In this article we will be talking about the swing in the game of bowling. In part 1 we talked about your steps and how the 4 step approach happens in most everybody’s game. What makes a perfect swing? What are some of the key points to be looking at in my swing? Not everyone has the same swing. So lets get to some of the basics in your swing and what to look for.

First there are two angles where you can see the swing happen. One view is from the side and your other view is from the back. In the side view we can see the push away, timing, and power. The back view shows us the accuracy.

Lets start with the back view. Once you get in a comfortable stance, begin your swing and approach. One thing that I recommend is on your push away, make sure you are pushing towards your target. From there it turns into a pendulum. You just go from pushing towards your target, straight back, and following through towards your target to finish. It should be one smooth consistent flow except, the follow through will more than likely be faster than going into the back swing. One thing to look at from the back during your swing is making sure you do not wrap the ball to far behind your back or to far away from your body. When you wrap the ball behind your back during your back swing, most of the time you will miss your target outside or towards the gutter. So again if your right handed and wrap the ball behind your back, more than likely you will miss to the right on your follow through. Same thing for left handed bowlers, except you will be missing to the left. Now opposite effect for swinging the ball away from your body. What will more than likely happen when you swing away from your body? If you guessed missing inside or towards the middle of the lane you are correct. These are a couple things to look at from the back view.

Now, lets move to the side view of your swing. Here we can see how your timing lines up with your swing and steps. Again we have the push away, then the ball falls to the bottom of the swing going into the back swing and from there into the follow through. To keep it simple, when in your stance, the higher you start your ball, the faster you will throw the ball. It is of course the opposite with keeping the ball low in your stance, lower ball height equals slower speed. Now for more power in your swing, the higher the ball position in your start into the push away and a higher back swing will create more speed or power in your shot. For less power or slower ball speed, lower ball height and a low back swing will help with less power. These are a few key points you can look at while watching your swing from the side view.

It is best to have someone either watch your swing for you or take a video of these two angles to help your swing. Again keep it simple like a pendulum, straight back and through. I understand that everyone has a different style with their swing, so fine tune what is working for you. Keep it simple and enjoy the game of bowling!