Bowling Lessons By Bill Spigner

06/05/2026

My “Throwback Thursday" photos this month is a nice article that appeared in the January, 2001 issue of International Bowling Industry.

It highlights basically my career from bowling on the PBA Tour to how Barb and I got involved in building Hawthorn Lanes in Vernon Hills, IL, our company philosophy/culture, and what we did to make our business successful. We always tried to stay up with the rapidly changing trends in the bowling industry and after looking back I think we were successful at doing that.

Our emphasis was always on league play and we were very good at that—our youth program had close to 400 youth in it (more than all the other centers in our association combined) and we had 77 leagues involving 3,400 bowlers. I oversaw the whole business, worked the pro shop and also was able to continue giving private lessons which is still a large passion of mine.

Barb was in charge of the leagues and marketing of parties, special events, and the tournaments we ran. We were a good team, and along with our wonderful, loyal and just-as-hard working staff, we developed something that was pretty special in the bowling world.

This article was written 7 years before we sold Hawthorn Lanes to Brunswick in 2008—we operated it for 19 years. And to this day Barb and I still have the same philosophies in the bowling things we are involved in now—I am very busy giving private lessons, writing for Bowlers Journal International and coaching the Vernon Hills High School Boy’s Bowling team (this fall will be my 24th year) and Barb manages my website and produces my monthly newsletter (this one is the 214th one).

I think the business philosophies we strove for are still very viable today—but luckily, we didn’t have to deal with the negatives that today’s social media can present. But as I say in the article “even when a customer is wrong, you have to know how to make them feel right.” And it’s still a good policy to have.

To read the article easier go tohttps://www.billspigner.com/pdf/IBI_0101.pdf

06/04/2026

My “Bill’s Tip of the Month” is all about adjusting on the lanes that I touched upon in one of the questions in this month’s February, 2003 Bowling Digest featured column.

Here is my tip this month—my 38th one. All 38 tips can be viewed here or on my "Tip of the Month" page on my website--https://www.billspigner.com/tips.php

My tip:

Bowling is a game of constant adjusting. We play on oil, which is an invisible field. A lane can play differently one day to the next even when the lanes are oiled the same. There are a number of factors that can make a lane play differently: temperature, humidity, and its topography.

Temperatures and humidity can fluctuate, but a lane’s topography is basically determined when the lane is installed. Each lane has a different shape—very minute—the maximum crosswise tilt, crown, and depression a lane can have is just .04”—but this very small difference effects the ball as it travels down the lane. It’s these things—not the oil applied—that makes the most changes lane to lane.

You have to adjust when your ball doesn’t get to the pocket and the basic rule of thumb to follow is to move your feet and target in the direction of your miss. If you miss right, move right; is you miss left, you move left. You can also, besides moving, increase or decrease your speed, apply more or less turn, more or less loft or change balls—but those are more advanced techniques—and I have always believed in moving your feet and target before changing other things.

Targeting at the arrows is the easiest way to calculate how much you are adjusting. If you move your feet one board left as an example on the approach and keep your target the same the ball will end up about 3 boards to the right at the pins. If you were to move your target 1 board to the right and keep your feet in the same place the total adjustment at the pins would be about 4 boards right at the pins. This is the basic math of adjusting when targeting at the arrows.

You should be ready to move when your ball doesn’t hit the pocket as the oil on the lane is changing with each ball rolled, regardless of the type of ball being thrown. There’s an old saying “he who finds it first wins” is very true—the better you get at adjusting, the better your chances are at scoring higher overall. Pay close attention to the direction your ball is traveling and how it goes through the pins so you can learn to understand its reaction to the lane and the effect on your pin carry.

There are basically two adjustments that anyone can do. Changing angles is the most common and this is where you move your feet more than you move your target and that will change the direction your ball travels down the lane. The first graphic shows an example of an angle change by moving your feet more than your target. “A” is your first ball, and “B” shows what happens when you just move your feet and use the same target. You can see how the angle changes.

The other lane adjustment you can do is make parallel moves to get your ball closer or further away from the head pin without changing the angle your ball is traveling down the lane. This involves moving your feet and target the same amount in the same direction. This keeps the trajectory of your ball the same going down the lane. The second graphic is an example of a parallel move where you move your feet and target the same amount. As you can see the angle of your trajectory is completely different than the first graphic.

All of this takes a long time to learn. I give lessons all the time to people who have been bowling for years and have no idea how to adjust or move on the lanes. Seek out private instruction to learn the basics on how to move—it’s something that all good bowlers know how to do. They can see and react to how the lanes are changing with calculated moves—not just guessing. It’s the path to higher scores.

06/03/2026

06/03/2026

My “Bill’s Tip of the Month” is all about adjusting on the lanes that I touched upon in one of the questions in this month’s February, 2003 Bowling Digest featured column.

Here is my tip this month—my 38th one. All 38 tips can be viewed on my "Tip of the Month" page on my website--https://www.billspigner.com/tips.php

My tip:

Bowling is a game of constant adjusting. We play on oil, which is an invisible field. A lane can play differently one day to the next even when the lanes are oiled the same. There are a number of factors that can make a lane play differently: temperature, humidity, and its topography.

Temperatures and humidity can fluctuate, but a lane’s topography is basically determined when the lane is installed. Each lane has a different shape—very minute—the maximum crosswise tilt, crown, and depression a lane can have is just .04”—but this very small difference effects the ball as it travels down the lane. It’s these things—not the oil applied—that makes the most changes lane to lane.

You have to adjust when your ball doesn’t get to the pocket and the basic rule of thumb to follow is to move your feet and target in the direction of your miss. If you miss right, move right; is you miss left, you move left. You can also, besides moving, increase or decrease your speed, apply more or less turn, more or less loft or change balls—but those are more advanced techniques—and I have always believed in moving your feet and target before changing other things.

Targeting at the arrows is the easiest way to calculate how much you are adjusting. If you move your feet one board left as an example on the approach and keep your target the same the ball will end up about 3 boards to the right at the pins. If you were to move your target 1 board to the right and keep your feet in the same place the total adjustment at the pins would be about 4 boards right at the pins. This is the basic math of adjusting when targeting at the arrows.

You should be ready to move when your ball doesn’t hit the pocket as the oil on the lane is changing with each ball rolled, regardless of the type of ball being thrown. There’s an old saying “he who finds it first wins” is very true—the better you get at adjusting, the better your chances are at scoring higher overall. Pay close attention to the direction your ball is traveling and how it goes through the pins so you can learn to understand its reaction to the lane and the effect on your pin carry.

There are basically two adjustments that anyone can do. Changing angles is the most common and this is where you move your feet more than you move your target and that will change the direction your ball travels down the lane. The first graphic shows an example of an angle change by moving your feet more than your target. “A” is your first ball, and “B” shows what happens when you just move your feet and use the same target. You can see how the angle changes.

The other lane adjustment you can do is make parallel moves to get your ball closer or further away from the head pin without changing the angle your ball is traveling down the lane. This involves moving your feet and target the same amount in the same direction. This keeps the trajectory of your ball the same going down the lane. The second graphic is an example of a parallel move where you move your feet and target the same amount. As you can see the angle of your trajectory is completely different than the first graphic.

All of this takes a long time to learn. I give lessons all the time to people who have been bowling for years and have no idea how to adjust or move on the lanes. Seek out private instruction to learn the basics on how to move—it’s something that all good bowlers know how to do. They can see and react to how the lanes are changing with calculated moves—not just guessing. It’s the path to higher scores.

06/03/2026

Congrats ! to these students of mine who have had some nice accomplishments recently.

Ron Huspen--shot a wonderful 944 series—a 236 average—which is way above his 173 average. As good as his series was, the best part of this is the shoes he is wearing. It’s one of the shoes his famous uncle—the talented Chicagoland area bowler and proprietor of River Grove Bowl, Frank Huspen wore.

Frank was a PBA member whose high career finish was when he made the TV show on the PBA Tour finishing 5th in the 1978 Showboat Invitational.

Frank had a great fluidity to his bowling and bowled 13 career 300 games at time where 300’s were not as common as they are today. He was a member of both the Illinois USBC Hall of Fame and the Chicagoland USBC Hall of Fame. Frank passed away in 2009 and since 2010 Ron has been wearing his slide shoe.

They are old-school Linds Classics from the early 1970’s and Ron has had it repaired and resoled many times. Ron is a left-hander just like Frank and he wears them to remind himself to always do the Huspen bowling name proud. He’s not sure he would bowl as well if he didn’t wear them.

Abby Starkey--was named to 2027 Jr. Team USA by finishing in the top 3 of the bowlers eligible at the U22 USBC Queens. All bowlers had to be under 23 years of age by May 25, 2026 to be able to bowl. She qualified 8th (out of 93 bowlers) to make the double elimination bracket play getting a first round bye where she eventually finished in the 9th-12th place round. Abby just finished her freshman year at NCAA powerhouse University of Nebraska and was also a member of Jr. Team USA in 2024, 2025, and 2026.

Aaron Tagawa--shot a nice 733 series on games of 275, 236, and 222. Aaron just finished his sophomore year at Vernon Hills High School.

06/02/2026

My featured Bowlers Journal International “The Pro Approach” article this month—“Kuhlkin’s Key: Open-Mindedness” is from the January, 2019 issue and features 3-time PWBA Champion including the 2018 US Open, Liz Kuhlkin.

Liz has had an outstanding career since she was a youth bowler—earning the national high youth girl’s average of 225 in the 2009-09 season; 228 in the 2009-10 season; and 225 in the 2010-11 season.

From there she went to bowl collegiately at powerhouse University of Nebraska, where she was a star on that team that won the 2013 and 2015 NCAA Bowling Championships and she was the 2013 NCAA Bowling Championships Most Outstanding Player, 2015 NTCA Division 1 Player of the Year, 3-time NCTA first team All-American, 2015 Nebraska Female Athlete of the Year, and won 9 medals in international competition as a member of Jr. Team USA and Team USA.

Since I wrote this article, she was the USBC National High Average Award winner for the 2019-20 season averaging 240; 2021-22 season averaging 247.29 (4th highest all-time average); 2023-24 season averaging 239.80; and 2024-25 season averaging 246.39 and her 1,155 4-game series she shot in April, 2024 is 2nd all-time. The 890 3-game series she shot in October, 2016 and the 879 series she shot in February, 2017 are the 1st and 2nd all-time series by a woman.

My article covers her changes from her youth success to college, where I explain the 5 small changes she made to her game at Nebraska, which eventually lead to her PWBA Tour success.

After going on the PWBA Tour she had immediate success, but she began to struggle my article explains how she worked her way out of her problems to become the 2018 US Open champion. She took time off from the PWBA Tour the past two years and is planning to bowl every event except one this season.

I wish her the best as she has a lot of talent and a special game that can strike with the best.

Join my FREE e-mail list at www.billspigner.com and you’ll get my monthly articles e-mailed to you.