The sun is out, birds are chirping, the grass is green and I’m in the bowling center! Yes that’s right, the bowling center. Some of you may call me sick. With the beautiful weather outside, why would I be inside? The answer? To work on my game. Specifically, I am working on my timing, which is this week’s tip.

You hear people talk about timing in almost every sport.  In baseball you have to have great timing to hit the 90 mph fastball. In golf, you need great timing to hit the stationary golf ball while you are creating momentum with you body. Timing will keep your golf ball in the fairway and on target. That would be the complete opposite of me. You will be waiting in the fairway, while I will be fighting off the bugs in the woods trying to find my golf ball. 

So, why is timing so important in bowling?

Timing in sports is defined as the regulation of occurrence, pace or coordination to achieve a desired effect. Let’s break this definition down a bit more as it relates to bowling. Your bowling “pace” would be the speed at which you walk to the line during your approach to deliver the ball. Your pace combined with your arm swing and release is the coordination necessary for good timing. Without a good and consistent timing, your results would be inconsistent. How many of you see bowlers falling off their shot after release? I know I see it often.  Why is that?  It is a result of their timing or pace being off and as are result they miss their target.  We all know what happens when you miss your target. Do you see Norm Duke fall to the right after he lets go of his bowling ball? Do you know why?  Duke has great timing.

Great timing is the full effect of how you are controlling your body motion. Getting too fast with your approach will result in your body getting to the foul line too soon which makes your arm swing late. As a result, you are off balance or you fall off your shot.

Here are a couple tips to correct that.

First, slow your feet down!   Is there someone chasing you?  No!  So why run?  Slow down.  You might try to take a smaller first step in your approach. Also, taking smaller steps will slow you down.

Another tip is to lower the starting position of your bowling ball. If you hold the ball too high in your stance, you then create a larger arc which in turn will create more arm speed. Therefore your swing will be finished by the time your feet get there. As a result you will pull the bowling ball inside of your intended target.

No let’s recap: Falling off your shot at the foul line is a result of poor timing. Slowing your pace down will help improve this. Lowering your starting position with your bowling ball will also decrease your swing arc, thereby slowing your momentum down and creating your body to be more in time.

But don’t just take my words for it. Get out and go to your local bowling center and practice. I know that’s where I’ll be!

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and the Lead Technical Advisor. He is an IBPSIA Advanced Certified Member and former PBA member. You can email your questions to him personally at thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com