Tip of the Month - August 2025
‘Visualizing’ - Settee/Approach Separation
There are many forms of ‘visualizing’ but the concept is the same; “If you can SEE & FEEL it, you can DO IT!”
Let’s talk about a process of ‘visualizing’ in Bowling.
Most Bowlers will focus on Fundamentals or something physical they want to accomplish ON THE APPROACH.
This is common and is the best way to learn something new and build good muscle memory by thinking & applying ON THE APPROACH.
Once the Bowler has reached the ‘instinctive growth’ level and is repeating Fundamental shots on a regular basis, THEN the thought process should change so the Bowler can learn to trust his/her instincts and ‘get out of their own way’ and simply go do what they have taught their instincts to do.
This means to change their thought-process by separating the Settee area and the Approach area with their thinking and learning to take LESS TIME ON THE APPROACH and MORE TIME IN THE SETTEE AREA preparing for their upcoming shot.
Here’s how:
BEFORE it is the Bowler’s turn and the Bowler before them is on the Approach taking their turn; they should utilize this time for thinking in the SETTEE AREA about ONE Priority Fundamental thing they want to accomplish most on their upcoming shot. However long this takes, (30sec, 1min,) that is what they want to do. The ‘key’ is to go over (in their mind) seeing & feeling ONE thing they want to accomplish most. Play it over & over till the Bowler feels confident of doing it without thinking when they step up on the Approach.
The best way (I have found) to do this is to totally SEPARATE THE SETTEE AREA & THE APPROACH AREA!
I like to have a definite cut-off time for my instincts to ‘just get lined up and go roll the ball’ and that exact time is when my foot first touches the Approach. This tells my instincts, “Stop thinking and simply go roll a great shot”. Just 5-15sec before (in the Settee area) we tell our instincts what we want by seeing and feeling in our head so those thoughts are fresh and we don’t have to remind them when we step up on the Approach. They WILL remember!
When we step up on the Approach, we totally focus on rhythm & tempo (Swing-Flow) and just roll through the ‘visualized’ line we want to hit, trusting our instincts to execute the ONE Fundamental we just told them in the Settee Area. No need to take a long time aiming, just come to a complete stop, then go!
This takes some time to practice and learning to ‘trust your instincts’ since the Bowler was used to thinking on the Approach.
When this thought-process takes over, the Bowler is much looser & more confident to roll ‘quality’ shot after ‘quality’ shot.
On the other hand, when we think too much (on the Approach) we have a tendency to get tight and try to be too perfect. The instincts CANNOT help us when we are tight, only when we are loose.
- Randy Chism -
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