I just started bowling last year. Well after struggling to break 100 I'm finally starting to see some progress. The biggest problem I still have is watching my ball roll over my mark. I dont know whats so hard about it. A guy helping me out told me i should know what board my ball hit the arrows at. If anyone has been through this give me some pointers. Thanks.

First I'd like to welcome you to the site pooch.

As for your issue, first you need to know the board numbers, if you know that its just actually watching your ball. Also its not just enough to know where you ball crossed the arrows but what board it is at further down the lane, especially if you are throwing a hook. If so you should also try to watch where your ball starts to hook, which is called a break point. Some people just can't focus enough to see these things. I don't always see where my ball crosses the arrow or what my break point might be on a certain shot.

infernocal is right but it does take practice with your own eyes to focus on how your ball is rolling or seeing different actions down on the lane.

For starter, you should bring your target closer to you.. so you can see where you're throwing over. Then work outward until you're comfortable targeting. This should be your simple basic targeting aid to help you see where you can aim and throw.

If you are having problem focusing. You can work on some eyes drill such as watching an item in your house and focus on it for a few minutes without trying to fling a lot. The longer you can focus the better you have trained your eyes to see.

Like these guys have said, try bringing your target closer for now. When I first started I aimed at the dots which are maybe a foot or two down the lane. (much much easier target for beginners)

I don't mean to hijack this thread but infernocal, how can you tell the number of boards right off the back without counting them out? I'd just like to know so hopefully that could help me sometime or another lol. After that, back to Pooch's question. And welcome to the forum Pooch! lol.

pooch, you may either be losing focus off your mark during your approach or after the release. You probably don't know when.

A pretty well established method of helping you focus on your mark during your approach is to pretend as if you have superman eyes. During your stance and approach, try to burn your mark with your laser eyes. Look at the target and envision smoke coming out of it because of you burning it with your laser.

If you lose focus after the release, this is usually caused by you looking at the pins immediately or not posting the shot or ...
Make sure you are posting your shot until the ball hits the pins. Don't look away from the target until the ball passes over it, then follow the ball to the pins.

Take a piece of paper and pen. Throw the ball, trying to see what board the ball rolled over at the arrows. Go back to the table and write down the board number. If you don't know _exactly_ where the ball rolled, write down a question mark - DO NOT write down an approximate board number (this would defeat the whole meaning of the exercise!)

This will basically force you to look at the target and ball. Forget about everything else - your only objective is to see where the ball rolled.

At first, you will probably write down a lot of question marks, but it should get better in a couple of frames if you stay honest with yourself.

Of course, don't think about your scores when doing this. Remember what your only objective is.

When you are good at seeing the board at the arrows, you can extend the exercise to also watch where your breakpoint is and writing that down too.

Welcome Pooch,

In addition to whats already been said, I would suggest that you see a good coach. They can help you with your mechanics, making sure you are throwing and releasing the ball correctly. Its very hard to repeat shots and hit a mark on the lane if every shot is different than the last one. They can at least point you in the right direction, so when you practice you know what to work on and your not just "practicing " the problem.
Good Luck!

pooch, three things. First welcome to the site. Second I pretty much echo everything everybody has already said, and don't worry it takes a good while to be able to read lanes well. Lastly, what part of PA do you live? I'm only asking because I have relatives in York and both my parents are from York.



Justin, each arrow on the lane is five boards apart. So you count from side of your swing arm in 5s basically. So the first arrow from the gutter is on the 5 board and so on.

As Demo stated, each arrow is five boards apart with the far right arrow being the five board for right handers and the far left arrow the five for left handers. So at the arrows its easier to tell what the boards are. On wood lanes different boards might be a different shade so its even easier.

Further down the lane might be a trickier. Some of the modern Brunswick lanes have a couple of range finders that are on certain boards around 35-40 feet but I can't remember which boards, I haven't bowled on any like that. So its just trying your best to pay attention to where the ball starts to hook.

As for the the whole targeting issue. I find if I try to move my target closer to me I will send the ball too far out down the lane and it won't recover and if I try to focus farther down the lane I pull the ball, so my primary is at the arrows give or take a foot or so. Any more than that and the problems I just described start to pop up.

Alright thanks guys, so that means there is 40 boards on each lane right?

I believe its only 39 boards on the lane. The 20 board is dead center. In order for that to work, there would have to be an uneven number of boards.