Is spinning a bowling ball the key to high-scoring games?

[Who_me_1]

The approach is a matter of timing and practice. I don’t know if that link will help, it’s just something I Googled.

Some things I’ll add. Start the ball moving at the same time you start moving your feet. You don’t have to run on the approach, walking it may be easier to get your timing down. 3, 4, and 5 step approaches are the most common. Try to be a smooth operating machine on your approach.

As a beginner, work on the approach may be the easiest thing to improve your bowling. A good bowler will be very consistant in his/her approach, the same number of steps, the same size steps, and starting and ending at the designated spot. He/she will also walk at the same speed. Look at the dots on the floor, set your feet in relation to those dots and use the same ones all the time for the same type of shot, except when lane conditions will cause you to make small adjustments to your spots. Walk straight, don’t weave.

Where you start and stop in your approach will determine the angle of your shoulders to the lane and that will determine where the ball is going to go.

[DSYoungEsq]

@Mangetout

Since we evidently have some bowling experts in this thread, may a poor amateur ask a question of technique?

I go bowling perhaps six times a year and only ever as a ‘lads night out’ or family entertainment thing; I know what I’m supposed to do with regard to holding the ball etc and I usually score somewhere around 130-140, with which I am not unhappy.

The problem is that sometimes, I just don’t seem to be able to co-ordinate my feet and rather than striding confidently up to the line as I swing the ball smoothly, I end up doing a sort of hesitant tiptoe dance and my arm seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Typically, this will be the case for a whole session - either it will just work all evening, or I’ll feel clumsy all evening
Trouble is, I can’t seem to put my finger on what it is that is making the difference; any tips?

Two things:

1. Repetition. Doing it right over and over makes it automatic, just like a golf swing.

2. Know ahead of time exactly what you are doing. That is, how many steps you take, and how you push off the swing.
   In general, if you wish to have a very basic delivery, start with the foot that is on the same side as the hand you hold the ball with. You will take four steps. Start the delivery standing at or just behind the set of dots found about half-way to the foul line (don’t start all the way at the back because you don’t need all that room and it just makes you think you have to use more steps). Hold the ball comfortably just above waist high, to the side of you, so it will swing freely by your side. When you start walking, push the ball forward at the same time to start the swing. The goal will be to reach the back of the swing just as you are about to take the last step with your sliding foot (the one on the other side from the ball). That allows the slide step to coordinate with the downswing of the ball, which should reach its bottom just as you slide to a stop short of the foul line.

I used to say to myself as a kid: “Out, Down, Back, Through.” It’s pretty effective.