So we have talked about your arm swing and your foot work in part 1 and 2. Now we are going to talk about your body positioning. We are going to talk about where the balance arm and leg should be throughout your approach. Another thing we will talk about is where your shoulders and hips should be aligned during your shot. The overall goal of looking at these different body positions is to make sure you are always on balance.

During your approach you have your balance arm and balance leg. What do you do with them? Let them dangle and flail wherever they want, or do you focus on their positioning to help your balance. Thus the reason for having the name balance arm and balance leg. Two handed bowlers get away with not using their balance arm because they use more body positioning and torque with their back. Ideally what should happen with your balance arm during your approach is, your balance arm should be going in front of you on your back swing then off to the side in the follow through. Why should it be that way? Well when the weight of the ball is behind you in your back swing, that balance arm is countering some of that weight for you. Now as your coming down into the release point, that balance arm should be heading to the side of your body to counter the weight at the bottom of your swing. Same thing for you balance leg here, that should be driving behind and off to the side when going into the release point. This will help the shoulders be in line to your target, because when you over rotate the balance arm it will cause your shoulders to over rotate as well. Another thing this helps when using the balance arm correctly is power. This is done by driving that balance arm to your side with your thumb facing down. When that thumb is facing up it will cause you to open your shoulders more than intended.

How do your hips and shoulders come into play during your approach? Well the key thing here is to make sure that at the finish, everything is parallel to your target. For example if you are playing 4th arrow while standing on 39 board, you have to keep your hips and shoulders open to your target. Same thing for playing straight up 5 board, make sure your hips and shoulders are square and parallel toward your target. Always make sure your hips and shoulders are facing the same direction. You never want to be fighting your own position at the foul line. What I mean is make sure your hips are not facing left when your shoulders are facing to the right. Your fighting yourself and your natural body motions.

These are a couple key pointers to look at while working on your approach. Also another thing to make sure you do, is make sure you have a nice knee bend getting into the release. This will help with balance and being consistent on your lay down point. Hopefully this article helps you pin point some areas you need to improve upon with your body positioning. Start implementing these tips, and you will see your scores begin to improve. Remember to enjoy the game of bowling and always make sure you are always practicing the correct way!