Liz Kuhlkin is a two-time PWBA Tour champion, including the 2018 U.S. Open, and she's also a crucial member of Team USA, helping to win trios gold at this year's World Bowling Women's Championships. If you're looking to emulate fundamentals, Liz's game is a good one to study. I want to point out a few things she does especially well and a couple things she's still trying to work on.
Immediately, we see a lot of good things in her stance. Her ball is held below her chin, inside her shoulder and elbow. Notice her bowling shoulder is lower than her left shoulder. We see this in a lot of top players, but one thing that's fairly different about Liz is how little lateral spine tilt she has, balancing her weight on both feet in the stance.
Once she gets started, the first thing we notice is a little roll of her hand and the ball. She gets the ball a bit more outside than she had it in the stance, but it's still in line with her shoulder and she's still in good position. The reason for the little roll of the hand is so she can take the ball back with her hand on the inside of it.
At the top of the backswing, her alignment is very good. We can see where her launch angle will be, and as she extends through, she's exactly where we expected her.
Liz starts her left hand on the side of the ball. As she takes the ball back, her hand turns in. By the time she gets into the backswing, the palm of her left hand is pointing at the ceiling. Doing so locks her left shoulder and prevents her torso from rotating as she comes through the swing, helping her to maintain a consistent launch angle at the line.
From the top, we can see it a little better as her left hand rotates out and her palm faces up at the ceiling. As she's about to come through the ball at the release, we see that even though her left arm is pretty far back, her left shoulder is still in front of her right. At release, her right shoulder catches up, and it's only as she follows through that her right shoulder ends up in front of her left.
What we don't see is any sideways rotation. Everything in Liz's approach is forward and back, which again keeps her launch angles consistent.
One thing Liz has been working on is her pushaway. From the side, we can see her drop the ball into her swing in a rounded shape. She used to lock the ball out in front of her before getting into the backswing, but now she has a more fluid pushaway that helps her entire approach.
Liz has a phenomenal game and has a bright future ahead of her for both Team USA and the PWBA Tour.
Rod
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