Last week I talked about the three strike lines to success.  This week I would like to focus on what moves to make and when to make your move.  There are many indicators that we need to make a move.  Some of these indicators include coming in way to light or way to high into the pocket.   Some hits may be a little light or a little high and leave a few pins standing.  If you hit your mark and felt as though you had good lift and speed it would be a time to make a move.

Too many times I see bowlers try to make adjustments, but make the wrong ones.  Today I’ll enlighten you on how to make the right adjustments and improve your score.

First let’s talk about a shot where you are way to light and miss to the right of the head pin.  The best adjustment you can make if you miss right is to move both your feet and target right. I am a spot shooter, what I mean by that is I line up on the approach by the dots and aim towards the arrows out at 15 ft.  So as I said before if you miss RIGHT move RIGHT.  A good rule of thumb when moving left or right is to use a 2 to 1 ratio.  So in this case of missing light or right I would adjust your feet 2 boards right and your target only 1 board right.  Moving right in this case will give you a straighter target to the pocket and will get you closer to the lower volume of oil which will in turn create more hook.

Second we will discuss an extremely high hit or being left of the head pin.  In this case you will want to keep in mind the 2 to 1 ratio.  Since you missed LEFT of the head pin you will want to move your feet and target LEFT.  The reason your ball went left of the head pin is because you got too much friction too soon and the ball hooked earlier than it should causing the ball to go left.  So again you will want to move you feet 2 boards LEFT, and your target 1 board LEFT at arrows.  This change will allow your ball to get more oil on the front part of the lane and will still have enough dry at the end of the lane to react back into the pocket.

I will have to tell you that these transitions will not work every time, as there are many factors we have not discussed that can cause a ball to miss your target.  One of the most common errors I see is when someone moves their feet and target left.  They will make their 2 to 1 adjustment as I stated earlier, and then throw a shot and end up with the same result.  How could this be?  One thing most people forget is that this is just a starting point and the important part is where you feet end up on the approach.  Too often I see someone make the right adjustment and then not walk straight down the approach for whatever reason they walk towards their target and fall to the right.

Two other small adjustments I do that others have never discussed before is moving my feet up and back on the approach based on a very small miss.  Most times when you leave a ringer 10 pin it is because you were a little light entering the pocket.  In this case you do not need to make a drastic move because you were very close to striking.  In this case I take half a step back on the approach to allow the ball more length on the alley and allow it to hook just a tiny bit earlier hopefully just enough to strike next time.  For a ball that is a little high and leaves the 7 pin I make the exact opposite move.  I move a little forward on the approach in order to shorten the lane and let the ball get through the front part of the lane a little sooner.

Until next time, Shred that Rack!

Sincerely,

The Messenger