http://www.pba.com/news/feature.asp?ID=946

Witn no tournaments to bowl yesterday, I had a chance to watch live, so I paid attention.

Bowled on the Viper pattern with a Brunswick Anvilane surface, I immediately knew they'd be throwing it straight and hard down the line anywhere from the 7 board out to the 3.

When I saw they were, I was happy that my knowledge and judgement were still good at my advanced age.

Even Wes Mallott and his RPM in the millions was straightening it out as much as he could.

Brad Angelo mastered it, but how with a lower friction synthetic surface such as Anvilane?

The answer: His ring finger release.

Those of you who have bowled the Viper know it can play much like the Cheetah pattern. Those of you who haven't, it's NOT a pattern to hook the ball and cross a lot of board.

But it's also a pattern where you need your ball reaction to make a definitive turn and have to do it yourself instead of relying on the core to do it., otherwise, you'll leave a lot of 10 pins and there were many left in the four matches shown yesterday on ESPN.

The best contrast was Angelo vs. Walter Ray Williams, Jr. Now granted, WRW can score on any surface, probably could win on a parking lot. But WRW didn't have that real good reaction. A swished 2-8. A 7-10. That's the evidence.

Chris Loschetter bowled Angelo in the finals and I honestly thought Angelo's win run would end. I like Loschetter's game, it's solid, square and firm. Whiffing a 10 pin hurt. But Angelo won the match and the tournament far and above it being given to him.

He consciously made sure his ring finger was the last to exit the ball. That gave him the twist hit at the bottom needed for the back end. Remember, your middle finger release provides length and your ring finger give the ball "backend" reaction. That's why you need your ball to fit well and have an experienced and good pro shop professional to layout your equipment.

Mallott, Loschetter and WRW were all focused on getting the ball down the lane without too many boards being crossed. But Angelo did that AND hooked it up on the backend.

Look at the PBA Women's challenge match between Michelle Feldman and Stephanie Nation. Feldman has more revolutions on the ball than half the guys I bowl with. So she tried to cover a lot more boards than the men, and Nation. When she was on, her shots hit like a truck. When they didn't, it was ugly, a 3-6-10, and later, some alphabet soup combination leave (1-2-4-8-10?). It cost her the match. Nation played down the pin and won easily.

Randy Petersen made an excellent observation during the broadcast about Angelo. He said he was working the "inside of the ball" and that was the difference between pros and amateurs. He's right. To control the core, making it static upon release but turn on it's proper axix at the breakpoing, you must precisely work your fingers, middle, index, and thumb release timing. Most amateurs just "sling" it and let their score be at the mercy of the coverstock in relation to the lane surface and oil pattern. You can shoot high games this way on a house shot with the equipment we use today. But on a sport pattern like the PBA Viper, you cannot use this method and average 210 or more.

That's why i believe, contrary to many, that there still is old fashioned skill with mechanics required to come up with a solid ball reaction. I know from personal experience the past 5 weeks that my mechanics have been very strong. I knew which finger to use for inertia, combined with the right hand position, and a good place to start my approach with the right breakpoint mark, and it's resulted in 7 games over 270 with 6 out of 9 series above 700, with one of those below 700 a 698.

So my tip to everyone is this: Make sure you can "feel" which finger is givng the ball more inertial. If it's the middle finger, then you'll have length and not as strong a backend. If it's the ring finger, you'll get more backend reaction and can compensation for a slight drop in speed with a firmer armswing.

The combination of knowing which finger to use for inertia, and combined with the right hand position and finger grip. Did you know there are 5 grips in bowling? If not, this URL is a must read for anyone who wants to add 10 pins to their average.

http://www.bowl4fun.com/ron/tip11.htm

This URL is dedicated to new Bi State Bowling Times member Bowling Dan!

And welcome to good friend bpcomo for becoming a member, and artword, who bowls a PBA experience league, will get better as he does, and you should bowl one too!