The Ron Clifton Scoot

I developed a technique many years ago my students have affectionately named the Ron Clifton Scoot. The scoot is a reasonably easy technique to learn that accomplishes several desirable things at once.

When you do the scoot, you create a nice long flat spot at the bottom of the swing, you eliminate grab during the release, and you produce a ball roll that glides through the heads and has predictable back end reaction.

One of the reasons I have come to love our sport so much is because it has become so complicated. I love complicated. I am good at it. I honestly think that if the bowling ball revolution had not occurred I would have lost interest in bowling years ago and for sure would never have become a professional coach.

When bowling balls evolved from simple polyester orbs with pancake weight blocks to the reactive-resin-dynamic-weight-blocked-oil-eating-monsters of today; it changed nearly everything in bowling.

Special oils had to be created to combat the oil absorption rate of the new coverstocks. High tech oiling machines and designer oil patterns followed soon after. In many cases we even bowl on synthetic lane surfaces and approaches, instead of the traditional maple and pine. All of these changes have transformed nearly everything we did in the past to knock down the pins. Complicated!

Things that didn’t matter at all in the polyester days have now become important…like how the ball lands on the lane and how fast and what direction it is spinning. The surface texture on the ball, its dynamic layout, and how well it fits are far more important in today’s sport. The simple task of “finding the track” to play with your polyester ball has been replaced with the much more difficult task of “matching up”. Very complicated!

Why scoot?

One of the things that matters now and made very little difference in the past is how the ball lands on the lane. Always keep in mind that there are exceptions to every rule, but for the most part it’s best to land today’s balls smoothly on the lane. That’s ...