> After bowling a good season on wood lanes, and inturn on quite a few
> occasions bowling a good 190 ave, I went bowling on some synthetic or
> plastic lanes. on lining up in my usual place (second arrow, rotation,
> nice easy hook into the pocket), Do you think I could get ANY hook
> into the pocket ? nope, went straight passed... no amount of
> increasing rotation, which I dont like doing as it hurts my am, I
> ended up throwing the ball straight at the pocket with rotation to get
> a decent pin action. On chatting with the manager of my wooded laned
> alley, he said that I should 'Learn to Turn the Ball'........eh ?
> wassat ? turn it ?, ok you lost me, is there anyone out there who
> could elaborate on what 'turning the ball' actually means ?, my normal
> shot is a stright ball over the second arrow with a nice easy hook
> into the pocket'
As you've discovered, "synthetic" lanes are very, very different from
wood lanes, and oftentimes require DELIVERY and/or EQUIPMENT changes
to bowl well. Therefore, without physically seeing your form and
delivery, these are the first things I'd try to "boost your hook":
1) Deliver your ball CLOSER TO THE CHANNEL. IOW, instead of going
straight down the 10 board (2nd arrow), try moving your starting
stance and target FOUR BOARDS closer to the gutter and deliver the
ball straight down the SIX (6) BOARD instead? it's a safe bet there's
LESS OIL between the 1 and 10 boards, which will immediately translate
into MORE FRICTION, which creates MORE HOOK because the ball is
"biting down" on the lane more than at the 10 board. If the ball
hooks too much (i.e., lots of Brooklyns "and beyond"), move your
starting point and target BACK to the 10 board in 1-board increments.
Assuming you're good on your targeting (and you're not "afraid" of
rolling "near" the gutter), you should find that "perfect track" and
such.
2) While maintaining your current starting stance and target, SLOW THE
BALL DOWN at your delivery. This is easily accomplished by holding
the ball 3-6" LOWER in your stance. As long as you have a "free and
easy", straight-armed pendulum swing, you'll find you can cut 2-5 mph
OFF your delivery speed. Assuming you're a "stroker" in your release,
slowing the ball speed will allow it to "bite" the lane more (and
eariler), translating into a larger hook, and possibly necessitating
you to start 5-7 boards DEEPER (i.e., more to the LEFT if you're right-
handed; RIGHT if you're left-handed). You can probably keep your
existing target board or else move your target 1-2 boards DEEPER as
well. ** IMPORTANT: lowering the ball in the stance, assuming "all
things being equal", will REQUIRE a corresponding timing adjustment
with your footwork to ensure you maintain a proper release! ** In
fact, you MIGHT find you'll have to move your TARGET closer to the
gutter (don't move your starting stance position!) by 1 or 2 boards,
which will translate into a bit more hook.
3) ROUGHEN THE BALL'S COVERSTOCK. If your ball is polished, hit it
with an 800 or 1000 grit Abralon pad to remove some of the polish.
This will increase the "tread" of your coverstock, which will increase
its' FRICTION on the lane.
4) Change HAND POSITION at delivery. IOW, if you start with the ball
"resting" in your palm and it pretty much stays in that position,
slightly "rotate" the ball in your stance so the PALM of your hand is
pointing more to your body's center. IOW, if your PALM position looks
like "---" (parallel, more or less, to the lane deck), try setting
your palm to "/" position (assuming you're right-handed, "\" if you're
left-handed) and HOLD IN THIS POSITION from start of the ball moving
(pushaway) until the ball releases. This action WILL add more "side
roll/spin" which WILL (assuming you deliver the ball "straight and
true" down your target line and you don't adjust your speed) increase
the final hook of the ball.
Finally, it's a Real Bad Thing to "force" your hand around the top of
the ball to try and get more hook. What'll usually happen is you'll
PULL THE BALL instead and it'll zoom into the opposite gutter. By
just changing starting hand position in the stance and HOLDING IT
THERE, you'll increase your chances of "boosting" the ball's hook
without "stressing, etc." your bowling arm.
These are the first things to immediately try. If you can, enlist the
services of a Certified Coach that can videotape you and such as well
as demonstrate how different hand positions can radically affect ball
performance.
> My thanks to all on their answers from previous posts (Jock in
> particular)
Thank you for the vote of confidence and I hope my above suggestions
will help. :) Please keep us apprised of your progress, etc...