Bowling: How you can become a better bowler (first in a series)

Welcome! It is great-t-t-t to have you aboard. My name is Gary King, and I consider myself to be a good bowler. I am not an expert! I am not a professional! But I am, like you, a bowler, trying to bowl, trying to have fun and trying to think I am learning something about bowling. We are all in the same boat, regardless of our average.

I am a 50% service-connected veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, and I am also a 67-year-old Senior bowler and average between 200 and 220 in six leagues in the southeast Iowa area.

Two of the mixed leagues are bowled on Monday and Thursday nights at Colonial Lanes in Iowa City, Iowa and these are synthetic lanes. My averages there are 203 and 207.

On Tuesday nights I bowl in two leagues. The first one is the Westdale Men's Trio League, which is composed of three men per team. That is a scratch league and I average 215 in that league.

The second league I am in is the Cedar Rapids Traveling Classic League and we bowl in a different house each week. There are five bowling centers involved in this league and we bowl four games per night and it is a scratch league. There are also two Senior Pros bowling in this league.

On Wednesday nights I bowl at Hilltop Bowl in Sigourney, Iowa. This is a wood house with eight lanes. The first league is the Tri-County Men's League and I average 203. The second league is the Hilltop Men's League and I average 219.

I may bowl a higher average than most of you, and I may be considered a better bowler, however, we are all bowlers... and we are in this together. I respect your average and many times I see bowlers averaging much less than me who are not getting the hits they deserve. And there is a reason for that which we can correct!

This article, if I may call it that, will be the start of a series of articles to help those of you who wish to become better bowlers. And if you can become a better bowler, you will find the sport of bowling can be a lot of fun. It can be a drag sometimes if you are not bowling well and your scores are not what you would like them to be.

I am a common sense bowler and I have my own system of getting the pins down. You can be a good bowler and have a higher average, regardless of how the pins go down. And you can get them down with a lighter ball, if you do it right!

Let us begin this journey into new territory. We will approach this from the angle that you are an average bowler and you want to raise your average without spending a lot of money because maybe you feel you just can't afford a new ball, for example. So, let us raise your average with what you presently have.

Tune in to this station for a continuing march toward that 300 game. And do not believe it if someone says it is out of reach. It can come when it is least expected and it can sneak up on anyone, believe it or not.

I got my first 300 last season, and what a thrill. I received not only my 300 ring, but an award jacket from Columbia 300 as well. They have an award program and because I was using a Columbia 300 wicked ball, they gave me the jacket.

Always remember one thing when things are going bad at the bowling center: The ball does not have a mind or a brain and while we may want to blame the ball for a bad shot, we have to roll the ball and we are ultimately responsible for where it ends up.

Also -- smile!... Your face will not crack!

Always remember one thing about life, no matter what your status or what you do -- you are, or should be, Captain of your own ship!