Left eye dominant/Right handed bowler?

[Smiles]

So today during practice I made a triangle with my hands to see what eye was dominant. Apparently I'm left eye dominant, but a right handed bowler. I have serious trouble hitting the same mark consistently. I was wondering if this was the cause of it, and how many people were out there with the same condition. I tried closing one eye for one game, and my accuracy sky rocketed. I can't just keep closing one eye when I bowl though :( It's just not comfortable lol. Anyone that has had the same problems as me, but managed to work through it, please help!

[J Anderson]

So today during practice I made a triangle with my hands to see what eye was dominant. Apparently I'm left eye dominant, but a right handed bowler. I have serious trouble hitting the same mark consistently. I was wondering if this was the cause of it, and how many people were out there with the same condition. I tried closing one eye for one game, and my accuracy sky rocketed. I can't just keep closing one eye when I bowl though :( It's just not comfortable lol. Anyone that has had the same problems as me, but managed to work through it, please help!

I think there was a thread on eye dominance recently with some links to articles about it in relation to bowling. I think the gist of it was to focus farther down the lane.

[bowl1820]

"cross dominant eye vision"

Here's a article by Joe Slowinski;
Click for Targeting for left eye-dominant righthanded bowlers
(http://bowlingknowledge.info/images/stories/slowinskinov09.pdf)

Mo Pinels advice was
"My first suggestion is to put your dominant eye over the ball in the stance and keep it there. That means that your head should be further right than normal, if you're right handed. If your dominant eye is over the center of the ball, you have eliminated the parallax. Then, any issues you have are purely physical."

Coaches' Corner SUSIE MINSHEW:
"Some right-handers are left eye dominant. This is also not a problem as long as it is known. Left eye dominance in a right-hander usually causes a miss left of three or four boards (sometimes more). No big deal. Want to hit 10? Look at 6. The variance in the miss is caused by how far the eye is from the target."

[ursus]

I have that condition. I just try to compensate with a combination of what bowl1820 put

[GeorgiaStroker]

I'm also a left eye dominant right handed bowler. I've tried the looking further right thing, the closing the eye thing, and the focusing further down the lane thing, but a combination of looking a few boards right and trying to keep a straight free armswing works the best for me, but you have to be more aware of all this and not get lazy during the approach or you'll be missing left again.

[martinezsam2495]

how do you tell wether which eye is dominant?

[Smiles]

What happens if you aim a few boards right, but actually land on the board you're looking at? Wouldn't that in turn be the same thing except in reverse? I'm glad that I'm not the only one riding this boat. It kind of sucks tbh lol.

If I'm leaning so far to the right that my left eye goes over the center of the ball, would that not interfere with balance?

@martinezsam2495. Extend your arms out and make a triangle with your hands (index fingers touching each other and thumbs touching each other). Look at something in front of you through the triangle you made. Then you close each eye. If you close your right eye, and you see the object inside your triangle clearly, then you are left eye dominant. If you close your left eye and the object is clear, then you are right eye dominant. I hope I explained it clearly enough. Kind of hard to explain.

[GeorgiaStroker]

Hold your hands out at arms length and use your hands to make a small hole to look through. Look at a spot on the wall and close your left eye. If you can still see the spot then you are right eye dominant. If the spot is not in sight anymore you are left eye dominant. Look at the article Bowl 1820 posted and it will show you how to do this.

[GeorgiaStroker]

What happens if you aim a few boards right, but actually land on the board you're looking at? Wouldn't that in turn be the same thing except in reverse? I'm glad that I'm not the only one riding this boat. It kind of sucks tbh lol.

Aiming a few boards right only works if you are consistantly missing your target the same number of boards every time. If you miss it by one board on one shot and 5 boards the next shot then 3 boards the next shot you have to work on a consistant release before you can worry about where to aim.

[Smiles]

Aiming a few boards right only works if you are consistantly missing your target the same number of boards every time. If you miss it by one board on one shot and 5 boards the next shot then 3 boards the next shot you have to work on a consistant release before you can worry about where to aim.

Here's my scenario. Out of 10 shots, 3-4 will be on target. The other 6-7 shots will be left by the same amount. I guess I'll have to try and eliminate one or the other, though that sounds like wishful thinking at this point.

[GeorgiaStroker]

Try seeing if you have a consistant drift. By that I mean note what board your left foot starts on and finishes on. if you finish on the same board everytime then that's one less variable. if you end up on a different board every shot then you might need to work on your footwork. Most people set the ball down 6 or 7 boards away from their sliding foot and if that foot is missing it's target then the ball will miss it's target.

[Smiles]

I tend to drift a little to the left, but it's a consistent drift every shot.

[GeorgiaStroker]

Well that leaves balance, timing, arm swing etc.... lol a picture is worth a thousand words. If you can post a video that would help.

[martinezsam2495]

I'm right eye dominant I just checked,
that's pretty cool,
I've asked my classmates and most of the right handed mates are left eye dominant and the left handed are right eye dominant.

[billf]

Here's my scenario. Out of 10 shots, 3-4 will be on target. The other 6-7 shots will be left by the same amount. I guess I'll have to try and eliminate one or the other, though that sounds like wishful thinking at this point.

Sounds like the 3-4 shots are the ones truly off target and the 6-7 are actually on. You proved this yourself by finding out you were l opposite eye dominant. It's just when you miss, you are really missing right. On the plus side, if I'm right, you're really only off target 30% of the time instead of 60%.

[billf]

I'm right eye dominant I just checked,
that's pretty cool,
I've asked my classmates and most of the right handed mates are left eye dominant and the left handed are right eye dominant.

Sam, either you did something wrong or you have the most screwed up class in the history of motor skills. Being opposite eye dominant is rare and thus would make your class an anomaly.

[kev3inp]

I'm also lefty and right eye dominant, but I think it has more to do with having to do so many things right handed. Like shoot a rifle or a bow and arrow, for example. Also, opposite eye dominance does seem to have its advantages at tennis and hitting a baseball. Another thing is that I was never able to comfortably wink with the right eye. I have better control of the muscles on the left one, I guess.

[billf]

Why did you have to learn to shoot a rifle right-handed? I'm ambidextrous but being born blind in my left eye I had to learn to do some things right-handed. Some how I ended up with more power right-handed so I started throwing a baseball that way at age 8. Even hitting I had more power righty but made easier contact lefty. Shooting was difficult. It felt natural holding it lefty but obviously I couldn't see the sights. I spent many hours during basic training on the simulator learning to shoot right-handed. That was July '87. It must have paid off because in May '88 I graduated sniper training while in Korea.

[kev3inp]

I had to rifle shoot righty because I got tired of a hot shell hitting me in the face. I see they have new ones now that can eject on either side. :)

[billf]

They make deflectors for most rifles also. I imagine as hard as it is to find other things for lefties that they are also hard to find.

[martinezsam2495]

Sam, either you did something wrong or you have the most screwed up class in the history of motor skills. Being opposite eye dominant is rare and thus would make your class an anomaly.

I only asked 5 of my friends, and that was my data.