Targeting Closer or Farther to Adjust Ball Reaction

Tournament season is upon us. Between the upcoming big ABT tournaments, the U.S. Open, the Denver Masters, and this summer’s Junior Gold championships, and of course the USBC championships, many of us have started preparing for one or more tournaments. This month I’d like to talk about one of the most asked questions. That question is – “How far down the lane should I look?” 

How Far Down the Lane Should I Look?

Any target between the dots and your break point is acceptable. The trick is to make the ball go straight from your release point to that target. Note, however, that this does not mean straight down the boards, but on a straight line from your release point to where the ball crosses your target. If you release the ball on the 15th board and your target is on the 12th board, the ball is going from left to right across your target.

What To Do When I’m Between Balls?

Now, let’s take the situation where you’re bowling, and your have two balls. The first ball hooks early, and when you roll it down your target line it either hooks too much and leaves a split or not enough and leaves a 10-pin. The second ball does not hook soon enough, and either leaves a washout or a weak 10. What do
you do? Further, let’s assume you are looking at a target at the arrows with both balls.

You have two choices that may work in this situation. You can either make the earlier hooking ball hook later, or you can make the later hooking ball hook sooner. To make the earlier ball hook later, move your target about 3 feet farther away from you, down your intended target line. By doing this, without making any other changes, you will make the ball get further down the lane. Similarly, to make the later ball hook sooner, move your target 3 feet closer to you, along your intended target line. So what’s so magic about 3 feet? Nothing – that number could be 1 foot or 20 feet, depending upon the lane condition. We get caught always moving our feet and target right and left in some proportion (2:1, 3:1, etc.) but we forget to move the target closer to us or farther away from us to modify how the ball reacts on the lane.

Your Body Will Naturally Compensate

Remember, the body naturally compensates by staying lower when your target is closer and standing up more when your target is farther away. When you stay lower and roll the ball sooner, it reacts to the lane sooner. When you stand up more and roll the ball later, it delays the action of the ball. The beauty of this is that you don’t have to think about it – your body just reacts to your targeting distance.

When you combine targeting with hand adjustments, you can create a whole variety of reactions with just a few balls. Most of the time, you will not have the ball in your bag that you can pull out on a tournament condition, look at the arrows, and it’s perfect. More often than not, you will want to make some type of targeting adjustment to maximize your ball reaction and your scoring. Why leave 10-pins when you can turn that into a reaction to throw a 10-bagger?

Try targeting closer to you or farther away from you next time you practice. You will begin to see how it changes the reaction of your ball just enough to make that “in between” adjustment.