I have a friend who has been helping me with my game. Most of the things he's been teaching me have been quite beneficial except for one thing and that one thing is my arm swing. Before I get into it, heres a little background on my friend.

He averages 220 to 230 in league. He use to bowl alot of PBA Regionals (Pacific Northwest) and has I believe a couple 2nds. He's bowled 1 national stop and countless local tournaments with a few titles. With that said, its safe to say he knows a little something about bowling. I fully trust him with my game except for one little thing.

He tells me to keep my arm as close to my body as possible during the arm swing. I've been practicing with a towel under my armpit and trying not to drop the towel during my swing. At first it was pretty hard for me but now I can do it without any problems. The problem now is that I can't hit my target. I miss left constantly and I also can't get that desired inside out swing he talks so much about.

The other day I was remembering what Randy Peterson said on a telecast couple years ago about Big Wes. He said that if he were to start teaching, he would teach the outside inside out swing sort of a figure 8. I started doing this and my accuracy has improved 2 fold. I don't miss left anymore and I seem to get more on the ball. Ive tried this technique for about 3 days now (approx 15 games) I haven't bowled under 200 yet and I bowled my first 279. I talked to my friend about this and this is what he said. "If you want to become a great bowler, you must keep your arm close to your body and have an inside out swing. If you look at all the greats, they all do this" I said Big Wes doesn't plus I know he looks down at the foul line when he bowls and you said you can't be good doing that either. He then said "Your not Big Wes"

I personally think my game has improve by doing this but I also want to continue to get help from my buddy. He won't help me if I don't listen to him exactly because he knows better. I don't know what to do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Your friend is right, but at the same time the same things don't work for everyone. There are a couple of other things that go along with your swing being tight against your body. The most important one is your body angle. This is what helps the ball feed right and gives you the power your saying you don't have. Go to Morichbowling.com, look under MO's corner. He has tips on there and diagrams. You can kind of see what I am talking about. To get back to your question, I myself have a hard time keeping my swing tucked the entire swing. Mine does go a little right towards the top of my swing, but the important thing is I get it right back against me on the downswing.
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Just my 2cents
Assuming your swing is ok.Your  missing your target left probability because your closing your shoulders, instead of them staying a little more open.
I had found that when working on keeping my arm close and I was pulling left.

One of the best ways to help stay open is to keep the trailing arm back, but even with your shoulders.
To do this have the thumb of your non bowling hand turned down and slightly pointed toward the approach behind you.
This will help lock your arm and keep your shoulder from rotating and help keep your balance in check.

Also there is the possibility you miss left because of,I think the term is "parallax??" of where your dominant eye looks.
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When you look at something and point at it. If you sight down your arm, you see you not really pointing at what you thought. most of the time your really pointing a little left of it.

If you miss left consistently the same amount (say 3 boards left) just target right of the target that amount.




Edited on 9/16/2008 9:41 AM

Lane, I like the elbow explanation that is an excellant way to explain it.  

I want to thank everyone for your responses. I like my new swing, it feels natural and as long as my arm is close to my body on the down swing I guess its not bad after all. I'm going find a certified coach in my area and go from there.