Often intermediate bowlers will have a bad league night. You know the kind of night I'm talking about. It's when, no matter how hard you try, you just can't seem to throw the ball where you want to. It keeps consistently going to the right or to the left. This can be really frustrating and highly damaging to your bowling psyche, not to mention your league average. One of the major causes for this problem can be - you are just a little out of timing. The good news is the cure is often very simple. Read on!



What caused timing problems?

I define timing as the moment of release, which is ideally just prior to the bottom of the swing arc. When the release is timed correctly the ball continues forward on your target line. However if the ball is released fractionally early or fractionally late the course that it takes becomes unpredictable. Timing can be thrown off by a number of things during the swing, but often it can just be our own internal body rhythm, which as any sports enthusiast will know, varies from time to time.

Some nights your feet, during the approach, will be slightly fast. Other times your approach will be a little slower. These small variances can be as little as a half a second, but that slight difference can cause your release point to be out of sync with your arm swing. The results being an errant shot.

When your feet are fast, you get to the line a little early, and your ball is slightly lagging behind in your swing. This causes you to release the ball a few milliseconds early, and the ball misses to the right of your intended target - for right handed bowlers - (the opposite for lefties). The exact opposite happens when your feet are a little slow, thus causing shots to go to the left of your target.

The easy way to cure this problem.

Trying to speed up or slow down our approach isn't the cure. Often the timing error is so slight, focusing on the feet speed will only compound your problems and misery. A much better way to correct yourself is to change the length of the arm swing by adjusting the height of the ball in our stance.

Our timing of the release is linked to the the back swing. The higher the point that you start your ball from prior to beginning the approach, the longer the time and length of your swing. Reversely, a lower starting point will decrease the time and length of your swing.

To sum up this Bowling tip, just remember:

1) If you are missing your mark to the right, try lowering the ball a little in your stance. This will decrease the amount of your back swing slightly and put you back in sync.

2) However, if you are missing consistently to the left, then try raising the ball to lengthen your back swing and correct your timing.

I normally start my warm up shots with the ball at waist height, which usually generates the right swing arc for me. However, if I miss two or three shots right or left of my target, I quickly adjust the ball height to put me back in sync before league scoring begins. It works for me, and I hope that it will work for you. Try it!