Your Feet Are Not Nailed To The Bowling Approach

bowlingball.com, Originally Posted: 1/2/2014; Updated: 1/5/2023

If you are a senior bowler and resist changing your your delivery angle, it is important to know that the lanes change quickly these days. You must make adjustments accordingly or you will lose your ability to hit the pocket consistently.
Many successful senior players have figured this out and continue to boast very high averages.
For you experienced and seasoned senior players, particularly those of you who have been bowling for forty years or more, the lane surfaces, lane oils, lane conditioning machines, and lane oiling patterns have dramatically changed since you began bowling decades ago.
It is surprising how many senior bowlers resist moving their feet and sighting target on the lane to adjust for changing lanes.
Because the oil on the lanes today moves around faster than years ago and because these modern bowling balls absorb lane conditioner in the coverstock, the lane conditioner breaks down in the front ends and carries down the lane.
These changes to the lane conditions require quicker adjusting on the part of you bowlers if you expect to hit the pocket consistently.
Your feet are not nailed to the approach floor!
Move your feet and your “spot” on the lane to find the right amount of front end ball skid distance and the right amount of back end hook reaction on the given lanes you bowl on most frequently.
Don’t just stand in the same place all the time and think that you made poor deliveries or blame the bowling center for “bad lanes.”
If you do make slight angle adjustments on your strike deliveries, you may not be moving enough. These modern lane surfaces and bowling ball coverstocks can create a higher ratio of surface friction than the old rubber and plastic bowling ball equipment did years ago and often times greater angle changes are needed.
In many cases, moving a greater number of boards than you presently move, either left or right on the approach depending on if you are a right handed bowler or a left handed bowler and depending on if you are getting too much ball skid distance or not enough, will help you change your delivery angle to take advantage of the oil pattern.
Moving more than your customary two or three boards can, indeed, be the best solution.

In the cases of getting a good deal more skid distance or considerably greater amount of early hook where you ball misses the pocket, you may have to move 5 - 10 boards laterally from your original strike position. Also, you must move your “spot” on the lane in the same direction but perhaps only half as many boards.
Normal angle adjustments call for a 2:1 ratio. Move your feet in the same direction as you move your “spot” on the lane but your feet move twice as many boards.
This ratio can increase to perhaps 3:1 when lanes are either very dry or very oily.
Multiple adjustments may be needed until your bowling ball reacts well enough to hit the pocket again consistently.
As your session on the lanes continues, you likely will have to move again so keep an open mind and resist the urge to not move a 2nd or 3rd time during your league or tournament sessions.
Resisting a change in your delivery angle will only cause you to miss the pocket repeatedly as the lane conditions change. Trust your judgement and watch your ball reaction carefully.
Making angle adjustments by moving your feet and the “spot” on the lane can help restore your pocket hitting percentage and good bowling scores.