Is Bowling a Luck Sport?

I heard something interesting the other day from someone at the alley, and he said, "Most of the time, the winners of tournaments are no real sportsmen, but losers who just were lucky. Bowling is like playing with a slot-machine!!!"

Then I proceeded to tell him There is a big difference. All a slot machine has is a couple of buttons and the computer has control over what it results. Therefore your only control of the slot machine is just a button or 2, but it does not control the results.

Bowling is different. You have control of your ball and how you shoot it gives you the results based upon your shooting and physical ability. If you know your lanes well and how to control your swing, ball, etc. you can shoot some really high scores.

It's a combination of:

Knowing the basics of bowling.....

Luck for all the times your bowling ball hits wrong, but still manages to mix the pins up for a strike.....

Concentration to be able to continually focus on that "moving target" due to oil carrydown and hit the pocket all 12 times.....

Muscle memory to continually address, swing, release and deliver the ball the same time every frame to attempt to score "300".....

It's probably difficult for even the most seasoned professional to do because luck is somewhat involved, but it does happen more often than not nowadays because of the advanced equipment out there as compared to 20 years ago.

In my opinion, (and this includes any game out there) the better player will usually score higher and do better, whether there is luck involved or not.

If you need additional info you can check out the Bowling For Dummies, there is a small price for it, but it's well worth it in my opinion. Good luck and keep practicing!

-Tim