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BOWLING TECH: SUMMER’S HERE, LET’S BOWL?
Summer is here and winter leagues are finishing up, should I bowl this summer or hang the shoes up for three months? The tough question many bowlers have about summer bowling with so much to do outdoors during these months ahead.
How will it affect my game if I take the whole summer off? Bowling, like any other sport, requires a certain amount of muscle memory as well as some conditioning of those moving body parts we use in bowling.
THROUGH THE YEARS—A SPECIAL BOWLING BOND
By: Bette Addington
Bowling leagues come and go as do league bowlers. How many times have you asked a fellow league bowler about a guy or gal that used to bowl on your league that are now gone? That happens more frequently than we think so how special is it to seek out some individuals who have bowled together for nearly two decades? That was my quest and I was thrilled to find three teams—one women’s team, one mixed team and one senior team—who have been together bowling year after year to find out how they have endured each other all these years and the special bond that has developed.
The women’s team is partially a family affair with two of the members, mother (Evelyn Jaso) teamed up with her sister, Laura “Pumpkin” Santa Cruz who have been together now for a good 20 years. They used to have Chris Gallardo as their fourth member but due to injury, she was replaced recently by Lou Gutierrez. Evelyn’s daughter, Ursula, has been bowling with them now for 12 years. She bowled as a youth in the Bantam and Junior leagues.
BOWLING TECH: REGENCY’S NEW OIL PATTERNS
Regency Lanes will be testing a couple of Kegel’s house oil patterns that will best fit the typical recreational league bowler. Kegel is the manufacture of the lane machine that is used at Regency Lanes and one of the leaders of the industry for versatile lane machines that do every kind of oil pattern imaginable.
BOWLING TECH: BOWLING HAND STRESS
The bowling hand and the stress and demands we put on it during the game of bowling (both hands if you’re a two-handed bowler) can be more than imaginable.
Most pro shop operators get asked many times a week, what should my hand(s) feel like as I hold my bowling ball through the entire swing and release? If your bowling ball is drilled correctly, you should not feel very much fatigue at the end of a normal league night and three games of bowling. If you bowl tournaments that require many more games in just a couple of days/weekend, you may have to deal with blisters, puffing, stiffness and even joint fatigue—especially if your hand, arm and legs are not in shape!
What you should be feeling in your bowling ball, regardless of conventional or a finger-tip grip, is a smooth edged thumb hole that requires little or no squeezing at any part of the swing and releases quickly when you totally relax your thumb at the release point.
Fingers next. As your thumb exits the ball, soon after the fingers should also exit without much drag. There are a few exceptions for bowlers that use a full stretched finger-tip grip. Often they feel a burn or tingling sensation on the pads of their fingers.
Sounds easy so far, right? Do you release the ball in a handshake position? Cranker position (up under the ball)? Stroker position (behind the ball into a handshake) at the release point or maybe a back-up ball? All of these different angles of release require different thumb pitches (angle) in order to not put your thumb in a bind as it exits the ball.
Ask a friend where your thumb is at the bottom of the swing and as it exits the ball (video in slow motion). Have your ball driller give it a look also.
BOWLING TECH: BOWLING BALL MAINTENANCE 101
Just when everyone thought all the different sand paper and polish compound combos had been explored, guess again! Not only are there at least a half dozen or more different ways to directionally finish your bowling ball’s surface, but how about the different amounts of grip from the ball’s shell that contacts the lane?
Not only are there cleaners that change the friction factor, but Ebonite International has recently released a new product called “Power House”/ (Adrenaline) (Ball Steroid Wipes) to enhance the ball’s ability to grip the lane like it was a brand new ball even after hundreds of games!
As a reactive bowling ball collects and absorbs lane oil into its shell, it eventually loses its ability to absorb any more, at least until the new Ebonite Ball Steroid Wipes hit the market. Now that new favorite ball might last hundreds of more games than expected while maintaining that new ball grip up until it either wears out the track of the ball or gets destroyed by a hungry pin-spotter!
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