We have all had it happen. You get up to the approach and the perfect ball is thrown only to have it result in not carrying the 10-pin (7-pin for left handed bowlers). You might want to acknowledge this as a time to make an adjustment if you know you threw an excellent ball. There are many different techniques you could integrate into your game. Slight changes can have dramatic results and making these slight changes can be done immediately.

To begin with you can make a slight movement either forward or backward on the approach. Make sure you do not move more than approximately six inches. What this will accomplish will be to have a subconscious effect on your approach, but not so much that you will notice. When you move backward you will naturally make slightly larger steps, which will result in an increased ball speed. This will cause the ball to get to the pocket more quickly, so the ball will have less time to react to the lane and you will gain some added pin action with the increased speed. This adjustment should really put the ball exactly where it needs to be in order to strike. On the other hand you can also move forward slightly. Moving forwards will have the opposite effect of moving backwards. When you move forward you will take smaller steps, which will produce a slower ball speed allowing for the ball to have increased reaction time on the lane. This should as well allow the ball to get to that exact position it needs to be in to carry those nasty corner pins.

If you are uncomfortable with varying your step movement this might be the answer. You can increase or decrease your ball speed by simply holding the ball in your stance a litter higher or lower. Holding the ball higher in your stance will generate faster ball speeds, whereas holding the ball lower in your stance will create slower ball speeds. This will have the same effects as mentioned in the paragraph above.

We would suggest giving those minor adjustments before giving this and the next suggestion a try. You can also change the pressure on your fingers. When you release some of the finger pressure you will hook the ball a little less and it will come up lighter in the pocket. On the other hand when you increase your finger pressure slightly you will create more rev on the ball allowing for the ball to come up a bit stronger in the pocket.

Some bowlers are successful in changing the pressure of just one of their fingers in order to give a desired reaction. To carry the 10-pin you can attempt putting more pressure on your ring finger than you middle finger so you can get the ball to go a bit longer and then flip slightly more on the backend. To have the opposite effect you can add more pressure to your middle finger than your ring finger and you will cause the ball to roll earlier and hit the pocket flusher.

Our best suggestion would be to not attempt these without first practicing them before it is show time. Get out there and practice and practice hard because this is how you become a great bowler with practice.