Some various bowling styles and how to use them: The "Sniper"

So I didn't make a big deal about this because I just forgot but in the past two weeks I have once again solidified myself at the top of the ladder as far as our local bowling league, which is called DUMBO, and I guess you could say that I am back at the top of my game.

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We had a situation where the true champion had to leave the city for some sort of thing he was obligated by family to do, but would be back in 1 week. We have a rule that any champion remains the champion but since we need to have someone with the belt, there is an interim championship in their absence. I won this with relative ease because I have found my game recently and no, I don't really even know how or why this is happening / has happened.

Then the following week, the "real" champion is obligated to defend their real championship against who the interim champion is to determine a true one champion. I think everyone expected me to lose this game and honestly, I wasn't even that excellent but as can happen to anyone, my opponent just couldn't seem to make things work and I ended up winning that one as well by a mere 15 points across 3 games.

Because of this victory, I felt like I had won enough for that day and decided to sit the next event out and instead look at other people's various bowling styles and see if I can figure out what they are doing.

I call this sort of roll the "Sniper" because it is a slow approach with a massive amount of focus put in accuracy rather than power.

There is no rushed run up to the line to get more power, which is what most people do and it is effective, but instead focuses on ball placement and also where a person's hand is on release.

When you do The Sniper it is important to stay low to the ground and focus on making your complete arm movement in a straight line and also to release the ball right on the particular dot or arrow that is related to the pin that you are aiming at.

If the lane is perfectly flat, and you achieve the straight line motion, the ball technically go in a straight line towards the pin or pins that you are aiming at.

There are several people in DUMBO that use this approach and I find that it is quite effective for people that are just starting out or don't really have a lot of arm strength. Don't be shy! If you are smaller just admit that you aren't strong enough to throw a 15 pound ball at a high rate of speed. In the end this doesn't really make as much difference as you might think because a ball that misses that mark? Well it doesn't matter if it is going 1km / hr or 25hm/ hr, if it goes in the gutter fast, it still misses the target.

The low release at the foul line ensures that you are releasing at the correct dot point and instead of aiming at the pins in the distance, instead aim at the arrows that are intentionally put a lot closer to you in order to help you aim.

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The dots on the foul line do line up EXACTLY with the arrows and unless there is something seriously wrong with your bowling alley, the also line up exactly with where the pins are racked.

So if you can manage a perfectly straight line from dot to arrow and avoid any sort of spin, there is a very good chance that you actually can hit an individual pin 60 feet or so down the lane. There is very little room for error here, because a slight miss on the arrow is going to result in a lot of shift to the right or left of the pin you are aiming for 45 feet later.

Using the "Sniper" release helps to insure that the ball has a good straight release as well as a good chance to carry on in a straight line.

No matter how you cradle the ball in your hand, you should really be focusing on limiting or eliminating all spin on the ball because this will change where the ball is going later on down the lane.

While "Sniper" bowlers have a difficult time getting the truly high scores, they can get reasonable and consistent scores in the mid 150's or so because they have a better opportunity for accuracy.

I think a big mistake that a lot of people make in this game is assuming that you need to roll the hell out of the ball in order to knock over pins and this simply isn't true. Especially on your second ball and especially if you are dealing with a single pin, how fast the ball is rolling doesn't really matter.

So if you are struggling with your accuracy in bowling I think it is a really good idea to slow down your game and instead focus on making your arm movement into as perfectly a straight line as you possibly can.

Of course I am here doling out advice that I can't follow myself but that is because I am a two-finger bowler that is incapable of bowling straight - but I am an unusual case because this started as a joke more than 30 years ago and it has become the only way I can roll at all now.

See if it works out for you!