Is Bowling Hard To Play? An Introduction For Beginners


When one of my nephews was a bit younger than he is now he once asked me if bowling was hard to do. Never actually thinking about if bowling was “hard to do” since I’ve bowled off and on since I was younger than him, I told him “no”

But is bowling hard to play? As a casual sport, no, bowling is not hard at all. It’s only hard if you want to become a professional. Professional bowlers may not seem like professional athletes but you have to understand that they play blind every game.

Don’t get me wrong, bowling is a great sport to play and easy to learn. So easy that many people think they can become a professional overnight and rack up on sponsor deals.

Equipment Needed To Play

One great thing(because there’s so many) about bowling is that when you want to get started you don’t have to go to a sporting goods store and buy a bunch of expensive equipment. Everything you need to start can be rented at your local bowling alley. 

All you need to start is a pair of rented shoes and a house ball. Every bowling alley in America provides these for customers. If you ever walk into a bowling alley that doesn’t, then you must be in the twilight zone.

You may have scoffed at the idea of wearing rented shoes but this is a must. Street shoes can not be worn on the lanes due to them being dirty. Bowling alley lanes can be damaged by this, therefore in order to bowl, you must rent shoes, or buy a pair of your own bowling shoes

You can get bowling shoes anywhere just like other types of shoes, except you can also buy bowling shoes at your local bowling alley. Most have pro shops inside.

The house ball you select shouldn’t be too heavy, but it also shouldn’t be too light, you don’t want to have to pay for damages if you lug the ball down the lanes and break something. Think of Goldilocks and The Three Little Bears when choosing a house ball. You want it to be just right. 

The ideal weight would be %10 of your body weight. This isn’t a rule and isn’t set in stone. You know your body better than I do, and if you have any pain whatsoever anywhere in your body, please use caution when choosing a bowling ball.

You may have to throw a few in order to figure out what works best. Many people struggle trying to figure out what weight to go with, but it’s not that serious. If you can throw it multiple times(cause that’s basically the game) and it doesn’t cause you any harm, you’ve found your ideal weight for a bowling ball.

How To Bowl

Since writing out “how to bowl” would make as much sense as writing out “how to swim” it’s better to watch a video. Below is a great example of how to bowl for beginners.

Bowling is a simple as rolling a ball down a lane and hoping it knocks down the pins at the end. Bowling is also as difficult as rolling a ball down a lane and hoping it knocks down ALL the pins at the end. Which, if you’ll come to find out is a lot easier said than done. Still all in good fun.

When learning how to bowl it’s a good idea to ask those around you if they know how to bowl and if they could show you a few tricks if they know any. Hooking the ball is a popular thing many bowlers want to learn to do. It’s amazing to watch.

Dude Perfect teams up w/ the World’s #1 Bowler: Jason Belmonte

The most important thing to remember when trying any new activity is to have fun. Don’t worry if you bowl a few gutter balls in a row. It takes time to get better when learning something new, in this case, bowling.

Watch a few YouTube videos, watch a few bowlers at your local alley while bowling. Get a book if you’re serious. There’s many to choose from on amazon.

Related Questions

What Is The Rarest Score In Bowling?

The rarest score in bowling to get is 292. It’s rare because you have to get 11 strikes in a row and only knock down 2 pins in a frame. you can start out any way you’d like, but it’s pretty darn hard to do.

How Many Strikes Are In A Game?

There are 12 strikes in a full game, for a score of 300. This is hard to do, but with enough practice, t is possible to accomplish. The youngest person to achieve a 300 score in bowling is Chaz Dennis at 10 years old 2 months and 27 days.

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