Small Changes, Big Results

If you want to become good at this sport, you must understand that improving is a long and ongoing process that requires a lot of work and commitment. With this in mind, I wanted to introduce some of the key mindset and practice strategies that you can use to help you along the way.

It’s going to be harder than you think, it’s going to take longer than you think, and no, you aren’t the exception.

This three-part rule is the foundation of what we’re going to talk about in this article. Learning new skills or changing old ones is much harder than most people realize when starting out. However, by simply accepting this and using appropriate practice strategies, it becomes easier to tolerate the challenge and even embrace it.

Mastering this game is a lifelong journey. It will take longer than you think to develop proficiency in the physical skills, not to mention the lane play abilities and mental tools, you need to perform at the highest level. Patience is a virtue when developing all the areas you need to master bowling.

Even bowlers who understand these first two rules sometimes forget the last one. There are no shortcuts, and no, you aren’t the exception. While some bowlers might find certain elements of the game easier to develop, there is no magic that will suddenly make you as good as you want to be. All success takes time and effort.

Let’s start by discussing some key training habits.

Practice habits are key

So far, I don’t think anything I’ve said has been surprising. Bowlers know they need to practice. Unfortunately, some of our typical practice habits keep us from maximizing our potential, or they at least slow down an already long and slow process.

Fresh oil practice isn’t everything

The first issue is bowlers looking for perfect conditions for practice, and the second relates to bowling alone or with others.

Training alone helps your mechanics, but you don’t learn lane play.

If you practice on fresh lanes, by yourself, in perfect conditions without noise or distractions, you will really only learn to bowl in that environment. This is fine for working on your mechanics. If you are going to focus on drills ...