Technique
he’s looking at 10, and his body is aligned to what he’s looking at. Improper alignment creates a host of
problems, including timing. In addition to swinging behind your back, poor alignment forces you to over-rotate your shoulder, forces you to swing with the ball too far from your ankle, and forces you to start your downswing with your shoulder instead of your arm. In order to succeed with that alignment, you have to have mechanics that support that alignment. Again, a house shot allows bowlers
to get away with poor fundamentals, but when that same bowler gets on a Sport pattern, he’s going to get discouraged, because his system of how to line up simply will not work on a flatter pattern. It all starts with alignment. The correct answer to where your slide
foot should be relative to your target is six boards. How did I arrive at that figure? The optimal clearance between the ball and your ankle at the point of release is approximately 1.5 boards. A ball is 8.5 inches in diameter, which means that the point of contact with the lane would be at 4.25 inches. Now, if that bowler who normally slides
on 20 actually slides up 16 and throws up 10, his first shot is going to go dead left. He’s developed a routine where pulling the ball feels natural. The body will start
Wide right: Bowlers who slide at 20 to throw up 10 likely swing behind their back and pull the ball across their body. If that same bowler kept his elbow in and the ball tucked underneath him, the ball would go into the right channel (Dia- gram A) because he’s looking at 10 and his body is aligned to what he’s looking at.
TIPS AND TRICKS TO MAKE YOU A BETTER BOWLER
making mechanical adjustments on its own to get the ball to the target line. With proper alignment, everything gets
better. Spare shooting gets getter. Versatility gets better. Your understanding of how to move gets better. And there is less strain on your body, because the ball is now moving up and down with gravity, like a ferris wheel, instead of tangential to gravity. The improvement is exponential. Getting used to proper alignment isn’t
easy. It’s a matter of understanding and commitment. Remember, the road to correcting
alignment starts with awareness, then execution. The third component is getting used to the fact that the target looks like it’s almost in the center of your chest when you’re lining up. Bowlers normally try to put the target on their right shoulder. If you’re left-eye dominant, it going to create even more separation between the target and the ball. Every bowler should strive to be well-
rounded…to be able to bowl on short or long patterns; to be able to loft the left gutter; to be able to throw it slow, throw it hard, change axis rotation, etc. And you can’t do that unless your body is lined up
properly at the point of release.
— Del Warren is a USBC Gold coach, vice president of the Kegel Training Center, and head coach of Webber International’s men’s bowling team.
A B
Just right: Properly aligned, a bowler should have his hips and shoulders parallel to the tar- get at the point of release, with his elblow in and his hand behind the ball. The slide foot relative to the target should be approximate- ly six boards, as shown in Diagram B, where the bowler is sliding at 16 to throw up 10.
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