Bo-Fish Bowling News: the Positive Source for Bowling Worldwide

Jim King's Bowling World
by Jim King

Article Archive #1

Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?
King is Burning!
Off The Top
Spare Shooting (Part 3)
Spare Shooting (Part 2)
Spare Shooting (Part 1)
An Interview With Carolyn Dorin-Ballard
An Interview With Bob Glass
An Interview With Wendy MacPherson
An Interview With Paul Fleming

Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?
as reprinted from BTM Magazine

Just contemplating if I’m the only one who wonders why the carry percentage on the fill ball is about 99 %? Why the one time I don’t check my slide is the one time I have just stepped in water? Why does the same bowler who has a $1500 set of golf clubs complain about the cost of bowling balls? Why is there an expiration date on sour cream? Why the television networks think people don’t watch bowling? Why the PBA thinks only young people are interested in watching bowling? Why sponsors are convinced no one watches bowling? Why people who like to watch bowling can’t make their voices heard?

Why do “good” bowlers shoot the baby split down the outside with a hook ball? Why would a young bowler consider the PBA over amateur bowling? Why are the only ones who don’t like bowling tournaments in Nevada…the cab drivers and the bellmen? Why does the world’s image of us as “The Ugly American” have to carry over into sports, even bowling? Why do some proprietors think that leagues aren’t worth forming any more? Why do some proprietors think that “neon bowling” won’t work? Why do some proprietors think that birthday parties are the only attractive feature of their center?

Why do some bowlers’ eight-ball arsenals consist of one spare ball, one skid/flip ball and six dull particle balls? Why does the PWBA have so much trouble attracting new bowlers? Why do bowling instructors have such a hard time making a viable living while a PGA member sign is an instant cash cow? Why do I only split my pants on the days I don’t have a spare pair in the car? Why only 10% of lefties have spare balls? Why is there an expiration date on sour cream? Why are YABA tournaments the fastest growing segment of our sport (maybe its all those birthday parties)? Why is the least expensive ball in your bag the one that seems to get used the most and last the longest? Why do the least maintained centers charge the most for lineage? How does Walter Ray do it? Why is the most popular sport among airline baggage handlers the 3-ball roller bag tossing contest? Why do the “good breaks” never seem to equal the “bad breaks”?

Why can’t everyone see the logic and common sense in the SMO plan? Why can’t the IOC wake up and recognize our sport? Why can’t there be a somewhat similar or common formula for all Bowling Halls of Fame? Why does the Bowling Writers Awards not have a category for instructional articles? Why hasn’t anyone done solid research on why and when and at what angle, axis rotation, tilt, etc….14 lb. balls carry better than 15 lb. or 16 lb.? Why do managers who bowl competitively either have tournament conditions that are either way too easy or way too hard?

Why is “The Peter Principle” still in effect in the bowling industry? Why can’t local YABA associations seem to get the most talented and knowledgeable local bowlers involved in coaching? How does Dave Soutar seem to get better each decade? Why weren’t bumpers invented earlier? Why do some centers who host tournaments seem to be “chair factories” and others have no place to sit? Why in the middle of a big tournament do some centers decide to mop the bathrooms? Why are the best bowlers’ wives the most likely to be seen reading a book during a match?

Why can’t centers unlock both sides of the front entrance when expecting 150 bowlers for a tournament. Why do I always choose the side that is locked? Why do the female pros participate freely in their national championship, yet the male pros hardly bother with the ABC Tournament? Why can’t some people be coached? Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?

Jim Rome is a popular radio personality who hosts a sports talk show on syndicated radio and recently debuted “Rome is Burning” on ESPN television. He has stated on his radio show in the past that bowling should not be considered a legitimate sport. His reasoning, generally stated, is that any activity where your chances of success are enhanced by drinking alcohol could not and should not be considered a “sport”. He obviously has taken to heart one too many beer commercials and in my opinion, lost all credibility as a journalist. He does consider golf a sport however, I guess surmising that it takes more athletic ability to swing a 2 lb. golf club 60-80 times a day than to roll a 15-16 lb bowling ball at a speed of 15-20 mph 100-200 times a day, negotiating invisible hazards, sans caddies and for 5% of the money.
While dismissing Rome’s view as uninformed drivel, I had just about gotten over it until recently, he reiterated his position on his new TV show. I was at first alarmed because once again, his statements were going unchallenged (he won’t allow discussion on this topic on his call-in radio segments) to millions of young, impressionable TV viewers, but after some reflection, I have decided that the blame is not entirely, nor even largely his.

ESPN is the same network that carries the PBA and PWBA tour finals telecasts. They are supposed to be, I thought, promoting these activities in a positive way. They should have a vested interest in the success of these two tours. I think ESPN (Entertainment & Sports Programming Network) should decide if these activities fall under the Entertainment or the Sports section of their umbrella. Bowling seems to be having an identity crisis, in their minds at least. By the way they have handled bowling at the Espys in the past and again this year (men/women same category), their promotion of bowling (as a sport) appears to be half-hearted at best.

It’s too bad too, because with their power, they could save these struggling tours if they set their creative minds to it. Just look what they have done for NASCAR, beach volleyball, the X Games, professional pool and women’s basketball. With tournament results updates and nightly coverage on sports center, they could revive and generate new interest in the sport we all love. With more tournament coverage, instructional and educational programming, they could fill non-primetime hours with less expensive, more interesting shows than the fodder that currently occupies this space.

As for Rome, I would challenge him to come bowl alongside the pros in any PBA or PWBA tournament and still state that these aren’t athletes. Heck, he doesn’t even have to bowl, just come spend a few hours on the front row and watch. Interview a few bowlers and try to get a glimpse of what a bowler goes through in the course of just one tournament. As for ESPN, its time for the PBA and PWBA to take a stance, recently uttered by President George Bush…”You are either with us or against us. There is no middle ground.”

Since the 1980s, bowling has declined, both in popularity and as a professional sport. This fall has been well documented, discussed, and argued and hundreds of reasons have been put forth as contributing factors. We have laid blame on everyone and everything from increased competition from other sports and recreation, rising costs, mismanagement of major industry leaders, and insurance companies all the way to declining TV ratings, the Internet, modern technology and the North’s migration to the Sunbelt.

There is one other area though, that I would like to discuss here: the decrease in the amount of newspaper coverage devoted to the sport of bowling across the United States. The number of column inches devoted to bowling is dropping at an even faster rate than league bowlers. Oh, I’m sure most of you realize this, but I want to talk about who is to blame. Who is the culprit? Whose picture can we throw darts at? Whose name can we disparage?

Who do I feel is to blame for the rapidly escalating disappearance of bowling from the sports pages of American newspapers? Why, it’s us, of course…you and I and every other ABC and WIBC member who cares whether bowling is included on the sports pages or not. We have stood idly by and let it be done to us. We just seem to sigh passively every time another bowling column bites the dust.

I travel extensively throughout our country and am constantly amazed at the absence of coverage of the sport we love whenever I open the sports section of the local paper. Even newspapers in cities, long considered bastions of bowling’s popularity, are discontinuing their regular bowling column or cutting back to once a month or so, instead of weekly. Many of those that are still weekly are kept that way only because the column is written by a bowler or local association board member or by the bowling center itself. The newspapers just don’t want to allocate any of their staff’s precious time to cover our sport. Often, PBA and PWBA tournament results are included only as filler, when they need a tidbit to complete a column. Consequently, a local reader might see a partial first round result, nothing the second or third day, then the winner’s score on the fourth day, excluding the other finalists.

This neglect and what I consider mistreatment of our sport, seems to spread unnoticed, unreported, unregarded, unobjected to, and generally about which there is unraised hell.

Can you imagine what would happen if the sports editor of the Metropolis Times or some other major paper decided to cut the golf coverage back to once a month? There would be so much fussing and fist shaking and boycott threatening and letter to the editor writing that the paper would be forced to change their mind…pronto. Yet when this does happen to bowling--and it is at an alarming rate--nobody objects.

If it continues, bowling will be relegated to the miscellaneous section of every paper …maybe not even on the sports page …maybe under the bridge column. Come to think of it, why does bridge have a daily column in most major newspapers? There are certainly more bowlers than bridge players.

It seems that one of the specific duties and responsibilities of your local bowling association is to be an advocate for the sport. If this happens or has already happened in your community, your local association officers should be banging at their door, lobbying for equal time. In fact, they should already be there now, lobbying for more time. The last time I checked, we are still the number one participant sport in the country, and should have coverage accordingly.

Coverage decisions regarding the sports sections of big-city newspapers are not necessarily driven by which sport is the most popular. Many of the decisions are politically based. Sometimes, a paper might cover an obscure high school sport, not because it is a sport enjoyed by many people, but because they have been lobbied and pressured and nudged into providing this coverage by local educational or minority groups.

Some sports are covered simply because the local movers and shakers who buy advertising participate or have family who participate in that particular sport. The column inches are certainly not divided up based on fan interest and popularity. If they were, bowling would not be suffering in this area. So, if you want to see this trend reversed, then some action must be taken.

If your local association does not have a formal plan of action or mission statement to raise public awareness of the sport of bowling, I suggest you take the initiative and try to get one started. If the officers in power refuse to do so, I urge you try to elect officers who have a more pro-active attitude about the deterioration of bowling’s presence on the sports pages of America. In the meantime, please support your area bowling newspaper. These may soon become our only source of bowling news and information.

Of course, the coverage in magazines and on network television has declined also, but that problem is more easily solved by ABC and WIBC on a national level. You can lobby your local television station for more airtime, if you have one, but changing the attitude of the newspaper in your hometown is something that is possible, achievable, praiseworthy and in my opinion, incumbent.

Spare Shooting (Part 3)
reprinted from Bowling This Month Magazine

All of this talk about the Great Bowlers of Today (GBOTS) and those of yesterday might sound a little intimidating to a bowler who is serious about their game and thinking of making a switch to throwing it straight. I have heard people exclaim that it is just too hard to be that accurate. Or, they just don’t have time to practice enough to become that precise.

I understand your present dilemma, if you have one. Hooking the ball at a spare just seems to be a security blanket for some bowlers, albeit a mostly false one. The first part of this article will be to hopefully illustrate exactly how accurate you have to be to throw it straight and still make that single pin. Later, we will talk about which spares at which to hook it.

Let’s use a 6-pin leave and a 10-pin leave as examples to illustrate the margin of error you have when attempting those particular spares. Some bowlers, when going through their pre-shot routine for a single pin are so intimidated that they feel they are rolling a BB at a matchstick. Well, you do not have to possess telescopic vision. You do not have to have space age precision. You do not even have to have a marksmanship merit badge from the Boy Scouts. Believe it or not, you have a rather large margin of error when shooting a single pin to still be successful. For any single pin other than a 7 or 10, you have over 13 inches at the pindeck to still knock it down. I don’t mean from the outside edge to outside edge, but from where the center of the ball sits when you graze a single pin on the right to where the center of the ball sits when you graze it on the left. (See illustration 1) In relation to where the center of the ball is positioned, you have the width of the pin plus half the width of the ball on each side of the pin. Over 13 inches!

When shooting a 7 or 10, you still have over 11 inches. (See illustration 2) You have half the width of the ball on the inside, the width of the pin, and to the edge of the lane on the outside.

Now, I know it is impossible to visualize this when standing on the approach, preparing to shoot a 10-pin. So, in photos 3 & 4, we have placed poster boards with a gap in between which illustrates just how much room you do have…from outside to outside. If you can fit your ball in the gap, you will make the spare. Photo 3 shows two balls and a 6-pin to hopefully help you realize the actual size of your target area.(Photos 3 & 4 here) Photo 4 shows the same target without the balls. So, give yourself a break. Don’t be so hard on yourself when contemplating that next single pin. Maybe it will ease the pressure, when shooting that next 6-pin, if you can visualize throwing your ball through this gap instead of rolling a BB at that matchstick. With repeated practice and repeated successes, you will eventually gain so much confidence that you could hit that matchstick with that BB. You will feel like and odds-on favorite when attempting a baby split and you will feel like it is an upset when you miss a 2-10.

You are probably thinking that while it may be true that you have over 13 inches of room at the pins, you don’t look at the pins. You target at the arrows or splices. Well, lets take a look at that. You still have more room for error than you think. Let’s assume that you use the middle arrow as your target for a 10-pin and that you release the ball at the foul line. Let’s assume also that you are lined up so that if you hit your mark perfectly, the center of your ball will hit the 10-pin exactly in the middle. The middle arrow is 17 feet from the foul line and the 10-pin is 62.5 feet. from the foul line. This is a ratio of 3.676 to 1. Therefore if you missed your target one board (one inch) to either side, this would mean the center of your ball would miss the center of the 10-pin by 3.676 inches (Still a spare). If you missed by 1.8 boards inside, then the center of your ball would miss the center of the 10- pin by 6.61 in. (Still a spare). You can miss 1.25 board outside and still convert the spare. This gives you over 3 boards worth of room at the 4th arrow.

It should be noted that you can and should make small realignments to compensate for a tendency to miss more to one side than the other. Also, if you release the ball beyond the foul line (most of us do) then that gives you a little more room for error…as long as you don’t lose any accuracy. With this in mind, you can give yourself even more room to make a mistake if you can move your target farther down the lane (splices for example) without sacrificing any accuracy. At the point where you start to lose accuracy, then you should bring your target back a little.
On any other single pin (other than the 7), you have even more of a mistake margin. You have more than 1.8 boards to either side of your mark. This gives you 4.6 ((1.8+1(your mark) +1.8)) boards to hit (at the fourth arrow) when attempting a non-corner single pin.

If you are thoroughly confused, just remember the point that I’m trying to illustrate. You don’t have to be perfectly accurate to throw it straight at your spares. Of course, multiple pin spares usually require a little more accuracy than a single pin, but you still have bigger boundaries for success than is generally understood.

Now that I’ve hopefully convinced you to throw it straight at your spares, I would like to discuss which ones and under what circumstances you can or should hook it.

I should state up front that the only time you should hook it at any spare, is if you have a pretty good idea where the oil line and/or breakpoint is. If you are unsure for any reason, then it is better in the long run to use the straight shot, even on clusters with sleepers. For example, you are moving several pairs after each game in a tournament and after a move you leave a 2-5-8 in the first frame. You pulled your first shot and it skidded all the way and barely hit the headpin. Sound familiar? Now, because you did not make a good first shot, you can’t really adjust off of that shot to throw a hook at the spare. If you move too far right, you might chop it. You don’t know how far out the oil extends, so if you don’t move enough, it won’t get up to the 2-pin. In either case, you can’t deliver the next shot with confidence, so your chances will be much better by just lining up and throwing straight at it. You can deliver this shot with confidence because you have practiced it countless times, right?

* 2-pin, 8-pin, 3-pin, 9-pin (It’s dangerous to try to go to school on these)
* 1-pin & 5-pin (You can go to school on these)
* 1-2-4 (for righties), 1-3-6 (for lefties)

These are spares you should almost always attempt with a hook (again, assuming you are confident where the breakpoint is):

* All multiple pin spares with a sleeper Ex: 2-8,3-6-9-10 or 2-4-5-8
* For righties (opposite for lefties) 1-2,1-2-8, 1-2-4-7-,1-2-7, 2-4, 2-4-7,5-8,3-5, 6-9,
5-7 split, 2-7 split, 3-9-10 split, 3-6-7-9-10 split

These are spares you should almost always attempt with a straight ball:
* (either hand)-7, 10, 4, 4-7, 6, 6-10, 6-9-10, 4-7-8
* (righties only)-2-4-5, 3-5-6,2 –5, 3-6-10& 3-6,
* (lefties only)-3-5 & 2-4, 2-4-7

* All washouts
* 2-7 split (lefties), 3-10 split (righties) ,
* 5-10 split (for righties), 5-7 split (for lefties)

The only other split I want to discuss here is what I think is the most overrated split: The 2-4-8-10 for right-handers. This split is very makeable if you play it with a hook from the far outside. Try to hit it thin on the left. Today’s balls will deflect more than enough for the 4 to hit the 8 and the 2 will take out the 10. I only see about 10% of bowlers try to make this spare. Unless you need 3 of them to win a match in the 10th frame, you should try to convert this one.

Another spare I feel deserves some special attention is the pro washout. The 1-2-4-6-10 for righties, the opposite for lefties. This is one of those “leaves of the 90s” that we hardly ever saw before reactive urethane. I often see very good bowlers trying to go between the 1 and the 3. I think this is a mistake. If you play it this way, you can make a perfect shot and still miss it. You have to get a lucky bounce off one wall or the other to convert it. If you play it to the left of headpin (righties), you can be off just a little and still make it. The percentages are just too great to play it any other way. I know some will disagree, but that’s the way I feel.

Finally, I hope you have found something in these three articles to help you be a better spare shooter. Please try to have the same attitude about spare shooting that GBOTs do. Remember to “save those doubles”. Try to make time to practice throwing it straight until you develop confidence in your ability to do so. Remember, you don’t have to be perfect. And lastly, remember it isn’t a test of your spare shooting versus mine or Walter Ray’s or anybody else’s. Your goal should be to be the best spare shooter and therefore the best bowler that you can be.

Spare Shooting (Part 2)
reprinted from Bowling This Month Magazine

Okay. You have decided that you want to be a GBOT (Great Bowler Of Today). You have made the commitment to learn a release that will make the ball go straight on any condition. You go to the lanes to practice and your “kill shot” still hooks. What happened? Why won’t it go straight? You ask “What can I do to kill it more?” Lets back up and analyze the entire situation.

Of course, the easiest way to learn how to throw it straight is to seek a professional instructor. An objective pair of eyes is very helpful. But I am writing this under the assumption that you will try to learn this on your own. So, let us proceed.

Are you going to try and use your strike ball? If so, the release must result in a purely end over end roll. With a reactive or particle ball on a dry lane, there is no room for error in the hand action. Any side roll or spin at all will result in an enormous amount of hook on a dry lane. I have seen a few GBOTS who can do this, but most use a spare ball of plastic or rubber. With a plastic or rubber ball, there is room for error in the hand action.

Now, as to how to affect that end over end release and make it go straight. First, you must untrain your hand and unlearn or reteach yourself how not to hook it. The easiest way to learn this is to put your spare ball and your other equipment in the bag and proceed to the nearest rack of house balls. Try to find one that is the same weight and same size or slightly larger fingers and thumbhole. Don’t worry about the span if you can’t find one that is close. Plastic or rubber will do. Now go to the foul line and make yourself comfortable. You will be there for a while. Remember, we are unlearning our hook release, so we don’t want to do anything associated with that release….like a stance, pushaway, approach or power step. We want to isolate your hand action as much as possible and this is the easiest way to do that. Just take one step and deliver the ball onto the lane and do not, I repeat, do not lift, turn, spin, horse, crank, yank or torque that house ball. Just get it off your hand safely, just like you did the first several times you went bowling. You will feel stupid and embarrassed standing at the line doing this. Don’t worry. It will be worth it if you can become a GBOT. Practice rolling this hunk of rubber or plastic, which might be older than you are, with a palm-forward, thumb out release. If you can make it roll over the thumb and finger holes, then you are doing it right. Those bumping sounds as it goes down the lane are positive reinforcement. Any track parallel and near the grip will work. One mental swing thought that might help you is to lead with your little finger. We aren’t using targets yet, but visualize your little finger as a pointer toward your target…when you get one. Try to do this before the lanes have been dressed or after a late league when the lanes are at their driest. If the oil is fresh, then throw it in the driest part of the lane, except to check where the ball is tracking by occasionally rolling it in the oil. Remember, we are trying to achieve a shot that will go straight, even on dry lanes. If you have picked up a ball with no distinguishing characteristics, place a piece of white tape just above the finger holes. This will help you monitor the rotation as it rolls down the lane. When you have successfully rolled it end over end 25-30 times, then try it with your spare ball…from the foul line. If you still are having trouble getting a clean release, you might now be able to tell how to tweak your grip layout in order to get a cleaner exit. Ask your ball driller to help you here. If you regress into somewhat of a hook release, go back to the house ball and train some more. Important note: Do not settle for a grip that inhibits an end over end release just because you don’t want to take the time and trouble to get the ball plugged and redrilled. If you do, then you have not made that commitment we talked about.

Lets talk about drilling. There are two schools of thought on how to have this spare ball drilled. The conventional theory is to drill it just like your strike ball so that the feel is the same. If you are throwing your normal release at spares, this theory sounds logical. But we are not using our normal release, so an alternate drilling might be necessary. If your finger and thumbs pitches are such that you can release it end over end, then there’s no need to redrill. But many bowlers have pitches on their thumb to encourage side roll, so end over end is practically impossible. My own thumb pitch would not allow a clean end over end release, so I searched for an alternative I decided to try more reverse(1/2” instead of 1/4”) and less away(0 instead of 1/8”). This worked. It allowed me to have a cleaner release. I drop a few, but those dropped shots still go straight and get the job done. Straight is straight, remember? I also now use a 7/16” bridge to give me a wider leverage base. This makes it easier for me to stay behind it and come straight up the back without any side roll. The span on one of your fingers may need to be adjusted so that you get equal pressure with both fingers. I use more away (1/2” instead of 1/8” on the fingers)…again allowing for a cleaner exit. This grip allowed me to roll the ball straight and I began to get curious about GBOTS spare ball grips. I began to ask them when bowling next to them or crossing with them in tournaments and I was surprised by the fact that very few used the exact same grip for their spare ball. . If you think about it, what is wrong with having a different grip for your spare shots? If you are using a different release, why is it so imperative to have the same feel? After a few years of experience “killing it”, I’ve come to the conclusion that the same grip as my strike ball would encourage the same release, which is what we are trying to “unlearn”. I would suggest to you that if the grip on your strike ball will not allow you to achieve an end over end roll that you try a different grip. Don’t be afraid to experiment. You might come up with another solution of your own.

Now, back to the lanes. So now you have successfully rolled a straight shot with your spare ball 25-30 times. Ok, lets try it with the approach. Again, just roll it in the driest part of the lane. We are not ready for targets yet. Lets try to get used to that same straight ball release with our old hook ball approach. If you are easily bored, this could be difficult. Just take heart that with every successful end over end delivery, you are one step closer toward untraining your hand action and one step closer to being a GBOT.

Don’t forget to take breaks periodically to avoid getting tired. Also, each time you come back from a break view it as an opportunity to test your progress and test your muscle memory. When you have successfully rolled it straight with your spare ball 25-30 consecutive times…STOP. Don’t bowl any more that day. You must rest up for combining your newfound hand action with looking at a target and actually making a spare. When you return to practice again, test your muscle memory first by seeing if you can roll at least ten end over end shots. If not, then go back to the foul line until you get it back. Once you are confident that you can execute this shot, try shooting a 10 pin. Use your old target if you played no hook before. If not, then you will have to find a new target. Hopefully, you will be doing this on dry lanes again. If not, be sure and use the tape on your spare ball so you can check the rotation. If there is oil in the middle, the lane may not point out a misdelivered shot like a dry lane would. Do not throw strike balls at all during this exercise. Try some 7 pin shots. You will definitely have to find a new target for this one. I recommend the 3rd arrow from the left for both lefthanders and right handers. This is the part of the lane where you can usually find some oil, even on a tournament shot that has broken down. You want to use this part of the lane in case you accidentally squeeze one under the pressure of live competition. It might cover up your mistake.

Now that you are comfortable with your newfound release, try intermingling it with your hook release. Throw a strike ball, then throw a 10 pin. Throw a strike ball, then throw a 7 pin. Throw two strike balls, then throw a 10 pin, etc. Don’t worry about what spares you might actually be leaving, you are just testing your muscle memory. You might be striking on every full rack. Just mix in the kill shots so that your hand and body can get used to the changes. Try to follow up this practice with another using basically the same drills. This time, however, try to add adjustments for other spares such as the 4, 4-7 (no, they are not the same), 6, 6-10 (they are not the same either), 2-4-5 (for righties), 2-4-7 (for lefties), and washouts. Use full racks. This will help your concentration.

Now we are ready to start using targets for individual spares. I have a different methodology than many instructors. Most will teach you to use the same target and move your feet to adjust from say, a 6 pin and a 10 pin. I think this is fine on the left side spares for righthanders (though for a different reason) but for right side spares, I move my target and use the same starting point. I think other systems work pretty well, but let me explain my reasoning for having a different system for spares on opposite sides of the lane. When shooting right side spares, I want to stay as far left as possible because of the extra angle which helps keep my “chop” percentage low and to stay in the heavy oil as much as possible. When shooting spares on the left side, I want foremost to stay in the oily part of the lane, to cover up accidental lift or turn, and secondly to improve the angle. I could get farther left (6th arrow) for say a 2-4-5 but then I would be, many times, in the left-handed track area. Then I would have the same problem as shooting a 3-6 down the second arrow from the right (not enough oil to cover up a missed release). So, for right-side spares, I stand in the same place and move my target. I use the 10 pin for a baseline shot. This changes from house to house because I want to stand as far left and look as far left as I can. The width of the ball return determines where exactly that is. My target is usually between the 21st board and the 25th at the joints or splices. Once I determine my ten pin starting spot and target, for a 6-10, I move my target one board left. For a 6, 2 boards left, for a 3-10, 2 1/2 boards left, and 3-6-10, 3 boards. But for left-side spares, I use the same target (third arrow from the left) and move my feet. For example, I use the 7 pin as my base and move my feet 2 boards left and use the same target for a 4 pin. For a 4-7, 1 1/2 boards. For a 2-5 or a washout, I move my feet 6 boards left and still use the same target. You get the idea. I’m not proposing that you copy my system exactly, just try to use the same philosophy. You will work out(hopefully with a coach) the subtle nuances according to your ability to repeat approaches, how much you drift (or not), and the width of your body. All of these factors will help determine exactly where you will stand in order for a well executed “kill shot” to convert the spare you are attempting. Just try to remember that you want to finish as far across lane as is comfortable for right-side spares (for righthanders). This will give you the most deflection for baby splits and other corner clusters where chopping the front pin(s) off is a danger. This will increase your percentage of makes on slightly misthrown shots. I suggest lefties use the 3rd arrow from the left for right and left side spares, because that part of the lane retains oil the longest on most conditions. If you are a left handed and bowl where there isn’t enough oil in the middle of the lane, then shoot all left side spares from as far right as possible.

Even today, with all the professional coaching available, I still see relatively good bowlers using incorrect strategy to pick up spares and splits. I see many bowlers shoot baby splits down the outside part of the lane. You never see a GBOT rolling it down the edge to convert a baby split. You want to shoot 2-4-5s and 2-5s(for righties) from as far left as comfortable (while staying in heavy oil) for the same reason. Less angle means less chops. Just think about it this way. If you are a righthander and someone bet you that you could not chop a 3-6, how would you play the shot in order to maximize your chances to successfully chop off the 3 pin. You would probably try it from the right side of the lane with a lot of hook. So if you were to bet that you could convert it, wouldn’t the opposite strategy be the wisest course.

Before we go, let me impart the same advice I give to every student I work with. At least every six weeks, preferably once a month, go to the lanes and bowl 5 games of nothing but spare shots. Shoot 7s, 10s, 3-6-10s and all of your most common leaves. Make a game of it. Play lowball with a friend. Make it fun. Do not throw your strike ball. By devoting this time and effort to practicing spares, you not only get some needed practice but you will be building up and reinforcing the importance of spare shooting in your own mind. After a few sessions, you will start to look forward to it. When other bowlers stroll in and see what you are doing and scoff, you will have a warm glow of inner confidence in knowing that you are taking the next step toward becoming a GBOT.

Next time we will show you just how accurate you have to be to be a great spare shooter and at what spares you should still throw a hook.

Spare Shooting (Part 1)
reprinted from Bowling This Month Magazine

The Ebonite Pro Staffer and President of the PWBA Players Association topped the year winning three titles, the most titles she has won in a single season. Going into her 12th year as a professional, she owns ten national titles and has rolled 14 perfect games. Dorin-Ballard is known for being the most consistent player on the PWBA Tour, cashing in every tournament for the last two seasons. In 2000, she made every top 24 cut, never falling below 15 th position. She ranked second with 14172.5 points in 23 events; third in earnings, with $107,677.50; and fourth in average with 213.87 in 953 games. The most games bowled by any player last season. She started the year with back-to-back wins, the Bowl for Blindness Classic and the Greater San Diego Open. Her third win came later in the year at the Three Rivers Open. Her consistency has moved her to 11th in career earnings with $658,009.

When I started bowling as a youngster, my father and any other coaches I had preached that the major difference between a good local bowler and the “Great Bowlers Of Yesterday” was that the great ones hardly ever missed any spares. I think that, to a large extent, it is still a true statement. I believe that most of the “Great Bowlers Of Today” are excellent spare shooters and over the next few issues, I will attempt to show you how you can improve your spare game.

First of all, lets define who we are talking about. When I say “Great Bowlers Of Today”, I am not talking about the local hotshot who averages 200-225 on a walled up condition, has bastardized his game to conform to one house, and still misses 10-20% of his corner pins. I am referring to most of the players on the pro tours as well as the many great professional amateurs who perform in the megabuck events and smaller tours around the country. I have had the pleasure of coaching, bowling alongside of and learning from these players over the last several years. From these players and their approach to the sport in general and spare shooting in particular, I have not only improved my own spare game but have hopefully gotten some insight into what makes them successful at making spares.

Most bowlers when faced with a baby split or a washout automatically go on the defensive. They come back shaking their head, wondering what when wrong or how that shot could have come from them. Many times they get up to shoot the spare, still trying to figure out what happened on the first ball or how and if they are going to move for the next frame. The “Great Bowlers Of Today” or GBOTs as I will refer to them, view a washout as an opportunity to save a double. It takes two shots to get a double, but by converting a washout or a baby split or any other tough spare, they can achieve the equivalent with only one shot. GBOTs go on the offense when faced with a tough spare. They do not come back shaking their head because they realize the importance of the next shot. They are not thinking about the next frame yet, because this frame is not over. They are as confident when they attempt the spare as if they were on a six-bagger, because they have practiced this shot countless times and are sure they will make it. GBOTs have this attitude because they fully realize the importance of spare shooting and how crucial spare making has been to their previous successes. Many, many, far too many local hotshots with 210+ league averages have the attitude that spares are for sissies and that washouts and baby splits are pesky little creatures that will go away if you just ignore them. Of course they have the same attitude about buckets, 3-6-9-10s, 2-8s, 10 pins and most any other spare you can think of. They are into striking, not sparing. The success of their day is determined by the percentage of strikes they achieved in that league or that tournament. GBOTs are into bowling well. The success of their day is determined by how well they threw the ball and whether or not they got the most out of their game that day. That is often measured by how well they spared. The local hotshots have the view that they need strings of strikes to cover up those open frames. GBOTs have the view that they have to stay clean so that their strings of strikes mean something. Of course GBOTs usually end up on or near the top of the prize list, ahead of many who had more strikes, simply because they saved more doubles.

Until the late 70s, GBOTs as a rule threw the same ball for spares with a similar release and were very successful. The rest of us did too, though not as successfully. Then along came plastic lane surfaces and plastic balls. Striking got easier and for the same reason (friction), spares got harder. Now, that 10 pin conversion required a different strategy and a different release than before. We all struggled from time to time with spares, trying to readjust our spare games to handle the new equipment. Then Mark Roth showed us how to do it. Mark created a lot of controversy with his super-cranking style. Most coaches rooted against him because they were afraid every youth bowler in America would end up throwing it like Mark. Many of them did, but the most revolutionary part of his game, and I think the most lasting was his spare making. He threw it straight. Nobody ever did that before. At least no one with the national exposure that he had. He was outstriking most of the other pros, but he was outsparing them as well. If kids had copied his spare game instead of his strike ball, they would have been better off.

Today, with much more friction to deal with, a kill shot is even more of a necessity. At least for right-handers, it is. However, I think to be a GBOT, lefties should learn to kill it as well, but as a rule, they haven’t been forced to learn a kill shot like the righties have. This is not a slap against southpaws, they just haven’t had to traverse a bone-dry track area shooting a 7 pin enough times to force them to rethink their strategy. Righties see this situation often. Many righthanders though, have only halfway committed to a “kill shot”. I see right-handed bowlers all over the country shooting 10 pins with a plastic ball and using the same hook release as their strike ball. At their home house in league, this probably works fairly well because there is probably enough oil piled up in the middle that Rudy Revs couldn’t hook an LT48 across that puddle. However, when they get out of their home house and into unfamiliar territory and unfamiliar conditions, they often get a rude awakening. Now sometimes, there isn’t a big puddle in the middle and that plastic ball with the hook release breaks 6-10 boards instead of 1 or 2. They now have no room for error using their prior alignment and miss 25-70% of their 10 pins. Sometimes they run into a reverse block and can’t get it over to the 10 pin and if they get it a little wide, it hits the outside oil and slides into the gutter. Now you see some serious head shaking. Most GBOTs never have this problem. This dilemma never enters into their mind. Why? Because they have developed kill shots that will go straight on any condition. I repeat, any condition. If you can throw it straight on toasted lanes, you can throw it straight anywhere. GBOTs don’t have to take the lane conditions into account when shooting a 10 pin. Imagine the freedom. Imagine your sigh of relief if that load could be lifted off your shoulders.

Using your normal release on a spare shot with a plastic or rubber ball is still better than trying to convert them with the reactive bombs we throw for strikes today. Your sparemaking percentage will improve some. But if you are still doing this and are at the stage in your development where you haven’t improved in a while and are wondering how to get over the hump, think about really making a commitment to improve this part of your game. At some point in their development as a bowler, GBOTs made that commitment to learn how to deliver the ball with little or no hook. It is not an easy task. But really, you don’t have to learn how to throw it straight as much as unlearn or forget how to hook it. When you first started bowling, you probably threw it pretty straight, with a simple, clean release. If you are currently hooking the ball at all on your “kill shots”, you can still develop this release. But whether you develop a straight up, end over end rolling kill shot, put one finger in the ball, or use some other method to make it go straight, the most important thing is to make that commitment. You can’t just try it for a while to see if you like it. You can’t just do it half way. You must decide in your mind if you want to be a great spare shooter. Once you make that commitment, you will find a way to kill it. You will want to practice it. You will go on the offense when faced with a tough spare and you will beat bowlers who have more strike power.

In the coming issues, we will take a closer look at how to throw it straight, how to move for different spares, and just how accurate you really have to be to be a great spare shooter.

JK: Carolyn, you have been runner-up for Bowler of the Year for 4 consecutive years. This might be unprecedented in sports. Do you take pride in this fact or do you feel dissatisfied and unfulfilled?
CD: I take a lot of pride in this accomplishment. Being runner-up proves one thing—that I am consistent. As long as I keep bowling well, I hope eventually that #1 will not be far off in the future. Not many people can say they have been that consistent for that long.

JK: When I crossed with you in the PWBA Regional Mixed Doubles qualifying in Port Arthur,Tx, it appeared that you threw each shot exactly like you wanted to.
By that I mean you were on balance with full extension every shot. How are you able to accomplish this kind of consistency?
CD: A lot of practice. I’ve always had the game in which I needed to keep practicing. Because I am not a power player, the accuracy of my game, my follow through, my knee bend, comes with continuous bowling. Over this long break, I did change my practice schedule and it helped me to stay more mentally fresh.

JK: Who were your bowling heroes growing up?
CD: I use to watch Earl Anthony, Robin Romeo, and Lisa Wagner. Both women I really learned a lot from because their games were very similar to mine in that they were not power players, they were more finesse.

JK: I assume that your marriage to Del has helped your game. Can you tell us specifically how it has helped?
CD: Del helped me to learn how to win. Yes, I had won before I married him, but there was a stretch in where I made 20 shows without a win. He helped me to organize my thoughts when entering a tournament each week and then approach each part of the tournament in the correct manner. You cannot win a tournament on Monday, you win on Thursday. This was probably one of the biggest assets he gave me besides really working on my game to make me much more versatile. He helped me learn how to incorporate things into my game that were not natural, so that I could play successfully on any condition. In my opinion, he’s done a pretty good job. ( I’m not partial am I)

JK: What weight ball do you throw? How are most of your balls laid out? Do you have a favorite drilling?
CD: I throw the lightest 15 pound balls I can get. What I usually do is put my four favorite drillings in each one of the balls in our line, and then go from there. I have been a member of the Ebonite Pro Staff for seven years. My favorite drillings are over the label, pin under my ring finger with a six inch hole, and pin above the fingers with an extra hole. Favorite drilling is the pin under the ring finger.

JK: Could you elaborate a little on how your college career prepared you for the PWBA tour?
CD: If I did not go to college I would not be where I am today. Going to West Texas State University is one of the best things I ever did. I also graduated with a B.A in Communications. I can’t stress enough how important a good education is. College allowed me the chance to grow up, learn about myself, taught me how to work with others, how to communicate, and to realize what I wanted to strive to be. But, again, my first priority was getting an education, and while making grades, I was fortunate enough to experience some of the greatest years of my life.

JK: How big an advantage is it to be on a ball staff when competing on tour?
CD: It is a great advantage. It’s nice to know what your selection is and know what they all do, and that this is what you choose from. So many of the companies now have good equipment, I can see how someone can get confused real fast. Being on staff eliminates some of that confusion.

JK: How much will losing Sam’s Town as an umbrella sponsor hurt the PWBA?
CD: Hopefully not very much. I know they are in the process of looking for another sponsor and hopefully we can look forward to another partnership with someone else. I also hope, that some day Sam’s Town might reconsider.

JK: I understand you have a clothing line out. Could you tell us a little about it?
CD: I wanted to start a line for my fan club and Ebonite and I just decided to do shirts for women. The bowling industry for so long has only provided shirt sizes that were basically for men. I don’t fit into a man’s small, and probably a lot of women fall into this problem. So, we made shirts that fit women. And, these shirts are just not for bowling, they are casual enough to wear out. You can see them on the Ebonite.com website or Carolyndorin.com website.

JK: Is there anything else you would like to say to my readers?
CD: Check out my website Carolydorin.com for week by week stats, ball drillings, and e-mail me any questions they might have. I am also selling my used equipment on my web and the proceeds will be split between a youth scholorship and Susan G. Komen breast cancer fund. Also, if anybody has any questions about high school or collegiate bowling, please go to bowl.com. And on a personal note, I always thank the pilot when I get off a plane.

JK: Ok, Carolyn. See ya down the road.
CD: Take Care

Cindy Schubert of Dyersburg, TN asks: I have trouble hanging onto my ball from time to time. Should I use tape? I see some people doing that. If so, what kind?

Jim responds: If you are dropping the ball try one strip of white adhesive tape on the front of your thumbhole. The depth should be a matter of personal preference. If your thumbhole is still too big, don’t just pack more white tape onto the front of your thumbhole. This will change the span and the roll on your ball. If you need to take up more space, then put white tape on the back of the hole, then cover it with black tape or a teflon strip. This enables you to have a snug fit and still clear the ball smoothly. If you are dragging without tape and you don’t want to enlarge the hole, then try a piece of black tape on that side.

It is not Mats Karlsson as most believe. It is one John Douglas Troup, otherwise known as Guppy. He was born in Scotland and his family moved to America when he was an infant.

Bob became a household word in the bowling world last year. He was named Bowler of the Year on the Senior PBA Tour. He started out this year winning the Senior Masters and the last two SASBA tournaments he has bowled. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife Judith. He also has six regional titles and four Senior regional titles.

JK: Bob, what is the reason for your dominance on tour last year?
BG: First, I do not think that I dominated last year. I only won twice, which was the same as Roger Workman. We both won one major title. I just happened to be in the top five more frequently.

I did have a lot of success last year, more than I had expected. I think there are several reasons for this success. Two are obvious and true for all of the good players on the senior tour. (1) I have stayed in fairly good shape and am relatively strong. (2) I practice regularly (nearly daily).

I have no doubt that I have been helped by recent trends in the game of bowling. During my release, I come around the ball a lot. Twenty years ago this was a problem that I had to try to overcome with equipment and speed adjustment. The best technological development for my game was the advent of the two piece ball, in particular, the Hammer. Now my release is a strong part of my game because of the change in bowling balls and lane conditions. I can get the ball through the heads with the release and then use the over powering contemporary equipment to generate carry. Compared to equipment even ten years ago, bowlers today are throwing nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapons have benefited my game more than someone like Barry Asher. Barry can generate carry with his roll. I need help and that help is available at your local, friendly proshop.

JK: It seems to me that you have figured out your equipment better than most. Is that true?
BG: I am not sure how well I have figured out bowling balls relative to other people, but I can say with confidence that I understand how to exploit current equipment for my own game better than I ever have. Because of my release, the usual expectations for standard drillings do not necessarily hold. For a long time this was a disadvantage for me because I did not know what else to do.
One of the basic tenets of my philosophy of bowling is that first a person must be honest about how they bowl. Then it is important to accept the limitations of your game. Finally, try to take those limitations and turn them into advantages. I usually say this with a sonorous professorial voice, like it was given to me as the word of God when in fact it is common sense.
The point is that I have figured ways to take equipment and use it to my advantage. When I first started on the Senior Tour I was frustrated by my lack of carry. I called Steve Wunderlich who was at Track at the time and asked for help. He explained a basic approach to drilling bowling balls and explained how different Track balls reacted. From that basis I have been able to take Track equipment and fit it to my game. I still have questions and call the office or Billy Yinger for advice, but in general, I do a good job of taking Track equipment and fitting it to the problem at hand.
I have not used anything but Track equipment for the past 2½ years because their equipment fits my game and my mentality well. They do not have a lot of different types of balls and they do not come out with a new ball each week. However, most of Track's balls are very versatile. I am not sure, but I think the reason for this is the dominance of their weight blocks. Whatever the reason, I like to use a ball and get comfortable with its characteristics. Then when I need a different reaction, I like to be able to take that same type of ball and drill it differently so that I get the reaction I want, while still maintaining familiarity with its basic characteristics. Track equipment gives me a comfort level that is important to my success.

JK: Do you have a take on the lefty-righty conflict?
BG: I have lots of observations and opinions, but like most, few good ideas. The best analysis of why lefthanders dominate at times in PBA events that I ever heard came from Rick Benoit, the Brunswick representative on tour. He said that he did not measure how much a condition favored lefthanders by the number of pins, but rather by the number of frames it takes a lefthander to line up relative to a righthander when going pair to pair in a tournament. If a lefthander takes two frames to line up and a right hander takes four frames to line up, then the lefthanders have a significant advantage.
On the Senior Tour I have rarely seen conditions where the left side was significantly better than the right, but I have seen a lot of conditions where going pair to pair is easier for the lefthanders than for the righthanders. Some of the reasons are obvious, but the most obvious is the equipment. The balls today just destroy a lane condition so quickly and totally, that who bowls in front of you is of significant importance. I also think that this is the reason that scores tend to fall during match play relative to qualifying. During qualifying you are following the same people. In match play you are randomly jumping all over the house and do not have a basic breakdown pattern to follow.
In league play, there is no problem lining up each game, but there is the problem of the rapid breakdown of conditions on the right side. Twenty years ago, anyone playing inside of fourth arrow was showing off. Now in scratch leagues by the end of the night, you see whole teams standing in front of the ball return on the right hand lanes. Keeping up with lefthanders of equal skill is nearly impossible if they have a significantly better entry angle.
Question (1): Is this a problem? Question (2): If it is a problem, can anything be done about it?
I think putting righthanders at a disadvantage is a problem. I am not sure about the fairness issue, but I am certain of the marketing problem. The population splits about 90% righthanded with the other 10% lefthanded. If bowling is seen as favoring a 10% minority, it is then in the difficult position of severely limiting its marketing base. Just from a marketing position, if one side is to be favored over the other, then clearly the right side should be favored over the left.
I do not know if anything can be done about the righty/lefty problem. I think fairness dictates that a lot of effort should be put into trying to make the right and left sides equivalent. One of my observations from the Senior Masters the last two years has been that lefthanders dominate the qualifying, but then do less well in the match play. I think that part of the reason, but only part, is that before each three game match there is five minutes of practice and all three games are on the same pair. This eliminates the pair to pair advantage that lefthanders have. I think that the PBA National Tour is experimenting with changing its format to something along these lines because they think it might be fairer.
How to solve the problem of the quicker breakdown on the right side is more difficult and maybe impossible. My suggestion is to use two different types of oils, a thinner oil on the left side and a thicker oil on the right side. This way, the left side will breakdown even with less use. There are problems with this suggestion, but its an idea.
I have mentioned this suggestion to some lefthanders and have gotten, on a couple of occasions, a surprising response. These lefthanders pointed out an advantage to them individually. With the lanes breaking down quicker on the left side, there would be more variety of lane conditions during the day on the left side. Lefthanders do not all bowl the same, although righthander do tend to lump them together. By allowing the left side to breakdown, different styles of lefthanders would have favorable conditions at different times during the day, instead of the lane condition favoring only one style for the whole day.

JK: Who were your bowling heroes growing up?
BG: My first heros were Buddy Bomar and Steve Nagy. When I was ten years old, I badgered my dad into taking me down to an exhibition by the old Budweiser team. I knew everyone on the team but the skinny anchor bowler - Dick Weber. He made a tremendous impression on me that night and I was a fan for life.
I am a professional bowler, but I was first a fan of professional bowling. One of my favorite pastimes is analyzing other bowler's games. Tom Wolf, a friend from Austin who I traveled with last fall, and I have spent hours discussing the similarities and differences among Gary Dickinson's, Dave Soutar's, and Barry Asher's games. All three can play straight when they want to or hook it when they want. All three have deceptively simple games that are amazingly adaptive. All three have great carry on a variety of conditions. However, the specifics of their games are so dissimilar. I really love picking apart great bowler's games trying to pin point their strengths. My wife is better at it than I am, but I still love to do it. One of the true side benefits of bowling on the Senior Tour is getting to watch all of these great players up close.

JK: When people describe your game, they always seem to use the word -
overpowering. Do you think that is accurate?
BG: I have never thought of myself as a power player. Instead, I think of my style as being a combination of some power and some finesse. I do not have the power of Robert Smith or Chris Barnes or the thousands of other younger players who do super human things to a bowling ball. I am not as accurate as Dickinson, Soutar, or a lot of the straighter players. I am in between - I need to generate area to consistently stay in the pocket.
I think that the description overpowering arises from my physical presence. I am large for a bowler, although both Dickinson and Soutar are taller. In addition, I sweat more than most, which makes it look like I have a very physical game. Mike Aulby once told me he thought that Steve Cook's overwhelming physical presence caused people to ignore a lot of the subtlety in his game. I think the combination of my size and the fact my ball crosses a lot of boards at times is confused with power. In fact, I am just crossing a lot of boards with the ball hitting relatively weak, but from a strong entry angle which is a efficient combination to generate reliable carry.

JK: You had to make a tough career decision in order to participate full time on tour? What were the dynamics of that situation?
BG: Without getting into the nasty details of the situation, I left my job at the University of Kansas last May after 22 years. I was 2 ½ years from retiring with full benefits. The institute where I worked had changed directors in the fall of 1999. The new director was changing the direction of the research done, away from economic and business research and toward public policy and political science types of research. My PhD is in economics. I was uncomfortable with the change in both the director and the direction of the research. The director was uncomfortable with me. I left.
Thank God for the Senior Tour, regional senior tournaments, and SASBA. I use to get nervous in pressure situations when I had a job to fall back on. Now I am just bowling scared all the time.

JK: Since no tournaments are televised this year, are you worried about the future of the Senior Tour?
BG: YES! Until the PBA gets turned around, I think it is only rational to be concerned for the future existence of the Senior Tour. Chris Peters has put a lot of money and talent into the process of trying to turn the PBA around. But nothing in life is guaranteed except death. (I would add taxes, but I know too many CPAs.)

JK: You seem a little uncomfortable with all the attention being heaped upon you right now? Is this true?
BG: Yes. I have never been the center of so much attention, so I am not used to it. I know when I first started bowling Senior events, I felt like I was in the twilight of a mediocre regional career. All of a sudden, people I have never met know who I am.
In addition, I have been very fortunate in a number of ways. If my situation at work had not changed, I would not have bowled as many tournaments as I did. Leading a tournament is one thing while winning a step-ladder format is another. In one game so much can go wrong that I always feel fortunate when I win a step-ladder. At the Senior Masters I caught so many breaks it was fluky. I would have no trouble naming ten guys who bowled better than I did in Reno, beginning with Dave Soutar.
So when someone is congratulating me for winning the Senior Masters, my first thought is how I would have lost my first match if the guy bowling me had not popped his wrist and gotten six on the fill ball resulting in a tie and one game roll off. If Rohn Morton's second ball in the tenth frame on the Jackson, Michigan TV show strikes, I am not Senior Bowler of the Year. So was I more deserving of being bowler of the year than some of the other players, or was I just lucky at the right times?

JK: Do you have an opinion on the current trend toward bowling being considered strictly entertainment and not a "Sport"?
BG: First, bowling is a sport. Second, this is the type of argument that usually results in each side defining sport in such a way that the conclusion flows from the definition.
Part of the problem for bowling I think stems from the trend over the last 30 years to define sport in terms of athletic requirements, such as, how high can you jump and how much can you bench press.
For example, take the descriptions usually given of the basketball player Larry Bird. "He lacked the great athletic abilities of other players, but made up for it by being smart." However, think of the skills he possessed in terms of passing, shooting and seeing the whole court. These skills seem also to be athletic requirements for success in basketball. I think that Bird had great athletic abilities, just not the obvious "how high can he jump, how fast can he run, and how much can he push around."
Thus, if skills are thought of as athletic abilities, then bowling requires a lot of athletic ability, and therefore, is a sport. I have now done what I said is done in this type of discussion: I defined sport in such a way that bowling naturally falls into the category of a sport. I did not waste all those years in college; I can do mental masturbation with the best of them.

JK: What does bowling have to do to regain some credibility?
BG: Bowling needs to eliminate the mysterious. The most obvious mystery that needs to become visual is the lane condition. People need to be able to see why someone can average 245 in league and still not be able to compete with pros. People need to see why the lefthander is playing straight down 5 while the righthander is standing in front of the ball return going 28 to 10 and back.
Eliminating the mystery of lane conditions will put some credibility back into the game for the hardcore league bowler. In addition, eliminating the mystery of lane conditions will make the game more understandable to casual watchers, and as the game becomes more understandable, maybe they will become fans and more frequent participants.
I do not believe it is rational to think that bowling proprietors are going to start putting down more challenging conditions when they know it will hurt league business. I think that some pressure must come from bowlers who can see what the lane conditions really are and how they compare to a more challenging condition.
I am not advocating going back to the 1960s or something like that. The technological changes in bowling since then, both in lane surfaces and bowling balls, have made bowling more fun because they have made the game more offensive minded. I remember in the sixties that it was hit the hole every time, pick up all single pin spares and half of the 5-7s, and get an occasional double. Also, do not ever think about getting outside the damn track.
I think the game is just more fun when you can play all over the lane, cross boards and have an aggressive attitude toward scoring. I think the game is more fun when the player goes into the tenth frame trying to strike out rather than trying not to make a mistake. Believe me, Bob Handley was much more fun to watch on urethane than on lacquer.

JK: Is there anything else you want to say to my readers?
BG: I think I have already said more than enough. Just good luck, good health, and keep bowling.

JK: Okay Bob, see ya down the road
BG: See you in Odessa, which from where I am sitting, is quite a ways down the road.

Tommy Williams of Brighton, TN asks: How important is the number of revolutions on your strike ball?

Jim responds: I think that 12 years ago, it was very important. Today, I think it is vastly overrated. With these bombs that the ball manufacturers are putting on the market, you only have to find a way to get the ball to the pocket with some energy left to carry. A lot of revolutions can be harmful on some conditions. Sometimes, If you have to cross a lot of boards because of more hand and more revs, you can't throw it hard enough to have any energy left. You see this a lot on artificial surfaces. You can swing the ditch but it gets there "D.O.A." and won't get out the ten pin. I know lots of bowlers who get 5-8 revolutions and seem to get out the ten every time.

Phil Ware of Knoxville, TN in 1993 in Tulsa, OK. He defeated Frankie May of Reading , PA 238-237.

Wendy is 33 yrs. old, has been on tour for 14 yrs. and is now married to Nicholas Papanos. They reside in Las Vegas, NV. Wendy has an impressive list of accomplishments, including a lifetime tour avg. of 211, fifteen 300 games and four 800 series.

Wendy was the second woman to go over the $1 million mark in career earnings and now has eighteen career titles. She was the youngest to win the Triple Crown and has been named to the BJ All-American team six times. She has been named to the WIBC All-American team four times and last year became a four time winner of the PWBA's Bowler of the Year. In 1999, she was named the Woman Bowler of the Decade by Bowler's Journal Magazine.

JK: Wendy, how was being named Bowler of the Year in 2000 different from the first time?
WM: I don't think that being BofY for 2000 was any different this year than the first time in 1996. I am just as excited as I was the first time. Any time you receive an award like this, it is an honor that the writers are acknowledging all of your hard work and the end result of having a great year.

JK: Is the PWBA in any trouble after losing Sam's Town as an umbrella sponsor?
WM: Any time an organization loses a sponsor, it is a setback. Sam's Town was a great company to be associated with and I am very sad not to bowl there again. At the moment, I know there is a few companies being looked at for an umbrella sponsor for the coming year.

JK: Who were your bowling heroes growing up?
WM: I grew up in Northern California and had the privilege to be associated with Pat Costello. She was on tour in the 80's and I learned a lot about the tour from her. I didn't actually have any heroes but I did look up to her for advice.

JK: What was the funniest thing that ever happened to you on tour?
WM: There has been so many funny things that have happened on tour. One thing that sticks out as my funniest and my most embarrassing moment was that I had finished a game and went to my next pair of lanes. I thought that it was my next game but actually I was a game off and bowled 5 frames against the wrong opponent and on the wrong pair of lanes. I thought that it was hilarious and to think that it only happened a couple of years ago. I was no rookie!!!!!

JK: How much of an advantage is it to be on a ball staff when bowling on tour?
WM: I don't know if I would actually word it as an advantage. It definitely has perks though. First off I am on a ball staff. I have had the privilege of being on Columbia 300 staff. Not only is there equipment great but they are a great company to work for. I have no decision on what company to throw which is sometimes very confusing for a free agent. Only a few weeks out of our year does a ball rep come out for Columbia. But when we do have one it is very helpful to have someone reassure my decisions. And it is nice to have someone to talk things over with. Not always what I see on the lanes is actually what is happening. Another big advantage is that I receive a monthly salary and extra perks for making the t.v. show.

JK: What do you do to stay in shape?
WM: I am not exactly a physical fitness person. I practice a lot on my off time to keep my muscles and hand in shape. I find that endurance and having calluses on my hands are what is needed for me.

JK: Can you explain to my female readers how they can develop the hitting power you have?
WM: I would say that I have been blessed to be able to do what I do. But I have had a lot of coaching through my years. I have had a coach for 19 years by the name of Sam Baca. He has taught me my fundamentals, meaning my timing and physical game. He has also taught me advanced lane play and from all of this knowledge I have gain a great amount of confidence. All of this goes hand and hand when competing.

JK: What physical changes have you made in your game over the last few years, if any?
WM: I have not made any changes in my game these past few years. I have been doing quite well and I have kept with what was working. If something is wrong with my game, I do practice a lot and make a visit to work out with Sam.

JK: It seems there is less of a lefty-righty conflict on the women's tour than on the men's or senior tour. Do you agree or are the women just better sports about it?
WM: I don't necessarily think that the women are better sports on this issue. It is really a no win issue. You probably don't hear so much about it from the women because there are fewer left handed women on tour. We definitely have our weeks which are questionable as to fairness but I try to not get too involved with that area.

JK: Is there anything else you would like to say to the readers?
WM: I would like to stress that everyone should get out and bowl in some tournaments. Every area has local tournaments, scratch and handicap, and I think that you will become a much better bowler with some different lane play. Also I can't stress enough how important a coach is for someone. Another set of eyes is sure to help.

JK: thanks Wendy. See you down the road.
WM: Thank you Jim. I have enjoyed being part of this interview. Good luck to you with your bowling.

Charlotte Forbess of Covington, TN asks: Do you think women should wear a wrist brace?

Jim Responds: I think a wrist brace could be beneficial to any man or woman who is experiencing fatigue and soreness after bowling. Some bowlers have such a "touch" release that a wrist brace could have a negative effect on their game. If you are bowling 3-6 games a week and having no problems, then I would not recommend using one. If you are bowling more than that or already experiencing discomfort, then try one and see if it helps. I wear one occasionally, as much to give me a more consistent releases for support. Other times, I just wear an elastic wrist band for minimal support and warmth. One thing to remember though, is to wear your wrist support while being fitted for a new ball.

1st-24 by Joe Werner of Pomona, NY in 1962 2nd-21 by Jim King of Victoria, TX in 1972

Paul Fleming is one of the new stars on the PBA Tour. He is 32 yrs. old and has been married for seven years to Andrea. They are expecting their first child in May of this year. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1999. In 1996 he was named MVP of the World Team Challenge Grand Championships and bowled on the 1st place team that year as well as in 1994. Paul bowled on Team USA in 1992 and in 1991 was the National Amateur Champion.He has a B.S. Degree in Education from the University of Nebraska.

JK: Paul, now that you have won rookie of the year (1999), are you confident that you belong on the tour or do you feel you need to win a tournament to prove it to yourself?
PF: Yes, I do feel I belong on tour. By making a few more TV shows, as I did in the summer of 2000, I felt I was able to prove it to myself. Finishing 3rd in the Masters and 4th at the U.S. Open were big boosts to my confidence. A win would definitely make more of a statement, but being consistent and finishing close to the top makes you a force to be reckoned with every week. If you do that, a win will be close behind.

JK: I know you have a hand injury. How do you deal with it? What types of adjustments have you had to make in your release and is it getting better?
PF: The injury was actually to my wrist and happened at the U.S. Open last July. The diagnosis was tendonitis (an overuse injury). It was very tough to deal with, both mentally and physically, especially since I was bowling so well at the time. I took 3 months off without throwing a ball and went through 6 weeks of therapy of which the main purpose was to relieve the inflammation. When I did start bowling again I dropped weight to a 14lb ball, which I'm still using, and changed my pitches in my fingers to help take the pressure off my tendons. Along with that, I tape my wrist everytime I throw a ball and also wear a wrist brace. After every block I ice my wrist down for at least one session of 20 minutes. I am pleased to say my wrist is getting better and stronger every week, but still gets a little sore.

JK: I believe you bowled on Team USA a couple of years in the early nineties. What was that like? Can you tell us an unusual or funny story about those travels?
PF: I only bowled for one year on Team USA (1992). Although we did not have many tournaments that year, it was a good learning experience. I was able to learn more about my own game and how to conquer more adverse lane conditions. As for unusual stories, I can't think of anything specific without embarrassing myself! The whole experience was so enjoyable and the friends and memories I've been able to take away from it are invaluable.

JK: I know you were very successful as an amateur. What finally made you decide to give up amateur bowling and megabuck tournaments and join the PBA?
PF: I had bowled in the Megabuck tournaments for 12 years. They were changing directions and I felt it was a good time to change my career objectives as well. I felt I needed a new challenge for myself. I had wanted to be a Professional Bowler since I was a kid bowling in the junior programs. I was 30 years old and I figured if I didn't do it now I may not have another chance.

JK: Many of the amateurs I talk to are confused about the ever changing formats on the PBA telecasts. Can you shed any light on the reason for the experimentation?
PF: My understanding is that they are trying to create a more exciting telecast and the only way to do that is to try new formats and get feedback from the viewers. I don't think the experimenting is over with and we may see some different formats in the future.

JK: Whats your take on the buyout of the PBA?
PF: I think the buyout will be very good for the future of the PBA. The new owners are working very hard to get things set up for improvements on the tour. We just have to remember that it will take a little time to revive it. I have a very positive outlook that we will see substantial changes for the better in the near future.

JK: Do you think there is an unfair advantage for left-handers on tour?
PF: Whether you are right handed or left handed you still have to make the right decisions to be successful, which on tour are numerous no matter which hand you throw with, and of course make good shots when you need them!

JK: Is there anything else you would like to say to my readers?
PF: Keep watching the Tour and giving feedback to the PBA website at pba.com. Without the fans and their input it will be impossible for the tour to flourish!

Who is the only man to play Major League Baseball, play in the NBA and be a PBA member?

Victoria Krys of Reno, NV asks: what does it mean exactly when I hear you and others talk about "leverage on the ball"?

Jim responds: I can't speak for others but what it means to me is the act of lifting and turning the ball during the release. Its not what you do with your hand during the approach or even during the downswing that matters. Its what happens after your thumb is out of the ball and while your fingers are still in it. The more behind the ball you are when your thumb comes out, the more potential for maximum revs on the shot. After this point, the amount of revs and type of roll is determined by what path your hand takes in that next split second. Chris Barnes is a good example of staying directly behind until the last possible moment. Brian Himmler is a little more on the side of the ball, but still imparts a lot of spin and lift. Some very good bowlers throw spinners. This is caused by their hand traveling around the side or top of the ball and not traveling behind and through the shot. Of course the amount of leverage is also determined by such things as being in a balanced position at the line and the angle of the bowler's back to his thigh (90 degrees is optimal). I hope this clears it up some.

Gene Conley played center for the Boston Celtics and pitched for the Milwaukee Braves in the 50s and was a PBA member in the 60s and 70s.

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