All About Bowling Lane Configuration

Video Transcript

"Hi, I am Ed Kramarcik, PBA bowler and AMF staff player since 1989 and today I want to talk about the cosmetics of bowling. The lane, what the dots mean and what the arrows, this way when you come out and bowl, you will exactly know where to stand and how to lay down the ball. A lot of people would come out to a bowling alley and they have no clue what the dots mean and what the lane is asking for as far as dots and arrows and I am going to explain that to you. So we are going to go over the cosmetics of the lane right now. You have the dots and you have the arrows, the dots is where people setup, this is called a setup area where you get ready to go and bowl, so this is the approach. So standing on the approach, each dot is 5 boards, so if you wanted to stand 20 you would be standing right here on the middle dot because you have 10 boards from the ball return and yet each one after that is 5 boards. So if you were standing 20 you would be standing on the third dot and if you stand on the third dot, now you are standing 20. Well if you are standing 20, the lay down for any structure of bowlers, any individual bowler is 7 boards. So if you are standing 20, when the ball comes out of your hand, as long as you walk straight up the foul line it will be 7 boards so you will be laying you ball down on 13 which is 3 boars left of the second arrow which is the 10 board and 3 is 13. Everybody’s structure is 7 boards to lay down, that is the basic rule of thumb. It does change if you drift a little, you walk a little crooked as you are getting to the foul line and release your ball. So just remember that the third dot is the 20 board and if you want to play 13 you are going to stand 20 because of the 7 board lay down. If we move to board 25 and you are going to lay down then you are not going to be hitting the spot that you are looking to hit which was 13 before. Now I just move my feet left to 25. so 25, my lay down is going to be 7 difference so that means that you are going to be rolling the ball all over 18, 18 -7-25. If I want to play, 18 that is 3 boards left of the third arrow because like I said the arrows and the dots cosmetically is the same, it is only 5 boards a spot. So that is how you know exactly your lay down for your ball and where you want to play on your shot, give it a try and I guarantee you that you will have a lot more fun and shoot a lot more higher games. Thank you."