There is a ball throwing machine at USBC headquarters named, "Harry." (It's named in honor of one of the technicians who worked at the testing facility.) Throwing a bowling ball up to 600 revs, Harry is more precise, accurate, and consistent than any bowler, and therein lies its shortcomings.

Harry has never thrown more than six strikes in a row because it is too accurate and "burns" up its original strike line very quickly. In 2005, a special "match" was set up in the USBC testing facility, and Denny Wiseman (USBC Masters champion and multiple winner on the PBA Tour) rolled five strikes in a row while Harry managed only one strike out of the five frames.

After the "match," it was noted that Harry was set up the night before; but, overnight, some of the environmental conditions had changed and there were no pre-match adjustments made to Harry. The most important point to make is that, "Harry makes no adjustments on its own."

I always stress to my students that they may have to continually make adjustments because there are just too many variables in our sport. You cannot, and should not, stand in one spot and throw to the same mark game-after-game. People are always asking me, "how can I learn to read the lanes?" or, "how do I know how much I should adjust?" The answer is, "you don't" to both, and something similar to other questions of the same ilk.

Here's my "Choc-list" for making adjustments:

1) You are actually reading your ball's over- or under-reaction to the current lane conditions. This is not reading the lanes since you don't know the exact situation of the oil at the time you are thinking of making a move. We do not bowl under pristine, scientifically-controlled conditions.

2) You should not watch someone else and move to their line just because they are striking. More often than not, their style is different, their equipment is different, and their release is different. In summary, "you are you and they are they."

3) You should not think, "it's just me," and not make a move on the lane or change balls. Look at it this way, in each game, you only have five throws on each lane. If you don't move, you won't know if it was, in fact, you. You should know that the lane is constantly changing.

4) You can practice as often as possible and you can get to know your bowling balls. This way, you are not afraid to make the necessary adjustments to optimize your game and give you a better-than-average chance to bowl better scores. How many times have you said to yourself, or to others, "I should have moved sooner."

A Hui Hou! (See You Again!)