The DLP Crew welcomes Coach, author and competitor Mark Baker to the show! They also discuss the results of the New Years Day Tournament….who do you think came out on top?
#MarkBaker #Bowling #DownLanePodcast
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Hosts:
Kyle Haines
Anthony Scaccia
Guest:
Mark Baker
Producer:
Austin Van Buren
Music:
Active Aggression
N We It kind of helped them advance I mean do you think this was a conspiracy got to go with Jacob butter gotta go let we’re talking we’re talking about the players that’s tournament champ into the podcast there he is right there oh he doesn’t even know how to
Watch Go to youtube.com and search down Lane Podcast good evening ladies and gentlemen welcome to downline podcast we are streaming live from the lab of town and country lanes I’m your host Kyle Haynes and with me is the assistant to the host Anthony ska y welcome to the Pro Shop well the buffer brush broke my
Computer’s down at the snack bar I had to line out the door for the Pro Shop and couldn’t figure it fit everybody in uh because you know so yeah welcome so you had a nice Thursday oh it was a terrible Thursday it was a bad day when I walked in today
You know uh the tears are flowing that’s all I can say I’m not really worried let me catch them for you I’m not worried about it uh I was just hoping to have a really nice dinner today and that didn’t happen actually that was my only thing I
Said to somebody like what do you want to do I was like have a nice dinner like just be able to sit down for 5 minutes and have a dinner and that’s all I wanted today and uh here it is did you get a dinner all liquid death liquid
Death apparently it’s sparkling water is pretty not all right pretty good Austin how’s it going tonight it’s good I had a fantastic day because I uh I got 13 hours of sleep yeah dude have some kids and tell me about 13 hours of sleep get a pig that was a you
Decision all right on tonight’s episode we’ve got the great Renown coach author PBA Champion Mark Baker coming on in just a few moments uh but first don’t forget to like subscribe click the Bell to get alerts from the channel uh as always please check out our Etsy Shop uh
You can get some sweet shirts hats all of the above this sweet Bowlers Bowl t-shirt what up just came in uh Zach’s got his from the giveaway just hand delivered that um and what else do I usually talk about oh yeah if you can’t watch and uh or watch on
YouTube you can always download and listen via your favorite podcast service like Apple iTunes uh or Spotify or Google whatever um so this weekend we all finally bow together somewhere that doesn’t happen a lot did you call you called that bowling it was uh it was a tough weekend
For the I show up I showed up and spent money that’s about it unfortunately I um just blundered it I guess I could have done a lot better I missed like a hundred plus pins in spares well you know sometimes that happens uh you know I had the lead after game
Two tried not to look back and I looked back pretty far I was in the top 10 after three that did not last long yeah I was was plus 60 after two we bowled up on New Year’s Day um what was it a Harry Styles Harry Smith Harry Smith 41 feet
32 Ms two to one um it’s real quick hey uh Andrew what’s up Zach Rich deak deck bowled really good up there 14 pounds of Fury uh it was it was interesting I mean I had the lead after two uh hit a interesting pair um I must say we all or at least
We staggered our interesting pairs like I shot 250 you shot 150 then I shot 150 never shot 150 you did have a 150 I checked our scores but you no I didn’t right you’re shot 130 I’m sorry but go ahead I had a 130 as well I went 230 230
130 230 240 130 140 170 well I had the I had I had the absolute nut for a while yeah dude that that blue was stup the blue Hammer was good and then we got to this tricky pair and then it stopped hooking down lane and then I couldn’t throw up the lane
Anymore and that’s always my Nemesis I always give it away a little bit but I was watching all the other lefties and they were struggling and I was like well I’m freaking plus 60 and then like halfway through that game I said well just keep it close open open open open
Open the rest of the way and I was all right I think I slam my ball in my bag I mean I could not figure out what was going on so then we go to the low end I go to my other blue Hammer 230 240 ky’s
Like well must have been the freaking must have been the pair next pair same thing so then I ball up take four off the left that was ball up Fantastic Four off the left thank you and I was like well I’m screwed so I tried to gut it
Out it didn’t gut out very well and then next pair I didn’t bull any better since it was operator error most of the time and then I probably played him a little bit wrong I was the only Lefty I think on the leaderboard for a moment all day
Yeah uh and I was on there twice I made it back to eth after the 230 240 um happy New Year Michael what’s going on even know if another Lefty beat me uh I’m not 100% sure I don’t remember looking all the way long enough to look
At this well it’s on the internets but I didn’t look but I don’t know be sub 60 out of 90 I watched you know a few guys who are pretty notable you were just below me who are notable lefties you know Matt Gary Bingham few other guys and
Uh yeah which is odd because it was a it was a very medium pattern it was 41 feet and I think the ratios are pretty close on both sides um it’s a little flatter than what was out I think at the regional yeah um but uh or at least it
Played it played a lot flatter yeah the scores were the scores were I thought at least on the right side they were pretty fair like nobody ran away with it like you guys in doubles last year no this tournament actually last year you and Matt just ran away with it last year
Which was like the scores were way too high last year I I can completely understand if they wanted to kind of make the left a little harder this year yeah um can understand that I don’t think they tried to shut us out I don’t really think there is a shut out anymore
You should be able to find something it it might be a little tougher um but that’s why they always say lefties got to be twice as good as righties I don’t know if anybody else says it but I say it uh you gotta be twice as good because
You got to make it happen man I mean you got to make it happen when you’re out there that stuff you gotta you gotta say you had to make it happen to be fairly close on the left at least because nobody was close made it happen for four
Games sure I will say in eight games the lefties definitely have a disadvantage because the right side’s 1,000% gonna break down I dude I remember you came over me and you’re like well I had a tricky pair I literally looked at you and said I don’t care about your tricky
Pair I said you’re on the freaking right move left and hit it harder I mean what else do you want I did try I tried moving left a little bit but I just don’t have the hand to get where those guys were playing although I think I think what I did is I
Just didn’t move left enough because uh I that’s what I said well I missed it sorry but uh but yeah I probably needed to go more left and we talked about that earlier um but uh I saw Dee um he bowled really good uh he he’s an older guy he
Throws 14 um like you oh wait you lower rev rate and uh yeah he he bowled good so I don’t know exactly what he was doing what he was throwing but uh but yeah don’t tell him GE I didn’t let him figure it out I did not have a ball
Comparable to what I was watching out there yeah I’ll tell you what blue Hammer was good for a little while so I mean when the look went away bad it was bad I already had Anthony order ball yeah I already ordered your ball yeah I heard it today actually changes all
Right well it didn’t go as planned you for especially for you and Matt you guys thought you guys were gonna run away with it that’s for sure I didn’t think I was going to run away with it I kind of figured it was going to be a little
Tougher on the left this year um that’s just my opinion wait a minute I have an idea we’ve got a coach at hand maybe we can ask him what we should have done I mean I’m not I’m not complaining I’m just I’m not saying that I’m just
Saying maybe we should ask him what we should have done well my move should have been 30 right I’m sure he’s probably going to yell at me about my 100 plus pins in Miss spares so he’s right here let’s let’s bring uh let’s bring on the podcast uh author uh
Gentlemen gold level coach uh let’s see PBA champion this is probably our most esteemed guest that we’ve ever had um of all of the guests that we’ve had so let’s bring on uh Mark Baker Renown coach to the podcast hey Mark how’s it going all the way by the way from Disneyland I
Have to say I am yep I am at the uh the Grand California Hotel I’m in a some kind of little room here off to the side hopefully I don’t get kicked out what’s going on I’m sorry to bother you with Disneyland oh I I made the you know you
And I talked and I said sure I’m usually coaching on this day but uh my son’s on uh Christmas Vacation one of the last days off so my wife said hey by the way we’re going to Disney on today so I just thought it would be easier to figure
This out this way than to than to fight her which you’re pretty close to right you guys are right near uh oh yeah we take care for streets to get here nice um I one of the things I want to get right into uh since it’s right around
The corner is um the league which has a lot of big changes this year um which I think are probably way more exciting now than the Le well we’ve talked about this on our show a lot is that I think the league is really exciting for you guys
The coach and the players um for us on the watching end is a little was a little less exciting because it was like packed into one week I think it’s going to be really really exciting and and with all the changes going through the whole season now so tell us what you
Think about that and what’s like what’s to come for the elite League now yeah I don’t think any of us have an idea because of the new way of doing it where they’re going to bowl matches every week I think after we get a couple weekends
In we get you know four or five matches under our belt see who’s doing what you’ll find out how well your team gels but it’ll be uh it’ll be be a lot more fun I’m going to go to two events I go to Detroit and I
Go to akan because now I’m a akan Adam splitter so it’ll be kind of cool I get to go back to uh I haven’t been to Riviera since 1990 when I bow my last ter at a champion so a quick 34 years later I get to go back through those
Famous doors so I’m looking forward to it it’ll be a lot of fun so when you say two places are or are you just referencing two places are you going to every stop to be the manager man participating at every stop how’s that working for the schedule the the the
Stop that your team is on Fox Sports oh FS1 they want the managers there at those you’re allowed to go to any of them but obviously cost you know living on the west coast going all the terat of the Midwest or back East so that would
Be you know I can’t make a living doing that so the two I’m required to be at are the one’s on FS1 so I’ll be at uh Thunderbolt and I’ll be at Riviera so they’re not backing you guys unfortunately no that that’s I mean there it they they take care of us and
It’s a pretty cool thing we do but you know then there then there’s paying the bills I got I go to I got to give a few lessons here and there that’s right that’s right um speaking of lessons you got you’re doing the uh the your not
Just the camps but your actual training center in California yeah that’s worked out unbelievably well it’s a place called the westpack training center it’s in a building that sells uh Western Pacific Bowling Supply and so they sell all the parts and all the things that you would
Need for the the capital part A Lane machine you need gutter caps you need a new rake you need any part from AMF or Brunswick they sell that so the gentleman Lee Haxton who built it had built two lanes to train mechanics on an AMF AMF machine and a brunic machine he
And I are friends for 40 years you call me during covid hey this thing sets up there’s a door in there’s a door out do you think we can make it go of it because California stayed closed for so long and then uh we started it last
January uh two years ago January and it’s it’s been amazing what a run how many uh how many players through those doors have you put through off the top of your head well well north of 2,000 lessons in two years whoa wow it’s a ton it’s a lot of fun what’s
The every player is probably different what’s the process like when you when you’re going for a lesson there I mean every I’m sure every lesson is different every every goal is probably different but what’s that coach off the seat of my pants I I’ve never had a game plan I’ve
Never had a written anything down I uh I’m not the one throwing the ball so I don’t think I should be the one determining the lesson you I’m a pretty good at getting in about five minutes I ask about seven or eight pretty good questions and the bowler will tell me
Exactly what they want to work on and then I just fix it so that’s what I do I don’t it’s just it’s just what I do I like that that way you’re not too worried about you know coming in what does this guy need what does this guy
Need you’re coming in hey what do you think you need and then you can kind of tailor it to them a little bit more specifically if you ask Bowlers what they’re bad at they’re unbelievably good at telling you Bowlers self-analysis is so good I think most coaches should stop
And listen more they’ll tell you exactly what they want to work on so if you listen and you have a little bit of game as a coach I think it’s it just makes the lesson go by that way you know when I charge what I charge 140 an hour
They’re getting exactly what they wanted from the lesson so there’s never at the 50 minute Mark hey you know I really wanted to work on my 10 pins if you ask them what do you want to work on they’ll tell you immediately I want to work on spares my consistency my balance my
Timing you know moving in moving right whatever they want to work on it doesn’t matter to me I will accommodate them and then we get the job done what’s your kind of philosophy then um when you’re meeting a brand new player obviously you’re asking a lot of questions uh but fundamentally are you
You looking at upending a player or do you like to work with what they got and make them better I always work with what they have I mean it depends on your skill set if you’re 210 I’m I’m not going to change much if you’re 105 it’s going to be
Painful right you know if you’re 105 means you have a hard time hitting in the pin the pin nearest you you do way more with that so the bers that are pretty good it’s just Bowlers throw a lot of good shots they don’t understand why they throw a bad
Shot or more importantly they don’t know why they throw their good shots so it’s my job to figure out okay with strike Seeker there on every shot on the video if you throw 10 shots and you really like five instead of telling you constantly what you’re doing wrong you
Look at the five good shots like every time you throw it good Kyle these three markers show up let’s key on those three things and see how many good ones in a row you can throw Bowlers respond to that much better positive reinforcement something you don’t give
Yourself no I I’m really bad at positive reinforc Bowlers are rough you guys are rough on yourselves o o true I have there’s no I’m not allowed you can’t throw a strike in my training center and shake your head I don’t put up with that there’s
None of that stuff where I where I coach that’s not good for me I mean as you’ve been working with people I’ve I’ve watched myself on film a few times so my question would be you know you throw a bad one you look at it
On film and it’s not always that bad do you think Bowlers have a perception that it’s worse than it is the shot itself or is it it really is that far off I mean do you have oh no Bowlers are brutal okay Bowlers uh like I said a lot of times
They’ll throw three in a row and they’ll shake their head so I was I was a jock way before I was a bowler so if I happen to get a lucky hit in baseball and I flared one over the first base’s head I didn’t get on first base and kick the
Bag I like wow they gave me a freebie I mean that mean the line drive is going to get caught so and I threw I I threw plenty of strikes on tour there war exactly where I was throwing it so if I got away with one I never let anybody
Know I got away with one right because I was just going to take advantage of it so or else I would think oh my God I miss a strike look out I’m making the show because my bad ones are striking I know my good ones are striking so I try
To make that influence don’t ever stomp your foot shake your head why I mean bowling’s too hard that’s like saying you’re never going to leave a ring in 10 or solid eight or a solid nine the bowling Gods if you strike and shake your head the bowling Gods will get even
Pretty quick sounds like they did this weekend with some of your shots you guys are talking about that’s true I don’t really know if it was the smash nine pin on a on a ring of like five I can’t I can’t tell you uh I I struck on the Bowling Gods took care
Of it I think I just did it enough I was it was my own fault on how I play the lane so uh I can’t say I say they were actually really nice to me for a long time for a couple of games those there
You go very good yeah I can’t complain I uh I just didn’t play him right that’s all yeah speaking of video so um I’m sure a lot of people know you do uh online lessons um and it sounds like that’s really successful for you how
Does how does that go over I mean it’s successful so it must be really good but how does that go over for the player how does that um do they come back a lot for more reinforcement how does that work um for the player everybody’s a little
Different on that so I would say the virtual lessons I’d say 90% their success rates pretty good and the people that like it I mean take tons I have people that take lessons oh every other week they just can’t get enough and they’re always fine-tuning it working on it or they
They’ll stop you they’ll slow down and you know uh Anthony Pepe he takes he’s the leader in he’s a leader in the clubhouse that’s that’s the guy trying to get better so Anthony uh wants you and I develop a pretty good rapport together and I know your game very well
Yeah the virtual essons have been a huge that was a ver that was a pandemic idea you know California we were shut down I either I had to leave California or find another way to make some money so I started doing the virtual lessons and it’s it’s done very very well I
Really enjoy it uh I probably do 20 30 a month you I don’t push it real hard and that’s a good number so it definitely made me a better Coach because you know you’re just getting you know a written word I want to work on this this and
This so it got my eye sharper where to look quickly so I have my own system how I coach so it’s pretty simple for me to do that and and what the virtual Essence really is I’d say everybody under the age of 30 B to handed so the two-handed
Thing’s huge and that’s I spent a lot of time on that and how does that with video um how do you help people with their Lane play um where I I feel like uh correct me if I’m wrong but I feel like uh you can really help them with their physical
Game um how can does are you able to help them with their Lane play um that’s trick how to see the lane no I I don’t believe you can that that has to be an inperson thing because what I see and what you see as a bowler never match
Right no two Bowlers play the lanes the same none of us throw it the same so none of us I mean where you pick it up and where I pick the ball up I guarantee you when I still bow where I saw my ball
I mean I looked at the arrows and I was aware of a break point but I saw my ball 30 feet and once I saw where my ball was at 30 feet I could tell you what pin I was going to leave so I never even saw
The two markers even though I was looking at one so I would never use my style to teach somebody so everybody sees a lane difference so a lane play that’s got to be in person that’s got to be you tell me what you’re trying to do
And I’ll tell you what you did and then we talk about it look at specto and you come up with the game plans because so many people where they think they hit and where they hit are so far off that and it’s not wrong it’s just how they
See the lane so that’s that’s a lot of it’s it needs to be done in person if you get really good at Lane play I believe how often do you how often has specto come into the the coaching world I mean there’s so much uh information at
Your fingertips Now versus I don’t know when it came out a few years ago whatever it was so how often do you use that and is has it really improved or helped you be able to coach people on what they’re looking for I use it on every shot I
Give okay I have specto and I have strike Seeker so I have the data and I have the replay of 10 shots of the shot you just threw from the back going through the pins and the ball going down the lane so I got as much Tech as I can
You know and I don’t use specto I only use about eight columns I don’t use all the everything they have on there I think that’s too much for a bowler to comprehend because when you try to get too perfect by making all the numbers exactly right one thing about bowling is
And within 90 seconds to a two minutes you’re up again so no matter how good the last shot was it doesn’t really matter they just need to be a lot of a minuses they don’t need to be a pluses so I use specto really to prove my
Points I got my own way of teaching how to play the lanes and stuff like that so specto kind of proves my coaching system so like today I had a kid from a wahoo from a Hawaii on his way home after spring after Christmas Vacation and he
Was thinking he was hitting three he was trying to hit 56 down Lane and he was hitting 34 every shot so the argument goes away when you can show well here’s a specto every time you hit three you leave a 2810 every time you hit 56 you
Strike and he’s like and I said well you’re sliding on 35 so your head angle is so far left of where the target is that you’re seeing the ball from the left side of the ball I’m sitting on a bench behind you I’m sitting on the break point so I’m seeing the very
Bottom of the ball so that’s probably one of the biggest things people don’t get right is because they’re looking at it when you’re sliding in the left gutter it was a two-handed kid and he’s sliding in the left Gutter and he’s seeing his ball he’s seeing the left
Edge of the ball so specto takes that out of play so that’s what he immediately changed what he was doing so he made his break point 78 which really was 56 and then he put a run on him for a good hour and I know his mom was
Pretty happy so his flight home would be pretty good what’s the biggest thing if if anything that you had to change coaching from traditional to two-handed oh it’s it’s you just measure timing a little different because two hands are touching the ball so it’s it’s a you
Know you’re pretty limited to how high your back swing can go and your footwork has to be a lot different I believe the third step has to you take five steps I believe the third step has to be completely different than a one-hander because you got to get both arms to
Clear all the body parts before you throw it so it’s not very hard to do this all you do is look at the man and then you kind of figure it out you belman’s fundamentals are stupid that good yeah he he’s done what he’s done for a reason he’s not
Lucky yeah no his his fundamentals are definitely you try to strive or help people get be like hey watch this guy bowl and then you watch people try to put together and like man that guy is that good to be able to just repeat it
Every time and it’s almost like it’s a a replay uh seriously that good at it it’s incredible and Simonson’s starting to be get that touch and then you guys you know Kyle troop’s very good so you know it’s it’s it’s definitely a thing it’s not going away it’s very effective you
Know they don’t seem to be getting hurt so I mean two-handed kind of Saved our Sport AS way I look at it I think Kyle troop’s got as out of the two henders he’s got almost that traditional style like he walks very very straight but
Then he throws it with two hands so does Chris V yeah Chris V does too so they’re like you know they’re one-handers to learn how to bowl two-handed then you got guys like Simonson’s a pure two-hander yes ver is kind of his own League he’s got some unique stuff going
There so but they they definitely get their hand in a good spot on the ball so when you’re throwing it if you look at it the biggest difference is except for maybe Tack and a couple other guys if you look at the Earth the ball being the
Earth you know you’re trying to get your fingers at the equator slightly below it the two-handed guys when they’re on they’re throwing it from anarctica they get to turn that Globe a half half a half turn for free hard to beat them when they can hit a Target it’s it’s
Wild um yeah Michael Pokey says his biggest problem is hitting the same Mark consistently what’s his what is there any you would look at his drift and you would look at uh a lot of that has to do with timing youan I’m a big timing I think it’s all about timing and balance
That’s the two most important things so there’s a lot of it timing and balance so if your timing is pretty good and your balance is okay and you can keep your breast plate pretty quiet uh hitting a Target doesn’t seem to mean you got look at somebody’s drift you
Know you want to have a it doesn’t matter really how many you drift long as it’s a consistent number so most Bowlers aren’t very very knowledgeable on their drift or they they don’t realize when they play right they drift a lot then they move left they drift less things
Like that yeah I was chatting with one of our players here and uh a couple people actually and they didn’t actually realize that they would start at a certain spot looking at another spot and then uh didn’t realize that they moved 15 or 20 boards you know that’s a lot
That that’s hard to master and I’m not joking and then uh trying to hit uh a 20 board spread from yeah they’re lined up in their stand so they’re let’s say they’re standing on 15 looking at eight right but then they slide on just make it easy
They slide on 25 well if your eyes don’t if you don’t if you don’t allow for that and you slide on 25 look at eight and you do actually hit your target you throw in the gutter right exactly they tend to come over the top of it all the
Time and they they want to hit it but it’s too far right so they kind of come over the top they miss inside if they miss right the never hooks on the back end yeah I deal with that pretty much on a daily basis that’s easy
Stuff um I actually uh sorry if I’m interrupting you because I know that you’re about to ask a question I think no I I’m not trying to process all the information so I can formulate a question it’s a it’s very intriguing I was watching you with um with Chris the
Other day or a couple weeks ago you were on his show uh beef and barnesy and um you’re actually talking about drift and you were mentioning that a lot of the pros now or for a long time they all it’s kind of their standard operating procedures they all drift um is there
Kind of like a uh um because I walk dead straight I I end where I start um but I I have a very traditional game uh but uh anyway um what’s that so you probably don’t like playing Left to Fourth Arrow uh my game does not do very well
Left and fourth Arrow there go no it’s it’s very true um but uh I don’t mind it but I wish I could um but yeah so uh what would be like uh that average drift that or is there one that uh no I’ve never found that there’s an optimum
Number so you would look at a guy like Chris who was you know you know one the probably the best Bowl in the world for a good five six years in a row and then once once tacket and belman became the top dogs and they tend to walk a little
More left and their angles to the front were more open uh when Chris was really good Walter dominated so the field tends to play the way the leader plays so when Walter was the man guys tried to bowl like Walter and Barnes was the best at copying Walter and outdoing Walter what
Walter was good at so the field would break the lanes down the way Chris did whoever leads everybody’s going to follow we’ve all been that way since when I B on tour in in the 80s then Jason and EJ started moving left quicker and opening the angles up well then
Chris struggled with that because Chris doesn’t drift left he’s he slides where he starts so when he’s sliding Straight Like That his hips in his in his in his breastplate are facing square but he’s trying to hit 78 to 45 ft sliding on 35 if you’re square there’s where your
Brain wants the ball to go and where’s your breast plate want it to go they have to match up so if your breast Plate’s aiming at the two pin and you’re trying to hit the break point at 67 at 45 feet your hand has to do two things
Whereas if you’re you know if you drift left and your shoulders open up a little bit and your breast plate and your brain are matching the same thing then your hand his has to add rotation at the end not redirection that’s the shots that feel easy so with then if Chris played right
You know for a long time if you could play right at seven Chris was unbeatable because he walked dead straight he hit exactly what he looks I didn’t know what I’m practicing tonight so It’s Tricky you know the drift and everything so it’s long as you
Know your numbers I guess I was always four and like five and three I drifted five left and I missed my target by three so if if Dave hou did was fighting on 25 and playing 12 I stood on 20 and I looked nine and I was lined up without
Ever throwing a shot that’s kind of how we always did it but you know back in the 80s we’re so old school compared to the guys now it’s not even fun they just have better excuses the new generation you guys talk a better game than we did we never we
Never miss transition I didn’t never match up either I bow good or I bow bad we only had four answers how’d you bow I bow good that means you made the top 10 how’d you B I bowled all right that means you finished the top 24 how’d you
Bll I stole a check that was 25th or 53rd how’d you bll I bowled like I got to go practice that was the extent of our talk now you guys have way cooler excuses and the transition and you’re a thing and Mary had a little lamb and all that good stuff your guys
Excuses are way better so I’m jealous of that you guys are much much it’ be much easier for me to call home now and explain why I bll bad than back in the day I love that that is one of the most favorite things I’ve ever heard that is
Good I mean uh being a lefty I do follow the other lefties who do stupid things and then I have to try to uh you know Bowl around it which I’ve gotten you know not bad at I won I will say but uh I what do you think about coaching
Two-handed versus one-handed do you think one is easier than the other not in terms of doing but to coach if a guy comes in on he’s two-handed is it easier to kind of guide that guy in the direction he wants to go because there’s really no Thumb in it so you don’t have
To worry about it getting stuck in there or do you think it’s a little easier to coach the one-handed guy you know I don’t know what he’d be working on but it would be easy to work with him or is there no right or wrong there it just
Depends oh it always depends on the player but from my experience only as a coach I’ve been coaching I’ve had a big Advantage so many coaches you know I’m going to be 63 here in a couple months so so many people from my generation you know like Brian boss they hate left-hand
They hate two-handers I could care less you know it’s just you’re just throwing the ball down the lane I you know the hand comes off a little sooner a little later I’ve never had a problem with it so coaching two-handers has I think is a much easier process because there’s way less moving
Parts you don’t deal with you don’t deal with much of a back swing they don’t have their thumb on the ball so I’ve never worked with a two-hander on a release in 18 years so I got to coach Wesley low when he was 10 years old I
Coached Wesley when he threw a 10 pound T-Zone and couldn’t average 140 and his dad’s like every coach wants to make him Bowl one-handed and I watched him throw five shots and know he had 49 counts and a seven n and he kicked the rack every
Time so I liked the kid immediately I loved him because he had such a temper but I said I last thing I would do is switch him his ball does the right thing he’s not going to be four foot tall and 50 pounds the rest of his life one day
Hog grow I had no idea he was going to turn into who he turned into but I could recognize it pretty quick like wow that ball shape that that takes me years to teach he’s doing it with no help so I bought into the two-handed thing first
First time I saw it and then OSU came to Fountain Bowl and he made the show as an 18-year-old at the US Open and there was a bunch of old guys like me with our mouth hanging open like did you just watch that guy B that was and then I
Watched Jason bman I know exactly when I saw the future it was at The Players Championship I don’t know what year it was the year Duke beat Barnes for the title in Witchita in the semifinals the lanes were okay everybody shot about 200 over velman shot 500 over by himself and
I’d never seen Messengers do it three times and he was doing it like every other shot I went okay that’s that’s where it’s going so you need to get on this bandwagon so I’m not I don’t care who walks through my door I’ll coach anybody but obviously coaching
Two-handers because they tend to be very athletic so that makes your job they tend to be pretty good athletes so you like in the in the in the sports world you would say they all have twitch muscles so they tend to practice a lot more and they tend to be a little more
Athletic so I think two-handers are much easier to coach than a one-hander because I don’t ever deal with their thumb and I never have to teach release um so one of our viewers I’m gonna throw him right under the bus um deck he absolutely hates urethane he
Yells us every week ban urethan ban urethan what’s your uh even though he he had I’m going to even throw him under the bus again he’s an old guy he’s an old guy through and through he probably grew up with urethan you just stop
Hating on De I love de he’s a good guy super good guy anyway what’s your uh what’s your whole what’s your feeling on urethane uh tourwise or any other in any other aspect of the game um I you know we use it whatever it’s fine it’s
Another tool but what uh your feeling on on your thing s the pro shop right yeah learn the B what’s the difference what he say urethane so let me ask you this so the guys that don’t like urethane so you know I through year thing my entire life but I hear this is
My son’s two-handed and I hear these things so I didn’t realize when I paid my entry fee my job was to make the other guy shot better I I missed that on the entry fee when was that put in I like that answer so what’s I don’t get it I I don’t try
To sell it to the average League player because I don’t feel like it’s needed that’s my well league players I mean that’s that’s one thing but tournaments I get you know you hear it all the time that should be illegal that’s this that’s that right I
Mean but when was it my when was my son’s job to make the shop better for your daughter I I didn’t get that I didn’t know I didn’t noticed that when I signed up so what what the H the ball the ball’s a ball it’s it’s another tool in
The bag is what I tell people me it is what it is if I’m good at hitting a seven iron I can hit a seven iron from anywhere and make it work you’re not going to tell me to ban a seven iron I’m just going to be able to use it and beat
So I mean I get it I see what happens my son made the finals in the jbt main event this past week in Vegas and he’s 14 and all the college kids made it and they all started with urethane and you know by game three or four the front’s
Hooked and the back ends were super tight he doesn’t bowl with that group of Bowlers that much that good so he really struggled getting his ball to shap so so we talked on the drive home and something we will work on he’ll recognize but you know it’s I don’t I
Just don’t you know that’s like the people getting mad at the two-handers you know I mean they should ban this or there should be a separate entry I mean I’m a rock and roll guy I grew up with Leed Zeppelin so the way I look at two-handed it’s just like my dad’s an
Older guy grew up in the South he liked Chuck Barry I like Jimmy pagee and Leed Zeppelin my son’s 14 he likes some guy I never heard of playing guitar it’s all music they just played a little a little bit different so I could care less I
Don’t I make a living coaching if they show up a six urethane balls you know what I’m going to make him do hit the pocket with all six they show two-handed I’m gonna make them at the pocket they show up as a senior I’m gonna put them
In Balance so they don’t hurt I could care less about all that stuff my job is to make them better with whatever they bring in my with the training center I don’t have the ability to say sorry you brought in motive today I can’t give you
A lesson give me a slight break I could care less what you bring I have people that bring balls from the 80s don’t care I’ll line them up it just doesn’t bother me yeah and de was saying would you use a wooden golf club and I my answer to
That is if it’s getting me to the hole then hell yeah like whatever whatever gets me the number then absolutely I will so I I just I just accommodate whatever they have I just think it’s it’s a to me it’s a sport if you if you
If you start doing these things I can’t do that because of what happens and it’s the best part about sports is adjustments it’s not about who the best athlete is never been that it’s who can adjust best at halftime is always the best athlete that’s why Tom Brady’s Tom
Brady no matter what happened the first half Patriots played pretty good in the second half and they’re finding out belich may not be the coach he thought he was that quarterback mattered so the best guy changing at halftime was Brady for a long time it was Nick Sav as a
Coach for Alabama so whoever can adjust is always the best athlete always going to be the best bowler the easiest way to look at it is to watch go back to all the years and look at all the uh go look at game one and two in a PBA event who
Led qualifying after two how many times that guy win not very often well it wasn’t this Monday there you go your own question last year it was almost wire to wire I think I lost it in like the seventh game so you know what happens uh
You know but I know exactly what you’re talking about adjustments and I didn’t make the right ones this week and I that’s what I told everybody I never would have thought I had to go 30 right to have a semide decent look of you know
How I wanted to see the ball react down lame but I mean it is what it is I mean I didn’t make the adjustment next time I’ll be a little better for it that’s what I say how do you like that huh yeah it’s a great answer thank you um so uh
It’s been a number of years since I read it but I did read uh the game changer which uh I thoroughly enjoyed and uh actually right after I read it I I’m pretty sure I went out the lanes took some videos because I wanted to see
Where my timing was um see if I matched up um what can you walk people through the process if they haven’t read the book um which they should absolutely go out and get um how you came to find out uh um the timing and um the how you yeah
How you came to find out that timing process and how you found out that all of the pros kind of or almost all of the pros now at this point yeah it was uh I can remember it was was L 31 and two a fountain Bowl I had a person not show up
For a lesson I was starting to get pretty good at videoing and I was using Bowlers map and I was just trying to find markers I’m a big believer in markers like what do they all do the same so when you work with somebody that might not have the physical abilities to
Do certain things but if I can make him do more things that the pros do they tend to get better results so I started just you know Tommy Jones was unbeatable at that time he was just the man and I had work with Tommy and he’s such a good
Guy so you know everybody under the age of like 102 wanted to throw it like Tommy but not everybody nobody else in the world’s ever thrown like Tommy now the easiest style to coach of the bowlers I was on the bowlers map I thought Carolyn Doran Ballard’s game was
Perfect I mean it was fundamentally just as good as you could get with Carolyn so I’m like how can I take part of what Tommy does but it’s easier to teach Carolyn so I started just running them side by side on a program and pretty soon they got to where their slide foot
Got flat in front of their head and they swings were exactly in the same spot so immediately I called Tommy like hey did you know you have the same timing as Carolyn he just hung up on me I didn’t you know that was his he just FL he just
Hung up didn’t even say a word so then I started like well the guy when I bow on tour was Roth so I went and found videos of Mark and I measured and then Mark Roth measured my best friends Dave housted you know had a pretty good career bowling part-time kind of you
Know so I measured Dave then I measured uh I measured Le hulsenberg I just picked some random different people then I picked Barnes you know at that time Chris didn’t really move it in the second step and Tommy dropped it down but when you got when their slide foots
Got flat in front of their head all the bowlers I just mentioned all their swings are in exactly the same spot so then I said okay so what I’m going to do as a coach I’m going to guinea pig everybody so no matter what you came for
In a lesson I just fixed your timing wow you fixed my balance wow you I’m more accurate wow I’m way more consistent and all I did was put them in that spot and then three months later I quit my job and I’ve been coaching full-time ever
Since and I haven’t changed it I still still believe in it it still measures so it’s just you know I guess we never identify what timing is in in our sport nobody’s ever giving you a real definition of timing to me timing is the ability to use your lower body and your
Swing without using any upper body when your ball’s in that timing spot that allows that to happen the best so that’s why I teach it think you’re going to say something again no my my wheels are turning I’m thinking about my myself now which is you know I’m visualizing myself
That’s it yeah the mice is running but the wheel’s not spinning fastest his ever spun so um I know you mentioned that there was like some big announcements happening in the beginning of year are you ready to announce anything or we have to put everybody on standby yeah you know they’re not
They’re they’re within they’re within four days of happening so I’m not really yeah I have as a coach i’ I’ve definitely gone all in on this Pro on this project uh yeah nobody’s ever really I mean is there is there a two-handed instructional video out there is there
Is there one out there I don’t think so I like that answer I’ve seen so there will be soon nice and then I written a book and I did a DVD so i’ I’ve added some new uh so I’ve got two I’ve got two instructional videos coming out in the next week
Awesome that’s very cool one one handers and one for two-handers so I I saw that you had uh dedicated camps um not just for um you know bowling camps but literally a two-handed camp um I don’t know if you do just one-handed camps uh but uh well the other Camp ends up being
That because at my at my normal camp the camp bigs I’ve been doing now for what 17 years there’s nothing in there pertaining to a two hander specifically and so I would usually get one that would come to my camp and that person always felt out of place in my other
Camps they attended that the average age skewers up 40 to 50 years old so I decided to try a couple two handy camps they went marvelous the only reason we didn’t do one last year was because the PBA League was the exact same week we’d always done it trying to get you know
You the two ining Camp it’s really Chris VI and Chris Sloan and and Kyle troop and Anthony Simonson those kids really want to see those guys when they walk in the room because that’s their idols so to get all four of those guys to have
The exact same three or four days off is very very tricky so that’s the only reason I didn’t have it so yeah when I I’ll probably have a two- handy Camp again later this fall with with that group the same coaching group they were they were unbelievably good the guys
Were just the best I mean when Kyle troops on he’s he’s worth the price of admission he’s the best Chris Sloan probably has the best stories Vice just Chris VI you know he’s just a Class Act Anthony doesn’t say much but what Anthony says is probably the most
Important stuff that gets said all weekend Steve Jacobs Tim Mack Sean Ryan is unbelievably good at what he does so that crew is pretty good so yeah the two and camps are specifically for two-handers and then the one- handy Camp obviously my regular Camp ends up being all one-handers so it’s a
Nice go ahead sorry is that change locations or is it typically the no it’s been at Sunset Station now I’ve done 40 44 camps that’s a ton that’s a a lot of training yeah that’s a that’s I mean when you think give it that way I’m
Pretty amazed how how well it’s done how long it’s gone so you know I said I’ll be 63 here in March so I’m sure it’s my son’s in eighth grade so I’m I’m sure Camp will go on for at least five more years I gotta get him through I gotta
Get him at least at least to college one way to keep yourself Young have a kid then you won’t get 13 hour sleep either so uh yeah no you won’t we don’t want to keep you here too much longer we’ll let you enjoy the uh The Spoils of Disneyland a little bit longer
So um I’ll just uh I’ll end with the kind of the same question I guess we always end with and where do you see the state of bowling where are we where are we headed um are we in a good place are we going to a good place um how do you
See things shaping up bowling worldwise I think it’s the best it’s been in such a long time I can’t believe how good bowling is right now all like in California we don’t really have anybody on tour anymore all everybody’s left because of Costa California whereas when
I bow on tour there were 30 guys that went on tour but the five gamers and the eight Gamers and the six gamers are exploding everywhere across the country that the entry frees are up bowling has since the pandemic maybe people realize that bowling could go away in a Flash
Since the pandemic’s finished bowling has come back with a vengeance now obviously there’s been a you know a contraction of bowling centers so with the bowling centers being fewer the ones that have made it through everyone I talk to the Proprietors they’re having their best years ever so I’ve never I’ve
Never given lessons to more new Bowlers in my life and I charge I charge 140 an hour and it’s like they don’t even blink now maybe that’s a Southern California thing I don’t know but it’s it’s uh I’ve never given lessons to more 105 Bowlers ever and they they’re addicted they
Can’t get enough so from my standpoint from my numbers and how my camps sell out and what I see when the in the local tournaments and they’re just you know there’s there’s a Tuesday night tournament a Thursday night tournament a Wednesday besides the weekends so it’s
Amazing to me then you look at all the Regals and numbers are up and the you what fox has done on TV and bowling and everything I think in high school and college is exploding so right now as I think is as good as time bowling’s been
In in a long time so I’m very very excited for you know I mean my it’s it’s January so you know if you’re if you’re a coach in January and you can’t you can’t plug out 100 lessons in the first month you’re you’re you’re doing something wrong because this is you know
January’s a good month the B it’s just every day so it’s it’s amazing like tomorrow I’ll coach 10 hours and Saturday be eight hours and next week will be 30 hours and then I go to Northern California for a weekend of the month and I’ll do 56 lessons in seven
Days so I’m not gonna I’m not gonna get out work too fast I do think California must be a little bit different than Upstate New York because I get it I talk to Dugan about it all the time I couldn’t charge that price anywhere else no well not
Even just the money but I don’t I don’t think kids are out here seeking lessons like that they they they want a bowl and they want to be better but they’re they’re not seeking the the advice like they know Nobody Does it yeah we don’t really have
Yeah see I’ve been doing it for 15 years so I’ve kind of created it so that my kids you know the kids I coach tend to do pretty well so then the parents ask how come you know your son or daughter is doing so well we go to this guy so
I’ve been very very very fortunate I’ve had an amazing run with the kids we don’t have high school bowling in California we just have tournaments but you know Wesley and Solomon Sal and Alias o’herin and kayin abag and Avery donagan I mean all these kids I’ve coached I’ve all won Junior
Gold we don’t have high school bowling so you know we’re we’re doing on unlimited B we have the jbt and the JS out here so I’ve been very very very lucky that the kids I get to coach so bowling just seems to be and I mean most
The people I coach I’ll say it this way I don’t coach Bowlers I tend to coach very successful people who Bowl my client list is like amazing I mean surgeons and CPAs and lawyers and a lot of people that work in Hollywood type stuff it’s amazing how six so many
Self-employed and out here the IT thing is off the chart you know what do you computer software software software I write code so I coach a very eclectic group of people so it’s it’s very fun for me I learned as much from them as they learn from me they’re very a lot of
Smart people I give lessons to they can’t get enough bowling they can’t get enough that made me think of a question do you do you do Hollywood coaching for uh for actors uh that okay here you go here’s here’s something you know that nobody else knows now I don’t know if
This commercial is going to be out there or not I spent three weeks ago I spent three hours doing it I make I throw the balls for the Affleck duck so I me I won four times on tour I was high average my PBA teams won I
Coached Team USA for some years I’ve written a book and DVD got some new videos coming out but if this plays right I’ll be no more more more known for making that 710 with that damn duck anything ever did in my life so I got a
Chance to be famous with the afflac duck that is amazing congratulations the craziest thing ever they treated the Ducks a puppet and if you had to sign an NDA when you showed up for the Hollywood sheo was at a bowling center in La that if you took a picture of the duck you
Were kicked off the set they put the Duck together they combed its hair they shined its beak they shined its feet it was the damnest thing you ever saw in your life and you weren’t allowed anywhere near the duck but it’s a puppet but they treated it
Like a human and so the duck would throw it and then I would be 10 feet away from the pins and I had to emulate then I had to try to make the set they they were amazed that I could make the 710 whenever I wanted but first they wanted
Me to leave it on call then to make it when I left it like well I I’ve been bowling for 30 years I’ve made it four times pretty sure we’re going to be here a long time if I got to make it on camera so then we figured out a way to
Get me almost making it from I shot it from about I couldn’t see the pins when I was shooting the spare and then the duck did the thing and I imited the duck so it may not it may not ever be a commercial but if it is I almost made
The 710 on my own dime but there was a little little fun going on there for the duck to make it so I I came within that much of making it oh I so hope that gets aired so I hope it I hope it plays out I
Got to meet the guys who invented the duck it was it was Hollywood man they dropped about a quarter million in eight hours like it was nothing yeah no big deal no they do day two I wasn’t there for that so hopefully it becomes a commercial I can’t wait to see what it
Looks like nice holy crap well on that note um to get those DVDs that’ll be coming out soon or get the book no they’re not they’re not gonna be DVDs nobody has a DVD probably download be it would be it’ll be through Vimeo okay it’s a video on demand behind the pay
Wall kind of like a Netflix thing you go in there use your ID set up your thing and you pay for it and you can watch it on your device whenever you want and uh go to Mark Baker bowling I assume it’s not up there yet it’ll be up there
Hopefully in the next 48 hours this is all this you know we’re just it’s just one or two little things we got to get done and it’s I have to get this project over my wife’s gonna get she’s just gonna had enough it’s been over a year
Of my life of doing you know I told you how much I coached the lessons and the the camps and the virtual lessons and add another 500 to a thousand man hours in for that for the last year so it’s been a labor of love to pull this off
When you find out who the people I got to do it with you’ll realize why I’m why I why I went to the wall for awesome love it and then of course the uh the book um and uh all of the other things you can check your website and I assume
Amazon or anywhere else right yep the book does I sell it does you know I sell between 50 and 100 every quarter and the book came out 12 years ago people I sign it all the time the book came out see the book it’s kind of weird when the
Book came out I read it once I’ve never read it again the DVD came out with Jason Thomas and Tommy and Chris I watched it once never watched it again just one of those things next thing I gotta find I gotta find a better way to say it I’m always trying to so
When you get if you guys happen to buy the one-handed video that’s coming out I try to invent four new terms in Bowling that you’ve never heard interesting I try to do I’m trying to be as a coach to communicate it better to you guys it doesn’t matter how much I
Know it only matters how much can I get across right so if I can explain what you want better and you can do it like oh I know exactly what he means so you know think about it when you throw a great shot what are two things that happen on every
Great shot you throw two things happen every time you throw a good shot you strike it comes off your hand it feels good it makes a move of 45 feet you see the second there’s two feels the feel comes off your hand the feel when a ball
Makes that move at 45 feet every great shot you have has two Fields I Tred to explain in the video how to create them both that’s a good point that’s why I’m a field bowler that’s why you hate me well I’ve never coached anybody who
Wasn’t you say you’re not no I feel the hand oh okay yeah but I don’t you’re not a field bowler anymore you you look at your feet now so that was Bill O’Neal’s advice I had to take that one yeah yeah all right coach well I appreciate you uh
Joining us tonight and uh taking your time out of your uh your Disney trip there and um uh anytime you want to come on you’re more than welcome because that uh Hey guys it was great I really enjoyed it appreciate it the knowledge up on your shoulders is uh
Incredible yes that’s what happens if you coach for a living and you sit in traffic every day on the 405 and the 91 55 you got all kinds of times to come up with stuff go sit in traffic every day for 90 minutes to go 30 miles it’s
Amazing at things you can think of I I think no thank you pretty much everybody says that when they do one time like you got to and I’ve been doing it for so long I get in my car like when I coach in the San Fernando Valley is 55
Miles away it takes me about two hours to get there I get my car and I’m in my driveway and I can’t tell you the freeway I took I just oh how’d you get home tonight oh I don’t remember I just know I’m here I’m alive when you go 10 miles
An hour you don’t really have to pay attention it’s not like you’re gonna you just go slow oh my God all right coach well thanks so much uh good luck this season with the Adam splitter and Hope season and uh we’ll see you on TV hopefully sounds good you’ll
Definitely be hearing Tom more next week you’ll go ah he had he kept one back I got something crazy I’m trying we’ll see how it goes good that sounds good to me all right go to Mark baking.com guys all right thank you very much thanks guys
I’ll talk to you bye bye take care all right Mark B what a freaking bucket of knowledge man holy crap there’s probably a ton untapped too you know say we didn’t even get to well I mean he can’t give all of his Secrets true come on
Yeah me but yeah as as for like around our area KY there’s just what Co name a coach there’s I mean there’s a couple a handful of people that are just kind of like coaching that um you can go visit like your dad he likes to coach kids and
He’s good he’s smart guy uh Anthony lend his hand out and uh Alex bone steel likes to coach people people um but there’s not a lot of what I’ll call highlevel coaches with a lot of experien widely known W well widely known uh Tour player coaches type of
Type of level is what I’m saying so um thank you um so that’s kind of what I was saying yeah we don’t have that around here but I also don’t see a lot of I think if it was out there desire for Coach I think it was different May
You’re right it’d be different it’s not available so how would you know sure I mean so you would only know if it was out there like you got to remember some guys who put their name out there got a few lessons I mean people are out there
I think it’s just you know he’s obviously got 15 years experience he’s got a good track record a lot of people blow well with him he’s working with the pros he’s got this he’s got that he’s got the nice Center too he’s said everything going on that that that that
What you need to do that so you know uh he’s helping people out and uh you know he’s if you build it they will I think they I think they would I think if we did something along the lines of that where you know we got to that I’m not
Gonna say we’re gonna get to that level because he’s smart if you advertised a camp I’m sure you’d get you might get some people here do it listen I’m just saying I think it would be a little different if we had more a guy willing
Who does that all day long like he does it all day long yeah all day every day exactly writes books about it yeah that’s what I’m saying with that being said guys are you uh are you going to order thato maybe the one hander Maybe oh my
God I like his style though I like I like I like keeping with I like that he works with your game not tries to upend you as a 220 or 230 bowler um you know he went all the way down to 210 what 210 oh yeah well I was referring to myself
Where I I took a lesson and I was I was told to change my fundamentals um I don’t think you really need an up ending I don’t I’m saying I was told to well you listened I know I’m an idiot anyway guys it is is time for
Us to go bowling that was a that was a good show if you’re just coming in late then uh re-watch it because it was very good Mark’s got a lot of knowledge um don’t forget to like subscribe click the Bell to get alerts from the channel if
You can’t watch on YouTube you can always download and listen via your favorite podcast service like Apple iTunes Spotify um or Google wherever you get that uh that listen from while you’re doing that give us a festar review if you can do that like on Apple iTunes you can
Um head out to the Etsy Shop get your uh t-shirts like this Bowlers Bowl t-shirt get my hoodie hon Valley Baseball uh or you can get a lefty love sweatshirt or t-shirt or will bow for food or a hat backpack you want it it’s there you got
Get it I gotta make a shirt design I have one I have one of the original Oh Austin’s got DLP shirt on one of The Originals DLP yeah me too as at my house thanks Matt it was a great show not any doing a ours all coach
Baker thank you you has some good questions oh thank you thank you very much I mean I’m I’m just not fast enough with my brain I don’t think well if you pre WR some good questions no I had some good questions but I I did I forgot to
Ask him I thought about it when he was talking about like two-handed releases and stuff what the heck does he do when someone comes in that looks like Jacob Butters do I guarantee you he had an answer guarantee you had I bet he would have an answer but like me no clue right
All right well until next week happy New Year guys because uh it is the New Year 2024 um thank you to jack ska proprietor of town and country lanes uh thank you to Austin van good show tonight Anthony good show tonight oh Jesus wow uh 2324 tonight
Bingo uh don’t forget to check out our uh tonight we bowl episodes new episodes up new episodes up new episodes up we got some good shots out there um and it’s fine good I don’t know uh and thank you to my family Stephanie Zach and Ethan we will see you guys
CAD next week this is down Lane podcast
