"You start to develop a foundation based on granite rather than in sand, and when a strong or a stiff wind comes along, it no longer blows your foundation completely away." --Jeffrey Combs--

You already know that anything you learn has to start with a firm base and then grow from there. Regardless of your style of bowling, there are some fundamental techniques that must be fine-tuned in order to establish a solid foundation for your bowling game. Once this has been set, you will be able to effectively develop your timing, accuracy, and consistency.

The keys are starting point, target, timing, swing, shoulders square, consistent release, follow through, and balance and leverage. Today's "Choc-list" should help you to set that foundation.

1) Always set yourself up at the same STARTING POINT. This is fairly common sense in that if you want to develop accuracy and consistency, you will need to have the same reference point(s).

2) Keeping your eyes on your TARGET and watching your ball roll over it. If you don't see your ball rolling over your mark, it would be the same thing as bowling with your eyes closed. You can't hit what you can't see, you also can't hit if you purposely don't see.

3) Developing smooth TIMING and ARMSWING. Each will depend on the other and you will generally not have one without the other. The armswing should be in a complete arc in rhythm with your footwork.

4) Keeping your body and SHOULDERS SQUARE to your target. Another way of looking at this is that at the point of releasing your bowling ball, your body and shoulders are parallel to the target.

5) Making sure that you have a CONSISTENT RELEASE every time you throw the ball. If you vary the way you let your ball go, you won't be able to set up good targets because you won't know whether you ball will go straight, left, or right.

6) Ensuring your ball goes through its skid phase by having a good FOLLOW THROUGH after releasing your bowling ball. Look at any sport that requires a ball to hit a target. After the ball is released, you have to follow through completely if you want it to have a chance to hit the mark.

7) Sustaining good BALANCE and LEVERAGE at the foul line while releasing your ball. When steps 1) through 5), above, are perfectly in sync, you will be able to maintain your balance at the line and have strong leverage at the release point. If you are in balance, you should be able to hold your final form until your ball passes the pins; and, you will "feel" the leverage because after you release the ball, your fingers will tingle.

As I've mentioned before, don't try to work on all these things at the same time. If you are a beginner, take each point and work on them, preferably with your coach, over as many practice sessions as necessary to establish the solid foundation.

If you are an established bowler, please consider getting a coach, but nevertheless, work on each point as you see fit in order to fine-tune your bowling game. It is never too late to adjust any foundation and "shore it up."

A Hui Hou! (See You Again!)