How many of you remember that famous A.I. saying about practice. Well we all need to practice. Sure, some of you are content with your bowling game just the way it is. I am not one of those people. Everyone has room for improvement. Maybe it is a release or timing issue. Maybe you got a new ball for the holidays and you need to learn what it does, or heck dare I say it, practicing your spare shooting. But what and how do you practice? This week I would like to cover a couple things to work on, and also let you know why I go out and practice. 

Well everyone has their own reasons as to why they practice. Some bowlers want to improve their consistency. Some bowlers want to practice spare shots, and some go out to practice because they need to work on one particular piece of there game. Heck here’s a novel idea; some people want to practice because they want to get better!! Anyway you slice it bowlers are not satisfied unless we are doing good. Let me tell you why I went to practice this week.  Last week I was bowling in my Tuesday All Star league. I had a relatively good look on the lanes. Let’s keep it that way. First game I came out and went strike, spares, next ten strikes and finally left a solid 8 pin for a 279. Second game got a little better started out with the first 7 seven strikes in a row, then something happened. I left 3 consecutive 7 pins and I missed them all!!! Yes, yes, all the talk about spare shooting here all these weeks and I miss the first 3 seven pins I face. Can we just say I started to become a little annoyed? Well the last game was not a good one.  I had an absolute great chance for attempting to roll an 800 series and I threw that away. I lost my focus and couldn’t get it back in the last game. I ended up missing another 7 pin attempt and finished the game with a 187. So what did I do this past week? You guessed it. I practiced for about 35 minutes at shooting nothing but 7 pins!!! This is just one of many scenarios that can happen to a bowler and what you do to correct it is up to you. So if you feel like something just isn’t right with your bowling game, you go and PRACTICE to figure it out.  

One tip when going to practice is to work on one thing that is causing an issue. As I did above, I had no issues with rolling strikes that week my issue was making 7 pins. That’s what I went out to practice. If you feel that you have some sort of timing issue, then you go out and practice on timing. One of the most important things to remember when you practice is do not look at your scores. Last time I checked, scores in practice do not count for anything. But what happens when you are having issues and you can’t seem to figure out how to correct them. That’s when you do what sports teams do, and that is go to the coach. You need to find a coach in your area that is a certified USBC coach to help you. If you are in the Detroit Metro Area then you may want to come into the new Bowling IQ training facility located inside DiLaura Brothers LLC. They have 8 brand new lanes, 4 AMF and 4 Brunswick lane surfaces. So if you bowl on either one, you can have a similar practice shot from your local bowling center.  

So let’s recap from this week, when you go out to work on your game, do not look at the score board, take time to actually think and analyze what you are there to practice on, and by all means, if you do not have a coach, then talk to your local bowling centers to find one. As always you can contact me and I can try to help you out the best that I can. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season.  I will be back next week to share some more about my bowling and help you out anyway possible.  

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and the Lead technical advisor. He is an IBPSIA Advanced Certified member. You can email your questions or comments to him at Thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com