Advanced Bowling Tips

The ability to consistently perform well is a trait that distinguishes beginner and advanced bowlers. The amount of physical strength required to roll the ball and get a strike is fairly low. The ability to consistently deliver the ball to the correct spot is where the difficulty of bowling lies. This is important when bowling competitively, since most opponents are going to be able to perform consistently well.

  1. Practice

    • Practice is an important aspect of becoming a better bowler. Bowling does not require a significant amount of physical strength or stamina compared to most sports. Bowlers need to have the ability to control the path of the ball and ability to throw the ball consistently. These are aspects of the game that are only developed through actually bowling. No amount of training exercises can be used as a substitute for this. Create a specific time and day to practice. Most people have an easier time following through with a consistent practice schedule than one that relies on practicing whenever he has free time.

    Mental Game

    • The margin of error between a shot being a strike or one that leaves pins standing is small. This makes control very important to achieving a consistent bowling score. A flustered bowler is not going to have the same level of control as a calm bowler. Staying calm is quite difficult during any type of competition. One effective trick is to ignore your opponent's score completely. Your goal should always be to knock down as many pins as possible each time you make a shot. It does not matter how well or poor your opponent is doing. Ignoring your own score can also be helpful. It helps avoid getting flustered if you have made a few poor shots in a row or avoid getting over confident if you have been playing well so far.

    Hooking Usage

    • A bowler hooks the ball by spinning it so the ball travels on a curved path rather than straight. Many more advanced bowlers use this technique for every shot, which is undesirable. A hooked ball comes into contact with more pins due to its curved path. This maximizes the chance that those pins fall. This technique is almost undesirable for the second shot to pick up a spare. A slight change in the amount of spin or power used to hook the ball changes the path it takes significantly. A slight change to the power used for a straight throw does not change the target. This makes straight throws more reliable for hitting individual pins, while hooking the ball is more effective against a large number of pins clustered together.

    7-10 Split

    • The 7-10 split is the most difficult shot in bowling. Almost every movie or television show involving bowling shows this shot being made by hitting one of the pins so it slides into the other one. This tactic is used for most other types of splits, but does not work for the 7-10 split. Trying to make the 7-10 split in this manner almost guarantees you cannot make the spare. The only way to make this spare is to hit one of the pins as hard as possible. The pin you hit will hit the side or back of the lane and bounce off into the other pin. Most bowlers try to use finesse to make the 7-10 split, which almost guarantees failure. In some cases, those bowlers miss both pins in the process.