How To Bowl
How to Bowl to Win
If you know how to bowl, but want to take your game to a new level, you can. Like everything else, bowling well requires commitment. All you really need to improve your game is to follow some simple steps.
Practice
The key to improving at bowling is like the key to improving at anything else in life, practice, practice, practice. If you have just joined a bowling league or just go out with friends once every couple of weeks and are sick of getting beat by that loudmouth from the your work, here’s the first step to improving your game, go to the bowling alley early in the day and practice.
You are best off in learning how to bowl better, if you do this by yourself so that you may fully devote yourself to improving your game. If, however, you have a buddy who is as equally committed to improving as you are, then that may work as well. You have to remember, however, that you are not at the bowling alley just to play another game. You are there to work on your technique.
You shouldn’t really try to keep score during these practice sessions. The score is irrelevant at this stage. Keeping score will just pull your mind off the alley and the pins and to the abstractions of the game. Bowling is actually a very simply game about angles and spin. Only rarely does strategy play a role in the game.
Therefore, when you are learning how to bowl better, you should simply consider how to bowl a perfect strike on the first ball and then how to knock down the maximum number of pins on the second. (Strategy only affects your second throw, since it is the only time when you want to consider how far ahead or behind you are in making your toss.)
One of the things you will want to consider in your practice sessions is the full range of motions that you undertake as you approach the toss. Experimenting with your motion and then standardizing it will greatly improve your accuracy and give you a bodily memory from which to work during tight games or when you are fatigued.
Proper Equipment
The next most important thing you can do to improve your bowling game is to choose the right ball. When it comes to bowling balls, size matters. You need to get a ball that is light enough to match your build. Too heavy a ball and it will require too much effort to toss. If your ball is too light, however, you will lose the ability to control it fully. Your ideal bowling ball should be like Goldilocks, just right.
This is the reason why some bowlers go the expense of buying their own balls. This may seem like an excessive measure, but if you really want to make things easier on yourself, having a ball that you know well rather than one you have just became acquainted with on the occasion of your bowl, will help you standardize you motions and get comfortable with any peculiarities of weight distribution. Be careful, however, that you don’t choose a ball that doesn’t suit you. There is little worse then having to bowl with the same uncomfortable ball night after night.
Similarly, having your own pair of bowling shoes will give you a firmer sense of balance than using the old, stinky bowling alley rentals that might not give you the balance you need to bowl your best game.
Watch Bowling
Another simple thing that you can do to improve your game significantly is to watch professional bowling with a critical eye. Watch the motions of the professional players and look to imitate them. It is surprising how often amateurs that are looking to improve their games admit they have never actually watched a professional bowling tournament.
Also helpful is to film yourself bowling and then play it back to watch your motion. This can sometimes be very instructive in terms of problems with rhythm and power. Seeing yourself in this objective way helps you to diagnose ways of improving your game.
Of course, you don’t have to do any of these things. You could simply enjoy playing the game like everyone and just not worry about it. It is up to you.