Pet & Animal: How to Bowl a Strike

Monday 29 September 2014

How to Bowl a Strike

Want to roll turkeys like the pros do? It's not impossible. Improve your strike accuracy by learning to locate your perfect starting point and developing the good habits that will have you knocking the pins down.

Steps

Choosing Your Starting Position

Align your non-dominant foot with the center dot. Before you start rolling strikes in every frame, you'll need to figure out your best possible position from which to start your throws. Your non-dominant foot will be whichever is opposite your bowling hand. If you bowl right, this will be your left foot. Put your left foot forward, aligned just behind the center dot.
- Eventually, you can adjust your placement and starting position based on your natural tendencies, but to start out with and gauge your aim, start in the center.

Aim for the second arrow from the gutter on your dominant side. About fifteen feet from the foul line, you'll see the directional arrows that help you aim.
- The center of the lane is generally the most oily part. Keeping the ball somewhat to the side is a good way to maximize your traction on the lane.

Take several practice rolls to see where the ball goes. Bowl naturally, keeping your shoulders parallel with the foul line and swinging your arm forward as straight as possible. Follow through when you release. Your hand should extend as if you were going to shake someone's hand. Pay careful attention to where the ball lands.
- The "pocket" is the area immediately to one or the other side of the lead pin, and is the area you want to hit to consistently roll strikes. Did you hit the pocket? If so, you've found the correct starting position for your swing. You'll want to align your non-dominant foot with the center dot.

Move in the direction of your miss. If you missed right, start your next throw a dot to the right of the center point. If you missed left, do the opposite. While this may seem counter-intuitive, missing to one side means that your ball is hooking too early or too late. Keep the ball dead on by moving toward your miss.
- After several practice throws you should be able to find your optimum starting position from which to bowl. From there, you can tweak your throw to improve your chances of hitting a strike every time.

Improving Your Accuracy

Practice your curve. Pro bowlers all bowl with some "English," or curvature on the ball. Because the pocket you're aiming for is somewhat on an angle, the best way to hit it is to curve the ball in toward the pocket from the edge of the lane. This is why you aim for an arrow to the side of the center.
- The best way to ensure English on your throw is to maintain good "handshake" position on your follow-through. After you release the ball, your hand should be up in the air as if you were going to shake the hand of the pin you're aiming toward.^[1]

Find the right bowling ball. Using a ball that is too heavy or too light can drastically affect your accuracy. Experiment with balls that are slightly heavier than what feels normal and balls that are slightly lighter than you would normally use. Does your accuracy improve in either direction?^[2]

Find the right speed. Firing the ball from the rocket launcher that is your bowling arm may seem like a good idea at first, but it's not necessarily the most accurate way to throw. Extra force will often leave pins on the floor that softer and more accurate throws will pick up. In general, though, you should throw the ball with as much force as you can throw accurately.
- Many bowling alleys track the MPH of your throws. Try and lower them in 5 MPH increments if you suspect you're throwing too hard. See at what point your accuracy improves and aim for that speed with each throw.

Adjust your grip on the bowling ball. Gripping too tightly, particularly with the thumb, can hook the ball in an inaccurate direction. Insert your fingers into the ball first. If you've got an appropriately fitted bowling ball, they should go in as far as your big knuckle. Use your non-bowling hand to steady the ball on your approach.
- You'll typically want the thumb to release the ball a split second before the fingers. Make sure your fingernails are neat and trimmed to avoid catching on the fingerholes and throwing wonky balls.