10
- FEBRUARY 2014
Schedule
Feb 15-17 AMF Mission Lanes
Feb 22-23 Danville Bowl
Mar 1-2 Clayton Valley Bowl
Mar 8-9 4th Street Bowl
Mar 15-16 AMF Diablo Valley
Mar 22-23 AMF Pinole Lanes
Mar 29-30 AMF Mission Lanes
Apr 12-13 AMF Pinole Lanes
Apr 19-20 Diablo Valley
Apr 26-27 AMF Mission Lanes
(925) 945-1204
bay.abtbowling.com
APR 1-6
SPRING
NATIONALS
$25,000 1ST
SAM’S TOWN,
LAS VEGAS
ASK BOB
By: Bob Korth
Q. I have fallen into a mid-season slump and can't seem to shake it. Got any idea's
on breaking slump's?
Slump's can be one of the hardest things in our game to get over. If you ask 100
people how to break a slump you will probably get 100 different answers. I have a
few idea's of my own. First remember you know how to bowl, you haven't forgotten
how you have just lost your confidence. When you lose confidence, your ability to
bowl on auto pilot goes out the window. You begin to over-think everything. Your
approach becomes uncomfortable. You start steering every shot. The harder you
try to correct these things the more you do them. You go practice more but usually
it just makes things worse and prolongs the slump because you are practicing the
very thing that got the slump started in the first place. You want to try to relax and
quit thinking, try to concentrate on hitting your target and nothing else. What I do to
break my slump is to take a couple of weeks off. I get a sub for leagues and even
bypass a tournament if one is coming up. I get away from bowling altogether. This
helps me to reset my brain as it pertains to bowling. Then when I come back, I
have forgotten all the things that started the slump in the first place. I am relaxed
and having fun again. Getting away for some people is the quickest fix.
Q. I got a new ball for Christmas, went to the pro shop to get it drilled. I was asked
what reaction I was trying to achieve. I told the expert what I would like to see the
ball do. He watched me throw a few shot's and drilled the ball for me. When he
handed it to me I was shocked to find not only the finger and thumb holes but a
large hole in the side of the ball. I did not ask for this extra hole to be put in the
ball. I asked why this was done and was told it is a weight hole. What
is a weight hole?
A. To help the ball get certain rolling characteristics the ball is drilled off center.
This can leave the ball with more weight on one side than is allowed by USBC
equipment rules. You are only allowed 3 ounces of top weight and 1 ounce of side
weight. The also 1 ounce of either thumb or finger weight. The size and depth of
the hole is determined by how much weight needs to be removed to make the ball
legal by USBC specs. Only one weight hole is allowed. The weight hole does not
hurt the ball. In fact it many times helps the reaction of the ball even more.
Q. I bowl in a center that has a long oil pattern. My ball speed is pretty fast and I
am having problems with the ball getting to the pocket. What can I do besides slow
down to increase hook?
A. Here is what you need to know about ball speed. There are more things in bowl-
ing that add up to to become speed. Throwing the ball fast, speed. Heavy oil re-
acts like speed. Polished ball, speed. High rg ball, speed. Weak cover stock,
speed. All of these things act like more speed. You have to try to achieve a bal-
ance to get the reaction you are after. You have ball speed and wet lanes. You
need to temper this with a lower rg ball, or with a drilling pattern to get the ball into
an earlier roll You may need a sanded ball or matte finish ball to get a read on the
lanes. You might need some or maybe all of these things to increase your ball
reaction on the lanes. Your objective is to slow the ball down by increasing friction
between ball and lane.
Just a note for all my readers my wife and I are taking a bucket list cruise to New
Zealand and Australia starting in February. We will be gone for two months so
these articles have been written ahead. But please if you have a question go
ahead and email it to me. I won't have the net all the time so it might be awhile
before I get back to you with an answer. I will get the answers out to you as soon
as I return in April.
Thanks for reading and your patience. Bob
To ask a question write to
I try to answer all questions by email.
ABT Bay Winner:
Fred Rivera $1,500
Al Aguilar - 2nd
Danville Bowl, 1/12
ABT Bay Winner:
Eduardo Santos
$2,000
Phuoc Do 2nd
Clayton Valley 1/5
Phuoc Do $1,160, Steven Nakatsu 2nd. 4th Street Bowl 1/19
