Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
There are several common mistakes that bowlers make during the swing. Let’s look at these common errors and how to correct them in your swing.
Balance
You need to have great balance in your stance. Make sure that your have such good balance in your stance that someone could not come up on the side of you and push you off balance. Use your lower body as a solid, balanced base from which to start your swing. The lower body can only provide balance to your swing if your start off in a highly balanced position in your stance.
Your lower body needs to be in charge of the swing. The hips and legs drive the swing as much as they do when you are walking. The bowling swing is essentially four (or more) brisk walking steps to the line with a bowling ball in your hand. The big muscles in your body are your core, hips, and legs – use them to control the motion of your body to the line.
Coordinate Your Upper and Lower Body
You need to keep your lower and upper body moving together throughout the swing. One common fault is to start to lean forward with your upper body before you begin the swing. This is both an un-necessary movement and causes an initial imbalance in your swing. To correct this, key on moving forward from your hips and otherwise keeping the movement of the body very minimal through your takeaway step (the first step of a 4-step swing). This correction also takes care of leaning forward with the upper body in the takeaway step. This also causes the same initial imbalance in the swing. Your balance should be just as good at the end of the first step as it is when you start your swing. Fundamentally, all that should move on this step is the ball and your ball-side foot.
Move the Upper and Lower Body Together on the Slide Step
Similarly, at the end of the swing, you need to have your upper and lower body move together through the slide. Many people have a habit of attempting to use upper body effort to swing the ball to their target, and often drive their shoulders forward and forget to keep the hips moving forward also. The correction is to make sure your hips keep up with your shoulders during the slide. Your hips should be moving forward just as fast as your shoulders.
The Ball Sets the Tempo of the Feet
Once the ball falls into the swing, you need to allow your feet to go faster. One of the most common fallacies in bowling is that you need to keep your feet slow going to the line. How then, are you supposed to generate any momentum or ball speed? Yes, you do need to go slow until the ball drops into the swing, but after that you need to allow your body to work with the weight of the ball. If the ball is going back (although this is an illusion – the ball never really goes back) then your body is going to be propelled forward. Allow your lower body to work with the weight of the ball to create an effective swing!
During the swing, your hips should gradually move lower, not higher, and not up and down, during the swing. If you hips move higher during your backswing, you will lose a lot of the momentum your have built in the swing up to that point, and you have reduced yourself to a one-step swing. The movement down is not much, but it is down a little. During the last 1 ½ steps of the swing, you need drive your hips down and forward. Many people pop up at the line in an attempt to lift the ball, which also takes momentum away from the swing. This movement up also takes away the “flat spot” where you land the ball from your hand to the lane in a direction parallel to the lane. This smooth landing of the ball creates a consistent reaction and enables you to make something other than a perfect release and still make a good shot. None of this happens if you don’t use your legs and hips to drive down into the release point.
Slide Knee Parallel to Your Target Line
During the slide, you need to make sure that your knee is pointing in a line that is parallel to your target line. Many people use force with the armswing to bring the ball to the bottom of the swing. This causes the lower body to turn out in the direction of the ball-side arm. Imagine if you were to release a bowling ball from a swivel chair. If you used any force to deliver the ball, the chair would spin around. The lower body is much more stable than a swivel chair, but the same concepts apply. You want to let the ball fall to the bottom of the swing so that all of the momentum and energy of the swing goes in the direction of your target line.
Keep the Ball Side Shoulder Lower
The SINGLE, most common misunderstood part of the upper body is the shoulders. I still, to this day, hear people admonishing others to “keep your shoulder up”. Allow the ball side shoulder to be 4-6 inches lower than the other shoulder. This does a couple of things. First, it allows the ball-side shoulder to relax, which creates more freedom of motion in the swing. Try this for yourself – first, hold your shoulders perfectly level with each other and then swing your arms, then allow your ball side shoulder to relax. In the latter position, you will feel the increased range of motion. This also allows you to move your head slightly toward the ball side, which makes it easier to line up your head over your ball-side foot, and start to create a swing path where the ball stays under your head during the swing.
Relax the Upper Body
Many people make too much of an effort to keep the upper body very rigid, which inhibits freedom of movement. Relax the upper body – think of keeping everything from the belt-line up relaxed. While you want to keep the alignment of the upper body in the proper position you do not need to exert much effort to do so. Align the ball over your ball-side foot to set up your swing plane. If you get your head over your ball-side foot and get the ball under your head, you will be in a good starting position. Good alignment at the start of the swing is critical to making a good swing. Since you want the swing to be under your head during the swing, it only makes sense to get your body set up to make this process easier. By using this alignment technique, you set your body up for a swing that will promote consistent direction.
Your upper body needs to be part of an athletic pose in the stance. You need a slight forward tilt to your spine – about 10-15 degrees relative to standing perfectly straight. This makes it much easier to move your body forward as you start the swing without any dramatic weight shifts.
Establish Swing Direction in Your Stance
Establish the direction of the swing in your stance. Draw a line through your break point all the way to the end of the lane, then align your shoulders and hips to this line. Establish this line at the start of the swing so that you can finish your swing aligned on this same target path. Even when your shoulders open and close during the swing, your swing should still finish pointing down this target line.
Get the swing started soft and quickly – make it work as you take the first of your four last steps (your first i a four-step swing). This is a really common mistake that even some advanced players (myself – included) still fight. Getting the swing started quickly in a nice, rounded move creates good flow and will help you get the body started in harmony with the ball. The smoother you get the ball started, and the more in time it is with your steps, the easier it is to swing the ball. It will feel like your body and the ball are working as one to get you to the release point.
Keep the Ball Side Shoulder Quiet in the Start Move
Keep the shoulder movement minimal on the takeaway step to keep your upper body from “getting away” from you at the start of the swing. If the shoulders over-rotate (forward) at the start of the swing, it will be hard to get your body back into a good position as the ball gets to the top of the back swing, which tends
to make the ball go too steeply into the down swing. The shoulders will move forward during the swing, but slowly and consistently, not quickly.
Free Swing
Allow the arm to swing free – feel the ball literally drop into the downswing to create natural momentum and a consistent swing. The more you allow the ball to take your arm into the backswing, the more consistent your armswing will be. A swing fed by gravity and allowed to create momentum by using the weight of the ball to propel your body forward will be easy to repeat. Remember, swinging the ball consistently is what gets you to the title!
Swing the Ball Under Your Head
Swing the ball under your head to increase your accuracy and consistency. When you start the takeaway step, crossing that step in front of the other foot will allow you to swing the ball directly under your head. This will allow you to keep the swing in line close to your body and still be able to swing the ball to the outside of the lane when you need to.
Conclusion
These are some of the more important, but not all of the most common things you need to look for in good upper body mechanics in your swing. Remember, it is mostly about a proper overall body position, and not about power or force to make a good swing. Get your upper body in the right position and keep it relaxed
and you will make more consistent shots!