Bowling Tip Strike

Here is a bowling tip strike that you may want to keep in mind: Playing wrong angles for strikes.

If you roll a straight ball, you have a better percentage of success when you play your ball from the proper angle—in this case, the right-hand corner of the approach.

Your chances of carrying the 5-pin are increased if you hit the desired 1-3 pocket. On the other hand, if you play it from the improper angle, say, from the center of the alley, your chances of leaving the 5-pin are increased because of the deflection of the ball after striking the 1-pin.

Conversely, playing a hook ball from the right-hand corner of the alley decreases your chances for strikes, because in many cases it comes into the pins too strongly from an outside angle and tends to leave standing either the 4-pin or the 4-9 setup.

One should move more toward the center for a hook delivery. Starting a curve ball too far to left of center results in "closing the angle" on the 1-3 pocket and thus increases the chances for the 10-pin to remain standing.

That pin is left standing often enough (as I can attest), and there is no point in magnifying this disadvantage.

REMEDY. As a general rule, roll a straight ball from the right hand corner, a hook ball from a three-quarter angle, and a curve from a point near the center.

Bear in mind that changing alley conditions will force you to vary the point of delivery. In other words, suppose that you roll a hook ball and you find that your ball is not coming up to the 1-3 pocket but instead is hitting the 3-pin practically dead center.

If you are satisfied that you have been throwing your normal ball, your way of correcting this is to move farther over toward the right-hand side and deliver your ball more directly toward the 1-3 pocket.

On the other hand, if your hook ball has been "crossing over," or hitting the 1-2 pocket or left-hand side, you should reverse the above procedure. This time your move is farther toward the left of the alley and you direct your ball a bit farther to the right than before. The same thing, with variations, is true of the straight ball and the curve ball. Try using this bowling tip strike to improve you bowling game.

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