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Reprinted/Posted with permission from Bowlers Journal International.

74 Bowlers Journal International | December 2018 www.bowlersjournal.com

Pro Tips And Ball Reviews

ClinicClinic

BY MICHELLE MULLEN { yourbowlingcoach.com }

FOUNDATION FRAME

Late Timing Vs. Early Timing: While a lot of bowlers miss left when they are late (left image) because they then pull the ball, those who do not make the correction to catch up their swing do in fact miss right. However, when bowlers miss to the left, it is not always because they are late, but often because they are early (right image).

Sometimes, why you miss is not so obvious. When I took my Bronze-level coaching test, I missed a question. Of course, I argued for my answer.

The question: When a right-handed bowler is late, which way does he miss his target?

My answer was “left.” The answer they were looking for was “right.” This is a great prelude to the topic for this column.

I answered “left” because when I took the test, I had already been coaching for many years. I had seen that when bowl-ers were late, many made a correction to their timing by pulling the ball in an attempt to get it back in time — there-fore, missing their target to the left. But the test was asking which way a bowler misses, not assuming the correction, so the answer was to the “right.” I did not read the assumption into it.

To this day, I see a lot of bowlers miss left when they are late because they then pull the ball, but agree that the ones that do not make the correction to catch up their swing do, in fact, miss right. However, when bowlers miss to the left, it is not always because they are late, but often because they are early.

These days, when bowlers are warm-ing up for their lesson and I see that they have early timing at the line, I’ll take the leap to ask them if they tend to miss their target to the left. Usually, they confi rm that they do. Then they continue to explain that they pull the ball all the time. That’s when I have some explaining to do.

WHEN BOWLERS COME in for lessons, it’s common to hear that they are having a hard time hitting their target. Typi-cally, it has nothing to do with a lack of focus. Rather, it has to do with their timing, affecting their leverage at the line.

The Evolution of Timing

Reprinted/Posted with permission from Bowlers Journal International.

www.bowlersjournal.com December 2018 | Bowlers Journal International 75

Pro Tips And Ball Reviews

ClinicClinic

So, if a bowler can miss left when they are late because they end up pull-ing the ball, how is it they can miss left when they are early?

There are two reasons a player can miss left: 1) because they are late and pull, or 2) because they are early and have no leverage to project the ball.

Let’s go back to a previous column (and a concept that I address early in my book) regarding timing at the fi nish. Should…

a. the ball be there before you?

b. you be there before the ball?

c. you and the ball be there together?

While many choose C (which was a good answer years ago when equip-ment was weaker and bowlers generally had to roll the ball more directly to the pocket), the correct answer is B.

But keep in mind that we are talking about split seconds. Although tim-ing does vary among bowlers, based on style, this question alludes to the sequential motion of the body to create power and balance at delivery. Essen-tially, we get power from the legs up.

I use the analogy of the baseball bat-ter who steps before they swing, or the pitcher who winds up with their lower body before they throw. The body pre-cedes the object it projects for leverage and power. So, in bowling, you want to get the body to the line slightly before the ball — again, especially with to-day’s stronger equipment as compared to years past when the balls barely hooked. (Back then, you wanted things more “together” at the line.)

So, when a player is early, the ball gets to the line too soon, and this causes the shoulders to close at deliv-ery. When the shoulders close because the ball is ahead of the body, you’ll miss left because your shoulders are no longer open to project the ball, like that of the player in the test question who misses right when they are late because their shoulders are too open at the line.

Furthermore, when you are early at the line and your shoulders are closed — because the ball is there too soon, not because you pulled it — this affects the release and your ability to balance. When your shoulders close up, the

hand tends to get around the side of the ball — ironically, much like it does when you pull the ball down.

With early timing, as your shoulders close up, so does your hand. It’s not from pulling; it’s from a poor fi nish position creating a lack of leverage at the line. And if you are early enough, you literally can’t balance because you have no time to.

I see this issue often, especially with those who have been bowling a long time. While there was a day that earlier timing worked, with today’s equipment you want to be able to project these balls that hook so much more than those of the past because they have much stronger covers and cores.

Typically, the fi x is to create more swing, giving the body more time to get to the line ahead of the ball. Players who get early usually start the ball too soon. Or they may help the ball back into the swing too quickly and/or do not let it swing behind them enough to get ahead of the ball at the line.

Three common reasons for this are: 1) the ball is too heavy to let it swing through a full arc, 2) the bowler has

early timing in the start so the ball is ahead from the beginning, or 3) they do not let the ball swing enough behind them because they are inten-tionally trying to get the ball to the line too soon. That’s why understand-ing the desired timing at the line is so important. I go into much more detail on causes of early timing, and how to fi x it, in my book.

As I’ve said before, there is defi nitely a mentality shift required to adjust the timing. If the bowler who was early in the start creates a later start, they will likely just rush the ball to the release point from the top of the backswing because their body wants to get the ball to the line sooner, out of habit. Un-derstanding that you want to be there ahead of the ball is key to being able to relax your downswing as you create later timing in the start.

The ball is heaviest to you when it is farthest from you. To understand this, just take your ball and hold it like a book by your belly. Then, push it away from your body and hold it. It’s much heavier to you when it is away from your center of gravity. So, if your ball is too heavy for you, you will have a hard time pushing it away as well as letting it swing higher behind you. A lighter ball could help.

Also, make sure you have a good ball fi t. A poor fi t or loose thumb hole will make the ball seem heavier than it is. Furthermore, a poor fi t will force you to grip it, which creates tension in your arm and makes it diffi cult to let it swing.

So, to correct missing left due to the issue of having early timing at the line, create more swing. Create a bigger, more patient arc that affords your body the time to get to the line ahead of the ball. This will give you the projec-tion toward the target that you had been lacking — not because you were pulling, but because your timing was closing up your shoulders.

Michelle Mullen is a USBC Gold-level coach and the author of two books, “Bowling Fundamentals” and “How to Pick Up Spares.” For more tips, visit yourbowlingcoach.com.

With early timing, as your shoulders close up, so does your hand. It’s not from pulling; it’s from a poor fi nish position creat-ing a lack of leverage at the line.

Reprinted/Posted with permission from Bowlers Journal International.