How to Measure Bowling Ball Speed

The speed at which you roll your bowling ball has a significant impact on how effective your throw is. Because of this, one of the most important things you can do to improve your bowling game is to alter your throw speed. However, before you do this, you must figure out how fast you are already rolling your ball. This will not only tell you if a change in speed is worth the effort, but it will also let you know exactly how much your bowling speed has changed once you begin to try to improve it.

Things You'll Need

  • Stopwatch
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Instructions

    • 1

      Give your stopwatch to a friend. Have him start the timer as soon as you release the ball.

    • 2

      Record the amount of time it takes for the ball to make contact with the pins after the release.

    • 3

      Divide the number 60 by the number of seconds the stopwatch recorded (the bowling lane is 60 feet long). For example if the stopwatch shows 3 seconds between your release of the ball and the ball's contact with the pins, you would divide 60 by 3, thus getting 20. This number, 20, is the number of feet your ball traveled in 1 second.