Your Dominant Eye

In a previous newsletter, I jokingly wrote: "I aim for the 10 board and don't hit it. I'm getting frustrated. My friend notices that I'm hitting the 8 board. I remember a long ago tip, 'aim for the board you are actually hitting and you will hit the board that you want to hit.' I aim for the 8 board and I hit the 8 board. (sigh)" A while later, that thought flashed back into my mind and made me think of an overlooked and oft-forgotten phenomenon called the "dominant eye" theory.

It is a scientific fact that practically everyone has an eye that affects not only what you see but also how you see it. Knowing your dominant eye may help you understand that in order to hit the 10 board, you, personally, have to actually aim for the 8 board. Do you know if your accuracy is being affected by this "dominant eye?"

First, let's determine if you have a dominant eye (you don't have to be at the bowling center to do this):

1) Form a triangle with your hands by holding your arms in front of you with the palms facing away from you. Touching the tips of the index fingers and thumbs together forms the desired triangle.

2) At arm's length and with both eyes open, look at something at least 12 feet or more away from you. Center the object in the middle of the triangle. Remember, this is with both eyes open.

3) Alternately close and open the left eye and then alternately close and open the right eye.

4) Your dominant eye is the one which the object does not "disappear" when it was open.

While most right-handers are right eye dominant and most left-handers are left eye dominant, it is best to perform the dominant eye check just to be sure. There are right eye dominant left-handers and left eye dominant right-handers. Also, for some people, the dominant eye has no affect on their aiming capabilities.

While we may want to think of ourselves as being "average," (really??), nature proves many times that we are not. The important thing is to find out whether this theory has an affect on your game.

It is commonly thought that a right eye dominant person will miss the mark by as much as 2 boards to the left, and vice-versa. However, your dominant eye "inaccuracy" may not be the same over different parts of the lane. That is to say, when you are standing in the middle and aiming for the second arrow (10 board), you might miss by two boards; yet, when you stand two dots right-of-center (on the approach markers) aiming for the second arrow, you might not need to make an adjustment.

We all know and understand that accuracy is crucial to getting better in our sport. Choosing your target(s) and hitting them goes a long way to helping you do that. While you might be one of the people who is not affected by the dominant eye theory, it is better if you know whether it does or not. Next time you go to practice, take a few minutes to test the theory.

It is important to your mental game as well since it will help you to understand why your friends insist that you're hitting the 15 board when you know full well that you're on the 10 board. And how about when you are coaching someone and they keep insisting they are hitting the target that you are asking them to hit, but you can see that they are not?

A Hui Hou!