How Can Women Bowlers Combat Dry Lane Conditions?

By:bowlingball.com, 12/5/15

If you ask "how can women bowlers combat dry lane conditions?", the answers may lie with simple strategies.

If you are a top flight woman bowler but tend to struggle when the lanes breakdown late during league play or during tournaments, then there are some useful tips to help.

By any means possible, you will wish to maximize your skills without making drastic adjustments and losing accuracy and control on dry lanes.

First, avoid trying to deliver your ball much faster than your game allows so you avoid a loss of accuracy and balance.

Next, work on flattening out your hand position as you release the ball. Try and stay behind the ball as long as you can and avoid excessive finger rotation around the side of the ball.

Use bowling balls with symmetric core designs and use drilling layouts to provide a weak or moderate reaction on the back end of the lane.

Getting your ball to react less when the high friction portions of the lane surface are exposed as oil dissipates or moves is a prime objective.

Experiment with the surface texture of your favorite bowling balls so you can increase ball skid distance and not increase the hook potential on the back end of the lane. This is when a weak layout helps prevent your ball from a runaway hook at the breakpoint to the pocket.

In many cases, direction players (bowlers who do not hook the ball much) tend to stay close to the 2nd arrow as long as possible before being forced to move inside as oil patterns break down. If you are one of these type players, then it is important to use equipment geared for less reaction and more of a stable motion with good skid length potential.



By all means, do not let power players around you intimidate you because they can hook the ball a great deal and can gain a strong angle of entry into the pocket.

Instead, focus on playing your game, use your accuracy and control, and use equipment which makes it easiest for you to hit the pocket with consistency.

Over the years, there have been (and are today) many great bowlers, men and women bowlers alike, who do not hook the ball a great deal.

Simply learn to use your best skills when faced with dry lane conditions and rely on these few above mentioned tips to help your cause.