Every week I write about how to help correct flaws in your game.  Whether it is a hand position, your footwork, or even what type of bowling ball to use I have offered suggestions.  Heck I even talked about spare shooting. Not once but TWICE!!!  I would like to know how many people actually know about the sport of bowling.  How many of you know why there are dots on the approach?  How many of you even know why and what reasons are behind those arrows on the lanes. How many of you know how many boards are on the lanes or even what the lane surface is made up of?  This week I would like to actually talk about the bowling environment and what is behind all those common everyday things you see at a bowling center. 

Bowling is the number one participation sport in the country.  With all these people bowling then everyone should be aware of all the things that help make up the great sport?  Well that is not entirely true.  Let’s break it down a little bit.  In bowling your main objective is to knock as many pins down as you can on your first attempt.  If you do knock them all down, then that is called a strike.  If you manage this twelve consecutive times in a game then you have bowled a perfect 300 game. That is the goal of many people that bowl.  If you do not knock all the pins down in the first shot, we give you a second chance to pick up anything left and that is called a spare. If you are a recreational bowler and want to go out and have a good time, then you would still need to know some basics of bowling before you go and actually do it.  I know for myself I need to do reasonable well at something in order to have a good time.  I think I can say most people feel the same way. So this week I would like to help you, the bowler, better educate yourself and hopefully give you the tools needed to go out and have some fun.  

First let’s start with the approach.  The approach is the portion of the wood surface that is used for the bowler to actually walk to the foul line and deliver the bowling ball to the lane.  Approaches have typically two sets of dots in a straight line.  One near the back portion and one further up on the approach.  They usually are made up of five dots. T he dots are reference points to the actual lane itself.  That big dot in the middle is directly in line with the center of the actual lane.  Each dot is exactly five boards between each other, or five inches.  Using these reference dots, helps you the bowler start in the correct position.  If you are a right handed bowler and you want to deliver a straight bowling ball release down the center of the lane, then you would typically stand with your left foot on the center dot.  Each bowler will have to adjust accordingly, but you should do so with small adjustments first.  One or two board moves on the approach are sufficient enough to help dial you in to knocking down pins.  

Now let’s talk about those arrows. Arrows are located 15 feet from the foul line on the lane surface.  The arrows are reference points on the lane that line up with the bowling pins.  The arrows help the bowlers with a target to deliver the bowling ball too.  It’s much easier for a bowler to target something that is located 15 feet down the lane surface, then looking at the actual pins that are 60 feet away.  If we drew a line from the middle arrow to the pins it would be directed straight to the head pin.  If we took a line and drew it from the arrows back to the approach, then the middle arrow would be a perfect straight line to the middle dot on the approach.  The markings are guides to help aid the bowler to perform better.  Now each arrow is also located five boards, or inches apart from each other.  Do you see a trend starting?   

Let’s recap what we have talked about today.  Arrows and Dots help in the aid of targeting to a bowler. Each dot or arrow serves a purpose to help you, the bowler, achieve the main objective in the sport of bowling; knocking as many pins down as you can in a shot.  I hope this has been helpful and somewhat insightful.  So the next time you go out and bowl with your friends or family, you will hopefully know a little bit more then you did before, and have more fun, and knock down some more pins.  Maybe this time you can beat that one person that you always seem to lose to.  Until next week, enjoy the sport, have fun, and I look forward to next week.  

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