Go Practise!

[GeorgeF]

George Freeman's Expert Bowling Tips:

Go Practice!

02/22/2002 - By George Freeman

There is an old saying that goes, "You don't win anything for practice, and you don't win anything if you don't." This is as true in bowling as any other sport, especially if you are a tournament bowler. It can be tedious, boring, and just generally anti-fun, but practice is the key to improving on your game and achieving success.

When you walk into a bowling center with the intention of practicing, it's important to have some kind of game plan before you start. Just throwing bowling balls down the lane one after another will be counterproductive in the long run. You might want to work on just one thing, like your follow through. Don't worry about where the ball is going, just make sure that your follow through is consistent and steady from shot to shot. You might want to work on keeping your head steady or having a good knee bend. Whatever you plan to work on, make sure you have a purpose to going out and practicing.

When Tiger Woods was learning his game, he would go out and practice with his father, and during the round his father would purposely do things right before he took his swing to try to distract him; this made Tiger mentally tough, and we all know where he is today. Now, I'm not suggesting you go get your dad and have him drop bowling balls on the lane before you throw the ball, but one thing I like to do from time to time, when it's possible, is to be put on the lane next to a bunch of kids or a kid's birthday party. This helps me to work on tuning out distractions while I'm on the lane. This is just something I do, you might find something else as equally distracting while you bowl, my advice would be to bowl with that distraction and work on tuning it out. If you can do that, your mental toughness in tournament play when the time comes to deal with a distraction.

Practice is essential, but it is important to have a purpose in practicing. Hopefully these suggestions will help you develop a game plan.

 

[androooo]

George, I agree. The best bit of advice for practising is...PRACTISE HOW YOU PLAY!

When you're bowling a tournament, there is a lot of distracting things going on. If you can practise with a lot of dristaction going on, ie: the kids running down the lane ect ect, it makes it a hell of a lot easier.

The hardest type of distraction to cope with I have found, not only in golf, but bowling aswell, is when you're halfway through your shot, and there is a loud scream or noise or something. A lot of little things do get drowned out in a bowling centre, because of the noise levels of the machines, pins ect, but how many times have you seen a golfer almost rip a guys head off for clicking a camera during his swing? Almost EVERY tournament that happens. Bowlers do have that constant noise level which can help you actually concentrate more. Bowlers learn to deal with it. I played with a guy in a golf tournament that REFUSED to hit his putt on the 18th....Why??....Because the electronic scoreboard was making a humming sound, and was distracting him, so he DEMANDED that it be turned off. I've never laughed so hard in my life.


This brings me to another question:

Does your ability to block out distractions, depend on how well you are playing at the time?

My answer....YES, and I'm sure 95% would be the same.

 

[Tiger]

That's a pretty good point Androo just made there about how well you are playing being proportioned to how you are at blocking out distractions.
I usually find the only things that really distract me are flash cameras, social bowlers running up past me, and maybe someone having a screaming match whilst I'm trying to bowl.
If I'm bowling really well I will block that sort of thing out 98% of the time but, If I am struggling I will be almost ready to have a fist-fight with the person responsible - as Androo can tell you.
As for practice, I used to get all serious and take notice of all the scores and worry If I was struggling.
These days I use practice as a form of "just throwing the arm over". Working more on technique rather than the scores.
Some days I'll throw four 240's in a row, other days for 160's - it doesnt faze me as long as I've worked on plan of refining my technique/staying behind the shot/spareshooting.
It certainly makes practice more enjoyable than the serious "plan-less" practice games I used to have.