Your Bowling Swing And Your Tempo

By: bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 2/16/17; Updated: 11/17/2021

Your bowling swing and tempo must work together along with other keys in unifying your swing with your approach movements.

Let’s start with balance, the basis of everything. If you move back on your heels or forward on your toes during the swing, your steps and body will try to compensate in some way to get the bowling ball to the proper release point.

That will change all kinds of things in your swing for the worse. You can’t fix any other swing flaw until you walk and swing in balance.

When you want to improve, you need to start by doing something harder than your present techniques to achieve a desired end result.

One key to initiate a good swing motion is to work on a smooth and unrestricted “pushaway” movement where your bowling ball is set into the beginning of your swing cycle.

You must get your steps and body working in sync. You don’t want to be too swing-oriented because then you underuse your body, your legs more specifically. Using your legs properly generates the power, leverage, and accuracy every bowler seeks.

Practice your approach tempo — and slow it down! You almost can’t walk and swing your bowling ball too slowly. Swinging your ball faster than your body allows to retain good balance and tempo risks leading to poor results.

Swinging in tempo allows your hand and body to arrive in a good position at the bottom of your forward swing arc ready to make an effective and timely release.

It also provides needed time for your steps to arrive at the line in sync with your body and well balanced for accurate deliveries.

Now relax and let it go. Remember, the bowling swing is not vertical, nor is it horizontal or flat. It follows a tilted arc. When you swing along that path, you get more consistent results.

Now that you have a solid swing, let’s go where it all really begins — in your mind with a sound pre-shot routine.

The main thing is not to get tied up with mechanics. You get robotic and try to create a perfect move, which just creates tension.

Tension is the enemy of the bowling swing. Before setting up on the approach, visualize the shot you wish to make. Don’t bowl until you “see” the bowling ball delivery path to the pocket as well as the sight target along the path. When you are ready, step up on the approach, take your stance, take a breath in, then one out, to release tension. Then check your grip on the ball, place your bowling shoulder in alignment with your target, then bowl.

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