Curling Book Review - Curl to Win

I'm at home today to stay with the little guy, who's running a fever.  But he's asleep right now, so maybe I can write a quick post during his nap.

I don't feel like writing about a curling patent right now, but I thought I'd write about my favorite curling book: Russ Howard's Curl to Win.  There are seven chapters which can be summed up as: General, Delivery, Sweeping, Game Plan, Strategy, Team Building, and Mental Toughness, but the reason that I like this book so much is the chapter on strategy. 

On a side note, I happen to play a little bit of poker (not very well) and my favorite poker books are the Harrington on Hold 'em series by Dan Harrington.  Basically, the books are comprised of a number of poker scenarios and the author walks you through the thought process and goes through the advantages and disadvantages that a player could make in all of these scenarios. 

Back to curling, Curl to Win has twenty scenarios covered in the strategy chapter.  Howard doesn't go over all of the possible choices (as I have in several of my strategy posts), but he gives a good comparison on how most curlers may play the shot and what is likely to be the better strategy.  I have yet to see a better set of strategy discussion in any other curling book, though Colleen Jones' Curling Secrets has a pretty good strategy discussion as well.

I also think the section on delivery would help curlers of all levels.  It's always good to go over fundamentals and there's a good summary of differents practice drills to help on your accuracy.  Maybe Vice and I will go through some of the drills when curling starts up again. 

Anyway, since most of us have no curling for summer, I'd suggest giving this book a read in preparation for the winter. 

(Just finished writing this post and he's still asleep.)

My Brother's Learning to Curl #2

My brother had his second curling class and he liked that there was a lot of individual attention as all of the students continually practiced their slides.  There was a lot of discussion of the "ABCs" of curling which I had never heard of before:

• Alignment
• Balance
• Curl

A little hokey I think with curl as the C, but I guess if it helps everyone remember things.  One of the drills that helped me out early was sliding with two rocks.  When you're starting out, just being on a slider messes with your balance a little bit, and holding on to two heavy rocks helps you get a handle on that I think.

They also did some drills where they had to try to get a rock between two cups.  I first read about this drill in Colleen Jones' Curling Secrets and will sometimes use rocks instead of cups.  Also, if I'm practicing with one of my teammates, usually one of us will hold a broom a few feet past the hogline.  It's always surprising how sometimes you can still miss the broom even when it's much closer to you. 

One of the big surprises to me from my brother's description of learning to curl is that they spend 20-30 minutes each time setting up the ice.  This is something that I completely take for granted at the St. Paul Curling Club.  But my brother now knows how to put the hack in and things like that.  In his words: "You have it totally easy".

On the number of people with curling gear, only a few people came back with shoes and stuff like that, so I guess the instructors were off on their prediction.  However, my brother is considering getting shoes now, especially if he plays in a league afterward.  I also learned his opinion of curling shoes, which he considers ugly.  On curling shoes that have the velcro on top, he said, "They look like orthopedic shoes."  He has a point there.