Bowling Tips

 Bowler Evolution
 I think it is neglected way too much. When I am talking about preparing the body and mind to bowl, I am not referring to recreational bowling. I am referring to competitive bowling. When you think it is time to evolve from a recreational bowler to a competitive bowler, you have to organize your thoughts and intentions. This is valuable in speeding up the learning curve to reach your desired goal. The goals will be different, so should the learning process. You may want to have the highest average in your league, you might want to beat the other housewives, you might want to make money in the local tournaments around town, or you might want to compete against the best bowlers in the world.

     Most bowlers tend to just start bowling and end up where ever they end up without organized thoughts or plans. This is one of the biggest reasons for fundamental flaws in many bowlers' games today. They start out with recreation in mind and after realizing some success at that level, they continue their competitive desires with the same fundamental flaws. When they try to fix them in the middle of the stream, they drown. I think that when any person decides to become competitive about his or her game, they should immediately seek educated assistance. I say educated because any bowler who has recognized success at some level considers themselves knowledgeable and able to help. I have seen so much confusion in our sport, much of which can be associated with lack of education and experience. Much of the educational material that is out there is based upon a belief in a certain style of game, most notably the perfect timing of a stroker type of game. Today's game is all about matching up and with the variety of conditions, I feel it is a huge advantage to have more physical tools in your bag than the next guy. This can only happen through education or years of experience, and if you wait on the years of experience, the learning curve will be much more costly.

     Preparing the mind has to be the first priority. Without going to the bowling center, think about what it is you want out of the sport. Once you have identified your desires you can choose a direction. Most of the time, success at one level leads to a desire to attain success at the next level. If you are that type of person and expect to follow the familiar path, you need to be wise in your initial stages of planning. The sport of bowling is all about matching up to the environments and conditions you are competing in - scores are relative to those factors. Most bowlers evaluate their skill level by the scores they shoot, and that is the first problem. Proprietors know that bowlers want to score well and many use it as a marketing tool to get bowlers in their center. Because of this, there have become common denominators in most house conditions around the country. You will almost always find either obvious hook or obvious hold on most house conditions around the country, and it is not hard to find them. Once they find out how to attack a certain house condition, bowlers tend to lock into a certain style and the learning curve is slowed. It is great to have the ability to match up, but realization as to how and why is more important. How to judge a bowler's ability becomes an issue and once again it becomes relative to the environment we are competing in. First let's try to describe levels of skill in the sport of bowling; I think this is very important in understanding goals and recognition of skill levels.Rick Benoit