You’ve grabbed your bowling ball, taken your starting position and aimed at your target. After making your approach and throwing your shot, you watch in joy as it hooks into the pocket for a strike.
But what about when that doesn’t happen?
There are some specific bowling terms that can help you make sense of where and why your shot missed, and the following graphic is a handy way to visualize them.
Note on the left the terms inside and outside, meaning a ball that has veered off its target path. And then, as it approaches the pins, you’ll see high and heavy representing a ball that has come in too far and missed the pocket, while low and light mean a ball that has stayed too far outside and not come back far enough.
Do you tend to miss your shots on one particular side? Does this graphic help you determine what is going wrong with your shot? Depending on whether your ball is going wayward closer to the beginning of the shot (the skid phase), or at the finish (the hook and roll phases), there are a number of different adjustments you can attempt to clear things up.
And as noted, it’s important to remember that this graphic is for right-handed bowlers. For lefties, everything will be opposite, so flip the graphic around in your head and treat it the same way.
Finally, for more information on diagnosing and troubleshooting these types of errors, take a look at our article titled “Why Am I Hitting the Pocket But Not Getting a Strike?”
Image source: RCraig09 on Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20191124_bowling_ball_path_terminology_-_inside_outside_low_high_light_heavy.png
