🔴 How to Hook the Bowling Ball More With this Easy Footwork Tip
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• Mike Shady is a Bowler’s Journal Top 100 Coach with over 30 years of teaching experience in the sport of bowling. As a Team USA Bowling Coach, Mike works with some of the most talented players in the world to improve their physical and mental game. Mike is also a PBA Tour champion and member of the USBC Hall of Fame.
• In this learn-to-bowl video, Coach Shady shows you how to hook the bowling ball more by just moving up on the approach and slowing down.
• Check back weekly for more informative tips to help you bowl better from coaches Bryan O'Keefe, Shannon O'Keefe, Mike Shady, and Mike Jasnau.
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This is what I needed ofc I haven’t tried it yet but me being on 3 bowling leagues an different oil patterns on one league my ball hooks great on another league sometimes and on the last league barely hooks. Ima cook my bowling ball again so all the oil is extracted from the ball which I haven’t done it in awhile bc I never have time lol
Thanks a lot for every single video you guys made, I’m improving my game so much! Thanks for the tips! Blessings for you!
Same to you. Glad we could help!
Wow….. First time I’ve seen this advocated by coaches……. THIS was the thing that helped me the most in bowling. I discovered this from my own frustration. I bowl further forward, and move back as the lanes start to transition. SECOND most important thing was NOT pulling down during my swing…..
I feel you on this. It’s SO hard not to pull down, I’ve done it for a long time, it’s in muscle memory so it feels kind of wrong to just let the ball fall on the downswing. My body panics on the downswing if it’s not micro-managing with the hand. One thing that helped me a ton was actually softening my wrist on the backswing and not trying to cup the wrist all the way through the shot. It’s so much easier to keep my hand inside, keep that dreaded elbow from bending on the downswing as I try to “pull it” inside, and I actually get way more inside-out, and more revs with less effort. Takes a lot of practice to undo bad habits in muscle memory, but keep practicing brother, we’ll get there!
Thanks so much. For some bowlers it has a huge impact! Sounds like this one spoke to you.
@FrigginTommyNoble Try to visualize your arm as a pendulum throughout the swing. You push out, and then let the ball fall down and back with the force of gravity. The higher your set position with the ball, the higher your back swing should be. Once the back swing is at its highest point, concentrate on letting it FALL toward the vertical. Don’t yank, don’t push. Just let it fall. When your arm falls down to vertical (the ball should be next to your sliding foot), that’s when it’s time to apply your strength to push the ball out and up. If you’ve remembered to keep your hand behind or under the ball in the strong finger position, you should be able to get decent rotation on the ball. Another thing to try, in addition to the shorter approach, is a lower ball location on the set position. If the ball is held near your hip instead of high up, near the chin, your whole ball swing should be lower and your ball speed will naturally be slower. Good luck!
@Ironfangzu Thanks for the reply. I have some videos of my swing on my channel under “My Bowling Videos,” I upload them for my coach but if you have any feedback please don’t hesitate to comment on them, I appreciate it people’s input!
Thanks for the tip Mike. I couldn’t get my ball to hook more when I needed to. I’ll keep this in mind next time I bowl league, which is tomorrow (just subbing for someone for the next 4 weeks, but my regular night is Sunday).
Good luck at league Kristen. Thanks for your support and interaction as always.
This is a good reminder that less is more (especially in bowling).
Is it? Watch any given established professional in this sport and their ball speed and rotation. Even better, check out what your 210+ average bowlers in your league are doing. Then come back and say that less is more.
You aren’t totally wrong, but oil patterns don’t hold up to where less is more these days.
Mike Shady and Backstage Bowling are fantastic resources, but his advice here is very problematic. Slowing down like this will not only potentially get a ball to burn up but will also leave a bowler with nowhere else to move, especially on house shots where it can get cliffed very easily in the track area.
It’s a much better idea in my opinion for speed dominant players to get a more aggressive ball with more surface and be way later on timing, possibly lofting it (high, not far, there is a difference between the two) if necessary. If Mike stayed where he was where he left the 2 but was a bit later on timing, it would have delayed the skid phase, saving it for the midlane. Then the ball would have hit well.
DYDS, ball speed, super aggressive equipment with surface (This equipment setup carves a line in out of bounds areas which blends out over/under areas), and loft. Those are the tools needed for speed dominant bowlers to conquer the modern super cliffed house shots.
What all this boils down to is everyone is different …… Good at some bowling technique crappy at others. We all have our own quirks . I bowl scientific method – Throw the ball, OBSERVE the ball and adjust as necessary assuming you threw the ball well and hit your spot. For some stupid reason moving forward (using the approach mounting screw hole plugs as a guide) got me to the place I need to be. I always feel like I can have a good game now…..
Sir Joelsuf, not every tip works for every player. We’re sure that your scenario could be true as well. Thanks for watching.
Could you make a video with tips on how to deal with carry down or burnt up heads from league bowlers using plastic or urethane? I bowl second shift after a league primarily throwing plastic and I have nights where I can’t make the ball make the corner with a 500 rev rate and it confuses me.
Thanks for the suggestion. We will add to the list of ideas.
The second shot was at least half an arrow left of the first one though… 🤣
Lucas, you are right about playing a different zone on the lane. When coach Shady hit the same target, the ball went brooklyn with this adjustment. In our videos, people prefer to see strikes with the tip adjustment, therefore coach had to move inside a bit. You should notice much more change of direction due to the decrease in ball speed by moving up on the approach. Thanks for watching as always!
@Denman Fite Well the channel mod themselves just explained that he moved in on purpose. So… ✌
@InsideBowling That’s fair. It just seems a bit disingenuous to say that one change made all the difference when, in reality, it was more than that. I don’t see any harm in showing the Brooklyn, and the adjustment as well that led to the strike. More education for everyone!
@InsideBowling I was about to comment on the different targets, but you answered it right here. I would argue that for instructional videos (so, main purpose is education not entertainment), people would rather see accuracy between shots in order to “see” better what the change is, thank just…see strikes. There are tons of videos if people only want to see strikes. Plus then some people will notice the “cheating” anyway lol. Great videos, overall , thanks !
@Denman Fite In principle you are right, but in order for speed to alter the target board so early (arrows), you would need very little or no oil in the heads, and huge speed difference and very low frit ball surface. Speed will mostly make you hit a different target much further downlane.
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I am a back-up bowler can u have some videos like this that will help me hook the ball more? Everytime I try throwing like a normal right handed bowler I spin biscuit it I’ve had people work with me to no avail! I try bringing my hand up like I’m shaking hands with someone but that does no good if I don’t know where to release the ball. Back up feels natural to me because that’s the way my arm goes when I lift it so I’ve just stuck with it I was just hoping to see more videos from backup bowlers
We have a backup bowling video coming in the next couple of months. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it.
@InsideBowling thank you ill subscribe now
Can you help my bowling center have less obstructive ball returns? Honestly takes 15+ pins off my average!
😂😂😂 Good luck!
Title is misleading. This isn’t how to hook the ball more it’s how to make the ball hook earlier by changing speed.
Hey Alex, thanks for the comment. What you say is spot on, but if you are having trouble hooking the ball on some patterns, this tip will help your ball hook more.
You said low rev plays this could also apply to heavily speed dominant players.
Great tip, as usual you are right on the mark.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching!
How come you don’t show where you start on the lane first before you take the two steps