Bowling Lessons By Bill Spigner

09/06/2026

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

Mitch Sacks--won the PBA50 Jordan Lanes Regional last month. This was Mitch’s second PBA50 Regional victory—he won his first in 2021 at Bowlero Deptford, NJ. In fact, his victory at Deptford was the first regional he bowled after joining the PBA!

Mitch has been a friend of ours for over 35 years. He bowled at Hawthorn Lanes and helped coach our youth leagues and travel team for over 17 years when he moved to the Vernon Hills area from New Jersey. We will be forever grateful for all the contributions he made to the Hawthorn Lanes youth program and really to Hawthorn Lanes as a league bowler.

Mitch has been a high-level bowler for over 40 years—he’s a member of 3 USBC Halls of Fame--New Jersey State, Union County New Jersey, and Lake County Illinois. And he holds the Hawthorn Lanes series record of 889 that he bowled in January, 2007. He bowled 290, 299, 300 and left a 10-pin on his first ball of his first game and a 7-pin on the last ball of his second game. He bowled it on lanes 35-36.

I have worked with Mitch throughout the years, but when he decided he wanted to bowl PBA50 events he really worked on the changes I’ve talked with him about and it paid off last month with his 2nd PBA50 regional win.

It’s wonderful he wore his old Hawthorn Lanes youth travel shirt for his picture here.

Anthony Swanson--won the medium pattern portion of the Storm Youth Ohio U18 Championships last month. He also finished 6th in the short pattern portion and 19th in the long pattern portion. He finished 3rd overall--91 of some of the best male U18 bowlers from all over the USA competed.

Anthony is starting his senior year at Evanston High School and soon will de deciding on where he will go for college. He wants to study physical therapy and no matter where he goes he will be a wonderful addition to their bowling program.

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson phrased it--"A great man is always willing to be little."

Want to see other "Quotes of the Month"? Click on this link-- https://www.billspigner.com/quotes

There is a good mixture of serious and more humorous quotes.

09/04/2026

09/03/2026

My “Bill’s Tip of the Month” about walk direction expands on the walk direction question from my featured October, 2002 Bowling Digest column this month.

My tip:

#41 — WALK DIRECTION

Walk direction is one aspect of bowling that is frequently misunderstood. Many think walking straight is the best way to bowl, while others think you should walk toward your target. Both are OK at times, but not all the time. What I have always said for a right-handed bowler’s walk direction is—“Right is wrong, left is right and straight is great.” The opposite holds for left-handers—I use right-handers for this tip.

One of the main reasons to walk left is to walk out of the way of your swing to help prevent it from going behind your back. The left walk should be natural—not forced by trying to make one or two of your steps go left. You need to do it by feel, and starting further right than you normally would, and feel like you are walking towards the left side of the lane. Another big positive reason to walk left is that your ability to play further left on the lane increases.

Walking right can be useful when playing outside angles or when you have a lot of friction to the right to throw your ball to, like what typical house shots are like. However, if this is the only way you can walk it will limit your ability to play a variety of angles.

Walking straight is very good for consistency and accuracy. Old school bowlers used to walk much straighter than today’s bowlers because they rolled the ball way straighter than today’s players.

Walking left is very common today because of how much bowlers hook the ball and the inside angles they must be able to play. Walking left is really an asset to being able to play inside angles.

It’s important to know your walk direction—pay attention to the board number you are standing on and the board you end up on to find out what your walk pattern is. If you see a big differences where you end up compared to where you started, you can work on your walk and or the problem that caused your inconsistency. Your feet are the only thing that comes in contact with your environment, pay attention to them. I suggest you work with a coach to help you work on your walk direction.

The four videos below are great examples of a straight walk—Kelly Kulick; left-walk—Kris Prather; and two videos of Jason Belmonte showing how he walks more when playing inside and much less when he is playing further right. See less