Basic Bowling Steps

The 4-step and 5-step approaches are the more commonly used deliveries in the sport of bowling.

Settle on the number of steps that you feel most comfortable with.

Experiment with the different steps and see which will be most advantageous and easy for you.

After finding your starting distance for the number of steps that will be taken, go through the motions for each one (“shadow bowling) until you decide.

Regardless of the first step in the approach, the greater majority of right-handers will finish their approach on their left foot (sliding foot). Left-handers will end up on their right foot.

The approaches with an EVEN number of steps (4 or 6) for right-handers will have them starting off with the right foot.

The ODD numbered (3 or 5) steps will have them starting off with the left foot. (For left-handers, the opposite will apply.)

The 4-step delivery is considered the standard and all explanation of a bowler’s delivery centers on this style. There should be a smooth coordination between the hand holding the bowling ball and the motion of the feet.

As you take your first step, push your ball forward and away from your body about the same distance as that step. Begin to let your left hand fall away from holding the bowling ball.

As the right hand naturally drops alongside the right leg, the left foot is taking the second step of the delivery.

With the weight of the ball carrying the arm behind your body in a straight arc to the top of the backswing, the third step (right foot) is taken.

Still maintaining an unforced and relaxed swing, the motion and weight of the bowling ball will carry your arm forward as you take the fourth step (left foot) and enter into a short slide that carries you to within inches of the foul line and you drop the bowling ball off your hand onto the lane.

With the basics of the 4-step approach understood, any deviations (such as the 1-step to the 6-step or beyond) is done from that foundation.

Visualization and mental imagery will play a key role as you vary your steps.

For example, if you have to take only three steps to deliver the ball, get your appropriate starting point, stand and visualize that you are going through the motions of the standard approach and allow your arm to swing as if the four steps were actually being taken.

That is, start pushing the ball forward and away from your body in a straight line while still standing in your starting position.

As you drop your left hand and the ball begins its downward arc, take your first step with your left foot.

When your arm swing reaches the top of the back swing, take your second step with your right foot.

On the forward and downward swing, take your third step with the brief slide and release the ball on the lane.

Another example is if you use the 5-step delivery and approach.

Start your first step with your left foot, but delay your push away until you begin to take your second step, which from that point on is basically the 4-step approach.

While there are basic foundations and fundamentals upon which your bowling game is built, it doesn't mean that you must follow them rigidly with no variations.

In the final analysis of your style and manner of bowling, you have to do what is best and most comfortable for you.

Without feeling natural and at ease with your bowling, it'll be difficult for you to achieve scores that are higher than the average bowler.

For the more advanced bowlers, it's a good idea to practice the different deliveries and approaches in case there's a time when your situation demands that you have to bowl with the different approach.

Bowling & Baloney Explosions

A piece of bologna (baloney) I was frying exploded on me and I got slight burns from the oil splatter and pieces of it flew all over me and the kitchen.

I found, and continue to find, pieces in every crevice there is (or so it seems).

There are "good" baloney explosions and there are "bad" baloney explosions, it's a matter of how you treat them.

There was a very audible "popping" sound and I know it was loud because my girlfriend in the other room came running out to see what had happened.

We immediately started laughing and I continued to laugh through the tedious clean up period.

I still chuckle each time the incident comes into mind.

The other night, we happened to catch a documentary about an exploding whale in Japan.

It sparked one of those moments where she looked at me, I looked at her, and we just started laughing uncontrollably for what seemed like 5 minutes or more.

It was painful to the stomach.

I can imagine the residents of that city in Japan finding pieces of whale for years to come.

I think they'll continue to laugh about their incident as I do mine.

In the sport of bowling, there are many variables that affect our score.

These include such things as, but are not limited to, type of ball, weight of the ball, oil patterns, and the weather.

Do I have to mention our individual attitudes, health, and frame of mind?

Our performance depends on many factors being "just right," and us realists know that there will be bad scores as well as terrific scores.

That's just life.

Over the past couple of weeks, my "bowling baloney" have included several "good" and "bad" explosions - a 134 game, a 511 series, a gutter ball, three 4-6-7-10 splits in one game, and a 718 series.

Who can figure? You just have to make the best of it.

One of my teammates, "Dippy" (a 200+ average), shoots a 92 game in Thursday league, then shoots a 300 game on Friday night; rolls a 740 series on the next Thursday night, and comes back on another Friday night just barely breaking a 500 series.

Baloney explodes everywhere and at anytime!

As "Dippy" is always fond of saying, "What do we know?"

Bowling In The Zone

A while back, Myron the Muse asked me a question about when a person is on a string of strikes.

"Do you want to be silent and concentrate, or do you want to be relaxed and loose, talking and animated to prevent too much nervousness from stepping in?"

You see, on the one hand, it would seem that you'd want to keep yourself "in The Zone" so you don't lose the string of strikes; while on the other hand, you'd want to be less nervous so you don't lose the string of strikes.

A bit of a quandary, don't you think?

The reason he asked me the question is that on a particular night several months ago, he had just strung up nine strikes in a row and "choked" in the 10th frame.

Last night, he called me again to "complain" that he had strung up 11 strikes and choked on the last ball very badly - a "Greek Church" on the 12th ball.

(For those not familiar with that nickname, that is a five count comprised of the 4-6-7-9-10 most often thrown by right-handers, or the 4-6-7-8-10 most often thrown by left-handers - it really is a poorly thrown ball)

In both situations, I merely told him, "now you know how it feels so you'll just keep getting more and more used to the feeling;  you're on the verge of getting the big one real soon."

What else is there to say, really?

I have often evaluated my own thoughts and feelings trying  to remember how I felt as I went through my own moments of bowling extraordinarily good.

I've also asked other people their feelings as they went through their own superior performance in bowling or other sports.

Also, if you watch interviews on television after any great performance by an athlete, they all say pretty much the same thing in that no one can remember exactly how they felt.

They were just doing it and things just fell into place. I think this is what is called being in "The Zone."

The "Choc-List" for being in "The Zone" are:

1) You are not fully aware of what is going on around you. Conversations are fuzzy.

2) You can see targets, objects, or end goals more clearly. Your vision and thinking make you see small details exceptionally well.

3) You are in the moment. Every time it is your turn to perform, your whole body and mind is absorbed in the task at hand and nothing else.

4) You are not nervous. You are not thinking or concentrating too hard. You are just performing.

Trying to recapture the time that you were in "The Zone" is a futile effort.

Is that why, for a lot of us, there is a letdown period after performing an exceptional feat?

Is the letdown because we are concentrating more on trying to "re-capture the moment" instead of just performing?

You can't practice being in "The Zone." You can only hone your style of bowling so that those times occur more often than the next person.

Bowling Basics Cannot Be Over-emphasized

Everything still comes back to this - "To be a good bowler, you must have the basic fundamentals solidly in place."

Once you decide to get serious about the sport of bowling, you've got to start by "throwing away" any pre-conceived notions and bad habits that you've developed and/or learned; and basically, start all over again.

This is one of the main reasons that I want to gage my prospective student's feelings about what they want to accomplish before I take them on as a student.

Before I fully developed my "Choc-List" of questions to ask of prospective students, I had turned down a couple of them during the first sessions.

The first guy was because every time I suggested a correction to try, his response was, "I can't do that," or, "That's too difficult for me," or something to that effect; and, the second was a guy who kept forgetting the times we scheduled for our lessons.

The former was so negative, we spent a lot of valuable coaching time arguing for his limitations; and the former just wasn't serious about wanting to learn how to bowl - he missed the first three lessons, AND the re-scheduled ones, so really, it was a total of six.

I told them that unless they were willing to get more serious about our lessons, I wouldn't be able to coach them.

Serious bowlers will practice as often as they can and they'll hire a coach because they know that practicing something without knowing the fundamentals is a true "lesson in futility."

Keep in mind, however, that even if I believe in the fundamentals and foundations, I am not a "by-the-book" instructor. I remember a quotation told to us at the beginning of the USBC Bronze Certificate coaching class, "The rule is, there are no rules." (That quotation is attributed to Fred Borden, the world famous bowling coach.)

I believe in teaching to many things in the textbook but I also realize that everyone has their own basic style and will teach to that style while developing their basic fundamentals.

I also know that there have been some new developments that have forced me to re-think some of the techniques I was telling my students. However; the basic fundamentals have not changed.

This "Choc-List" will be covering the stance, pushaway and armswing, approach and follow through, and final position (posting):

1) Starting Stance - Your body is relaxed, knees are slightly bent, back isn't stiff and tense, and your toes, hips and shoulders are aligned properly in a relaxed manner. Do you see that the overall objective is to be relaxed and not rigid and tensed up? You are setting yourself up for your approach and delivery, while you don't want to be overly relaxed, it is far worse to be in an uncomfortable and stiff position before starting your delivery in motion. Injuries are often caused by stiff and tense muscles and joints.

2) Pushaway and Armswing - The best pushaway has been one that leads into a free armswing and is "muscle-free" in that the weight of the ball is the main factor producing the arm movement in its entire pendulum-like arc. The method of attaining that pendulum armswing is dependent on the bowler's style and physical attributes - holding the ball high for taller people, holding the ball lower for smaller statures, and starting off to the side for larger bodies. The ideal pendulum armswing can be visualized as pretending your arm to be attached to your body by ball-bearings at the shoulder joint and there are no muscles in your arm. The weight of your ball is the only thing that can make the arm swing back and forth.

3) Approach and Follow-Through - Regardless of how many steps you take, your approach allows you to maintain balance, timing, and leverage at the foul line so that you can execute a smooth release and follow-through. I watch the length and rhythm of each step, the next to the last step (called the "power step"), the slide or plant, and the knee bend while coaching a bowler. For the follow-through, a few new styles have been introduced but, the technique of letting your hand and arm continue to reach for your aiming target after the ball is released is still the one I teach.

4) Final Position (aka "Posting") - After releasing the ball, you must be able to maintain your balance at the foul line until your ball hits the pins. The best positioning is for you to have your knees slightly bent, your body facing your target, your trailing leg as far behind and off to your left (right-handers) or right (left-handers) as you feel comfortable, your follow-through out in front of you, and holding that for at least 3 seconds. For examples of this finishing position, I encourage you to watch videos of the current elite Team USA, Junior Team USA, and collegiate bowlers.

While different aspects of bowling have changed over the last couple of decades, the basic fundamentals have not.

You must develop them if your goal is to become a consistent and high performing bowler.

Before Changing Your Bowling Ball

“Lucky” brings in six bowling balls with him every time he bowls.

Does that give him an advantage? Perhaps it does, perhaps it doesn’t.

Does he bowl the highest series in the league every time he bowls?

Is he guaranteed to be the high average in the league at the end of the season?

Does he, with exact knowledge, select the proper ball every time he has to make a change due to the lane transition?

If the answers to these questions are a decided, “yes,” then perhaps having six balls give him an advantage.

If the answers to these questions are a decided, “no,” then perhaps the six balls give him an advantage.

If the answers to these questions are a “maybe,” then perhaps the six bowling balls give him an advantage.

Bowling is not an exact science and should not be treated as such.

I have seen bowlers with six bowling balls (or more) win tournaments.

I have seen bowlers who used only one bowling ball win tournaments.

I have seen bowlers who have used two or three bowling balls win tournaments.

So who really has the advantage?

Whether it is finding the proper ball or making the optimum “manual” adjustment, I advocate that it is the bowler who can find the “sweet spot” on the lane for that particular day is the one who has the advantage.

To tell you the truth, I would probably have a lot of bowling balls if I could afford them.

I am, however, in the same category as the majority of you out there; and that is, we were barely able to afford the three (two reactives and a spare ball) that we have now.

Us “Average Joe’s” then, have to depend on our knowledge and wits to try to overcome the varying conditions that we have to bowl under.

Having an arsenal of bowling balls is a good idea; but, what do we do if we don’t have that solid arsenal built up yet?

Here’s a “Choc-List” of some small adjustments you can make before changing your bowling ball:

1) Use parallel movements with your feet and eyes. For example, when you move your feet one board to the left, also move your target one board to the left. (Left-handers, use the direct opposite directions.)

2) Use angular movements with your feet and eyes. In this, you move your feet a different amount than your mark. For example, feet two boards left and target one board left.

3) Aim at a mark further down the lane. If your ball is hooking too much, move your mark further down the lane - don’t discount aiming at the pins. Bring your mark closer to you for the opposite condition.

4) Use your index and/or pinkie fingers. The closer these fingers are to your gripping ones, the straighter the ball will tend to go; the more spread out (or tucked as many do with the pinkie) the more hook you will have.

As with everything, “practice makes perfect,” so try them out first.

When you are comfortable with the way your bowling balls react and you can read the effects of each adjustment, and then take them to league or competition.

It's A Sparrow

I received a video in my email this past week that really made me think. It showed an older gentleman sitting on a bench with an adult, younger male reading a newspaper next to him. A bird lands on a branch of a nearby tree and the old man says, "What is that?" "It is a sparrow," the younger man answers.

A few seconds later, another bird lands on a nearby bush and the old man inquires, "What is that?" The younger man looks up from his reading and says, "It is a sparrow." Still another bird lands on another tree branch and the old man again asks, "What is that?" The younger man looks up, visibly annoyed, and answers, "It is a sparrow, a sparrow, the same as the other birds you asked me about  a s-p-a-r-r-o-w!, Why are you doing this to me?"

The older man stands up and heads into the house they are sitting in front of. He comes back out with a book (it turns out to be a diary or journal that the old man has kept), turns to a page, and asks the younger man (by now I have figured out it is his son) to read the passage he points to.

In summary, here's what the son read out loud: "Today, I was sitting in the park with my young son and he asked me the name of a bird that had landed nearby. I answered him that it was a sparrow. Twenty-one times he asked me, 'What is that?' and, twenty-one times I answered that it was a sparrow. Twenty-one times I hugged him because of the affection I felt for this young son of mine…"

What does that have to do with bowling? On the surface there seems to be no connection, however, as a coach, I sometimes have to answer the same question over and over again. Because it is a student of mine asking the question, I tend to be very tolerant. Sometimes, before we can move forward with a lesson, a point must be clearly understood or the coming lessons might not make sense.

Patience - "It is a sparrow." "It is the second arrow." "It is a smooth follow-through." "It is a pendulum swing." "It is a reactive resin bowling ball." "It is your pre-shot routine." "It is your positive mental attitude." "It is your ability to adjust to different lane conditions." "It is your practice session routine." "It is your 'why'?" "It is your love of the sport." "It is a sparrow." - Patience. It is, indeed, a virtue.

Even In Bowling, Taking Action Yields Results

I saw a video recently of Tony Robbins, who's gained great success at being a life coach to many people around the world.

The subject of the video centered on a discussion about why people aren't able to achieve success.

While he and a couple of other successful people talked mainly about financial and life solutions, I felt it also had a lot to do with better bowling success in general, and improving a person's game in particular.

Mr. Robbins drew an illustration with four squares. In the upper left block he wrote the word, "Potential," in the upper right square, "Action," the lower right, "Results," and the lower left box, "Belief."

Arrows connected the blocks as they pointed to the right, from the "Potential" to "Action," downward, from "Action" to "Results," leftward, from "Results" to "Belief" and, finally, upward from "Belief" to "Potential."

There's potential for everything in the world but many people can't see them because they have no belief.

When they do sense there's potential (because some belief trickles into their mind) their belief isn't strong enough for them to take action.

By not taking action, they can't get results which then can't bolster their beliefs.

Subsequently, most people sit at their own level and don't attain success in their lives.

They never move forward to realize success that would bolster their beliefs and make their lives better.

And what is the biggest factor that prevents people from taking action? Well, that's "Fear of failure;" and yet, it's ironic that "Fear of failure" is the primary reason that people fail.

Many successful people already have their beliefs ("Confidence") firmly in place.

Therefore, they always see the potential and are always taking action, getting good results, and continuing to bolster their belief.

Successful people tend to appear to move between "Action" and "Results" because their "Beliefs" are so strong.

"Potentials" never seem to appear since they're acting on them before they have a chance to materialize.

There are varying degrees of success, however, and regardless of their past achievements, moderately successful people can and will block themselves from taking action because of some perceived "fear of failure."

Have you ever heard the phrase, "It's all relative?" In other words, there can be a 130-average or 210-average bowler who won't be able to advance beyond that point because of their limiting beliefs.

So, there's always a point at which a large percentage of bowlers can't, or won't, get any better because of that "fear of failure."

My "Choc-Talk" is merely a summary of that of that illustration: "For whatever level you're at in your bowling, realize the POTENTIAL for where you can be, take ACTION, get the better RESULTS, and build your BELIEF that you can (and will) be a better bowler.

At some point, you'll be moving between 'Action' and 'Results' automatically."