Coach, I’ve Got a Question! – March 2024

In this recurring feature, I answer questions from Bowling This Month readers. If you have questions, please leave them in the comment section below so I can address them in a future installment of Coach, I’ve Got a Question!

(Editor’s note: the images below are adapted from Juha Maja’s Bowling 2.0: Footwork article, where they were sourced from the European Tenpin Bowling Federation (ETBF) training materials and used with permission.)

I start my approach straight ahead, but my last step is always toward my target. I see good bowlers use a straight approach all the way to the line, then throw the ball to the right, and I am baffled at how they do it! Is a straight approach the best? It certainly seems better for playing a deep inside line. Assuming it is, what is the secret?

I’ll start by saying that a slide toward your target is not necessarily a bad thing. This depends on some of the other details of your approach and on exactly how far toward your target you are sliding.

Over-pointing the slide

We’ll start with the problem scenario of going too far toward your target in the slide. Ideally, your slide should be in front of your second-to-last step. (We’ll talk about the position of this step in the next question.) If you are going too far toward your target, it often looks a little something like this:

Note that this image is for a righthanded bowler. The gray oval represents the final foot position of the slide, crossing completely in front of the second-to-last step and several boards to the right of it. This causes the ball path ...