At Home Bowling Drills Without Additional Expense

Staying home and missing the lanes? Just because you can’t get to the lanes and bowl, doesn’t mean that you have to stop improving your game.

In this article, we’ll review three different National Bowling Academy videos that concentrate on bettering your game from the comfort of home with items you already have laying around the house.

Football and Bowling?

Football is usually on TV’s in the bowling center while practicing or competing at league night, but did you know that you can use a football to work on your release?

Coach Erik Vermilyea demonstrates how to hook a bowling ball off the lanes with a football and a partner.

Grab a football and a family member and set up six to ten feet apart! Put your hand under a football, placing your fingers to the inside and then complete the throw with an underhand spiral. This emulates how it feels when a bowling ball is in your hand when you are out on the lanes. The tighter the spiral, the better the bowling hook.

You can also practice your follow through and finish position when you feel you have the release portion of this drill mastered, improving your physical game.

The best part about this drill is that your family member doesn’t have to be a bowler to do it with you. When we resume bowling again you may even have an addition to your team!

Now that you’ve worked on the basics, advance your game by learning multiple hand positions for the release that will make you a more versatile bowler.

Coach Vermilyea breaks down each hand position while explaining the practicality of each release as it pertains to the bowling hook.

The football will spiral differently each time you change your hand position giving you immediate feedback.

You’ll learn how to:

• Change axis rotation, end-over-end
• Change axis rotation, medium and maximum
• Increase and decrease rev rate

Old Bowling Ball and a Wooden Dowel

Do you have an old bowling ball laying around that never gets out of the attic or basement? You can learn the same techniques taught in the previous video, Advanced Release Techniques, without a football and a family member.

Coach Bryan O’Keefe explains how to set up your old bowling ball into a training aid that allows you to practice different releases anytime, anywhere.

First, find your PAP on the bowling ball (reference “Finding Your PAP” for a refresher). Next, get a ¾ inch dowel and drill a hole into your PAP that is slightly larger than the dowel. Then, take a knee and practice different hand positions to get comfortable making these adjustments.

COVID-19 has postponed life as we know it, but it doesn’t have to postpone bowling improvement. The next time you’re feeling cooped up try one of these drills, visualize the oil pattern breaking down and make the adjustment that keeps you in the pocket and striking.