Bowling Follow Through & Delivery

Bowling Follow Through & Delivery
Hi, I am Ed Kramarcik, PBA member and AMF staff player since 1989, and I am going to go over proper delivery and follow through, where people make a lot of mistakes, and I am going to show you how you could prevent from making those mistakes. If you have any questions after I go over this, you can visit me at my pro shop in Longwood-Orlando at Rip the Rack Pro Shop, or visit me online at www.riptherackbowling.com. What I am going to explain today is a full follow through. Follow through – if you follow through correctly—you will not have problems with pushing the ball or tugging the ball; on a PBA tour, we call it chicken winging, where people throw their shoulders out, the elbows out, and the ball goes out to the channel and never makes it back to the pocket and never makes the corner. When you are locking your elbow, to the waist side, you can follow through properly, you will be successful, and you will always have the play area. So you want to make sure when you go out and bowl that you want to follow through. And follow through means, just like shaking hands, you reach out and shake hands. Your hand is like a steering wheel, and whatever you do with the ball that is where the ball is going to go. So you want to make sure that you always have control of the ball; and wherever you turn your hand, that is where the ball is going to go. And let me demo it for you; without the bowling ball, I am going to show you the correct way and the incorrect way of follow through. The correct way of doing it is, when you get on a lane and you get set up to practice, and you want to follow through correctly, you set up; and make sure—if you are a right-hand bowler—make sure your elbow is tucked in to the side, and if you are a left-hand bowler the same thing: it is just a mirror image. We are going to do it with a right-hand bowler today. If you hold the ball, lock your elbow in, and you are going to reach out on the lane. So what you are going to do is set up; when you hit the lane, to follow through you, when you plant your left foot, you are going to go through the shot, elbows locked, shoulders are square, go though the ball and stay straight. And this is the correct way of following through on a shot; a lot of people will come and they’ll short on the ball. On “short on” what I am saying is, they will get to the foul line and they will short on it and stop right here; when you stop right here the ball is rolling off your hand immediately. If the lane is dry, the ball is going to be hooking immediately, you are going to most likely throw a gutter. So you want to follow through, reach out like you are shaking hands and follow through on a shot. Another problem that a lot of beginners have is they come out and bowl, and they get fast to the line with their feet, they get up there quick and they will swing their arm away from their body. On a PBA tour, we call that chicken winging the ball, you want to make sure that that elbow is locked in and that you can have a firm release on the ball and go straight through it. So you want to make sure that you lock the elbow and follow through with the shot; do not chicken wing the ball, because if you have the ball in your hand, chicken wing it here, the ball is out to the channel. Remember that I told you that your hand is like a steering wheel, so if you turn your hand out, the ball is going to go out to the channel and not come back. Most likely, it is going to be in the gutter, which is called the channel. So to follow through, just like shaking hands, reach out, follow through the lane, and be square at the line and you will score a big score. Good luck and good bowling.