The importance of a follow through extends to all sports.
In fact, it extends to all aspects of all sports.
In football the quarterback must follow through with their arm, shoulder and hips to deliver a proper throw.
A linebacker must follow through with the tackle to ensure the ball carrier will not break free.
The kicker must bring his leg completely through the kick to be accurate and have power.
Basketball players must follow through on their shot to be accurate and baseball players and golfers would not have any power behind their swing without the proper follow through.
Bowling is no exception to the proper mechanics of a good follow through.
If an athlete does not come all the way through the release and follow through with their arm, the bowling ball will be affected by the deviation the arm will take by not following through.
A proper follow through is indicative of relaxing the muscles in the arm during delivery.
Imagine the pendulum of a giant clock swinging back and forth.
There is a reverse arch created by the momentum of the weight placed at the end of the rod.
The path that the pendulum travels has no deviation, if there were deviations the pendulum would not work correctly.
The same can be said about the path the arm swing travels.
If a bowler's arm is the rod, and the bowling ball is the weight at the end of the rod, then the arm swing would work exactly like a pendulum would.
On the push away the rod extends the weight and gravity takes over.
The weight swings downward and back until the momentum ends and gravity forces the weight back in the other direction which causes momentum to carry it forward.
Near the end of the forward path the rod releases the weight and momentum propels the weight along its intended path.
This is what happens when an athlete allows gravity and momentum to do the work instead of using their muscles to propel the ball down the lane.
Essentially a bowler should be relaxing their arm as they set up on the approach.
The relaxed muscles before the approach begins will contribute to relaxation throughout the entire process of delivery.
From the push away a bowler should allow the weight of the ball to create momentum down and backwards for the back swing then down and forward for the down swing into the release.
As the ball travels forward the thumb exits the ball and the fingers lift to create rotation as the hand and arm come through the release into the follow through.
The ball is propelled down the lane by the momentum from both the arm swing and the momentum the body creates from the approach.
Cutting short the momentum that naturally occurs from a heavy object swinging from the arm like a pendulum indicates tension in the muscles.
Any tension in the muscles can cause that pendulum to deviate from its course and move in an unintended direction.
When I am studying bowlers and I notice a good follow though, usually the arm comes all the way up and high above the shoulder and the hand comes back and can sometimes touch the head or shoulder.
Usually the bowler is so relaxed that the arm comes all the way back like a pendulum would.
There is no tension to stop the arm from swinging.
These are the shots that I notice are the most accurate.
The first thing I will look for and attempt to correct in an athlete's body mechanics is the follow through.
With it even bad mechanics can score high, and without it even the best mechanics can struggle.
Consistency is created by accuracy, and accuracy can be improved by a good follow through.