NATURALLY, IT’S EASY TO RECOGNIZE THE FACT THAT YOU’RE MISSING INSIDE YOUR TARGET, BUT MAKING THE PROPER ADJUSTMENT ISN’T ALWAYS SO EASY.
is impatience. Your body is in motion and going into the slide, and in many cases your mind takes hold and wants to speed thing up. When you get to the top of the backswing, the tendency is to rush through the shot. That causes you to pull down from the top. Naturally, it’s easy to recognize
the fact that you’re missing inside your target, but making the proper adjustment isn’t always so easy. The first correction is to make sure
your swing is relaxed from the top of the backswing down. Remember, the approach is just a process to get to an end result, which is the ball hitting the pins. I liken it to golf. The best golfers aren’t necessarily trying to hit the golf ball. They’re trying to get their club into the backswing and get to a finish position and follow-through. The ball just happens to be in the way.
MUSCLING UP: Bowlers often tighten up at the top of the backswing and try to generate ball speed with their arm. Ball speed is generated with your legs.
The same is true of the bowling
release. It’s part of the process. Your instinct, since you have this heavy ball in your hand, is to generate ball speed with your arm and upper body. When that is your mindset, you are likely to tighten up and add tension to the shot. Remember, the key to generating ball speed is with your legs. If you loosen up your swing and
fi nd yourself still inside the target, your timing may be off . One way to correct your timing is by raising or lowering the ball in your stance. By changing the ball height, you’ll be shortening or lengthening your swing. If one doesn’t work, try the other. The fi nal option is to simply move
your target farther outside. If your target is the 10 board, aim at the 8 board. Of course, this is not ideal because you’re still throwing bad shots. And as they say in golf, don’t play for your bad shots. Additionally, if you do manage to get your timing and release back in synch for a shot, you’ll actually miss the pocket on a good shot.
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