Wake Up Your Bowling Game

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 10/7/2012; Updated: 8/31/2021

Wake up your bowling game. If you have been in a bowling funk and wish to snap out of it, it starts with rolling that first good series score and then continuing with good performances and with confidence.


In order to wake up your bowling game, let’s take a page from the professional bowlers “handbook for success.” Improve the quality of your practice between competitive sessions.


Our staff at bowlingball.com believes that since professional bowlers fight to maintain a high standard of performance and thereby practice their craft with great frequency and with purpose, then you should expect to do the same. If you don’t believe in practice, then expect random results. You must put in the work with a solid practice plan to make improvements to your game. It is that simple.


It helps to organize your one hour practices into 10 minutes increments and focus solely on key elements of your game during those intervals.


10 minutes - Work on balance. Maintaining an athletic posture during your approach. Avoid unnecessary head and torso movement during your approach and delivery of the bowling ball.


10 minutes - Focus on a consistent pace or tempo of footsteps. Avoid accelerating your steps excessively beyond your most effective walking pace. Count cadence while walking to the line to ensure regulating your pace of steps. The final two steps of your approach are the most critical. Strive for a repetitive pace of steps each time you step onto the approach.


10 minutes - Begin your arm-swing smoothly toward your target and with as little of tension in your bowling arm as possible. Do not rush the swing cycle process. Allow your downswing to flow freely to the top of the back swing in one uninterrupted motion. Let gravity start your down swing so your bowling ball swings freely and without arm control downward into the "release zone." Make a full and complete follow-through motion each delivery.


10 minutes - regulate your ball delivery speed. Avoid changing speeds from shot to shot. Make sure you control your loft distance by getting your ball over the line the same distance each delivery. Consistent ball speed and loft distance will certainly lead to predictable ball reactions which, in turn, will help you align to the pocket.


10 minutes - Focus on delivering your bowling ball to your sighting target. Watch your ball roll over your mark on the lane and place full commitment on accurately in hitting your sighting target, strike and spare deliveries alike.



10 minutes - Hold your form at the foul line. Pose with good balance until your ball passes your sighting target.
Finish your practice session by bowling with intensity as if your competitive session was already engaged.

Find the focus and the ambition to delivery quality shots, one at a time.
If you are having continued challenges with your physical game, consult an experienced instructor or a certified coach and get to work on identifying the key elements of your game. Build a practice plan between competitive events. Get back to your basics for success by fine tuning your “A Game.”
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