How to Become a Better Bowler

The most generic statement you can make on how to become better in almost any sport is to increase accuracy. The ability to repeat shots in bowling, whether it is your strike ball, or picking up that pesky 10-pin, will dramatically increase your score. The best way I know of how to increase accuracy is to bowl in a PBA experience league.

In a PBA experience league, you will not be bowling on a standard "house shot", but in fact on the same oil patterns used in PBA regional play and on the PBA tour. Let me explain to you about a typical house shot. A typical house shot will have a somewhat low volume of oil on the outside boards, and much more oil towards the middle of the lane. Thus, when you miss to the right (for a right-hander, opposite for a left hander) your ball goes farther to the outside of the lane, where there is less oil, and the ball is redirected to the pocket. Similiarly, if you miss left (again for a right hander, opposite for a left hander), the heavier amounts of oil creates "hold" which causes your ball to hook later down the lane and still hit the pocket.

Having the ability to miss to the left or right gives a bowler the ability to aim at a general area, instead of a specific mark. This can, depending on the ease of the house shot, reward the bowler for inaccuracy. This is definitely not the case when bowling on one of the 5 main PBA patterns.

On a PBA pattern, missing your target to the left or right can be devastating. You must try and throw every ball with the same speed, rotation, and at the same mark, or you will completely miss the head pin! To succeed on these oil patterns requires much more knowledge of your own game, ball choice, ball layout, and playing different styles (more hook, less hook, deep, outside, etc). If this does not sound challenging enough, then also realize that not only do you have to be incredibly accurate, you also have to make constant minor adjustments if you want to strike. You will not have that forgiving "carry" that you are used to in a typical house shot.

Furthermore, because your strike percentage will be much lower, this forces you to throw at many more spares. Increasing your spare percentage is a great way of increasing your average. I recommend throwing a hard, plastic bowling ball at most spares, especially single pin spares. This way, no matter the oil pattern, you can throw at spares the same way and become much more consistent.

In conclusion, bowling on tougher lane conditions can greatly improve your accuracy, give you more practice at spares, and if taken seriously, can make you a much better bowler. Below in the resource section is a video of me throwing a strike.