One of the areas that is least covered in bowling is the importance of accuracy and consistency. Why games fluctuate from 200’s to 150’ in a matter of minutes or 600’s one week and 400’s the next on similar oil patterns? How many times have we heard team mates (or ourselves) say “I’m all over the place” or “I just can’t hit my target”? The reaction is to change balls, starting positions, lines, releases, speeds, put the wrist support on…. take it off and finally go back to his original spot and start striking? All of these adjustments are “guesses”. What we really need is a good strong understanding of what it is that is actually going on out there. To do this, we need to build a strong base of skills and these skills are accuracy and consistency.

So how are these skills developed? The first things we have to know and understand are the markings on the approach, lane and location of the pins. Although it may sound trivial, let’s review quickly the markings on the lanes. Lanes consist of 15’ approaches with markings (dots) at 15’ and at 12’ from the foul line. With 39 boards across, the center and largest “dot” is on the 20th board (center) and each dot left and right of center represents another 5 boards. The dots are on 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 as you move away from the gutter of your throwing side. The numbering is the same for lefthanders as right-handers except in the opposite direction. These dots are lined up with the arrows out on the lane as well as at the pins. At the foul line there is another series of dots. Moving away from the gutter they are located on boards 3, 5, 8, 11 and 14. These markings are lined up with the dots approximately 3’ out on the lane.

Step 1: Drift Drill:

Using your spare ball, place your left foot (right for lefthanders) on the center dot (20th board) and target the 2nd arrow (10th board) out on the lane. At this point, we are not concerned with hitting the target or scoring, but learning how many boards we drift.

After your release, count the number of boards (sliding foot) you “drifted” to the left or right including the board your sliding foot is standing on. Repeat this at least 10 times until you get a consistent reading of your drift.

Adjusting to your drift: The average bowler releases the ball 7 boards away from their ankle. Therefore, if you drift 4 boards toward your target add 7 (boards from the ankle) + 4 (drift to the target) your reference number is 11. If you drift away from your target, subtract the number of boards from 7 to get your reference number. For example, you drift 4 boards away from your target; your reference number will be (7-4) 3. The two important numbers to remember here is the actual drift in terms of boards and the reference number you have calculated.

Step 2: Accuracy Drill:

Again using your spare ball, practice hitting your target using your new reference system. Using your reference number, concentrate on the 1st and 2nd arrows respectively (boards 5 and 10). Success is determined when you have started and finished on the right boards, the ball rolled over your target and hit the pin lined up with that arrow. When you have become familiar with the system, work other arrows on both the left and right side of the lane and finally in between the arrows. It should not take long to develop the accuracy you need to improve your game. Do not forget to keep practicing this drill on occasion. Generally a good time is to do this is in league practice time, throwing a few balls over your primary target and perhaps an arrow left and right, just to confirm you are “on”.

The charts below are a quick to use. If you drift toward your target, use the left side of the chart, if you drift away, the right side. Determine your reference number:

Step 3: Consistency Drill

The trick to maintaining your accuracy is being consistent, throwing your ball the same way every time. Often, however, we do not recognize when we have made a particular change to our delivery. By using the system above, we now have four reference points that we can use: starting position, position at the foul line, our target out on the lanes and where the ball hits the pins.

Remember that:

Start position proper + finishing position proper + target hit = good shot

Therefore, every shot we make, we must confirm and make a mental note of the following:

1) Verify each shot that you are starting on the right board.

2) Verify each shot that you finish on the proper board.

3) Verify that you hit the target.

We now can work from the pins back to verify where the problem is: If you determined that it was a good shot, but the ball was either light or high, we then have to make an adjustment left or right. (A good rule of thumb is a 2-board move at the start position results in a 1-board shift at the foul line and 3 boards at the head pin). If we determined our start and finish were good but we missed the target, we now know it was our arm swing that caused the problem and not to change anything else (a good tip on keeping a good straight arm swing is to play down the gutter for a few shots in warm-up. Play the 3 board (1st dot) using your reference # and keep your eyes on the target. Watch the ball cross the dot and stay outside of the 1st arrow).

If we started properly but drifted too much and missed the target, we have to work on our approach.

If we started in the wrong position, we need to improve either our concentration or if we are calculating our reference number correctly.

Once you have mastered these drills, you can now make educated decisions on correcting your game immediately as well as keep those scores consistent.

Calvin Hugman is the National Program Manager for the Canadian Tenpin Federation and a Certified Level 3 Coach and Conductor responsible for Team Canada and the coaching network in Canada.