Stance

Written By: bowlingball.com | Written On: Friday, September 7, 2018

Excerpt from Bowling Fundamentals - Second Edition By Michelle Mullen

9/9/2018

When you get on the approach, you have to determine where to stand and how to set up. The starting position, or stance, sets the tone for the motion that follows. Knowing how to position your body and where to stand is important for a good delivery. Starting in a sound, leveraged position with a relaxed body will help you develop a good approach. This chapter provides basic guidelines on where you stand and where to target based on your release. Keep in mind that where you stand and target will evolve as you develop your game, especially your release, because lane conditions have to be taken into consideration when you throw a hook.

Two factors must be considered when determining where to stand: how far from the foul line to start and which board of the approach to stand on. To create a smooth motion with good rhythm to the foul line, walk naturally during the approach. Many bowlers end up short of the foul line or attempt to overstride and rush to the line because they start too far back on the approach. The distance to stand from the foul line on your approach depends on the length of your natural stride and the number of steps you take.

Your method of release and perhaps lane conditions (if you throw a hook) determine which board to start on. Your release causes the ball to rotate in one of three directions: clockwise, straight forward, or counterclockwise. The type of rotation determines which pocket to use and whether to target on the right of left side of the lane. From there, you can determine where to stand on the approach. To maximize pin action and minimize ball deflection on impact, your ball should hit the correct pocket upon making contact with the pins for the way you roll the ball. The area between the 1 pin and the 3 pin is the right-side pocket; the area between the 1 pin and the 2 pin is the left-side pocket. The 1 pin is also referred to as the headpin.

Whereas the pin numbers are standard and do need to be memorized, the way boards are counted differs from right- and left handed bowlers. Right-handed bowlers count the boards and targets from the right; left-handed bowlers count them from the left.

There are always 39 boards and seven arrows (targets) on the lane. There are always seven dots at the foul line to line up with the seven arrows.

What varies is the number of dots at the beginning of the approach. There either will be seven dots at the foul line and arrows on the lane, or there will be only five dots, which line up with the inner five dots and arrows on the lane. Therefore, you would be missing dots on board 5 and on board 35. When you have only five dots in the start, the first dot lines up with the second arrow, or board number 10.

Mullen, Michelle. Bowling Fundamentals- Second Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2014.