This week’s article will discuss the three phases of bowling ball motion from the bowlers release until the bowling ball enters the pins. The United States Bowling Congress and the International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association have both adopted this analysis of bowling ball motion on both the Technical and Educational level. The three phases of Bowling Ball Motion are classified as Skid, Hook, and Roll. Below I will define what each phase means and where you will see each of these phases on the bowling lane surface.

SKID: 

The first of three phases of bowling ball motion is called Skid. The skid phase is located from the foul line to approximately 30 feet down the lane surface. This is where the highest concentration of oil is placed on a given lane. Some affects this will cause to your bowling ball is:

1. Ball Speed is at it’s highest point
2. Revolutions are at it’s lowest point
3. Friction between the bowling ball and the lane are at it’s lowest point
4. Your Ball speed dominates your revolutions

This usually causes your bowling ball to travel down the lane so the bowling ball can get into the next two phases of ball motion to provide you the optimum ball motion and entry angle down the lane to create a higher percentage of strikes.

HOOK:

This second of three phases of bowling ball motion is called Hook. The Hook phase is located approximately between 25-45 feet down the lane surface. This is where the concentration of oil is less then the Skid phase and where your bowling ball will start to create friction to the lane. Some affects this will cause to your bowling ball is:

1. Ball begins to decrease in speed
2. Revolutions increase
3. Friction between the bowling ball and lane increase
4. Bowling ball begins to change direction

ROLL:

The final phase of bowling ball motion is called Roll. This is where all the magic happens. This is located approximately 45-60 feet down the lane surface. Having a bowling ball get into this phase at the right time on the lane surface allows the bowling ball to be at its strongest position. When I say strongest position, what I mean simply is that the bowling ball’s weight block is no longer “wobbling” down the lane surface, but is has gotten into a even roll. When the bowling ball is in this phase the mass of the bowling ball’s core is entering the pocket and therefore driving through the pins instead of deflecting. When a weight block still “wobbles” down the lane and it hits the pins and deflects off of them instead of driving through them. Some affects this will cause to your bowling ball is:

1. Ball Speed is at it’s lowest rate
2. Revolutions are at it’s highest rate
3. Friction between the bowling ball and lane surface are at it’s maximum
4. Bowling balls in the roll phase transfer the maximum energy to the pins which increases strike potential

So there you have it. Bowling Balls go through these three phases as they travel down the lane. Having this knowledge will help you better understand what you see your bowling ball doing on the lane surface and it will help you in making the proper adjustments to get your bowling ball into these phases at the right time. Knowledge is power, and with bowling, the more you can understand and apply that knowledge the better your scores and average will be. Until next week I hope everyone out there has a safe and happy Easter weekend.

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. He is a USBC Certified Coach. You can email your questions to him personally at thomas.yeip@glcbowling.com.