Guest Author - Gary King

I will be completely honest when I say that I have not really dedicated myself to being a Bowling Host on this site as I should have, until now. I have not focused on doing what I should be doing as much as I focus on how I bowl to make sure my bowling improves and stays that way. So, this article will be the beginning of many articles with regards to improving your game.

I watched the pro bowlers last weekend and yesterday and realized just how talented these bowlers really are. Last weekend, they were standing left of center on the approach and rolling clear out to the one (1) board and the ball would snap back to the pocket. And virtually all of them did that! The ability to do that consistently takes a lot of practice, a lot of patience and a lot of skill. It made me realize just how talented these guys really are.

I don't know how many of you have bowled on the type of condition these bowlers were rolling on but I have. I have bowled on it several times and last summer I was a sub in a sport league and that condition is really something to try to overcome. You DO NOT bowl the same kind of scores on that condition as you do on regular conditions.

Anyway, to make a long story short, after watching those pro bowlers bowl with that type of skill on that lane condition, AND after watching the matches yesterday, I realized that maybe I should try something different with regards to helping others to bowl. One of the bowlers competing yesterday, Mika Koivuniemi, is a bowler from Finland and if you check into how many bowling centers there are in Finland and the conditions you bowl under there, you will realize just how incredible it is for him to be one of the top bowlers on the PBA Tour.

Mika Koivuniemi usually rolls a line somewhat similar to the line used by Walter Ray Williams, another professional most of us know. But last summer, Mika decided to not only become more competitive, but to add another line to his arsenal. He learned to roll a better hook ball from closer to the center of the lane. That has to be classed as an incredible achievement, especially under the conditions the pros face. Yet, he did it and ended up by being one of the finalists on TV.

All of this goes to show just how talented these players really are and what can be achieved, if you set your mind to it.

So what does this have to do with you and your bowling. It means that, like the pros, you can make some changes and learn to bowl better using those changes. If your game is not as good as you would like it to be and you want to make some changes, you CAN do it. You will find that bowling will be more fun if you score better.

The first thing you can do is to make sure you are satisfied with the ball you have. Do you feel you are getting the results you should have with the ball you currently have? Do you feel you are rolling the ball pretty well but you are not getting as many pins or the kind of hits you should be getting? If you feel you ARE NOT getting as many pins down as you should because your ball is hitting better than what you got, you may be losing confidence in your ball.
I have bought bowling balls which simply did not work well but I kept using it and felt it would do better in time. But it never did and it kept falling short of my expectations. And when that happens and you just do not get the results with that ball that you want, you will begin to lose confidence in that ball. Once you lose confidence in a ball, it is extremely hard to ever really make that ball work right, believe it or not.

I would be interested in hearing how many of you feel that the ball you currently have is a ball you think CAN work well but is simply not getting the job done. If that is YOUR situation, the ball may be okay but you may need to resurface it or make some changes to make it work. As long as you have confidence in THAT ball, work at making it work.

We will go from that point in the next article and proceed to the rest of the basics each week. I will put up at least one article every week on this and YOU will become a better bowler. Think positive and keep smiling.

Until next week, good bowling and hang in there.