Bowling and Walking

Something I've incorporated into my walking has helped me with my bowling.

For your bowling approach, it's taught that you should take your first step and place it directly in front of your other foot.

As well as helping you to walk in a straight line (aka, "walking the tightrope") this movement also helps to get your hip out of the way of your arm swing.

I think Fashion Models practice walking that way to give them excellent posture and keep their head and shoulders straight.

I began concentrating on placing my steps one in front of the other and noticed that I had to keep my head up as I walked that way and my eyes were focused quite a ways ahead of me.

This got me to thinking about looking at marks (breakpoint sighting, e.g.) further down the lane.

I began looking for points of references 10-feet, 15-feet, and further, ahead of me as I walked.

Here are some of my overall improvements thus far - the three board drift to the right I've always had is gone, my arm swing has begun to get "effortless" and I'm able to bowl 10 games with seemingly no effort.

My accuracy is improving in that I can see the ball roll over my mark up to 30 feet, and I'm getting better at posting at the line and holding that post until the ball hits the pins.

Here's my "Choc-List" of my walking and sighting methodology exercises:

(1) Walk by placing each step directly in front of the other. This will help keep your posture more erect and shoulders straight.

(2) Look at reference markers at varying distances from where you immediately are and walk in a straight line towards them.

(3) Practice lining up your right and left shoulders, your right and left feet, and the middle of your body to the marker selected. This can help with lining up the shot on the lane and any adjustments that have to be made.

4) Sometimes, I'll vary my walking style, (i.e., sideways, backwards, and close my eyes for a while). If you think of other variations, try them. I believe this will help with overall balance.