This week I would like to go over some common old school concepts of body position in bowling and combine them with today’s coaching techniques. Then I would like for you to decide which one is best for you.

First let’s touch on what I mean by “old school” teaching tips. How many of us have heard this “you need to keep your shoulders square to the foul line.”  Now that you are done nodding your head in agreement, I would like to tell you the good and bad of this “old school” method.

A long, long, time ago, in galaxy far, far away, bowlers never hooked the bowling ball on the lanes like we do in today’s environment. Sure we had the occasional bowler like Mark Roth who wasn’t a cookie cutter bowler of that era.

There are a lot of factors in why this method doesn’t work all the time in today’s bowling game.  It was a great tip back then, but how many of you hook the ball more then 5 boards today?

If you are parallel to the foul line upon delivery, then your targeting lines will be in proper position to have your bowling ball track to the pocket. This is still the same concept you use today when, and only when, you are playing closer to the gutter. Today you need your hips and shoulders opened to your intended target path AND NOT PARALELL TO THE FOUL LINE.

Let’s make this a littler bit simpler to understand.  Let’s say that you are standing left of the big center dot on the approach. You are trying to hit between the second and third arrow on the lanes, and your intended ball path is to have the ball get closer to the first arrow (where the usual dry boards are) and have the ball hook back to the pocket.  Ask yourself this question, “how in the heck is my body going to do that?”  It physically can not do that without creating stress or creating your arm swing to pull away from your body.  What happens to your swing and shoulders when you do that?  It causes excessive stress on your shoulder and back.  I know I don’t like to have that added muscle in my swing, do you?
So in order to create the body in the proper position to create this shot, you must have your shoulders and hips open more towards your target. Doesn’t that just make incredible sense?  Stand up in front of your computer now and try this for yourself. You will see that it is not feasible to incorporate the “old school” teachings to this, unless you forcibly swing your arm away from your body.

Let’s recap this simple tip, if you try to play a straighter line with your bowling ball then your hips and shoulders stay more parallel to the foul line. If you tend to create more of a “swing and bring” type of bowling style, you must have your hips and shoulders in line to the bowling ball path. If you still do not fully understand this, simply take a look at some videos of today’s Professional Bowling stars and you really see that the “old school” and the “new school” teachings are prevalent in both instances.  Next week I will touch on another “old school” teaching myth; Don’t drop your shoulder!

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