By Jim Newell
As a beginning bowler you may feel that the intermediate and advanced levels are out of reach, in reality you probably have all of the necessary skills, you just need to know how to use them.
If you have made the decision to try getting to a higher skill level, you must first realize that you will have to make a commitment to practice. Not just showing up and throwing the ball, but actually picking a few techniques or skills to work on and practicing them over and over, until you have them cold.
Because many recreational bowlers never take lessons, they start with a lot of bad habits that just need be changed when they do decide to advance their skill level. Working a couple of sessions with a certified bowling coach would be a great help in getting started correctly. Having someone help you identify what to start working on first will be to your advantage. The goal should be to help you identify what your natural style tends to be. They can also give you some pointers on the following items.
- How heavy a ball you should be using.
- What style grip should work best for you?
- How aggressive you should want your ball to be.
- Get you using the more powerful 5-step approach.
- How your arm swing affects the track and speed of your shot.
- What your release should look like.
- How to use lane marking as your target.
- How to read the lane and adjust your target.
- How to adjust using different hand and release positions.
- How to use different angles to the strike pocket.
- Where to stand on the approach, and how to target different spare shots.
Using some of the information and recommendations from your certified bowling coach now would be the time to start thinking about investing in your own equipment. Having your own bowling balls that are correctly fitted to your hand, the correct weight, and chosen for what you want them to do is a giant step. Having your own shoes may not seem important, however shoes that fit well and that you are used to sliding with will help to improve your confidence in your approach. And of course you will need a bowling bag to carry all of your gear.
The jump from beginning recreational bowler to being a good higher average bowler is not huge; it does require correct knowledge, dedication and practice. The reward could be a lifetime of enjoyment, national honor scores, and if you really catch on, there are a lot of tournaments where money can be made. It only takes a minimum 200 average in league play to get to the professional level, if that is your goal.
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