Ok.  You’ve just spent your last couple of bowling nights really concentrating on arm movement.  Sometimes you did good and remembered to bring the arm straight back and to follow through completely, sometimes not so much.

That is okay, it takes time and practice for the muscles to develop a feel and muscle memory for the delivery.  Next item to add to your inventory of bowling tips is what to aim for to get the ball in the 1-3 pocket (1-2 pocket for lefties).

I won’t bore you with all the competing ideas of what to aim for on the bowling alley.  Some say look at the pins you want to hit, some say look at the arrows, some say the dots, some say close your eyes and hope for the best.

Since we know WHERE we want the ball to go (in the pocket) we really don’t need to concentrate on the pins.  There is a lot of wood between you and the pins (62 feet) and the ball has to travel down the alley consistently from one shot to another.

We can look at the dots in front of the pins, they are about 15 feet from the pin deck (where there is no oil applied to the lane).  But that is still far away from the foul line and where you are releasing the ball.

At 15 from the foul line there is a large set of arrows on the alley in a triangle pattern.  These arrows correspond to the pin positions on the pin deck.  It is much easier to aim your bowling ball at these close up arrows and actually hit your mark over and over again.

Many bowlers, including professional bowlers, will use these arrows as their primary guide in lining up their shot.  Here we will start getting you used to looking at the arrows as you make your approach and getting your ball to roll over the arrow of your choice.

But just rolling the ball over a specific arrow won’t guarantee a good shot.  If you decide to make the first arrow on the right your target but you are standing with your feet on the second dot from the left on the approach your ball is headed to the gutter every time.

Odds are you are still using a house ball (plastic) and that means your bowling shots will be straight, even if you try to intentionally hook the shot it isn’t going to bend much.  But you still want to have some angle of entry into the pocket.  Without an angle of entry there won’t be as much mixing of pins as the ball drives through and a much greater likely hood of leaving tougher spares or even splits.

Ideally, you want to slant the ball into the pocket from around the third arrow.  This allows you to start with your right foot on center dot on the approach (left foot if you are a lefty), and walk straight towards the center dot at the foul line.  When you roll your ball over the third arrow the slant created should create the best conditions for a pocket hit.

If you find you are hitting to the right of the head pin, or even missing the head pin, move a bit more on the approach to the right.  Start with your left foot on the center dot and aim for the third arrow.

Now, your body size, the straightness of your approach, your arm swing, the weight of the ball, are all factors in how straight the ball slants to the target and how hard the ball hits the target.  But now you have a baseline to start from.

And experiment!  These are tips, not hard and fast rules.  You may not have a plastic ball but an older urethane ball that someone abandoned and the house kept.  Your release (we will talk about that next time) may be unorthodox and is contributing to lower scores.  But right now keep your swing and follow through straight, and find an arrow on the alley you can consistently roll your ball over.  These two tips will really start to make a difference in your game and in your enjoyment of this dumb game we call bowling.

I would really like to make a few videos demonstrating some of my techniques and style but, alas, I make Steve Cook look like a ballerina.  So, I won’t.  But what I will do is link to videos and webpages that do have the RIGHT tips and RIGHT techniques for improving your bowling experience.

Why did I say experience?

Easy, just getting a score isn’t very fun or enjoyable for yourself or your team mates if you are on a league team.  What use is it if you bowl a 257 in league play but you are a total bastard all along the way doing it?  I know, I was one of those bowling primadonna’s.  Always the best player on the league, but always careful to choose a league to bowl in where I knew I was much better than the competition.

And what fun is it scoring a 98 when you are the anchor of a team and you are giving pins to the competition?  Not much fun if it is a money league, but it can be a bit more enjoyable on a Lousy Bowlers or Mixed Nuts fun league.

So my first tip is: Know YOUR skill level and choose your bowling opportunities accordingly.

Every bowling center has many leagues of all skil levels.  There are also many times of open bowling when you and some friends just want to bowl for the fun of it.  Cosmic bowling can be found in nearly every bowling center for those who want a festive atmosphere and don’t care about distractions when bowling.

Odds are, if you are searching on the internet for bowling tips and techiques you are a little bit beyond the absolute beginner and have a few games under your belt.  You may have joined a fun league and want to know how to score more strikes or make more spares.

Maybe you want to be able to “hook” the ball like that guy a few lanes down.  He may not always get a strike but it sure is fun to watch his ball head for the channel (gutter) and suddenly swing back into the pocket!

In my next post I’ll help you define what skill levels there are in bowling (according to me) and what you can reasonably expect to achieve in that particular skill bracket.

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