Has anyone ever done this before? lol

[Hendu71]

I know most people don't have the money or room to build real working lanes in their house, who hasn't swung their ball doing mock throws and actually wanted to throw their ball in their house?

I wonder if one could build just an approach with a "lane" up to the first arrows, with a net or sandbags at the end, just to practice releases and aiming to the arrows? You could do this in a basement with about 30 feet of clearance and it wouldn't need to be that wide.

Similar to what this guy did but with an actual full length approach and no pins. This would not be for the satisfaction of knocking down pins, but for practicing technique.

http://whipcitybowl.home.comcast.net...wl/gallery.htm

I think this could be done fairly cheaply, but you'd have more similar surface conditions to a real bowling alley than this guy I think and I don't know if this is possible without huge expense.

Even if this was possible I just wonder if this would actually make you better, or just make you good at throwing a bowling ball on a basement floor (lol), while possibly building bad habits since you can't see the full length effect of how it hit the pins.

I know this sounds completely insane, but I'm kind of fascinated by this idea.

[vdubtx]

I would have to agree with you that you could certainly build bad habits with shorter approach etc.

May seem funny, but years ago when Wii bowling was all the craze, we would play for hours on end and when I would go for "real" bowling I would absolutely struggle. I think the muscle memory from Wii bowling had an effect on my actual bowling.

[Hendu71]

Yeah, I would have a full-length approach, with just enough lane to the first arrows, so I could practice hitting them.

I figured the biggest drawback (other than having to use a crap ball - I would NEVER do this with a ball I used at an alley), is, since you can't see the reaction of hitting the pins, or the hook, you might get trained not to make proper adjustments based on that.

[J Anderson]

Yeah, I would have a full-length approach, with just enough lane to the first arrows, so I could practice hitting them.

I figured the biggest drawback (other than having to use a crap ball - I would NEVER do this with a ball I used at an alley), is, since you can't see the reaction of hitting the pins, or the hook, you might get trained not to make proper adjustments based on that.

You wouldn't be practicing deciding on what adjustment to make. The main purpose would be to work out issues with footwork, timing, swing, etc.

I would bet that practicing at home with an approach plus 15' of lane you might actually make your adjustments better and faster since you'll have more confidence that you made a good delivery.

[fortheloveofbowling]

I always wanted to do that. I've heard that kid Cameron Doyle that is pretty much a bowling prodigy has had one in his basement for a long time.

[circlecity]

I always wanted to do that. I've heard that kid Cameron Doyle that is pretty much a bowling prodigy has had one in his basement for a long time.

Yeah he has a 2 lane alley at his house. He bowls on the Brentwood High School team and bowls at my house from time to time.

[Hendu71]

Oh, I'd LOVE to have a full 2 lanes. Unfortunately, that would require a bigger basement than I have (3x), plus probably a cool $100-150K if I have someone else do all the work.

I did the measurements. I could easily do 30ft though for a makeshift approach + 15 ft of lane for hitting arrows and sandbags. I never realized just how long an approach was. 15 feet is insanely long.

[Hendu71]

Holy s__t, someone DID do this. This is absolutely incredible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCkqVNaE7Qs

[vdubtx]

Holy s__t, someone DID do this. This is absolutely incredible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCkqVNaE7Qs

That right there is pretty cool.

[Hendu71]

That right there is pretty cool.

Yeah. It looks like something a regular Joe could do, probably for around $1000 depending on the cost of that surface. I LOVE the fact that it has a ball return (I was just gonna do sandbags), but I don't know how I'd go about making that curved ramp.