Bowling on ‘desert lanes’, or lanes with minimal oil, can pose a significant challenge even to seasoned bowlers. This is because in bowling, individuals who can perform well on dry lanes are considered skilled players. However, an individual’s skill can also be evaluated by their performance on excessively oiled lanes.
Overcoming the Desert Lanes: The Art of ‘Pushing’ the Ball
When bowling on dry lanes, it’s crucial to master the technique of ‘pushing’ the ball. The most evident solution is to effectively utilize your strength. For instance, if you want to push the ball further outwards and the lane is turning a lot, the ball needs to go even further outwards. The angle of your body plays a crucial role here. To ‘push further’, open your shoulder and rotate your body to send the ball outwards. This is referred to as ‘opening the shoulder to throw.’
There are instances when despite opening the shoulder, the ball doesn’t go outwards. This usually happens when there’s a lack of oil. In such cases, it’s best to find where the oil is. Bowling can become challenging if you forcibly try to overcome the lack of oil.
Even when you can’t find an oily spot, the general tendency is to increase the speed. However, on dry spots, increasing the speed doesn’t necessarily get the ball outwards. Bowlers who can push the ball hard or pass through dry spots are quite rare.
Adapting to the Desert Lanes: Changing the Direction of Ball Rotation
So how should you adapt? Change the direction of the ball’s rotation. This requires a shift in perspective. When the lane is turning, trying to solve it with speed doesn’t get the ball out well. If you push with force, splits often remain. If the ball enters thickly, splits frequently occur, and the score significantly decreases.
A skilled bowler isn’t someone who creates speed with force, but someone who reduces the force and sends the ball based on the direction of rotation. If you ‘lay down’ the ball, the head passes more quickly. Also, even on dry spots, the ball goes outwards.
When the ball is laid down, it goes from an inward rotation to an outward rotation, and the force trying to go from inside to outside becomes stronger. If you swing from outside to outside, the ball never gets pushed out. Consider the personal number. The larger the personal number, the more you can only throw from outside to outside. Conversely, as the personal number decreases, the starting line comes inside, so the force to go from inside to outside becomes stronger. Practice sending the ball outwards using the direction of rotation.
Mastering the Skill of Opening the Body Angle
There’s also a knack for opening the body angle. If you open the body angle significantly, the body and the ball open together, decreasing the effect. If you leave the ball in its place and only turn your body sideways to swing, the swing goes outwards and then comes inwards. Then the force going from inside to outside becomes stronger. This is called an ‘8 swing’. An 8 swing becomes a gutter when there’s a lot of oil, but it passes through in desert lanes.
Ultimately, in dry spots, there are cases where you twist the direction of your body to throw. You don’t need to master all these skills. It’s best to mainly practice the skills that suit you. If you try to do everything indiscriminately, you might fall into a slump, so make the skills that can be applied to you your own. This will greatly help improve your skills.
Understanding Your Personal Number in Bowling
Let’s learn more about the personal number. The personal number represents the distance between the point where the foot lands during a slide and the point where the ball drops from the hand. Knowing your personal number accurately can increase your consistency.
Hold the bowling ball and take your final position, then drop the ball on the ground. The point where the ball falls is the same as your shoulder width. The personal number varies from person to person. Generally, adult men are on page 57, and women, who have narrower shoulders, are around page 46. The most comfortable distance to throw from the standing spot is shoulder width.
Where Should You Place the Bowling Ball?
It’s best to place it about 30 centimeters in front of your left foot. The point where the ball falls is called the laydown point. Your skill can be measured by how consistent your laydown point is. In other words, good bowlers always have a consistent laydown point.
If you remove your thumb quickly, the ball falls faster. When there’s a lot of oil on the lane, it’s good to drop the ball early to create rotation quickly, and when there’s no oil on the lane, it’s better to throw it farther. This is called a loft ball, and in this case, the ball’s hook starts to appear later.
The position where the bowling ball falls should not exceed the left foot. This is evidence that the shoulder has come forward. The direction of the body and swing should always be parallel.
Accurately Checking Your Personal Number
Put a ball under shoulder-width and put a box next to the ball. If the ball doesn’t touch the box when you swing, you have swung while keeping your personal number. However, if your arm opens during the swing, the ball will hit the box. The narrower the gap between the box and the ball, the higher the consistency. You can get the personal number when narrowing this.
There’s something to watch out for when reducing the personal number. It’s important to keep your arm close to your body when swinging, but if your elbow turns and comes off the body, the personal number opens.
Many bowlers say their arm keeps turning. If you think of the little finger as the center when turning, because the inside of the arm sticks to the right thigh, you can increase the power transmission and consistency.
There are cases where people pull when told to attach their arm. The shoulder and arm should not come inside. Think of swinging with your arm fixed to your shoulder and attached to your body. It can be said to feel like the hand is attached to the leg. If you put your leg in the instep and swing your arm as it is, you can attach your hand and leg more. Then your personal number will also decrease.
You should move while keeping your personal number on the lane. For example, if your shoulder width is 7 and the gap opens more than 10, your bowling power significantly decreases. When the lane turns and the spot is lowered, if you keep the aiming spot as it is, your hand separates from your body or your body angle has to twist too much. You have to move the spot together while keeping your personal number.