Strike! - Tips and Tricks To Improve Bowling Skills
By: Jude McCormack
2/5/2024
Jason Belmonte, Darren Tang, EJ Tackett. What do all of these people have in common? Well, they’re all a part of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). And of the 3,000 members apart of the PBA, there have rarely been any of these bowlers that don’t follow these tips and tricks. This article will teach you all the tips that these bowlers use to help them stay at the top of the leaderboard. From footing, rotation, and even picking the right lane conditions. Let’s get started into this deep dive of how to become a better bowler.
This is the Purple Hammer bowling ball. A very good bowling ball to start out with if you want to try hooking the ball.
Picking Out the Right Ball
This one is pretty hard to follow, especially for someone who is used to bowling with the house bowling balls. You might be used to grabbing a random 13-pound bowling ball right off the rack. However, this part is very important, especially for someone who is seeking to bowl in the leagues. House bowling balls are made of plastic and are symmetrical, which means that they hook a lot less. If you are looking to hook (curve) the ball and want to get a bowling ball on your own, try to use fingertip grips that will help it hook way better, or find a good bowling ball with a material that hooks well (reactive resin, urethane, etc.). Hooking is crucial in bowling because it allows you to hit the pocket between the headpin and the second/third pins, which most often leads to a strike.
Having Supplies
Supplies are also a very crucial part of bowling. Supplies don’t just mean a rolling bag for your bowling ball (although it is convenient to have a bowling bag), it also includes many things. Most importantly, a microfiber cloth. If you have been in a league, there is a high chance that someone is using a cloth to wipe their bowling ball. This is to wipe the oil off of the bowling ball from the lanes so that it has more hook potential and to not damage the ball. Every person with a bowling ball should be required to carry a microfiber cloth anytime they go bowling, because if not, it could lead to damage to the ball, and that’s no fun.
The 4-Step Approach
The 4 step approach seems simple enough, but you have to get the timing of your feet and the perfect-sized step. The 4 step approach is how you walk up to the foul line (the black line that divides the platform and the lane) and release the ball. Everything that could go wrong in bowling (relating to ball movement) is almost always tied to the way your approach is. Each step you take with your feet should have some sort of movement tied to it. By the time your feet finish the first step, the ball should be pushed away from your chest. By the second step, the ball should be behind you and ready to roll down the lane. The third step should have your ball about to the hips during the swing, and the last step should have a little more power to it because you want your feet to slide. If you are a smaller individual, you should take an extra step (not a huge one) to put power into the swing, because the farther you are from the foul line, the less consistent you are, and that is one of, if not the most important thing in bowling. Repetition is the key. You can practice your approach right now. Follow the steps I just explained and try it! For more information, click here!
A demonstration of the 4-step approach in action, resulting in a strike.
The Swing
A perfect swing leads to perfection. A swing has multiple steps, similar to the 4-step approach. With the 4-step approach, the ball should be freely swinging, not being controlled and only relying on the ball’s kinetic energy about after you have fully pushed the ball away from your chest and is starting to swing. The swing should be perfectly straight. Just imagine your arm is a pendulum, and is just rocking back and forth. Straight back and straight forward. When you’re ready, release the ball right as it goes above the ground. Don’t drop it! Eventually, when you’ve mastered releasing the ball at the perfect time, you can implement the 4-step approach along with it. You can also try this at home, with your hand mimicking the grip of an actual bowling ball, maybe even have a medicine ball in your hand to mimic the weight of an actual bowling ball.
Hook the Ball
Some people may have trouble with this step because, for a rather new bowler, it’s easier to bowl straight. While it may be easier and less complicated than hooking the ball, it will be worth it to hook the ball because it will heavily increase your pin average. Straight bowling, if not thrown hard enough, could lead to 7-10 pin splits (corner pins) open, which is nearly impossible to pick up. Hooking the ball is very important to not get splits like this, because when hooking the ball you are allowing the ball to hit the area between the head pin and the 3 or 2 pins (commonly referred to as the “pocket”), leading into a strike. Normally, a hook comes from the bowler releasing the ball in a “handshake” motion, where your hand comes from the underside of the bowling ball, then releasing the ball whilst rotating your hand about so that your palm is in the position to handshake someone (hence the nickname). There are multiple ways to hook a bowling ball, so I’ll link an article on how to hook in all of the different ways right here. Feel free to explore the article and learn more about hooking a bowling ball.
To be able to obtain the ideal strike, the bowling ball must hit the space between the head pin (1) and either the 2 or 3 pin depending on your dominant hand.
Use the Arrows as Guidance
A lot of beginners normally overlook this feature in the lanes, but there are arrows to help the bowler achieve accuracy. Some bowlers use the pins as guidance (like I did when I was starting) but if you are shooting a spare, it’s hard to aim when most of the pins are gone. When doing the 4-step approach, you want to be looking at the arrows most of the time, and it helps to look at the arrows and focus on throwing straight. When I throw like this, most of the time it works and the ball goes where I wanted it to go. It’s easy to do and makes a huge difference to achieve amazing accuracy.
Have a Good Attitude
This may seem a little corny to anyone who hasn’t bowled before, but it makes a lot of sense when it comes to practice. Imagine this; you just bowled a few frames in a game, and you got a double-gutter. This makes you very mad, and those emotions stick with you, and that’s all you can think about when you’re bowling again. You throw the ball even harder, sacrificing accuracy for speed. You get a gutter again. Eventually, it turns into a downhill spiral and you bowl the worst game you ever did. You see, it’s really important to keep your cool whenever you bowl a bad frame.
If you want to be on the same level as the 3,000+ bowlers a part of the PBA, then you need to have the right bowling ball, supplies, the 4-step approach, the swing, the hook, and a great attitude. Follow these steps to become the greatest bowler that ever lived! What do you think? Fill out the form and tell us what you thought of this article!
Author Bio
Jude McCormack is a sixth grader who loves hanging out with friends, playing video games, bowling, and eating at Pizza X. Jude’s extracurricular activities include Robotics, Horsepower, and the high school Bowling team.