Quick Tip: Non-Bowling Arm Dos and Don'ts
Erik VermilyeaOne thing that naturally happens when throwing a bowling ball is that the non-bowling arm or balance arm comes back behind your body. In this Quick Tip, coach Erik Vermilyea with Track explains what happens with your shoulders when your balance arm’s hand has the thumb pointed in the down position, as opposed to the up position throughout the bowling approach.
Non-Bowling Thumb Position
With the thumb up on your non-bowling arms hand, your shoulders want to close throughout the bowling approach and this creates pulled shots and other inconsistencies. With the thumb facing down on your non-bowling arm’s hand, your shoulders stay open longer, allowing the bowling swing to naturally flow throughout the bowling approach.
When your shoulders are stable throughout the bowling approach your accuracy and balance increase, which leads to more consistent shots:
One-Step Drill
The one-step drill is designed to slow down the slide and finish position on the approach. Isolating these areas with this drill will help develop the non-bowling hand’s thumb to stay down naturally and give you an idea of what open stable shoulders should feel like.
- – Start by putting the left foot behind the right.
- – Then drop the bowling ball down by your side.
- – Put the balance arm out in front of you with the thumb pointed down toward the approach.
- – Pick out a target on the lane, bump the ball forward and slide into your finish position releasing the bowling ball toward your target with your non-bowling arm’s thumb facing down throughout the drill’s entity.
Simply practicing keeping your non-bowling hand’s thumb facing down throughout the bowling approach will improve and increase your shot repeatability. Check out “Rotation of Balance Arm” and ”Balance Arm and the Finish Position” for more information on the non-bowling arm from our expert coaches at National Bowling Academy.
Hi there, welcome to the National Bowling Academy. I'm Eric Vermilyea, and today I'm gonna give you a quick tip, involving your non-bowling arm. Your balance arm, if you will. So one thing you can always focus on when you're bowling is obviously your non-bowling arm, your balance arm. And one little tip I like to pass along is not so much even just the arm, but it's the actual position of your hand.
If you look at your left arm, for the right-handed bowler, when you're delivering your shot, if your thumb is pointed up, you have a tendency to have your shoulders wanna close. This can cause pull shots and consistency, so one thing you can think of is that non-bowling hand, keep the thumb pointed down. If your thumb is pointed down, it lets your shoulders stay open a little bit longer, lets the swing naturally flow, and you can finish through the shot. The balance arm should just be an extension of your shoulders throughout the bowling swing. It should pretty much match the angle of your shoulders.
By having that thumb down, you'll allow your shoulders to stay open, aim at your target, and go ahead and let the shot finish through. One quick little way to practice this is just our usual one step drill. Let me show you that quick here. Get the left foot back from the right. The ball by my side.
I'll get this balance arm out in front of me, with the thumb pointed down. This left shoulder's open up. It'll let my swing, hopefully, you know, flow nice and free, and hit my target. So all I'm gonna do is pick out my target on the lane. I'm back from the lane, thumb down, balance arm out, get in position, bump the ball out and go.
And there you go. Don't forget about the balance arm, your non-bowling arm. Make sure that thumb's pointed down. Make sure the balance arm's an extension of your shoulders, and you should knock down some few more pins.
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