MO'S CORNER

Stand straight! Bend your knees! If we all had a nickel each time a fellow bowler suggested either of these, we'd all be rich! This month's topic we're going to talk about the stance. There are only four simple steps we need to keep in mind once we step on the approach:

1) Set your feet
2) Set your head
3) Set your butt
4) Set the ball

We've all heard the phrases -- "Face your target." and "Walk to your target." So what's your target? How do you want the path of the ball to roll? Some of these items will be addressed in future articles, but for now we're going to start with the initial setup. As each of the diagram shows (by the way we highly recommend you wear proper foot apparel while performing any of these "lessons"), the feet help to position the body for what we want to accomplish.

For example, to "open the lanes" we shift our right foot back and turn our hips as well (opposite for us left-handers). To obtain a medium trajectory, our right foot (left for left-handers) is only partially behind the left. A direct trajectory has both feet nearly parallel with each other. As I'm sure many of you are either doing at this point, or will be shortly, stand up and see how your hip positions as you move your feet back and forth in these varying stances. The more relaxed the hip in relationship in your stance, the less stress your body will feel as you walk through your approach.

Right-Handers Left-Handers

Recall last's month discussion of the head position for balance at the finish? Well it all starts here. The older game had us stand tall and straight, well today's modern game requires a little "tilt." So after you've positioned your feet, place your head above the little toe on your push-off foot to begin establishing a vertical balance plane for your body, and the trajectory of the ball. Next, position your head, so that it's in a vertical line with the front of the knee of your slide leg. This establishes a good balance line.

Vertical Balance Plane (Front view of right-hander, Rear view of left-hander)

Balance Line (Side view)

Having problems bending your knees, or not getting low enough at the foul line at your finish? Well, again it starts with the stance. An easy way to get lower, is to lower your butt. A simple test will help prove my point. Standup and push it back. Notice you just got lower to the ground and your knees started to bend as well. This is much easier than trying to stand erect and bending your knees. Our normal cadence will have us standing tall once we take our first step because we walk standing upright! But bowling requires us to get a little lower to perform better. So now let's set our butt.

Push your butt back so that your weight is centered on your push-off foot. This establishes the back angle of your approach and the "V" created by your spine and the thigh of your slide leg. The center of the "V" should be parallel to the approach throughout your delivery. Notice how this setup will make the previous months' tips that much easier to achieve and execute!

And now to complete our stance, let's set the ball position. Position the ball under your chin to properly align your arm swing. Place the ball in both the vertical balance plane and the balance line. The ball may be slightly left, or right, of the vertical balance plane to compensate for bowlers with different physiologies.

Wrap-up

Hopefully you start to see that the Modern game approach is attempting to make you more relaxed and better aligned in preparing to execute your shot. Each of us has our physical limitations that will always require minor modifications to any instruction presented. However, the intent of these topics is to enhance your game (mentally and physically) so that you can enjoy the game by achieving results at the end of the lane and on your score sheets. As I've stated before, practicing these tips over and over until they become natural will feel awkward at first. But once they become second nature, the results will impress you. Until next month....