43 Comments on “How to Hit Your Target Every Time | Increase Your Bowling Scores”

  1. If you are playing a deep inside line and you square to your target, do you walk straight to the foul line or do you walk toward your target?

    1. Hi Jason! Everyone is different. A lot of players will unintentionally walk back towards their target when playing a deep inside line. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and like stated above, is quite common. The important thing to know is how much you walk back towards your target when you stand in different spots. This way, you can make the proper adjustments and line up properly when setting up on the approach. Thanks for watching!

    2. @InsideBowling Please help me understand .When you say “unintentionally walk back towards their target” do you mean that we are not supposed to walk towards that target, especially when playing deeper lines? Thank you for your time.

  2. I’ve seen a lot of videos but this may be the first that gives this tip. To clarify, should one square with the midsection of the body in line with the target or the bowling shoulder?

    1. Hey there! You definitely want to have your whole body square to your target, starting from the shoulders to the feet!

  3. Hi Mike. Great Video. But I have a question – if your head/hips/feet are aligned to the right how do you not drift right on your approach? Thanks

    1. Hi Geoff! Great question, this certainly takes some practice especially if you are used to walking in the direction that your hips/feet are aligned to. It will take some time to separate the two and get used to not drifting to the right. A great way to attack this would be start at the foul line and work your way back. For example, start with a one step drill and get used to sliding straight while still targeting to the right, and then work your way back to a three step drill and then a complete approach. Over time, these drills should be able to help you get rid of that drift to the right!

    2. @InsideBowling Thank you for your response. Very helpful. Can’t wait to try it out next practise session.

  4. This could be EXACTLY why I keep missing left of my target. I play deep inside and have had the lefts 1st few weeks.

  5. This only works if you play fairly straight and have room to wander toward your target. In fact it promotes doing that. If you are deep inside you wont have room to walk right and still be far enough left at the line. So I’m saying this really works well for beginner bowlers who play up the lane and have timing issues at the line.

  6. Am I the only one who literally didn’t notice a difference between his “before” & “after” shots? I noticed he didn’t pull the ball/threw it out more, but looked like his shoulders were square with the foul line each time.

  7. Mike, Please clarify. there is a lot of confusion on this topic. Please do the video yourself with detailed correct execution and improper execution.
    If my left foot is on 30 / break points is 8, where should slide foot and body positioning look like? Thank You..

  8. When you’re square to the target, are you then walking towards the target or staying square but walking in a straight line? For example, i’m standing on 20 board , then square towards 15 board , am i walking towards 15 board or staying square to 15 but walking towards 20 board?

  9. My consistency is terrible. I can throw a perfect strike worthy of Jason Belmonte and my next shot, worthy of a 3-year old. I throw two-handed and a lot of the time my right arm swing is just too far out and I end up in the gutter or too far in and I end up hitting to the left of the pocket. And then, like I said, there are times I am perfect. I just don’t know how to be consistent. But I’m going to try this out. Basically I have to turn my body on the approach, or at least when letting the ball go, so that I am facing a bit more to the right instead of straight ahead. But I have to be careful with my arm swing. If my body is facing the right way (squared to my target) but my arm swing isn’t accurate, what’s the point?

    1. Keeping your swing in close to your body as it swings back and forth, especially through your finish and release can help to produce more consistent angles than if the swing is further laterally away for the body. Thanks for watching our video and good luck on the lanes!

  10. Great tip, however, I am a right handed bowler that bowls from a wheelchair. I always line my wheelchair up pointed toward my target. My problem is that I have to swing the ball outside my shoulder in order to keep the ball from hitting the wheel on my wheelchair. But, when I do that I consistently miss my target left by 5 to 7 boards. Should I over exaggerate and point my wheelchair further right of my target? I have tried to move my eyes further right of my target leaving my wheelchair pointed at my target but that has not worked.

    1. Hi there. I’m not a bowling instructor but I do work with physically impaired people. Generally, yes, you want to point your wheelchair to the right of the target. If you are missing by 5 to 7 boards, I would try to keep the wheelchair pointed 2 to 4 boards to the right of the target. Splitting the difference between where you are looking and missing should get you close to on target, but you’ll have to play around with it. This sort of thing is something baseball players and football quarterbacks have to learn when they are throwing sidearmed. For everyone it’s going to be a bit different, but yes you definitely want to have your chest aligned further right. See this video for a baseball example of this: https://youtu.be/O3515FoHSng?t=259

  11. Question hopefully u can answer back but do all these tips apply to 2 handed bowling too?

  12. Gonna give it a go today, see if I can hit my target better. I always stand squared up and have had troubles constantly hitting the target area. Will let you know how I do.

  13. Hi Mike,
    Just getting back into bowling after 12 years. I’m at a 195 right now and am trying to be more accurate. How do you approach if my left foot is on the 35 board and my target is the 17 board just to the right of the top arrow. Do you have a straight approach while your hips and feet are squared at the 17 board or do you approach straight at the 17 board ? Thanks for the tips

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