Bowl SMART

What are your bowling goals? Do they include the common ones, such as merely to raise your average or increase your rev rate? Goals in bowling are hard to attain unless you learn to bowl SMART.

When setting goals in bowling, people will generally set themselves up for failure. Not only do their goals lack specificity, they typically have no deadline or accountability by the bowlers who set these goals.

Here is the point; before you set your goals, make sure you know how to actually achieve them.

The key to reaching your goals is to make them SMART goals -- Select, Monitored, Actual, Realistic, and Time based.

To get started, make an honest assessment of the state of your game and then divide your goals into bowling’s four important parts -- technique, game management, physical fitness, and your mental game.

Here are some examples of SMART bowling goals, and how to reach them, as it relates to the four specific parts of the game mentioned above.

Select example: "Improve my performance on difficult lane conditions." This is a select game management goal. If this is your goal, you would be practicing on long, short, and lightly blended, challenging oil patterns.

When you have a specific goal like this, you create an excellent focus for your range of lane condition skills, although you may need to enlist a professional bowling instructor or certified coach to help you reach your "select" goals.

Monitored example: "I want to hit the pocket 90 percent of my strike deliveries." This is a monitored technique and a game management goal with tools to help with each.

One such tool you can use is simply to count the number of times your ball contacts the pocket per game giving you a reasonable chance at striking in a given number of deliveries. If you are preparing for a league competition, then you will have 36 first ball delivery opportunities in the three scheduled games during your league.

Remember, it is critical to have something to monitor, and with the automatic scoring technology available, it is simpler than ever to track your goal.

Actual example: "Repeat my pre-shot routine on every shot." This is an actual mental game and game management goal that can be worked out on the practice lanes when scores do not count and will make a big difference in your performance.

Using a pre-shot routine in your personal "bowler’s planning box” is the time before you bowl where you separate thinking from playing the shot to actually playing the shot. Instead of keeping score, tally how many times you execute your pre-shot routine.

Realistic example: "During my two practices sessions each a week, I want to improve transferring my physical game techniques from the practice lanes to competition."

This is a very common problem and a realistic game management/mental game goal that makes a time commitment. Most people practice their technique but fail to successfully incorporate the training techniques to the competition.

Also, bowlers make goals that they don't have time to achieve. One simple way to transition your swing techniques to the competitive lanes (without spending hours on the practice lanes) would be to play a game during practice from multiple delivery angles you are likely to face during your competition and use multiple bowling balls most likely to react best during the same projected competition.

Time-targeted example: "By the time I return to competition for the fall leagues, I want to increase my flexibility and overall physical conditioning."

This is a time based bowling fitness goal that allows for the creation of a short or long term planning.



When you have a time based goal, you and your fitness professional (if you use one) are able to set the frequency and difficulty level of your fitness sessions.

Start with trying different types of fitness exercises to help your flexibility such as stretching the big muscles of your legs and arms, working your core and lower back muscles, etc.

Then make a long-term goal of using a fitness professional to help you develop an at-home workout designed to reach your flexibility goals and maintain them.

In addition to identifying goals, write them down and post them somewhere that you see them often. This is a critical step in goal setting so you are accountable.

Bowl SMART by writing down your goals, and reevaluate and measure your progress often to truly take your game to the next level.