Identifying Bowling Launch Angle with Kegel's Torch
Richard Shockley
Torch’s LED Light Technology
The Kegel Torch is a great product that helps identify bowling launch angles. Bowling Launch angles are what ultimately determines where the bowling ball is going to go.
The Torch acts as a visual aid that allows you to see where the ball should go on the lane, from where you’re standing on the approach.
The Torch is an LED light that reflects on the lane, making the invisible visible.
Kegel’s Torch benefits include:
- Helps define a bowler’s starting point
- Helps bowlers to see the laydown point
- Helps keep the swing path in line with the target path
- Helps keep the head stable throughout the approach
- Shows how the target changes if a bowler drifts left or right
Gold Coach and Bowler Development Lead at Bowlersmart Richard Shockley along with Kali Triske demonstrate how to play both inside and outside lines utilizing the Kegel Torch.
In this video below, the camera is acting as you the bowler. The Torch reveals what arrow you should hit, based on where you are standing on the approach. This is known as the bowling launch angle.
The torch is set up 40 feet down lane at the 9 board, the break point for this pattern.
Outside Line
Kali is demonstrating how to typically play a short pattern. You’ll notice Kali’s shoulders are straight towards her target and the line presented from the torch appears almost straight.
Inside Line
Kali now is playing an inside line. She is opening up her hips and shoulders allowing her to swing the ball out to hit the break point.
The torch was not moved. Kali is playing the lanes two different ways. She changed her bowling ball, hand position, and speed while opening and closing her launch angles.
Want to learn more? Check out National Bowling Academy’s Making Adjustments and Lane Play videos to help continue your education.
Hi, my name is Richard Shockley, USBC Gold Level Coach. And I'm Director of Bowler Development for the BowlersMart Company. Today I want to demonstrate and show you a tool that's so good for training that I use most of my lessons for different angles. It's called the Torch. What I like to see is for a bowler to be able to show the ability to play different lines and different angles as we call launch angles.
So what I like to do to begin with is show a bowler playing the first arrow. Maybe whenever we're playing a short pattern is you'll know importance of playing a short pattern in Junior Gold, different tournaments, or even on the PBA tour. Even sometimes in League. Then we want to show a different angle, lining your shoulders up. Maybe you'd play the second arrow.
And from there we do the same thing, Moving in the lane do the left if you're a right-handed bowler. Then we may want to play third arrow. Then maybe go to fourth arrow. Different styles, different players play different launch angles. For myself, I like to play up to second or eighth board.
So my launch angles are a little more direct. And you get some of the two-handers or the high roll players demonstrating how to play third arrow or maybe the fourth arrow. So it's a wonderful tool, teaching you how to play launch angles, which is so important also to get the ball on your laydown point accurate and get the ball off the break point to get that line in your mind that you want to see, which is so important. So what we're going to do is show a wonderful young lady here, named Kalli Triske, to show what this tool is about and how effective it can be for you to make good launching or shots. So now we're going to see Kalli play an outside line up the fifth board, down lane, usually around the fifth board, sixth board at the breakpoint.
Right on the line. You see it made a good move; very, very accurate. Like I say, Kalli's a very good player. She nailed that line up the five board. Okay, now we're going to see Kalli played the third arrow.
Going to go to the same breakpoint. What she's gonna do is keep her lines of her launch angles in that direction. The first one we had up to five board and we're going to have the breakpoint in the same spot for this shot. You can see she was right on top of the exit point. Great shot.
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