Good Tips to Bowling a Good Game

Alright – you asked, so here are some good tips to bowling a good game…

Most people believe that bowling a good game, requires you to bowl a hook.  While yes, eventually this is true, however it starts before that.  It starts as soon as pick up your bowling ball.  If you don’t have the right ball, then these tips to bowling a good game are going to be absolutely useless.

Now if you’re just the average bowler  – maybe you go out just a couple of times a year, then you most likely are going to use a house ball.  These are the balls that the bowling alleys provide  bowlers to use free of charge.  Remember though – these balls are free therefore they usually don’t consist of anything special.  So let’s go out and pick out a house ball…

What I find most of the time is that the first thought for the average bowler is to pick the lightest ball they can find and WHIP it down the lane as HARD as they can.  I don’t know….maybe they just like throwing things hard!    The problem here is two-fold -

1. The accuracy of the throw will never be consistent because the mindset of the bowler is to throw it as hard as possible
2. That light ball will not be able to push through the pins as well as a heavier ball

So find a ball that you can use and aim properly.  Don’t be afraid of grabbing that heavier ball.  Trust me – no one will look at you differently because you aren’t using that pink 8lb kid’s ball!

I truly believe that the best tips to bowling a good game is to learn how to bowl with a hook.  The reason being is that straight bowlers typically don’t get the same sort of pin action (that is the way the pins fall and spin after they’re hit with the ball) as you do with a hook.  Bowling a hook ball will allow the ball to crash through the pocket making you a better, more consistent bowler.

You can learn more about how to learn to bowl a hook here.

Here’s some other GREAT tips to bowling great game-

1.  Your stance, approach, and release.  DO NOT DISMISS THIS!  After all, this is the start of the entire bowling sequence (that is, after you find the right ball).  Just like with baseball and swinging the bat…if the mechanics are off, the batter isn’t going to have too much success once the pitch is thrown.  I did an article on this very thing.  You can check it out here.

2.  After you have bowled a couple of times and you think that you want to keep at it, don’t shy away from finding your own bowling ball.  Most importantly, this will give you some consistency with your bowling.  Think about it – if you’re using a house ball every time you bowl, how can you learn how the ball reacts and what you need to do each time?  Get your own ball!!  You can get some cheaper bowling balls at your pro-shop or even online.  You don’t need to spend a fortune on your first ball.

3.  Um…PRACTICE!  The most important advice I can give you for tips to bowling a good game is practice.  The bottom line is that just with anything else, you’ll need to practice in order to become better at whatever you’re doing.  Bowling is no exception.  Even if it’s just one day a week for two games.  You will start to see a dramatic improvement in your game before you know it.

I hope these help out a bit.  At the end of the time, bowling is one of those individual sports that can be both gratifying AND frustrating!  Keep at it and you’ll get more of the gratifying than you will of the frustration!!