Basic Bowling Tip

Basic bowling tip #1 - Learn to relax while bowling.

You cannot do your best when you are tense and overeager, because your approach becomes zigzaggy and your motions jerky.

A smooth, easy delivery—the kind you can use time after time without effort—brings the best results.

Basic bowling tip #2 - Try to hit every spare "dead center."

Do not be satisfied with merely converting the spare in any fashion at all. Concentrate on the exact spot you wish to hit. It stands to reason that if you are hitting the key pin on the wrong side and still managing to convert the spare through a lucky bounce off the kickback or in some other fashion, you are courting disaster.

Bowling is a game in which the law of averages inevitably takes its. toll. You cannot keep on being lucky forever. So shoot to make your spares correctly. "Cover" your pins.

Basic bowling tip #3 - Finishing properly is just as important as starting properly.

Getting started on the correct foot, using a smooth push away to get the ball in motion, timing the movement of your hands and body, and other such procedures do little good if you suddenly decide at the last second to "overpower the pins."

You might succeed in getting a strike on that particular throw (you will note I didn't say "roll"), but in so doing you are asking for trouble in succeeding frames, for you have thrown your timing off and may find it difficult to regain it.

Remember to check yourself occasionally on the various phases of finishing properly to make sure that you are not falling into bad habits.

Basic bowling tip #4 Use the best angle to get strikes and spares.

Because of the angle at which the ball strikes the pins, it would not do for the average bowler rolling a hook or curve to start his delivery from the extreme left side of the approach. On the other hand, a bowler using a backup delivery (one that fades to the right), should not begin from the middle.

In shooting at spares, remember to "give the ball all the alley space possible." For the 7-pin, you should begin your roll from the right-hand side. For the 10-pin, start from the left-hand side, and so on.

The 6-10 spare, for instance, should be played from the left-hand side so that the ball not only takes advantage of the width of the lane but also comes into the pins at a better angle to topple the 10-pin after hitting the 6-pin. Always bear in mind that your percentage of scoring is increased when you play from the proper angle.

Basic bowling tip #5 - Control and consistency give bowling improvement.

Even the poorest bowlers sometimes roll a 200 game, but the better bowlers, and in particular the experts, do it often. The star bowler depends upon his control and consistency to keep his average high. But he wasn't born with either.

He had to develop both over a long period of time and through plenty of practice. Actually, consistency means the ability to use your control time after time. So keep after your game and be willing to practice. It will pay dividends in higher scores.

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