Webster’s defines sandbagging as the following:

‘To downplay or misrepresent one's ability in a game or activity in order to deceive (someone)’

I find the thought of this nearly incomprehensible when it comes to the sport of bowling. Never in my life would I want to have people think I was worse that I actually am. I’m sure at times over the years, my performance has not always reflected my true skill, but it wasn’t because I was intentionally trying to deceive anyone.

Ever since I moved up into the adult ranks of bowling, I found out that sandbagging, at least in my immediate area, is a true problem. Who would have thought that being worse at something would give you any type of advantage?

I think of true athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter. Can you image for one second any of them missing the winning putt, not making the game winning shot or striking out INTENTIONALLY? I didn’t think so.

The “sport” of bowling (yes I said it “sport”), has struggled with their identity in being recognized as a true sport for many years – for many reasons. With just the above being known, can you understand why???

Sports are athletic games in which one team, group, individual, etc plays against another. These teams compete to see who between them the best is. They don’t give it less than their all at anytime. If they did, they would lose. These teams are out there, playing the best they can be at all times.

Our “sport” allows a bowler to play at less than their potential at certain times with no penalty. Members on a bowling team might intentionally miss spares or throw low pin counts toward the end of the game if the game is not close enough to have a chance to win. This would keep their average down in order to enter a tournament with a lower average, gaining more handicap than they truly deserve to get.

Our governing body, the United States Bowling Congress has only a couple of rules/regulations when it comes to sandbagging. The two that I know of that try to prevent any type of throwing off are: an “unfair tactics” bylaw and a bylaw that requires a bowler to keep a tournament average and adjust accordingly.

But let’s face it, cheaters know the rules and they do a good job of making sure they are within the guidelines of them. Bowlers affected most by the tournament average and penalized are usually the ones who really and truly are unaware of the bylaw.

Tournaments also reserve the right to rerate any bowler, at anytime, for any reason. A rerate means that the tournament official believes you are playing at an average that does not represent your true ability. If you choose to accept this rerate, you would from that moment on, report that average to any tournament that you bowl in. Penalty for not doing this could result in suspension of your certification (formally sanction).

So what does this all mean? I know I can’t speak for the rest of the country, but in my area, handicap tournaments and events seem to be on the rise while scratch bowling is hurting more than ever. There is one scratch league in existence here and they are down to a mere twelve teams. It puts it far from the hay days of the once elite league that required you to ‘try out’ in order to determine if your skills were good enough to compete in the league. Those were the days.

Nowadays, it seems as though it doesn’t pay to be the best. Higher average bowlers are prevented from bowling in a lot of leagues and various tournaments because of average caps. I guess that’s what you get for having some integrity for the game.

So even though I am limited to where I can bowl and what I can bowl, every time I step on the approach I am trying to knock down as many pins as possible. I would rather look at myself in the mirror and know I lost because I was honest about my ability and someone else wasn’t, than win (no matter the prize) because I was dishonest about my ability.

There are a lot of variables in today’s scoring environment, different lanes surfaces, different kinds of oils, and without question, different lane conditions. It is critical that you identify these variables to score your best. Unless you have the vision of a comic book super hero the only way to see the environmental factors is by your bowling balls reaction to them. Is your ball reacting in the front part of the lane, the middle part or mid lane, or the backend? Where is your breakpoint?  

Breakpoint in bowling terms simply means the point in the trajectory of a bowling ball at which the ball makes its greatest change in direction. This is the point on the lane where your bowling ball will change directions, or snap.

There are three phases of ball motion.  You have skid, then hook, then roll.  Breakpoint means where your bowling ball changes from hook to roll. Got it? No? Yes? Let’s get more in depth.  When you create rotation to a bowling ball you will have these three phases of ball motion.  Your equipment and the lanes condition affect these at different locations on the lane in distance from the foul line. For example, if you have a very early aggressive bowling ball, your skid won’t be as long and your hook and your roll will both start sooner as a result.  By doing this your bowling ball’s breakpoint will be sooner on the lane. However if you have a heavy oil condition then this will happen further down the lane.

So if you watch your bowling ball and what it does on the lane you can determine where your breakpoint is on the given lane. If your breakpoint is too soon then your bowling ball will lose power and hit weak into the pocket.  If your breakpoint is to far down the lane the bowling ball doesn’t have enough time to get into its roll which will create deflection into the pocket leaving you the corner pins. Yes I said it, that’s why you leave corner pins. So how do you change that? The obvious answer is to move to a more aggressive bowling ball, or one that has more surface friction.  The less obvious and cheaper answer is making changes to your shot by moving your feet or your target.  This is not the golden rule of bowling. Trust me there are other factors as well.  This is just one factor to the pesky corner pin.

So let’s recap: Breakpoint means where your ball will change direction to get into the pocket. Having your breakpoint too soon will result in weaker hits. Having your breakpoint to far will result in corner pins, or worse! So remember watch what your bowling ball is telling you. If you keep missing the pocket or coming light into the pocket, then you need to change where your breakpoint is. Move your feet, target, or simply change your bowling ball!

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and the Lead Technical Advisor. He is an IBPSIA Advanced Certified Member and former PBA member. You can email your questions to him personally at thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com

Bowling is a sport that requires great physical and mental conditioning.   This week’s tip of the week will focus on targeting. This will hopefully help improve your game and your scores.

I often hear bowlers of all skill levels ask, “Where should I be aiming?”  I have heard all kinds of answers.  Some people say look at the dots by the foul line, some say look at the arrows, some say look at the breakpoint, while others say look at the pins.  The truth is every one of these is an important factor in targeting.  In fact, you can use all of these to line up your intended ball path on the lanes.  People have had success using each of these methods. In this article I will focus on targeting your shot at the arrows.

I was taught when I first started that you aim at the arrows.  That made sense to me, since the pins that I am trying to knock down are 60 feet away and the arrows are only 15 feet away.  I thought, what’s easier for me to hit? Something that’s 60 feet or 15 feet away? 

Let’s first start with the naming of the arrows on the lanes and where they line up in relation to the pins. The “center” arrow or some might call it the fourth arrow, lines up directly with the head pin. The arrows are separated by the width of five boards or five inches apart.  The arrow to the right of the middle arrow is the third arrow.  This arrow lines up with the three pin. The next arrow to the right of that would be called the second arrow and the one closest to the right side gutter is called the first arrow.  You can repeat this process in the opposite direction from the middle arrow for a left handed bowler.

Today’s lane conditions host a lot of oil in the center part of the lane; typically the oil tapers off as you get closer to the gutter. This allows your bowling ball to read the lighter oil more, thus creating more hook from that part of the lane. So if you would like your bowling ball to hook more you roll the ball closer to the outside part of the lane or closer to the first and second arrow.  Now how do you know which arrow to aim at?  This is all based on your ability to see your ball reaction and adjust to what you see.  If your bowling ball is hooking too much or going high on the head pin, you may want to move your target closer to the third arrow and let your bowling ball travel more towards the outside part of the lane.  If your bowling ball is not hooking enough you may want to start your bowling ball closer to the outside part of the lane.

When you are trying to find your target on the lane, simply watch what your ball is doing. Watch it and then do it. If you are a right handed bowler and your bowling ball is traveling to the left too much, simply move your feet and target to the left. By doing this, your ball will roll through the higher volumes of oil, which will create more skid, thus letting your bowling ball to stay to the right side of the head pin. You simply do this in the reverse for a left handed bowler.

As bowlers improve in average they will find that they need to be aware of where their breakpoint is located.  I bet you want to know what I mean by breakpoint.  Well I guess you will have to come back next week and find out, when I write the next tip of the week.  Breakpoint and what that means to today’s bowlers.

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and the Lead Technical Advisor. He is an IBPSIA Advanced Certified Member and former PBA member. You can email your questions to him personally at thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com

Spring is here and we all look forward to getting out and watching a few ball games, hitting the greens, and enjoying the warm weather.  We are coming to a close of the bowling league season and some of us might have had a great year, while others struggled.  There are many reasons why bowlers struggle these days.  It could be the equipment doesn’t fit right anymore, you had trouble finding your shot, the lane conditions changed, or you just weren’t mentally in the sport this year.  That brings me to our next tip of the week:  The mental game.

Yogi Berra said it best with one of his most famous quotes about the sport of baseball: "Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical."  This is so true.  This is also the case with the sport of bowling.

Bowlers encounter mental tests on a consistent basis.  The focus of making that great shot, trying to block out conversations behind you about the basketball game, or the opposing team saying things to get in your head.  Let’s not forget about all those announcements over the Bowling center’s sound system. So how do you go and battle all these variables?  I will touch on some of the best tips that have helped me over the years and I still use to this day. Maybe some of these will work for you maybe they won’t but you know what, you will never know unless you try.

Some of the top coaches in the world use visualization.  See it. Do it. Your mind can be a wonderful tool or one that will always get in your way.  We have to train ourselves on how to use the tools we have and make the best work possible with them.  I use visualization every time (well almost every time) I step on the approach. I will explain how I use this technique and hopefully it works for you as well.

When I pick up the bowling ball from the ball rack I see myself throwing a great shot. I take every little thing into account. From how I look at the foul line to how I see my bowling ball roll down the lanes, to the final result of the ball entering the pocket.  I see and I do it!!

Other techniques that you can use are those preset messages in your head before you roll the ball. This is another technique that I religiously use on every shot.  Now these might work for you or you may need to come up with your own set, this is an example of how I do it. I say these 3 things before I roll the bowling ball.  Nice knee bend, good follow through, watch my ball roll over my target.  Then I’m off like the horses in the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby.

The last tip I learned from my Father, who isn’t a bowler but has a great sense of how to look at this Sport.  He always told me that your main focus when you step up for your first shot in any given frame is to knock all ten pins down.  If you don’t succeed, then your only focus on the next shot is to pick up what you left. Pretty simple, right?

So remember, Stay focused.  Create a pre shot routine and stick with it, and always focus at the task at hand and not what should have or could have been.  You can’t change it; you can only excel from it.

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and the Lead Technical Advisor. He is an IBPSIA Advanced Certified Member and former PBA member. You can email your questions to him personally at thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com

As I mentioned in last weeks tip, I get asked the question, why do you have so many bowling balls? Today I would like to answer that question and hopefully shed some light on this subject.

The variety of products on your pro shops shelves is far greater today than it has been anytime in the past.  Every manufacturer is making a better product than they did a couple of years ago.  There are even bowling balls that promise to work in all conditions.  However as part of “progress” or evolution, bowling balls are becoming more specialized.

As a former PBA Member I have encountered a vast array of oil patterns. If I didn’t have more then one bowling ball in my bag then I wouldn’t be able to match up to the oil pattern and be able to compete. Adapting to the conditions is the main reason competitive bowlers carry more than one ball.  This is called your arsenal.  Let’s look at golf for a second; do you have one club in your bag?  No!  So why would a bowler have one ball in their bag?  Golf clubs are made for certain distances and certain particular shots.  The same is true with bowling.  You have aggressive cover stock bowling balls to combat heavy oil patterns.  You have medium aggressive bowling balls for those medium to lighter oil patterns.  You have a spare ball in your bag for your spare shooting, and you have at least one ball in your bag for those light oil conditions.

So these are the reasons we have more then one bowling ball in the bag. Ball choice comes down to two issues…lane conditions and your personal style.  So to combat different lane conditions we need more than one ball in our arsenal.  If you’re not in it to be competitive then you don’t need more than one ball. But if you’re looking to improve your game and increase your scores, then you need to start building an arsenal.

Until next time I hope you have fun bowling and remember you can comment on any of my tips and I would love to read them. So remember, have fun, and shoot some big scores!!!

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and the Lead Technical Advisor. He is an IBPSIA Advanced Certified Member and former PBA member. You can email your questions to him personally at thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com