10 Bowling Tips to Improve Your Bowling Game
1. Keep a smooth and relaxed arm swing - A smooth and relaxed arm swing helps to ensure consistency from shot to shot. When using a tight arm when bowling can cause inconsistency and that is something that needs to be practiced to achieve. At the same time that you are keeping a relaxed arm swing, you must keep the wrist in a locked position. You don't want to relax the wrist otherwise the ball will not have any turn on it when releasing. Keeping a smooth and relaxed arm-swing will help to keep the ball speed to be consistent each time you bowl.
2. Keep your hand behind the ball - It is important to keep your hand behind the ball through the arm swing. Today there are many bowling releases and even people are now using only 2 fingers to release the ball. It is imperative to keep your hand firmly behind the ball throughout the entire shot. This will ensure maximum control and ball action toward the pins. A
good bowling release is always something to practice.
3. Keep your head level throughout the shot - this is a great tip to ensure that you are keeping in line the entire shot. Keep your head level means don't lead up on the shot at the end. The only thing that you should do in the end is follow up through the shot. The momentum of the relaxed arm swing will help you achieve this and once the ball leaves your hand, continue the motion all the way through the rest of the shot. You don't want to bring your head up along with your arm. That can cause you to stand up on the shot and can cause inconsistency. Use an imaginary wooden beam that you must stay under otherwise you may whack your head. As you are approaching the foul line, gradually on a level plane lower yourself. By the time you are at the foul line, the ball will have released off your hand nicely onto the lane into a smooth, controlled fashion.
4. Keep your eye on the target - Whether you use the arrows, the dots or a place on the lane, it is important to keep focused on your target when bowling. By not doing that you stand a great chance of missing what you are looking at a will make an error shot. You don't necessarily have to narrow the target down to a single board; you can look at a range of boards called a 3-board area. Now-a-days, the oil patterns and the lane conditions give you more room for mistake but by focusing on a range of board it will be easier to hit your target then it would be if you were looking only at one tiny spot directly. Keeping your eye on the target also helps to keep your head down and level on the shot. Keep your eye on the target throughout the entire approach!
5. Keep your shoulders square to your target - It is one thing to focus and keep your eye on the target when bowling, it is another to actually hit your target. If your target is to the right and you are walking straight it can be a lot more difficult to hit your target with the bowling ball then it would if your shoulders were square to that target. Think about your arm swing as a pendulum and that pendulum is perpendicular to your shoulders. So if your shoulders are pointing straight, it may be more difficult to hit a target that is to the right of your shoulders. Obviously each bowler has his/her own style so it is important to work this into that style of your own bowling game for maximum effectiveness. Here is a diagram on
staying square to your target
6. Take your time, don't rush - Bowling requires good timing, the arm swing, walk and delivery all need to be consistent and in sync with each other. In order to do this, you need to establish a rhythm with your relaxed arm-swing, not the other way around. As you are approaching the foul line during your delivery and relaxed arm-swing, your feet need to be in time with your arm. If you start off fast with your feet, your slide at the foul line will be there before your ball is by your ankle. Generally when that happens in order to compensate, you end up pulling on the ball with your arm meaning your arm is no longer relaxed. When that happens there is a good tendency to miss left of your target (for right handed bowlers) and vis-versa. If you do start with a fast step on 1-2 then you need to compensate by pausing maybe 3-4 (for a 5 step bowling approach). Pause long enough so that the ball passes your ankle while you are sliding on your final step. Try to develop a rhythm the same way you would as is your were "dancing". This helps to achieve consistency when working on
improving your timing.
7. Don't forget the spare game - While today's bowling ball technology allows for many strikes, it is very important not to forget the spare game. Like the saying goes, strikes for show, spares for dough. The most difficult spares for many are the corner pins. For the right-hander, it is the 10-pin, for the left-hander it is the 7-pin. These require a strategy that can be repeated over and over for consistency. A right-hander also needs to take into consideration the oil pattern which generally has a greater qty of oil in the middle of the lane when shooting a 7-pin. Practice make better when perfecting
spare shooting. Create adjustments for each spare line and practice, practice, practice!
8. Use the correct bowling equipment - There are a wide variety of bowling equipment out there and a lot of bowling balls to choose from. To score well in bowling today, you need to use the right bowling ball that matches the lane condition. The correct ball can give you a large margin for error and help you score high. Using the
right bowling equipment is always a never ending experimentation process.
9. Line up correctly - Along with the bowling ball and equipment, to bowl well you need to line up correctly on the lane. To line up correctly means standing in the right spot and choosing the right target to aim at. Of course you need to throw the ball consistently to get the right feeling on where to line up. If you are not consistent at all then it may be harder to find the right spot on the lane to play to hit the pocket and throw lots of strikes.
Different lane conditions can force you to line up differently.
10. Use a video camera with professional instructor - To improve your game sometimes it is important to see what you are doing wrong or any bad habits that you may have developed. Seeing is 1000 times better than telling. If you see any bad bowling habits that you may have developed, then it is easier to also see what it is like when you correct these habits. When you correct a bowling problem that you have been having it will feel different than what you are use to. If you can see yourself on camera doing it the correct way and it feels awkward, then you know you are doing it right. It will continue to feel awkward until it becomes part of your bowling game. Using video can help keep you in check when practicing good habits instead of bad ones.
Everyone uses a different style of bowling. Hopefully you found something in this article that can help improve your bowling game! Good luck and knock em down!!
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