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."

PBA Western Regional Tomorrow in Modesto

Tomorrow, I'll be driving from Sacramento to Modesto, CA to watch the qualifying round of the PBA Western Region Venessa Brown Homes Open at Yosemite Lanes. It will feature such nationally well-known names as Michael Haugen Jr., Wayne Garber, P.J. Haggerty, Dave Arnold, and Chris Warren as well as a veritable Who's Who of local luminaries including the ageless Ross Packard and perennial powerhouse Jeff Frankos.

The players will be matching up with the 2009-2010 Chameleon pattern, and I expect to spend the afternoon enjoying some fine bowling. I hope that you who can will come join me. Some may disagree, but I can hardly think of a better way to spend part of my 4th of July weekend.

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.

What a Difference a Pin Makes

Yesterday, P.J. Haggerty was in fifteenth place going into the final game of qualifying. The top 24 after that final game would advance to 24 games of match play. He bowled 146. Pete Weber, who was below 24th place, bowled a 248 and tied with P.J. for the 24th and final spot to advance to match play. So, they had to bowl a roll off game, and Pete came through, as one of the greatest bowlers of all time usually does, to win the game and head into match play.

Tonight, the position round of match play had Jason Belmonte, , Walter Ray Williams, Norm Duke, and Jason Couch vying for the fourth and final spot in tomorrows televised finals of the biggest tournament of the year. Belmonte, hobbled by an ever-worsening hamstring injury as he limped and struggled to hold on to fourth place, faltered against Tommy Jones and lost. Fifth place Walter Ray and sixth place Norm Duke scratched and clawed to overtake Belmonte and make it on to the show. It was neck and neck the whole way. Duke punched out in the tenth for a 201. Seventh place Jason Couch finished his match with a game in the 220's. Walter Ray needed to double and get a seven count to seize the fourth and final spot for the telecast.

He threw the first one flush for a strike. He struck again on the second ball. The crowd behind him erupted. He needed only seven pins to beat Duke and take the 30 bonus points for a win and make the telecast. He approached the line, threw the ball, and left the 3-6-9-10 to tie Duke with a 201 game, split the bonus pins at 15 instead of taking all 30, and Jason Couch passed him to snatch the fourth and final spot for the telecast. (You can read Jason Thomas' account of these events here.)

Jason Couch couldn't believe it. Walter Ray couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. But there it was. And if there was ever any doubt of how important every single pin is in a bowling tournament or league, what happened to P.J. Haggerty and Walter Ray showed that every single pin can be crucial. When you're bowling, try to knock down EVERY pin you can. Don't throw away ANY shots. Don't give away ANY pins.

One pin could make all the difference between advancing and being left out in the cold. One single, solitary pin could spell the difference between winning and losing. If P.J. Haggerty had knocked down one more pin or Pete Weber one less over 18 games of qualifying, it would have been P.J. going into match play and Pete sitting on the sidelines. If Walter Ray had thrown the ball just a little better and knocked down one more pin on that fill ball in the tenth, we would have been watching him bowl for his 48th title and third U.S. Open title tomorrow on ESPN. One lousy pin cost them both immeasurably.

Don't let it cost you someday.

Here are the four seeds for tomorrow's show:

1, Mike Scroggins, Amarillo, Texas, 16-8, 11,537.
2, Bill O'Neill, Southampton, Pa., 13-11, 11,486.
3, Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, S.C., 16-8, 11,413.
4, Jason Couch, Clermont, Fla., 13-11, 11,282.

I was sorry to see Belmo crippled by his injury. Had that not happened, he'd have almost certainly made the finals tomorrow. And I was terribly disappointed that Walter Ray wasn't the one to take the biggest advantage of Belmo's collapse. Nevertheless, tomorrow's finals boasts a stellar field and should be a good one. And Mike Scroggins, who shot 300 today in match play, has a very good chance of winning his second consecutive U.S. Open. He beat Norm Duke last year.