nd - 28th.  That should be a great event!

We will be hosting the PBA here at the end of April…  so stay tuned for that!

Also don’t forget about our Spring Tournament Series coming up!

Notable scores for the week:

K of C: Jack White 235/603

Wed. Mixers: Dan Vermillion 264; Jack Vermillion 747

CCA Sports: Patrick Wall 289/726

Promise: Art Cathcart 257/611

Merchants: Tim Brown 194/601

Food & Beer: Beanie Neuenschwander 226/600; Lori Miller 189/437

Hopeless: Ed Dudley 279/703

This blog will be updated between Monday & Wednesday of each week.

Below is a list of last week’s notable scores:

• Promise League: Alan Thorup 217
• Promise League: Monte Chamberlin 574
• Food & Beer League: Blue Langlais 212
• Food & Beer League: Brian Heidorn 582
• Food & Beer League: Connie Wikle 148
• Food & Beer League: Bobbie White 394
• K of C League: Ron Wesley/Scott Manship 235
• K of C League: Jack White 623
• Wednesday Mixers League: Tracey Burroughs 268
• Wednesday Mixers League: Jack Vermillion 689
• CCA League: Tatum Harsh 220
• CCA League: Gib Allen 583
• Merchants League: Nick Price 267/710
• Merchants League: Sarah Brelage 145
• Have-A-Ball League: Doug Van Dyke: 214
• Have-A-Ball League: Marcia Van Dyke: 174
• Hopeless League: Alex Wilson 196
• Hopeless League: Chris Meador 146

This week’s tip: Posture – Many bowlers fail to maintain posture throughout the approach. They bend at the waist prior to delivering the ball. This motion breaks down the pendulum swing arc, thus triggering errant shots. This could be corrected by bending at the knees during the delivery, which will allow gravity to keep the ball and swing on plane.

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