Last week I wrote about old school myths and some new teaching tips on how your body position should be during your approach and delivery. This week I want to talk about the old school teachings that say “Don’t drop your shoulder”. 

Let’s first start by asking the question, “What do they mean by not dropping your shoulder?”  Back in “the day” before they had reactive cover stocks, bowlers played the lanes on a more parallel path to the pocket. This required you to play the lanes closer to the gutter which created less left to right ball motion. With less left to right ball motion, you have to keep your body more parallel and your hips and shoulders stay closed. That same rule applies today when playing the lanes in that fashion. What they meant back then about not dropping your shoulder was simply, if you lowered your shoulder you would open your body thereby not creating the correct ball path. 

That being said, in today’s bowling era with all the aggressive bowling balls on the market, you need your ball path to be more left to right. (Right to left for the left hand bowlers) So what about shoulder drop?  Let’s think about your body position, which we talked about last week. If you are playing the lanes and you are generating a left to right ball path and your right shoulder isn’t lowered, (for a RH bowler) then how do you generate the correct ball path?  You would have to physically strain your body to do this.  

So now let’s look at your starting position and your shoulders.  How you can avoid “dropping your shoulder?”  If you start your stance and you have your right shoulder set lower then your left shoulder, this puts your body in the correct starting position for that left to right ball path.  Now ask yourself this question, “If my shoulder is already lowered, how can I drop my shoulder?”  Look at all the PBA players for a second, look at how their body stance is before they make their initial approach, what is the most common thing you see? Their bowling arm shoulder is lower then there non-bowling shoulder.  

Let’s recap, when you are trying to create a more left to right ball path, your hips and upper body are more in line with your ball path (that was from last week’s tip) and thereby lowering your shoulder will generate your body to be in the correct position. So dropping your shoulder isn’t a bad thing, it’s just “old school” thinking. And don’t get me wrong, the “old school” thinking still applies for a certain purpose in today’s bowling environment. But it does not mean that that is the only way to do it. So remember, lower that bowling arm shoulder in your starting delivery, and keep it there until you have finished your release.  

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