L atelier du bowling

Control the Roll for Challenging & Competitive Conditions

As a rule, today's lane conditions provide for two distinct environments which correspondingly affect a bowler’s score. A significantly high percentage of leagues bowl on a so-called “house condition” that is forgiving and, in many cases, artificially improves averages. It’s a condition where heavy concentrations of lane dressing in the center of the lane help create a “holding” pattern. On this type of condition, a bowler can pull or tug a delivery which would normally result in a cross-over, but heavy oil keeps the ball in a skid long enough to direct it toward the pocket instead. When the same lane has very little, if any, oil on the outside boards, a bowler can totally miss his/her target at delivery, send the ball on an improper outward angle and watch it hook back because the drier outside boards promote hook. Again, the ball is artificially helped back toward the pocket. In such cases, bowlers achieve success despite a poor delivery. You create bad habits without being penalized and many bowlers who regularly compete on such conditions are the first to complain when they leave the safety of those forgiving “house conditions.” How many of you have returned home from the American Bowling Congress Championships Tournament, or some other demanding out-of-town event, bemoaning how tough the conditions were or how terrible “the shot” was? What you are really saying is the conditions you faced were different, unforgiving and your scores reflected your inability to overcome the challenge.When you confront the Three Cs of Bowling — Challenging, Competitive Conditions— a bowler must develop control over several variables in his/her game in order to achieve success. The next six articles will deal with the Three Cs of Bowling and will help you develop techniques, mental attitudes and new approaches to the sport in order to achieve success on all lane conditions. THE A-B-C PROTOCOL Under normal league conditions with a heavy inside oil pattern and dry outside boards, a bowler is able to succeed by using a hand position that would otherwise create inconsistencies. Typically, the bowler holds his hand under the ball and rotates the hand around the ball with the arm swing intentionally creating an outward trajectory. The ball hooks strongly due to drier outside boards and the lane itself brings the ball back to the pocket. Under a Challenging, Competitive Condition, the lane will not allow for an outward trajectory because of a flatter, longer or heavier oil pattern. With oil covering the outside boards, the ball will skid instead of hook, or it will hook less, now allowing the ball to get back to the pocket. In order to contend with more challenging conditions, you need to execute a purer, consistent, straight-line arm swing and release. Depending upon how much hook you are able to generate with this swing/release, you may elect to play a line straight down the boards or angle your shot through the front part of the lane. At Dick Ritger Bowling Camps, we teach a hand position technique we call the “A-B-C Protocol:” A Put your hand under the ball. Turn your hand 90 degrees with the back of the hand on the side of the ball. Relax the wrist and allow the natural weight of the ball to create a slight downward bend in the wrist (don’t force it). Maintain this slight downward wrist bend throughout the approach to the line. Upon release, move your fingers straight forward through the ball, not around it. This will create a straight ball direction whether you’re bowling with the boards or diagonally across them. The ball will travel in a straight line longer and will “flip” harder at the end, resulting in an excellent ball/pin reaction. The straight line effect created with the A-B-C Protocol will result in greater consistency, better ball/pin reaction and higher scores on Challenging, Competitive Conditions.