[header] How to bowl [title] Understand the bowling lane. [step] Before you begin to bowl, you have to understand the function of the bowling lane. A bowling lane is 60 feet (18. 3 m) long from the foul line, the line closest to the bowler, to the head pin, the pin closest to the bowler. 
There are gutters on either side of the bowling lane. If a ball veers off the lane, it goes into the gutters and is out of play.