Your Bowling Hallway

Written By: bowlingball.com | Written On: Thursday, December 6, 2012 | Updated On: Tuesday, October 30, 2018

If you use a straight line walking path to the foul line and are in need of improving your footwork directional control, then let’s build you a personal bowling hallway. That’s right, visualize a hallway from your stance on the approach extending up to the foul line.
This corridor or hallway would have the ceiling exactly one inch lower than your height when standing straight and tall. The hallway would also be one inch wider than both of your shoulders. The objective is to give you a steering mechanism to guide your approach on a straight line path to the foul line with little room to wander left or right.
The hallway would also require you to set up with your knees flexed lowering your body height at least one inch so you could not raise your head and shoulders when delivering your bowling ball.
Of course, the visualization concept of this hallway allows for your bowling balance arm and your balance leg, the non-sliding leg, to both sweep out to the side extended away from your body to stabilize yourself while swinging and delivering the heavy bowling ball.
It is important for you to not wander off your walking path. The sighting target you select to roll your bowling ball over down the lane should remain in the same relative position to your bowling shoulder when you arrive at the foul line as it was when your took your stance position back on the approach.
It becomes much easier for you to hit the mark walking your lines than if you wander off line. Train yourself to slide on the same board at the foul line where you set-up with your sliding bowling shoe back on the approach.

This notion of a bowling hallway can be repositioned laterally to the corners of the approach. It can then be used as a mental tool to make sure you walk a straight line path when bowling at corner pin spares and help to keep you from wandering back to the middle portion of the approach.
If you hook the ball, you can even align your bowling shoulder about one inch behind your non-bowling shoulder when setting up on the approach. Keep that shoulder relationship throughout your approach and delivery while still staying within the confines of your bowling hallway.
With a little practice, your challenges of wandering off your walking lines can be easily corrected by imagining a hallway to steer you in the right direction. Use your steps in such a manner as to walk the “tightrope” keeping each step straight ahead of the previous step so you don't hit the side walls of your visualized hallway. This will help you maintain good balance.
Keeping your head steady and level under the ceiling in your hallway is a great method of stabilizing your balance during your approach. It's human nature to want to peek at the pins and move your head before you complete your delivery and your follow through motion. The hallway will prevent you from raising your head prematurely and pulling your delivery off line.
There are many techniques coaches use to help bowlers build a good walking path to the foul line. Using the visualization of a bowling hallway to guide you forward is certainly one method which will help you improve your walking direction and balance.