Developed A Bad Drifting Problem

[riley]

Could someone maybe give me some pointers about correcting drifting right for a right handed bowler . I didn't used to have this problem maybe as much as 10 boards, I don't have a way to make video but I sure hope someone can tell me how to go about fixing this, thanks in advance

[Rowdy]

Could someone maybe give me some pointers about correcting drifting right for a right handed bowler . I didn't used to have this problem maybe as much as 10 boards, I don't have a way to make video but I sure hope someone can tell me how to go about fixing this, thanks in advance

Yikes. Okay,here goes. First off,are you drifting off the path of the ball? If you're trying to play a big hook from the left side of the lane you'll appear to drift,but you'll actually be walking along the path you want the ball to take as it leaves your hand. So,that wouldn't be a drift at all.

If that's not the case,then it's back to basics. Since we know that you should be laying the ball down seven or eight boards,(for a normal sized guy) from where the center of your sliding foot is,start with your right foot centered on board 17R, throw the shot straight up the 10R board. Look down,your sliding foot should be on 17-18R. Remember that as you take the first step that your foot is supposed to come down directly in front of the foot behind it.

Since I use a five step approach and I'm right handed,I place the right foot down heel first and then angle the toe out to the right about 3 boards. So if I'm doing the above exercise the heel of my right foot is centered on the 17R board and the toe is out to the 14R board. The left foot goes down as close to the right as possible,pointing straight ahead,with the back of the heel on the left foot slightly ahead of the front of the ankle on the right foot. 80% of my weight is on my right foot at this point. The left foot slides out and in front of the right foot to start the swing and is centered on the 17R board. Every step after that stays centered on the 17R board.

I'd suggest practicing this without a ball at first,til you get used to it. Kitchen floors while wearing socks are great for this. Footwork is one of those things that's easy to quit checking and get out of whack on. How many times did we see PDW trip on his footwork last season???

[BubbaRay]

Excellent advice Rowdy. But one thing I might mention riley is the drift factor. Most of us don't walk a straight line to the foul line. Most of us tend to "drift" either to the left or to the right. The worst case of drifting has a person ending up in the exact same spot at the foul line no matter where they start out at. The first thing, you must find out is how many boards you drift to correct your problem.

First you have to learn what your feet are doing on the way to the foul line. The best way to learn this is to have someone video tape you. This way you can see what each foot does at each step. A little trick is to take a bright colored sponge with you to the lanes. One that is only about one inch wide. Place that on the board you wish to slide on just on the other side of the foul line. You can see the sponge in your peripheral vision and you can walk toward it, even if you are looking at your target. If you would like to learn to walk straight, which comes in very handy if you are playing the gutter
just make your feet touch the same board with each step. Once again stand in the middle of the approach. Straddle the 20 board with your feet and make an approach looking down at it. With each step, force yourself to step in enough that you touch the edge of the 20 board each time. It's like walking the yellow line for the cops only you don't go to jail if you can't do it the first few times. Your feet operate totally on muscle memory. They have to be trained how to do something different. If I raised all the steps in your house a half inch you would fall up them for the first few days. Then your feet would learn they need to raise up just a little higher each time. Learning new foot work in bowling is the same way. It takes some time so don't give up.

[Curacao_Dejavu]

here is a video explaining some drifting items.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XvKAyGAUx0&feature=channel_page

[jhufstedler]

I am a drifter, I drift consistantly from from frame to frame, ball to ball. I am a right handed bowler, but I drift left. Depending on ball and lane conditions I tend to play 20-18 out to 6-4. People around me talk about me, saying I do the samething everytime when it comes to my approach.
Some things that may help you instead of pointing your toes to the right since you are drifting right, if that is a true problem for you, is to turn your toes to the left, or straight down the lane focusing on making your first step straight out. How many steps do you use for your approach. I started out as a 4 step, now I use a 5 step approach. I find a better since of control with my approach using the 5. If my memory serves me correctly, when I used the 4 I had a tendancy to drift right.

[snowspike1]

something that might help is to try moving your target closer to the foul line also. You then end up doubleing your targets. Say use the dots and then the arrows). Once muscle memory gets used to it you can then go back to normal target. But this also will give you an extra look at the lanes as long as the heads are not burnt.

[TenPinSniper]

First off you have to tell us something about your game if we have any hope to help your game.

1. Direction of the drift.
2. Intended Ball Path on a Normal Night... this is going to be lay down, accross the arrows, break point. General about your Rev Rate and Speed.
3. Watch where you start vs finish, so know the amount of the drift.

Here is another godd video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUgwyhp9qZA&feature=related
The thing with any of these video is in the details.

In today's game there are not many times when walking towards the target is desired, straighter or away is more the norm. (Think that is prefaced enough with the bold.)

Good Luck.