The bowling season is fast approaching and the majority of you will need to start dusting off those bowling balls and start to put the golf clubs away. I know, I know, you don’t want summer to end. Heck here in the Midwest we want to hold on to that warm weather as long as we can before we start to see that evil white snowfall. Can you tell I don’t like winter? With the bowling season coming up so soon, we need to start practicing. I can hear some of you saying, “Practice, who needs that?” Well the truth is we all need it. When you do go out to practice, what exactly should you be practicing? This week I want to help you out with giving you a couple ideas of what to practice on, and how that can help you prepare for the bowling season.
Practice is sometimes a scary word. Some of you might say that you will work out your flaws during your league games. Some of you will delay the inevitable until absolutely necessary. Some of you will actually go out and practice. Heck some of you might have been practicing during the summer. Whichever person you are, I ask you this question; what have you been working on? Have you been working on your footwork? How about your release? Maybe you have been working on your spare game. Maybe the answer for you is all of the above. Which ever it is, I will try and help give you some tips that you should be working on during practice.
When going out to your local bowling center to practice you need to have a game plan, or a plan of attack. I know for myself, when I was bowling professionally I worked a lot on my spare shooting. Spare shooting is a vital part of becoming a better bowler. A couple tips you might think about if you plan on going out to practice spares are really quite simple. First, only bring in one ball and the ball you would use for spares (if you have one). Second, DON’T KEEP SCORE!! Your score during practice means as much as hitting a hole in one when you are the only person on the course. It doesn’t count towards anything!
First thing I do is stretch. No different than any physical activity you need to stretch and warm up. Next, start throwing some shots to loosen you up. Once you’re loose start shooting at the corner pin. My old coach, rest his soul, used to make me shoot at a full rack of pins and only try to take out the corner pins. So for example, for a right handed bowler, shoot at the 10 pin. Only take off the ten pin on a full rack. If you have done that, try and repeat the same thing, and this time make sure you don’t touch any other pin left standing. Try to do this ten times in succession. If you start a streak and mess up, you go back to zero. Once you have completed this practice drill, it’s now time to shoot the other corner pin.
When practicing your release the number one rule is very simple. DON’T WORRY ABOUT WHAT THE PINS DO!! What do I mean by that? When you are trying to work on your release, you shouldn’t think about anything else except your release. If you are trying to stay more up the back of the ball, or behind the ball more, then why should you worry if you knocked down 7 pins? Again, practice is exactly that, PRACTICE.
Try this. If you need to stay more behind the ball let your ring finger feel like it’s pointing up on your follow through. Now if you are trying to maybe create more side rotation with your release, to try and create more backend reaction, simply take your hand at your starting position, which is probably directly under the bowling ball, and tilt it. What I mean by tilting your hand is turn your hand so that your pinky finger turns in closer to your body. Let’s visualize this better. If your hand is directly under your bowling ball, it will be pointing to 12 o’clock. Now take that idea and picture your pinky finger more in relation to 10 o’clock. That’s what I mean by tilting it. Now take this feeling and apply it to your release. This will alter your bowling balls rotation, there by creating the desired ball motion.
So let’s recap, in practice, don’t worry about your scores. Don’t worry about how many pins you knock down. Only focus on what you intend to practice on. Make good shots, and scores will come. Try my tips and see how you do this season. As always I look forward to any comments or questions you may have good or bad. Either way, I know your reading this. Take care, bowl great, and by all means let’s have fun with bowling, and practice. T.J. Yeip is the manager of GLC Bowling and a certified Advanced IBPSIA member. You can email your comments or questions directly to him at Thomas.yeip@glcbowling,com.
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