I tried a new bowling style in league last night, and while I didn't have my best night, it was certainly promising. I ended the first game with a solid ten pin in the ninth, after a strike in the eighth, and then left a 2-8-10 in the tenth for a disappointing 201 game. I followed that with a 236 and 242 for a 679 set, which brought my average up to 220. Not quite to last year's final average, but I've only bowled 15 games to date because of my back injury.
The change I made was to start with the ball hanging lower, and my body slouched a little, head-down. I'm not sure exactly how it looks, but I imagine it's something like
Del Ballard, Jr., with a tad less slide.
Previously, I had been trying a more classic style, like a
Brian Voss, only with a 5-step delivery, and without the model-good looks. My local bowling pro got me to lower my ball position at set-up to about midpoint. Previously I started it higher, like
Mike Aulby would often do.
The change helped me with direction, but didn't help as much as I wanted with ball speed. With the previous two styles, the only way I could generate acceptable ball speed (in my mind, anyway, to keep up with how the power game has become more commonplace), was to either bring my back swing way back high, or to muscle it on the downswing. The former was difficult for me to control my accuracy with, and the latter seemed to give me difficulty keeping consistent with my release.
Here's what the "Ballard" change seems to have done for me:
1) Keeps my head low the whole time. I tend to otherwise be too upright, causing me to loft it too much at times, unless I bring my head and body lower during the approach, which gives me consistency problems.
2) Gives me the ball speed I need because I walk more quickly to the line now. Standing more upright made walking faster more awkward.
3) Allows me to not think too much about my
backswing. I've never been comfortable with a big
backswing. I can let it be as short as comes naturally now, and still get over 16 mph on my ball because of my faster (yet more in control) approach.
4) I don't know if this has anything to do with the new style, but the ball was coming off my thumb better than any previous league night this season, even though the hole was fitting just as
snugly as ever.
As much as it seems like a lot of changes, all I really do differently is drop down to the "Ballard position" at set-up, and everything else comes together. This style isn't actually new to me. I used it for a few years in the late '90s/early '00s. I had what I think was an old 14 pound blue resin Hammer drilled for someone else (only a semi-fingertip span for me), so while I had some success with that style, I also had a lot of struggles. I didn't buy my first new and custom-fit reactive ball until about three years ago when I got back into bowling after a lengthy layoff. I went back to my older style then for whatever reason.
I'll update regularly how it goes. I also hope to post some before/after videos. I was encouraged at how well I threw it, despite just a decent score for the night. I probably would rather look like
Voss when I bowl (I even used to sport the wavy brown hair when I grew it out more), or maybe take the ball back like
Michael Fagan. But pretty is as pretty does, and I'm getting too old to look good, anyway.
