Preview of My Upcoming Story on Bowling Clinic Coached by Sean Rash

I had the privilege of attending an all-day bowling clinic at Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, CA last Saturday. Coaching the clinic were Sean Rash, P.J. Haggerty, Dr. Dean Hinitz, Ric Hamlin, Nick Smith, and Debbie Haggerty.

Dr. Hinitz had much to say about optimal bowling psychology, and Sean Rash shed a lot of light on bowling at the elite professional level and on his own triumphs and struggles on the lanes.

Please stay tuned for a story that I plan to post to this blog about the highlights of the clinic. And you can read my posts on a previous clinic that I attended last year here and here.

Bowling Against a Legend

I bowl league at Fireside Lanes near Sacramento, CA. Yesterday afternoon, I subbed for a team in an excellent senior scratch league there. These are three-person teams, and each person is matched against his or her opposite member. My opponent yesterday was Betty Morris-Laub.

If you've followed bowling for a long time, the names Betty Morris and Laub should sound familiar. A certain Betty Morris was female Bowler of the Decade for the 1970's, three time female bowler of the year, and a holder of 17 women's professional national titles and numerous other bowling awards. In other words, she's one of the most accomplished female bowlers ever. And PBA Hall of Famer Larry Laub was voted the 37th greatest bowler in PBA history.

Well, it just so happens that Betty Morris married Larry Laub, and that same Betty Morris was my opponent yesterday in the Fireside Senior Classic. With her husband Larry looking on, she put on a veritable bowling clinic, shooting over 900 for four games and winning three out of five match points against me.

She bowls only once a week yet still averages well over 200 and retains the famous form and smooth execution of yesteryear. And although I haven't seen Larry bowl recently, I understand that he's still got game too, except that he now projects the ball a lot further down the lane than he famously used to.

As I've written previously, I feel blessed to bowl in a center that has one of the finest junior programs and junior coaches (Debbie Haggerty) in the nation, features the Steve Cook Classic and other fine leagues, has a pro shop owned by Gary Hulsenberg and Leanne Barrette- Hulsenberg, and in which I've been able to compete against the likes of bowling legends Steve Cook, Leanne Barrette, and Betty Morris, and even be coached by Bill O'Neill, P.J. Haggerty, and bowling psychologist Dean Hinitz. Every bowler should be so fortunate.

Just don't expect to be able to beat the "old legends" there. Like I said, they've "still got game."

Fireside Lanes Bowling Clinic Report, Part 1

I've been bowling a long time, but I've always shied away from being coached. When I was younger, this was for two reasons. I didn't like to be told that there was something wrong with the way I bowled, because I was afraid it would make me feel even less capable and more insecure than I did already. And I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to learn the lessons I was being taught, which would not only waste my money but make me look and feel stupid at a time when I already felt stupid enough and wanted to avoid looking it as much as possible.

I guess I've matured a little over the years in ways beyond the strictly chronological and biological, because I've come to the point where I'm less concerned, although by no means entirely unconcerned, with protecting my delicate ego and not looking stupid. So, I'm more open to seeking outside help to improve my bowling game. After all, I've gone about as far and done about as well on my own as I probably ever will. If I want to be and do better, I need expert coaching.

My first formal coaching lesson came a couple of weeks ago from Debbie Haggerty, mother of touring pro P.J., and one of Bowlers Journal International's top 100 coaches and last year's Junior Coach of the Year. She has developed an awesome junior program at Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, CA, but she also coaches adults. She gave me some suggestions about altering my setup and approach to help me delay my timing and generate more leverage and power with my delivery.

Then I attended a veritable dream bowling clinic all day on June 6 at Fireside Lanes featuring Dr. Dean Hinitz, Bill O'Neill, P.J. Haggerty, Leanne Barrette Hulsenberg, and Gary Hulsenberg. We were given booklets with printed material culled from leading bowling publications about the physical and mental game, and we then assembled in the meeting room to be introduced to the coaches and given an overview of the day's activities.

I'll say from the outset that I regret not taking notes during Dr. Dean's presentations, because he had a lot to say, and it would have been nice to have a solid record of it all instead of fuzzier memories. I didn't record and don't remember exactly how he said it, but he quoted some old Chinese proverb about how fading words on old paper were better than the blank pages of forgotten memories. My advice to anyone who attends a clinic like this is to TAKE GOOD NOTES.

However, I did jot down some notes after I got home of what I managed to remember about Dr. Hinitz's instruction on the mental or psychological aspect of bowling, and I'll summarize them later. But first let me say a few words about other aspects of the clinic.

We performed some exercises such as forming into teams and trying to throw our balls in the channel between 40 and 60 feet down the lane. It was a lot harder for many of us than you might suppose. We were then assigned to pairs of lanes to throw balls while the coaches looked on and and offered each of us suggestions. Every few pairs had a different PBA animal pattern, and a different coach was assigned to that set of pairs. After bowling on one pattern while watched and helped by one coach, we would move to a different pattern for feedback from a different coach while Dr. Hinitz kept a watchful eye on the proceedings and walked around asking people at random what they were "working on."

P.J. Haggerty asked me what I wanted to work on. I told him I wanted, among other things, to develop a more powerful release. He watched me bowl and made some suggestions about things I could do to stop wrapping my backswing behind my back and releasing my ball too far away from my body for good leverage and control. He said this would help me be more accurate and consistent with my shotmaking and also give me more power. But he also cautioned against trying too hard to develop more power. After all, he said, the winningest bowler of all time on Tour is hardly a power player. Nor does he have anything approaching a textbook style.

Bill O'Neill watched me bowl and suggested that I stop extending the ball so far out on my pushaway. He said my long pushaway caused me to tense my arm and muscle the ball into and through my backswing. He suggested that I use the hinged swing of a Chris Barnes as my model of the ideal pushaway and armswing.

Leanne set me up with a Mission demo ball to try out on the lanes and invited me to practice with her and her husband Gary whenever I wanted their help with my game and they were available. I really appreciated this. Leanne, who won 26 PWBA titles and has bowled on TV more than 100 times, has been one of my favorite bowlers for over 20 years.

Gary Hulsenberg, a PBA member and former Ebonite product manager for this region, watched me bowl and talked with me about my equipment. He observed my ball track and said that it, like Pete Weber's, was unusually close to and parallel with my finger and thumbholes. He said a good thing about this is that it puts the greatest amount of ball surface possible in contact with the lane without rolling over the holes. On the other hand, it presents, especially given my relatively soft ball speed, some challenges in selecting, laying out, and surfacing equipment so that it doesn't roll over the holes or lose too much of its energy before it gets to the pins. He offered to work with me in setting up an optimal arsenal of six balls or fewer that should enable me to handle effectively just about any lane condition and sport pattern especially that I encounter.

Toward the end of the clinic, Bill and P.J. got out their bowling balls and threw several shots on each of the patterns explaining as they went along what they were thinking and trying to do with each shot. I've seen P.J. bowl before on PBA Xtra Frame and from the spectator area of a local tournament, and I've watched Bill O'Neil numerous times on TV, but there's nothing like watching these two skilled and powerful pros perform their magic "up close and personal." Standing just a few feet behind them, I was struck by the smooth and effortless power of their deliveries. Of course you see a lot of guys, mostly younger ones, gripping and ripping it in your local bowling centers. But they don't throw it like P.J. and Bill and have the voluminous knowledge to go with it. My God P.J. and Bill throw the ball sweetly! They are very impressive. And they know more about bowling equipment, oil patterns, bowling physics, and biomechanics than most of us could ever dream of.

As for Dr. Dean's informative and inspiring words, I'll list the ones I remember, even if they don't appear in the order he presented them, in my next blogpost about the clinic.

Bowling at Fireside Lanes

I bowl at Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, California. It's about 15 miles east of my home in Sacramento. There are plenty of bowling centers closer to me than Fireside, but I doubt that any of them offer the value that Fireside does. Part of that value is monetary. I bowl two scratch leagues at Fireside.

In one of them, I pay only $15 dollars a week to bowl six games--three of singles and three of doubles. Granted, the prize fund isn't all that big, but this league offers an affordable way to get some good practice in a competitive format without breaking the piggy bank. And the people who bowl are a nice, friendly group. Not only that, but the guy who runs it is one of the nicest persons I've ever met in my life. I think the world of him. And, by the way, he bowled a 900 series in tournament play many years ago, before Glenn Allison famously bowled his perfect series. The format wasn't sanctioned, and you won't see his name on the USBC list of 900 series bowlers. But he was in the Guiness Book of Records for awhile for his accomplishment. I really enjoy this league. I just wish we had more bowlers in it.

My other league is a PBA Experience league with adult and junior participants. Bowlers Journal International's 2009 Junior Coach of the Year Debbie Haggerty runs it. We bowl four games of singles for $14 per week and bowl on each pattern for three straight weeks. There are some excellent adult and junior players in this league. Of course, this kind of league tends to draw bowlers who are interested in more than just high scores and averages. They want to improve their skills on the more challenging PBA patterns.

One of the most noteworthy of these players is a young man named Caleb Nakata. I am very impressed with the progress I've seen him make since I first watched him bowl three or so years ago. He used to come watch the PBA Experience League. Now, at the relatively tender age of 19, he's kicking butt and taking no names in it. Last week he bowled a sizzling, league-leading 299 game and 997 series on the Scorpion pattern. Nobody else was even close. This week, he bowled 850 on the Shark pattern. I know because I was on his pair and he destroyed my sorry posterior. It's true that I'm struggling right now to change my approach and release to generate more power and am failing miserably. But it's also true that Caleb Nakata is bowling very well and is clearly dedicated enough to get better and better. What's more, he's one of the nicest kids you'll ever meet.

One of the real pleasures I get out of bowling is watching guys like Caleb start out as beginners and blossom into fine players. Another fine junior bowler in the league is young Amanda Fry. She won the girl's division of the California state tournament last year. The first time I saw her bowl several years ago, I knew she'd be good. Her smooth, left-handed style is very reminiscent of Tish Johnson's, even though I'm not sure she's ever even seen Tish bowl.

I feel blessed to bowl in these kinds of leagues and be surrounded by these skilled and dedicated bowlers and fine human beings.

First Round Match Play in Dublin

I've spent a couple of hours this morning watching live match play at the Earl Anthony Memorial Open in Dublin, California on Xtra Frame on the PBA website. As I type this, the video coverage has concluded until 2 PM PST, but game seven of a best-of-seven game match between Eugene McCune and PJ Haggerty is still unfolding, and I'm following the frame by frame scoring of it on the PBA website.

I know PJ's mom, Debbie. In fact, we just won the doubles championship of a small fall league a few weeks ago, and this is actually the second time we've done this since I moved to Sacramento and started bowling league where I do now. Debbie has been voted by Bowlers Journal as one of the top 100 bowling coaches in the USA, and she was also voted by the USBC as the top junior bowling coach in the country last year. She runs a marvelous junior program at Fireside Lanes, and she's a good person.

Her son PJ was two time collegiate bowler of the year at Fresno State and is now an exempt player and Columbia 300 staff member on the PBA tour. He hasn't been on the national tour long and hasn't made it to the TV finals yet, but maybe this week will be his week as I see that he's just defeated Eugene McCune in the round of 28 and will next face Steve Weber in a best-of-seven match in the round of 16 to be bowled later today.

One of the things I enjoyed about this morning's Xtra Frame coverage was a guy named Rob Allen who sat in with Xtra Frame commentators Mike Jakubowski and Jeff Mark and displayed his unbelievably encyclopedic knowledge of PBA tournament results over the past forty-five years. He could list every Tournament of Champions winner from the beginning in 1965, and he seemed to know who won just about every PBA tournament, where it was held, whom he beat, and what score he shot to win since that time. People watching Xtra Frame could write in and challenge Allen with trivia questions, and he was up to the challenge an overwhelming majority of the time. It was a nice trip down bowling memory lane and an amazing display of a prodigious memory.