If you enjoy bowling regularly, it just makes sense to own your own bowling ball. After all, having your own ball can substantially improve your game, and you won’t have to waste time searching for the perfect ball. You’ll have the weight, materials, and holes drilled just how you want them, allowing you to focus on your technique rather than responding to differences in balls. 

But why stop at just one? Many regular bowlers actually own two or more bowling balls, so read on to learn why you should get a spare bowling ball and what to look for when shopping for a spare. 

Spare Balls vs Strike Balls

Most bowlers have one or two “strike balls” and a “spare ball.” You’ll start out with a strike ball in the hopes of—you guessed it—throwing a strike. If you don’t get a strike, you’ll want to switch to your spare ball to pick up the spare pins on your second turn. 

Reasons to Own a Spare Bowling Ball

Consistent reaction

Reactive resin is one of the most popular coverstock materials for a strike ball, as it provides an aggressive hook that can lead to maximum energy at the pins and a greater likelihood of throwing a strike. However, this type of bowling ball is much more susceptible to lane conditions and is more challenging to control, which is not ideal for picking up spares. 

Instead, you’ll want to opt for a urethane bowling ball. These balls hook throughout the lane, not just at the end, and are ideal for picking up spares on a drier lane. 

Improve your game

If you want to be good at bowling, it’s crucial to be able to pick up spares consistently. To do so, you’ll need a ball that you can count on to react the way you want it to, regardless of lane conditions. By perfecting your spare game, you can keep your scores relatively high even if you don’t make every strike. 

Express yourself

While it may not be as important as the coverstock material and hole drilling, it’s also fun to express yourself through your spare ball choice. Spare balls come in many colors, so you can find one to match your strike balls or go rogue and choose another color and pattern. 

Buying a spare bowling ball

When buying a spare or strike bowling ball, you should definitely take some advice from the pros. Bowling balls may look simple from the outside, but inside they are surprisingly complex! 

Visit Country Pro Shop located right inside Rab’s to discuss what you need in a ball with one of our experienced pros, and find the perfect balls to up your game. Remember, you’ll want to choose the same weight as your strike ball so you don’t have to adjust your speed.

Bowling isn’t as overtly physical as weightlifting or running a marathon, but to succeed as a bowler, you must learn to control your body and movements very carefully. Even subtle changes to your posture and technique can have a big impact on the outcome of a game, for better or worse. So, how can you step up your game and bowl more strikes? Today, we’re going to share some advice on how to improve your bowling balance. 

Why is balance important for bowling?  

The game of bowling is all about consistency and controlled energy, which makes balance one of the most important elements of the game. Wavering in your stance or being off your center of gravity when you make a throw can change the trajectory of the ball with disastrous results. 

How to improve your bowling balance

There are many ways to strengthen your balance skills when bowling, but these tips should get you off to a good start. 

Concentrate on your approach

• Keep your knees bent and your torso tilted about 10 or 15 degrees forward as you begin your approach. 
• As you move towards the lane, keep some bend in your knees with each step of your approach. By flexing your knees, you’re putting more of your weight onto your leg muscles, which will give you more power in your throw when you finally release the ball.
• Keep your upper body still as you approach, with no unnecessary movement. Focus especially on your head. Just as you would try to keep your head still when balancing a book while walking, you should be keeping your head up, eyes forward, and maintain this posture through your throw. 

Make your throw count

• When you throw the ball, your balance leg should move opposite the direction of your bowling arm swing as you move into your slide, staying in contact with the floor to help stabilize your torso and balance out the momentum generated from your swing. 
• As you release the ball, keep your sliding shoe in line with the boards of the lane and positioned under your center of gravity to ensure stability when you release the ball. 
• Keep your shoulders positioned directly over the knee of your sliding leg, providing stability as you release the ball. 
• Continue to keep your head up and your eyes trained on your target. Keep your chin at shoulder level or higher so as not to shift your weight during the throw. 
• Don’t forget your follow through! As you swing and release the ball, allow your arm to complete and hold the motion until your ball has traveled down the lane. Hold this final posture for a couple of seconds. 

Ready to level up your bowling game? Whether you join us for Cosmic Bowling with friends or enter one of our Staten Island bowling leagues, we hope to see you soon at Rab’s!

If you’re trying to improve your bowling game, there are many possible places you may want to focus your attention. However, one of the questions we hear most often is how to throw faster shots in bowling. The more speed on the ball, the more power will be transferred into the pins upon collision, which results in more pin action. (AKA pins flying and hopefully taking others down with them.) Read on to learn how to achieve a faster bowling throw, then hit the lanes to practice here at Rab’s Country Lanes, the best bowling alley in Staten Island. 

How to Throw Faster Bowling Shots

Speed up your approach

Moving more quickly on your approach is the simplest way to increase ball speed. While most people try to speed up their shots by throwing harder with their arms, you can actually increase your speed much more effectively by using your legs to gain momentum for your approach.To do this, you may need to move your starting point back in order to give you enough room to get up to speed. Concentrate on your form though, because this technique can cause you to lose accuracy. 

Loosen up

As we’ve mentioned before, it’s important to warm up before bowling. Keeping your arms and legs loose and limber will ensure that your swing is transferring the maximum amount of power to the ball as you release it. 

Hold the ball higher up

Less experienced bowlers will oftentimes attempt to increase ball speed by bringing their arm further up on the backswing. However, this rarely works to their advantage, as the higher backswing reduces accuracy. There’s no point in throwing a fast ball if it’s not going to the right place, after all. Instead, give yourself a higher starting position by holding the ball higher than you normally would, thereby increasing the overall length of the arc during your backswing. 

Strength train when away from the bowling alley 

Bowling isn’t all about your arms; keep that in mind and improve your game by strength training your whole body, including your legs, back, and abdominal muscles. The stronger you get, the more power you’ll be able to transfer to the ball. 

Ready to take your bowling game to the next level? Practice makes perfect, so make Rab’s Country Lanes part of your weekly routine! You can even save money by signing up for our Rab’s Rewards program. 

While practicing solo can be great for your game, don’t underestimate the value of some friendly competition! We have a number of bowling leagues available for the 2019-2020 season, including ladies only leagues, seniors leagues, and many more. There’s something for everyone, so join in on the fun. 

If you bowl regularly, you’ve probably noticed that some of your fellow bowlers bring their own bowling balls rather than using the balls provided for general use. There are plenty of reasons to go either way, so if you’re wondering if you should buy your own ball, check out these pros and cons of buying a bowling ball. And of course, you can always stop by the Country Pro Shop at Rab’s Country Lanes to discuss your questions with our friendly and experienced staff. 

Reasons to Buy Your Own Bowling Ball 

While there are probably more reasons to buy your own bowling ball, these are some of the best. 

Owning your own bowling ball can improve your game. 

So much of bowling is about consistency. By using a ball with a specific weight and composition, drilled just for you, you’re eliminating a variable from your game, allowing you to concentrate more on your technique than on adjusting to whatever ball you’ve picked up that day. As bowler and writer Jef Goodger puts it, “Using any old ball off the rack requires you to adapt your hand and style to fit the ball. When you have your own ball, the ball adapts to you.” 

Your personal equipment is just for you. 

Don’t waste time scouring the racks looking for the perfect ball; you’ve already got it with you! Having your own ball also helps to ensure that other bowlers won’t pick up your ball by mistake, and can even minimize your exposure to germs. The only things touching your ball are you, the lane, and the ball return! 

You can customize your bowling ball. 

If you buy your own bowling ball, you can have the finger holes drilled exactly right for your grip. You can choose a ball with certain materials, colors, and weights all according to your preferences and style. Once you experience bowling with your personalized ball, you’ll never want to go back to the gamble of using an alley ball!

Reasons to Use the Bowling Alley Balls 

If you’re not ready to make the commitment to buying your own bowling ball, that’s OK too! It’s totally reasonable that you might want to keep using the bowling alley balls for a while. 

Bowling alley balls are simply convenient. 

If you’re a casual, occasional bowler who’s in it more for the social aspect than the competitive nature of the game, don’t feel pressured to buy a ball. There’s no need to bring your own equipment if you’d rather just be able to walk in and play. That way you don’t have to worry about cleaning and maintaining a ball, transporting it, and investing in the supplies and equipment to do so.

You’re still figuring out what you like in a ball. 

Even if you really enjoy bowling and want to improve, if you’re new to the game you might want to figure out what you are looking for in a ball before making the purchase. While bowling balls are not particularly expensive (especially if you’re a beginner), you might be better off to try out several types of balls while you bowl before committing to one particular model. 

Save money by using the alley’s bowling balls. 

Bowling is a great option when you’re looking for affordable things to do in Staten Island, but buying your own equipment can definitely add up. If you’re trying to save money, don’t worry about it; you can always use the bowling balls provided by the bowling alley. 

Whether you buy a bowling ball or not, don’t miss out on the fun of this classic sport! Check out our open bowling schedule for times and rates.

Here at Rab’s Country Lanes, we see a lot of bowlers of all experience and skill levels, from occasional social bowlers to members of the many bowling leagues that meet at our Staten Island bowling alley. Bowling uses many parts of the body, so before you start, it’s important to get ready with some warmups to prevent bowling injuries. 

These bowling warm-ups will help you get the blood flowing and loosen up your muscles, not only lessening your chance of injury but also preparing you for your best possible game. 

5 Warm-ups for Bowlers

• Limber up – Take a short jog around the parking lot before you enter the bowling alley, jog in place at your lane, or even do some jumping jacks! (Make sure to be safe and considerate of other bowlers.) Any whole-body activity that gets your heart pumping (and more blood flowing to your muscles) will do the trick. 
• Stretch your shoulders –  Try the overhead shoulder stretch and posterior shoulder stretch to gently loosen up your shoulders. 
• Get a leg up – While you may throw the ball with your hand and arm, your whole body is actually involved in bowling. Warm up your legs to ready yourself for the approach by doing a few seconds of front and side lunges on each side of your body, as well as some quadricep stretches. 
• It’s all in the wrist – There are two types of wrist warm-ups you should do before bowling: 
  • Wrist Flexion – Hold your arm straight in front of you, palm down. Drop your hand at the wrist, and grasp your fingers with the opposite hand, gently pulling down to increase the stretch ever so slightly. You DO NOT want to use a lot of force with these exercises – go slowly and gently to avoid injury. Repeat with your other hand. 
  • Wrist Extension – Hold your arm in front of you, palm down. This time, raise your palm (bending at the wrist) and use the opposite hand to gently pull your fingers back towards your body. Repeat with your other hand. 

Whether you’re bowling with friends or competitively, these bowling warm-up exercises should help you prevent injury and have more fun! Join us at Rab’s Country Lanes any time for the best bowling in Staten Island. 

Different bowling balls have different reaction levels, which means some balls will respond better to certain lane conditions than others. If you’re in the midst of a game and feel that you just can’t get the ball to react properly despite making corrections in your technique or approach, it’s not you – it’s the ball. Learn how to know when to swap your bowling ball during a game with these tips. 

Should You Change Balls During a Game? A Checklist

You should not change bowling balls during a game without knowing what you hope to get out of it. According to The International Art of Bowling (a fantastic resource for any bowler looking to improve their game), there are three things you need to consider: 

• How is the ball reacting on the lane? This will depend partly on how recently the lane has been oiled. If it’s freshly oiled, you should have some skid and back end reaction by default. If the oil has been dispersed along the lane and your ball is hooking around the middle, you’ll want to move in. However, if you try this adjustment and the ball is sliding too long, or you move back and your ball is hooking too soon, you will need to change balls.
• What kind of hook are you getting? In addition to the adjustments above, try to notice whether you’re hooking too much or not enough. Are you missing inside or outside? This can help you determine what ball you should swap for. 
• How is the ball hitting the pins? Watch your ball entering the pocket and leaving the pin deck. Are you inexplicably leaving a lot of corner pins even with a good hit? Your ball may not be getting the necessary carry due to skidding for too long or hooking too early. Swapping your bowling ball may be the remedy you need to get your game back on track. 

Of course, “practice makes perfect” is a saying for a reason, so don’t underestimate the importance of bowling regularly and getting familiar with how each ball performs under certain conditions. Join us at Rab’s Country Lanes for open bowling in Staten Island, or sign up for one of our bowling leagues to improve your skills with a little competitive pressure!

One of the most essential skills required to be a good bowler is the hook shot. Mastering this shot will help you throw more strikes, because you’ll be more likely to hit the pocket – that sweet spot between the 1 and 3 or 1 and 2 pins that sends them flying and increases the number of pins you’ll knock down. But how do you throw a hook ball? Check out these tips to improve your hook shot and your bowling game overall. 

It’s not all in the wrist. 

While your first instinct when trying to hook the ball may be to rotate your wrist, that’s actually a recipe for a gutterball. The proper way to hook a bowling ball is to use your fingers to add some side rotation on the shot. 

As you take your final step before the throw, remove your thumb from the ball, allowing your middle and index fingers to control the release of the ball. When your arm is at the lowest point of the swing and the ball is supported by those two fingers, you’ll need to remove your middle and ring fingers while twisting them to add that little flick of lift. 

Ideally, your shot will be traveling straight down the lane before the side rotation you added takes over and carries the ball into the pocket. If you’re bowling right-handed, twist counter-clockwise; if you’re bowling left-handed, twist clockwise. 

Want to put these tips to use to improve your bowling technique? You’re always welcome at Rab’s Country Lanes in Staten Island, where we host open bowling as well as some great bowling leagues!