Bowling
What we do
We meet on a Wednesday afternoon in front of the university at 1pm . We bowl at the Hull AMF in Sutton Fields, traveling either in taxis or in members cars. We have three games and then usually a few extra afterwards. We have a special deal with the bowling alley which entitles us to reduced rates, cheaper beer.
All bowlers were non-bowlers once, so coaching is available from our qualified instructors to help you improve your game and help you get the most from the club. The club enters teams for many inter-University competitions (UCTBA, BUSA) and also single independent tournaments organised by other clubs.
If you feel you don't want to bowl in competitions just come along and bowl, drink the beer and enjoy the most social club at Hull. Socials including regular weekly nights outs to the Students Union as well as five-a-side football, poker nights, pub crawls and a few other range of activities organised by our dedicated social secretary.
New To Bowling
Some information for new bowlers to help you get started
Fundamentals come first.
Check constantly on the fundamentals which are the very backbone of your game. Once you have mastered these fundamentals, you can move on to more advanced bowling such as playing alleys, etc. You cannot do these until you have perfected your fundamentals. They are the ABC's of bowling.
Use a straight ball until you become consistent.
This is good advice unless you have a natural hook. You can learn to control a straight ball quicker and you can learn to hit spares sooner. You can also concentrate on fundamentals at the same time, which is a difficult job when one is trying to throw a hook or curve. After you have mastered the straight ball, you can start putting "stuff" on the ball.
Experiment with a three-step, four-step and a five-step delivery. You will need to experiment until you find the delivery best suited to you. For the average bowler, the following distances are approximately correct for the starting position in the various deliveries: For a three-step, eight to ten feet from the foul line; for a four-step, ten to twelve feet back; and for a five-step, twelve to sixteen feet. These distances apply to a bowler of average size and stride. If your own size and stride are not average, make your own adjustments to fit.
Play spare shots from the correct basic angles.
Play the 7-pin spare from the right-hand side to "give it the entire alley possible," and the 10-pin, from the left-hand side. Increase your chances of success by playing the percentages in your favor whenever and wherever you can.
Do not release the ball until after it has passed your left foot.
You have two welcome here. First, the ball is out on the alley bed where it should be, and second, it is in front of you, giving you a better direction on your target. Just how far past the foul line the ball should be released varies with the size of the bowler, the speed with which he approaches the foul line, the speed and length of his footwork, and the number of steps taken. A six-foot man, for instance, with long arms and long legs, might naturally release the ball two feet past the foul line, while a five-footer, who has short arms and takes short steps, might release it two inches past the line. Each man is correct.
Work to perfect a natural, easy delivery.
The only way to learn consistency is to bowl naturally with an easy style that allows you to be more consistent and to hold that consistency. Be natural don't try to ape a delivery just because some expert may be using it. Use your own style.
Experiment with the pin and spot bowling systems.
In this way you find out which is best for your game. There are many advocates of both styles whose success proves that their particular system is right for them. Try both, and try the combination of the two. After you have decided on one stick to it. And use it on every shot strike or spare.
The knowledge of how to play the games of bowling has been given here. The questions like the fundamentals of the game, how to become consistent using the straight ball, experiments with different delivery, play spare shots from the correct basic angles, work to perfect a natural, easy delivery and experimenting with the pin and spot bowling systems, etc. would help you to learn how to play the game of bowling better and develop skills to maintain your consisency in performing.
The Basic Steps
This method is to be applied for right handed bowlers, lefties simply reverse the procedure.
The stance:
Stand about one and a half meters from the foul line and face square on to the pins. Hold the ball waist high.
The follow-through:
Continue the swing of your arm until pointing at the pins. Your left arm should be extended to the side for balance, hips and shoulders should be square towards target. Don't open your hand when releasing the ball; your fingers should stay in the griped position.
Words of wisdom:
Remember bowling is not a race; a good repeatable rhythm is a winner. A good pace setter is to say, “I have plenty of time to bowl this ball”. Also bowling is not about how hard and fast you can swing the ball, it’s all about gravity, the ball should be doing all the work, not your arm
Lane Etiquette
The rules of the lane, Lane etiquette stems from the basic premise that a bowler shouldn't disturb the concentration of their opposition (or fellow players) by making any sudden movements within their field of view. As the movement of any bowler is not restricted to the width of their lane, the observation of lane etiquette also ensures bowlers are not obstructed during the course of play.
The lane is split into two parts the wooden approach and the bowling surface, they are split by a black line known as the foul line. Any player who has placed their feet on the (wooden) lane approach is considered to be "using the lane". Ideally, it will not be necessary to place your feet on the approach to retrieve a ball, as balls will move toward the near end of the ball return during play. However, the second (or third) ball of a frame will not necessarily be retrievable from behind the approach. In this case, collecting the ball will involve "using the lane".
Note: Some players like to retrieve the ball and retreat from the approach before bowling; this still constitutes use of the lane if contact is made with the approach. Hence lane etiquette dictates that you don't start to use the lane at the same time as a neighbouring bowler.
The observation is often made that you have neighbouring bowlers on both left and right hand sides; sometimes concessions are made in favour of the neighbouring bowler if they are on the same team as you, or in favour of the slower team if play is not commencing at equal rates on both sides. In competition, etiquette can rule on giving way to either of two lanes on the side of the bowling arm, if not on both sides of the bowler's lane.
Basically lane etiquette is in place so that you don't disturb the concentration of the bowler in the adjacent lanes. As the movement of any bowler is not restricted to their lane it is also inplace to protect you and ensure you are not obstructed in taking your shot.
The lane is split into two parts the wooden approach and the bowling surface, they are split by a black line known as the foul line. Once a player steps onto the wooden approach they are said to be "using the lane". Etiquette dictates that you shouldn't start to use your at the same time as the adjacent bowler.
In short the basic do's and don'ts of lane etiquette are:
- Don't retrieve a ball when there is an adjacent player using the lane who is yet to deliver their shot.
- Don't start to bowl when there is an adjacent player using the lane who is yet to deliver their shot.
- Do wait for the machinery to finish placing the pins before making contact with the approach, as this allows neighbouring bowlers to use their lane while you wait. Bear in mind that the machinery on your lane could be about to break down!
- Do think about bowling in sync with a player two lanes away (where etiquette rules assert a one-lane-either-side ruling): the observation of etiquette by the player between you means that only the bowler on your other side has to be considered.
- Don't retrieve a ball when there is an adjacent player using the lane who is yet to deliver their shot.
- Don't start to bowl when there is an adjacent player using the lane who is yet to deliver their shot.
- The bowler on your right has the right of way.
- Do wait for the machinery to finish placing the pins before making contact with the approach, as this allows neighbouring bowlers to use their lane while you wait. Bear in mind that the machinery on your lane could be about to break down!
- A bowling ball (even a house ball) is the property of the bowler for the duration of the session; where possible try to use the ball you picked out yourself.
- Keep food and drink out of the playing area.
- Use regulation-bowling shoes and make sure they are dry: Wet shoes are dangerous, avoid any wet patches in the playing area like the plague.
- Refrain from talking to a bowler once they have assumed their stance. This includes heckling and abuse, save that for when their turn is over.
- Return any ball used to the racks before leaving, it’s only fair.
- Throwing the ball as hard as you are able will NOT cause more pins to drop.
- Please don't put more than 2 personal balls on the rack at a time. (No jokes please)
- Do not take an excessive amount of time before each ball delivery.
- As soon as you have completed your delivery and follow through, move away from the foul line and wait behind the approach for your ball to return.
How Scoreing works
Scoring in tenpin bowling became a lot easier with the introduction of the automatic scoring systems so I'll just give you the basics of scoring.
As most of you probably already know a game of tenpin bowling consists of ten frames and each frame consists of two attempts to knock all of the pins down. If you miss the pins or cross the foul line you'll score nothing for that go and the screen will either display "-" or "F" depending on which you do.
If in your first frame you knock down nine pins or less you will get a score of the amount of pins you knocked down. If you knock down the remaining pins this is called a spare shown by "/" on the screen. This gives you the opportunity to score more than 10 as it adds your score from your first delivery of your next frame to it.
When you knock all the pins down on your first go this is a strike and is denoted by "X" and this frame is finished. Getting a strike is more valuable than a spare as this counts as 10 plus your next two deliveries. So it is possible to get 30 points for one frame by following up a strike with two more (this is called a "turkey").
When 2 or more pins are left which are not adjacent to each other this is called a split and the screen will show a box around your score for that go. As the pins are not adjacent to each other this makes it more difficult to spare this frame.
As I said before the maximum score for any one frame is 30 so it is fairly logical that the maximum score for any game is 300. But in order for this to be possible you need to have three deliveries in the final frame (so 30 can be obtained in this frame), so if you strike or spare your last frame you will be given extra goes.
Club constitutions
Below are links to the constitutions which all members must follow