It is more important that you practice frequently than that you practice for long periods of time. Thirty minutes a day will get you closer to your long-term goals faster than 2½ hours on Sunday. Take breaks while you practice, at least a minute every ten. Get a drink or sit down and plan your next few minutes. Just step away and get a different perspective.

Practice tasks in segments. Mindless, undirected practice is unproductive. Never keep score in practice. If you’re keeping score, winning matters. If winning matters, you’re not practicing. Have specific goals you want to accomplish in your practice sessions. Five minutes on the feel of a good push off, five minutes on follow through and you don’t think about your push off in the follow through time slot. Your foundation must be built on the bricks of individual components – strong and linked together with repetition and muscle memory. We don’t want a foundation built on sand that will crumble under the slightest pressure.

Throwing a ball that is too light for you is just as hurtful to your game as throwing a ball that is too heavy. A ball which is too light will allow you to do things you shouldn’t. A ball which is too heavy will prevent you from doing things you should. I don’t think that ‘10% of your body weight’ thing is valid. I believe that ball weight is determined by athleticism. If I have a 150 lb person who is 5 feet tall and a 150 lb person who is 6 feet tall, I have two very different individuals when it comes to athleticism and strength. 10% might work for one but not the other and no, they don’t make 18 lb balls! For kids, some believe that the majority of the population can bowl their age – a seven-pound ball if they are seven years old or an 11-pound ball if they’re 11 years old. Remember there will always be the exception…

Try to make your approach as smooth and fluid as possible – no roboty moves or herky-jerky looks. Don’t walk like you are stepping over rose bushes! You also, however, cannot sacrifice form for results. There are no style points in bowling. It’s just easier to do it more consistently if you keep it simple. The more moving parts you have, the more complicated the fix when something goes wrong.

Don’t start your approach like you’re burning rubber from a stoplight. That first step should be smooth and easy and therefore simple to repeat. It is the most important step you take. Make sure it’s right and the rest of the approach can just flow.

It is usually best to line up in your starting stance with your sliding foot. It’s the one that finishes at the foul line and therefore the important one in terms of body alignment. Make it a part of your pre-shot routine that when you step up on the approach to take your starting stance, you slide your sliding foot onto your starting board. If you have stepped in anything wet or have something on the bottom of your shoe, you want to know that now, not up at the foul line. If you don’t get in this habit and do step in something, you might find yourself recovering consciousness out by the arrows! Don’t take the chance of sticking at the foul line and hurting yourself (which you can do whether you fall or not).

Your trailing leg is important as well. If you kick it with some vigor behind you, it can tend to open up your hips and causes you to face away from your objective. If it goes too far in the direction you moved it and you don’t bend your sliding knee enough, you’ll be forced to stand up at the foul line to avoid injuring your sliding knee, as it is not a rotating joint. It only bends, not rotates. Your trailing knee can be further laterally if your sliding knee is more bent. Otherwise, you could have that ‘pretzel’ look at the foul line!

Keep your trailing foot on the ground. A good finish position would have your trailing knee behind your sliding knee and separated by 6″-8″ at about a 45º angle to your body. This will provide you with a very stable and balanced position. If your trailing knee is closer to your sliding knee than that, it’s difficult to keep your balance. Think of a tripod. With the legs together, it topples. Spread them apart a bit and your tripod becomes very stable. Spread them too far apart…

More hook does not mean more strikes. You must have the proper angle, speed, and rotation to carry a strike. If any of these components is off by a millimeter, a 1/2 mph, or half a revolution, your carry percentage goes down. Don’t be fooled into thinking more speed or more hook will do more to the pins. When a round object (the ball) hits a round object (the belly of the pin), funny things can happen…

Replace your finger grips whenever they become worn. Some people do that about every 60 games and some much more often. When they are worn, they won’t afford you that same good feel you had when they were new. Use yellow (the first color the human eye notices) or white or some light color that you can easily see rolling down the lane. This will help you to watch the roll of the ball and learn how different releases can affect ball roll and therefore pin action.

You will not ever be able to release the ball in a consistent and effective manner if it doesn’t fit. Bowling is not supposed to hurt. A ball properly fitted to your hand will not cause injury. If you only bowl once a week, you might not notice that your fit is incorrect. But what happens once a year when you go to the state or city tournament and you bowl six games in a day? If your hand, fingers, or shoulders are sore, get your fit checked by an IBPSIA Certified Pro Shop Technician. An improperly fitted ball can cause severe tendon damage in your fingers and elbow.

Remember that the ball is supposed to swing your arm. Your arm does not swing the ball. If your ball doesn’t fit right, you tend to squeeze it so you don’t drop it or to muscle the ball instead of allowing it to free-fall into your swing. These compensations for a bad fit can cause shoulder problems and prevent a consistent execution of the shot. There can be pain on the inside of the elbow or the outside of the elbow or down the forearm or in the wrist. This is both frustrating and painful and it doesn’t have to be that way if the ball fits your hand like it should.

Remember that the ball is supposed to swing your arm. Your arm does not swing the ball. If your ball doesn’t fit right, you tend to squeeze it so you don’t drop it or to muscle the ball instead of allowing it to free-fall into your swing. These compensations for a bad fit can cause shoulder problems and prevent a consistent execution of the shot. There can be pain on the inside of the elbow or the outside of the elbow or down the forearm or in the wrist. This is both frustrating and painful and it doesn’t have to be that way if the ball fits your hand like it should.