Most bowlers want to line up their bowling equipment from strong to weak like golf clubs:  Teeing off on a par 5?  Driver.  170 yards away?  5 Iron.  Out of the sand trap?  Wedge.  On the green?  Putter.

In a common bowler's mind, oily lanes, expensive ball.  Medium oil, mid performance, dry lanes, cheap ball. The other way people explain their stuff is expensive ball hits hard, medium ball hits good and cheap ball hits weak.  Are you kidding me?  

Everybody seems overly focused on the front part of the lane.  If they're tight or just freshly oiled, they tend to grab something strong that fights oil.  So out comes that dull high performance ball with the big weight block.  Then when they swing it out and the ball won't carry, they wonder why it isn't strong enough.  Of course it's because the friction on the outside is robbing the ball of all it's guts and the core being so strong is revving up like mad at the foul line.  So when the ball isn't hooking enough, we need to go to something weaker to get more energy stored for the backends.  Sounds backwards doesn't it?  Weaker ball for more finish.

I can't tell you how many people want to buy their way out of oily conditions with higher performance products.  All they have to do is grab something mid or mid upper performance, square up and slow down.  Is everyone becoming spoiled!  Doesn't anyone want to practice anymore and learn new skills?  

Now onto a challenge or sport condition.  The fronts tend to be tight but the patterns go from 35 to 43 feet.  That's around 17 feet of drier backends to play with or more.  We can use the strong piece and play outside, or move in and swing; or better still go weaker and square up.  Mid performance products are awesome on flatter conditions.

So what should you when you bowl?  Pay attention to the length of the pattern and the strength of the backends:  

• If the fronts are tight and the backends are ripping, something mid to weak would be in play.  
  
• If the fronts seem moderate and the backends appear a tad suspect, then something mid to strong that rolls heavier or kicks stronger might match up.  
  
• If the fronts are fresh and the backends seems tight, grab that high performance product and SLOW DOWN.  Work your hand revs and remove the yank.  Stop pulling the ball down hard because those easy house conditions let you and start doing some bowling.  
  
• Lastly, if the fronts seem broken but the backends seem to have carry down, (the toughest combo); perhaps a shiner ball that helps clear the front but smooth transition down the lane might be the choice.   

Every ball in your bag can be in play on most lane conditions.  We can use multiple pieces from different angles to create a balance of skid, hook and roll regardless of the pattern.  All it takes is a little practice, trust and an ability to think outside the box.

"The duller the ball, the more it hooks."  This used to be true back in the 80s and 90s but now the quote should be, "the duller the ball, the more it pukes."

Many bowlers visit my shop each week to use my Surface Factory to sand 2000, 1000 and sometimes 500 grit to their ball; and this is for a house shot.  They're unfortunate prisoners in the toughest class of bowler today, guaranteeing that they can't move, slow down and forced to chuck it down the lane every shot.  They're the speed dominant player.

This kind of player congers up thoughts of people who throw real fast with little or no rotation, but they're also the firm speed player with moderate revs or the medium speed player with virtually no revs.  Speed dominant is exactly what is says, speed dominates their revolutions.  They use stronger cores, stronger layouts, duller textures and play outside of the traffic.  When the ball doesn't carry, they tend to grab an even stronger ball, throw it harder or play even more outside.  Eventually they leave far too many corner pins and wind up with less than competitive scores.

Most of them came from wood; grew up on drier lanes so their game is all about speed.  Others started off throwing hard because the common perception of our sport from the total beginner is that velocity is power.  Their thought being that if I throw it harder, the pins will mix better.  The last batch in this class just never seemed to learn how to release a ball properly so fast feet and late timing produced the speed and all they do is float it off their hand.  These players are accurate, generally always keeping their ball in play but lacking the ability on longer patterns to carry effectively.

There are 3 phases to ball motion from the foul line to the pocket; skid, hook and roll.  Sanding a ball seems necessary when the skid phase is too long.  When they heavily sand a ball, the skid becomes slip.  This can be deceiving since just because your ball starting hooking at the right spot doesn't mean the core hasn't leaked gobs of energy already.  Realize that the ball is flaring as soon as it hits the lane while all that speed is forcing the ball to slip down the lane.  When the drier backends finally show up, the ball is on it's last legs rather then ready to drive toward the pocket and roll through the pins.  That's the reason why a duller ball usually reacts less in the backends than a shiny one.  Think about the brakes in your car.  If you're driving too fast and jam on your brakes, your tires lock up, you hear the high pitched squeal.  Those tires heat up quickly while they slip on the pavement burning rubber.  We lose speed fast but at a price.  We don't want that in bowling either.  We want the ball to slow down gradually, not instantly.

So how do you correct this problem?  To move from speed dominant to evenly balanced, either determine why your mechanics is making you throw so hard or determine why you're not lifting the ball properly.  Once you get the speed/revs ratio to your advantage, you can shine up the ball or at least sand to a more reasonable 3000 or 4000 grit.  Move inside so that you can get on top or inside the competition and increase your axis rotation (turn it more).  Allow yourself to throw the ball away from the pocket and let the forces of friction, rotation, core, cover and alignment take care of the pathway to the pocket.  

Think about what part of the ball or game match which part of the lane:

1. Your alignment gets you the skid though the fronts by starting the ball in the oil.
   
2. The core gets your ball to hook in the mid portion of the lane
   
3. Your hand position and your coverstock technology gains valuable angle into the pocket. 

If we're lined up properly, using the right ball and executing correctly, all you have to do is get out of the way.

This is a complex shift and a significant game changing philosophy.  To some this can be major.  Alignment changes, timing goes from sprint to jog, hand position goes from ripping up the back to turn and the ball goes from sand blasted to shiny.  Instincts need to be learned.  Is this a ball change, a move or hand position?  Lots going on but if you want to plan for the future of this sport, consider matching up your speed and revs.  Those who do are already at a far greater advantage than the rest of us.

Thoughts?

Ever wonder why some bowlers whose games just don't seem all that impress consistently seem to get higher scores?  Be honest, if Walter Ray Williams was in your bowling league, would you notice?  Arguably the greatest bowler in the history of the sport bowls like just an average guy.  We fall into the trap of equating high speeds and revs as those who can attain greatness while those who are more tweener or stroker are those who "need equipment" to get those big scores.  In reality, Walter Ray is one of those people who's cut from special cloth, someone who can get the job done.  Give him an opening and he'll not only kick the door down but move in; and that's what separates winners from those with just talent. 

Ability doesn't guarantee success and that's a grim reality in any sport.  So many athletes are touted as can't miss: baseball has their 5 tool players, basketball has their 7 footers and in our sport, people who just flat out throws it sick.  We wonder how they fail to rise to those elite levels they seemed destined for.  Some dedicate themselves to serious practice which helps, but in the end, the mental side of the game is what will make or break you.

We all have to deal with success and failure.  How we deal with it is what makes us stronger or makes us suffer.  Is fear the ultimate enemy?  Is that what might get in Pete Weber's head when he bowls Walter Ray (he can't seem to beat him) or perhaps what keeps Chris Barnes from being the superstar he should be?  

We perform in a sport with far too much time on our hands.  Pop Quiz?  In a 4 person, 3 game league, how long do we spend actually bowling?  20 minutes?  Half hour?  Well, lets do the math:  4 person league - total league time is about 2 1/2 hours.  A shot start to finish is about 5 seconds.  An average bowler throws 15 strikes and 18 spares - about 50 shots X 5 seconds is 250 seconds - that's a tad over 4 minutes.  That leaves 2 hours and 26 minutes to do what?  With all this time what is there to do but think and ponder.  

It's easy to start with a few strikes and think about how great it would be to shoot 300 or open with a few bad frames and resign ourselves to the fact it's just not our day.  Most are quick to give up or put undo pressure on themselves way before anything has actually happened.  It's not like we opened league with back to back 300s and have the front 8.  Now you're thinking what I'm thinking...  immortality!  

First rule of competitive sports: LIVE IN THE MOMENT.  The expression, the past is history and the future a mystery.  Totally true.  You need to stay here and now.  That means you tackle the task at hand and absolutely nothing else.  You can't get caught up in what has happened or if only that had;  it's done and can't be changed.  Here you are and nothing will change it so deal with in.  Accept.  The flip side is good things are happening!  Perhaps from starting with the first 8 strikes and you haven't shot a 300 yet in your life.  Are you starting to feel your heart beating faster?  Breath changing?  Becoming more aware of the fact that nobody is talking to you anymore.  Lonely huh?  

Focus is the ability to keep extraneous thoughts out of your mind; to not dwell on what has happened or what could happen.  To quiet your mind and prepare yourself for the next task at hand.  Focus starts when your shoes go on and doesn't end until your last ball is thrown.  It's your game face.

We need to be focused because there's a lot out there to be absorbed and digested: Who's playing where?  Who has a nice look?  What's the scoring pace?  How's my ball reaction?  Should I change balls?  What's the cut?  Who's leading?  Your mind can get pretty loud in a hurry with all sorts of fleeting thoughts and ideas.  It's like daydreaming.  Get a couple bad ball reactions and your mind can start screaming at you.  Focus enhances your clarity of thought.  Helps you make smart decisions, and consider alternatives. 

BREATH.  Nothing will balance you faster and bring you back to the present faster than breathing.  It's a crucial tool when your head gets noisy and is a vital part to your pre-shot routine.  Breathing centers you, relieves tension and gets you calm.  Take a deep breathe as you finish drying your hand and another just before you start your approach.  It will get you centered and relieve some undo tension.

CONCENTRATION is your ability to take your focus into the shot.  It's what keeps doubt and distraction out of your game so you can deliver.  This is easier for those who don't bowl out of emotion.  It's my belief that those who are loud players can lose their concentration faster than those who tend to be more quiet.  

Bowling has similarities to golf; lots of time to get wrapped up in the past and future.  It's not nearly like playing tennis, soccer or basketball.  Those sports are reactionary while our sport isprogressive.  We are constantly trying to attain an easier, higher level of success through changes in ball, alignment or game.  Every shot we throw is intentionally or unintentionally analyzed as to it's motion and ultimate outcome, strikes.  

So focus is the ability to keep your mind quiet so that you can figure out what needs to change.  Think, decide, commit.  Now once you have a plan, to change balls, move my feet, slow down, turn it more, ease up on my fingers, whatever, your concentration is what you use to execute it.  That's the recipe for success.

Thoughts?  Although this is a blog, we can all learn from each other.  So any opinions on the subject are welcome.

It's the same as golf's short game; or the quarterback that floats a pass into a receiver's hands between two defenders;  or a hockey player who stick handles around two defense men, lures the goalie out of the crease and lays the puck into the open net.  Feel!

Everyone has an "A" game, the unconscious method where you put the ball in your hand, stare at a target and let it fly.  You might change the ball or move your feet or target but when the "salt and pepper" doesn't work, that's when you need to think outside the box.

There are lots of ways to deviate from your mindless game into something that matches up the conditions better.  It's the gray area of your timing and release.  What can you change?  Three things: your speed, axis rotation and rev rate.  Same as in billiards, you can change how hard, the spin or English and the rate of spin.  Same philosophy in baseball.  Some pitchers are speed orientated, 100mph guys but the ones who truly know how to pitch, change speed, arm angle, and amount of break to deceive the batter.

There are as many ways to alter your game as there are styles of bowlers.  What works for me might not be the best way for you but I offer it as a guideline.

I change my speed by moving my eyes from the arrows to the dots, holding the ball lower and moving up on the approach about a foot.  I focus on gravity governing my arm swing.  This method helps on extremely oily lanes to get the ball rolling earlier.  Control of my break point is vital and I don't want to spend cover texture to offset the skid.  Sometimes a shinier or very mildly dull surface thrown slower is the better alternative with my "B" game than a dull ball with my A game.  On this kind of condition, the rev dominant players has an advantage.  Not being rev dominant, I have to emulate one.  This can be achieved by keeping my hand revs the same and reducing my speed.  This method lets me move my feet left when most tweener/stroker types are grabbing super dull stuff or super strong cores and moving right.  

I can change my axis rotation or turn from up the back, about 15 degrees to an aggressive 45 degrees.  This causes the ball to clear the front part of the lane better, getting farther down the lane, with a stronger angle at the break point.  When I have to play deeper in the lane and cover more boards, this helps get the ball to finish stronger.  When I'm more on top of my target and playing up the grain of the lane, releasing more up the back of the ball controls the back ends, especially when the lane conditions are fresh.  Generally the last part of the lane is more aggressive when the lanes are freshly oiled do I usually don't need to magnify them with lots of side roll.  

I change my rev rate or tightness of spin by adjusting my finger pressure.  Releasing the ball with my fingers open lets the ball roll off my hand easier while pulling my fingers toward my palm at release gets the weight block energized.  Spare shooting is always performed with my hand in the mellow position but if corners are starting to pop up, a little more "hit" can push them out.

Combinations of these choices work excellent together.  Heavy oil would suggest less speed, more turn and more hit playing inside.  That would be a Shark combo and my B game.  My Agame is mellow speed, up the back with mild hit.  That's my challenge, sport flavor.  In total, 3 pairs or variables create 8 possible permutations so each ball in my bag can have as many as 8 different looks. Combine that with standing anywhere from 10 to 45 and looking 3 to 25, that's plenty of choices to find the lane's key to higher scores.

Think of bowling as a combination lock.  Left 25, Right 17, Left 3?  I think that was my locker combination in high school!  Well bowling is the same thing.  What-Where-How.  BALL - ALIGNMENT - TIMING / RELEASE.

There are ways to practice these combos.  Start by leaving your resin balls in the bag.  Grab your plastic.  Bowl. and score.  Shoot ALL your spares with it too.  When your done, move 5 boards deeper in the lane.  Think you're throwing it too hard?  You probably are so slow down, lift the ball, turn it.  Be patient and let it swing.  Less grab, more flow.  Gravity fed bowling.  Slow your feet and feel your shots.  Move outside.  Play the gutter shot with your plastic ball.  Grab something reactive and practice playing the lane wrong.  Stand where there's no shot and make it work.  The best bowlers in the world have dozens of changes with many levels for each characteristic and they can dial it in like a recipe from a cookbook.  

Practice like this will stretch your game.  Give you choices.  Soon you'll have confidence that any ball in your bag is a viable option on any lane condition.  So the next time you're out polishing your A game, work on the alternatives.  Anything you can do to change speed, rev rate, or axis rotation is the goal.  The trick is to be able to read a lane and give it what it's asking for as quickly as possible.  To throw one shot and make educated complex moves; ball, feet, target, and hand to go from a weak reaction to a strong one...   now that's real bowling.

It seems that over the past decade, alignment has become the most neglected part of the sport.  The main reason is consistent lane conditions brought about by expensive devices that strip the lane surface and apply fresh oil in an amazingly accurate manner.  Nearly all bowling centers use them now a days and utilize an easy house pattern so finding lots of mistake room to hit the pocket is simple.  Due to these conditions along with higher performance bowling balls and synthetic lane surfaces, this trilogy has significantly cheapened our sport and pushed averages to the brink of silliness.

So what is a house pattern?  It's applying oil in such a way that the volume placed toward the center of the lane is higher versus the amount of oil that's place on the outside portion.  This creates a curb or wall where when you tug your ball inside your target, the heavier concentration of oil holds your ball from hooking high in the pocket.  Subsequently, when you miss outside your intended target, the increased friction causes your ball to lose speed and hook earlier which helps to get your ball back to the pocket.  After you throw a number of shots, you can feel where your sweet spot is based on your ball choice, speed, rotation, oil pattern, and target.  To the experienced bowler, you can find 5 boards or more that ALL hit the pocket.  With all this striking, it's no wonder they don't care about spare shooting.  It's all about the 5 bagger now.

Bowlers tend to spend more effort trying to rev the ball or use stronger hitting products that increase your angle into the pocket upping that strike percentage. Everyone wants a ball that goes long and strong now, skidding far down the lane and reacting ferociously.  Bowlers are getting out of control, off balance, sacrificing accuracy and consistency for an almost reckless style all for the promise of higher scores.  It's like challenging Tiger Woods to mini golf.  Put the ball in the clown's mouth and it's an automatic hole in one.  It's still golf but hardly similar to playing the US Open at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck.  This in a nutshell is this sport's “slippery slope.”

Your alignment once you have the right zone doesn't change much.  When the conditions transition after a game or two, that's when the oil starts to diminish in an area, most have a second ball to change to so that they can finish their session without having to move much. If you do move a few boards, it's probably plenty.

This environment is common during league and junior bowling and that's where the wide majority of bowlers play.  They don't learn any instincts because they don't need to.  Oil is the invisible opponent to finding proper ball reaction but most people just need to open their bag and grab another ball.  

Now for more advanced conditions.  This is where the real bowling is.  Averages plummet back to normal, spare shooting becomes a premium and where you stand and what you throw are crucial.  Oil ratios and pattern distance are what tells you how easy or tough a lane condition will be. At White Plains Bowl, we use a Kegel Ion Navigation machine and each condition is described in Kegel Kode. This is an explanation from their site:

"Until now, there have not been difficulty levels between 'House' and sport patterns. USBC's Sport Bowling is a good description of difficulty but the definition of 'House' only means what bowling has given to it.

With all that in mind, we created a series of patterns called the Kegel Navigation Patterns and are grouped by three levels of difficulty; Sport, Challenge and Recreation. 

The Kegel Recreation Series of oil patterns are ratios of 5:1 or greater, the Kegel Challenge Series oil patterns are ratios between 3:1 - 5:1 and toughest of all, Kegel Sport Series oil patterns are 3:1 or less."

The KODE is a quick reference guide to the technical details of each pattern. You'll notice four numbers for each. The first two numbers represent the ratio of the oil pattern.  For Beaten Path, which is 4541, the number 45 tells us the pattern has a side-to-side ratio of 4.5 to 1 at the 22' distance; Challenge.  

The higher the oil ratio, the more oil to hold your ball from going high and the lower the ratio, the flatter the oil pattern. This means you have to be more consistent with your speed, direction and spin to get the same reaction.

The second two numbers represent the distance of the pattern where the number 41 tells us the pattern is 41 feet long.  Kegel came up with a neat formula as a guideline how to attack their patterns. It's (PATTERN LENGTH – 31). This is the spot you want to exit the pattern to get the most area down the lane.  So for Beaten Path with is a 41 foot pattern, you'll want your ball to be about 10, 41 feet down the lane (41 - 31 = 10).

Here are some other examples:

Sport

     BOARDWALK     2435 4 board

     WINDING ROAD 2839 8 board

Challenge

     BEATEN PATH 4541 10 board

     ROUTE 66        4345 14 board

Recreational

     BOURBON         6240  9 board

So you see, the shorter the pattern, the more right you need to move and the longer, the more left. Does this seem backward? It should because we've been taught that when the ball goes high, you move left and swing more while if the reaction is weak, we move right. Why?  The answer is pattern length. If the oil is 35 feet, moving left will only make it hook earlier.  We aren't on a 45 foot house pattern with dry right and oil left. We have to get the ball farther away from the pocket so it has room to hook.  On the pro tour's Shark pattern, most play deep inside because it's a heavy oil long pattern.  Playing outside, the ball would get far too deep in the lane to recover, even for the super talented high rev players.

To bowl effectively on challenging conditions, instincts need to change, ball choices change, games change.  Scores will go down, egos will get bruised.  Honor scores won't happen all that frequently but when they do, it will truly be celebrated.  This is real bowling where accuracy is a premium and execution is the key, not just your bowling ball.  This is what the sport of bowling is all about and what's been lost for far too long. 

Thoughts?

All of us have had to deal with this from time to time. It's when you throw the ball down the lane and you don't get the reaction you expected. Perhaps you leave a washout. You turn in amazement walking back on the approach embarrassed to have had such a horrible reaction. You say to yourself, I'll move outside. You make an attempt at the spare but miss. Disappointment. You move outside and aghast, you take 3 pins off the corner. Your eyes open wide as you point the ball toward the pocket and again open. The game seems to be flying by now and all you do is get bad reaction after bad reaction. You're numb. Your hands get clammy. Your heart races. You're now bowling scared. In the blink of an eye, you've shot a very low score.


Anyone remember the movie, The Replacements? Shane Falco played a quarterback on a football team and at a meeting, the coach asked the players what they feared most? The best answer came from Shane:


"You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand."


As far as I can see, adjustment skills aren't practiced very much. Most people don't know how to practice them, or even what changes they could or should do. What we're talking about is the spice of bowling. To most, spice is merely salt and pepper if we make a comparison to cooking; salt would be your equipment and pepper would be the alignment. Move your feet or change balls. Too much salt and it tastes bad. Too much pepper, same thing. But seasoning to a chef is a endless combination of spices. 


I remember a scene in an animated movie, "Ratatouille." One character was trying to teach the other about what things taste like together. The scene basically says that you eat two fairly ordinary foods together, they meld into a new tasty bite. That's the same as when you make adjustments. Most people change one thing and usually it's very small. You change the ball and stand in the same spot or keep the same ball in your hands and move a board or two. What happens is basically nothing. It's a pinch of salt into a gallon of sauce. If your reaction was horrible, do you think that another ball or a couple boards is going to give you a huge motion change? Sometimes. But lane conditions are constantly changing and you may not be changing fast enough. You need to be decisive, perhaps substantial. That takes focus, trust, confidence, and experience.


Since house conditions are usually consistent, they limit the changes you have to make to your game. Bowlers bring one or two balls to league, stand about the same place. look at the same target and throw it their usual way. Not much moving needed to find the area which provides your strikes. So like miniature golf, you've got error built into your game from those predictable lane conditions. It's when that shot breaks down and your ball reaction changes, that you must change as well. But what do you change? On challenge or sport conditions, this happens very early. Sometimes that bad feeling we talked about is there during practice. Maybe that's why more people aren't especially interested in tougher condition leagues because it quickly shows your short comings; your ability to adapt.


What I would like to do is write a series of articles which I call the What, Where and How's of bowling. They encapsulate the equipment, alignment and physical game characteristics that make changes to your ball motion. Everything you do to alter your ball reaction is in one of these three categories. As you read them, I want you to think about what you could do when you encounter your own quicksand. Practice those adjustments that interest you so they can open up new doors in your game. Think of it as a wake up call to complex moves so you can avoid those monster low scores.

It should go without saying that proper spare shooting techniques, that were covered in a previous article, should be mastered to the best of your abilities. After all, you're here because your scores are low and you probably just missed two or three make able spares along the way.


The What


Bowling balls are basically divided into 4 categories from each of these characteristics:

Dull or Shiny and Arc or Snap.

Category 1 - Dull and Arc. This can be a Vital Sign, Pure Physics, Plague, 715T, or Prodigy. The surface has texture so the ball wants to skid less, roll earlier and react smoother in the backends.

Category 2 - Dull and Snap. This can be the Mission 2.0, Virtual Gravity, 920A or Swagga. These are duller balls designed to clear the front but have the power to make a strong move down the lane.


Category 3 - Shiny and Snap. This includes the Trap, Anarchy, 607A, Game On, Reign, Freeze or Vibe. These products want to skid longer saving most of their energy for down the lane and want to change directions quickly to enhance the angle toward the pocket.

Category 4 - Shiny and Arc. These would include the 300C, Game Plan, Burst, 2Fast or Curve Ball. These products clear the front part well but tend to be smoother down the lane.

By no means is this a complete list. There are dozens of excellent balls on the market. It's also important to mention that surface changes can move these products from one category to another. A shiny Mission 2.0 moves from the dull/snap to the shiny/snap category while taking a 607A and lightly sanding the surface will get it to skid less and move to the dull/snap category.

To have a balanced bag, a bowler should strive to have all their bases covered and limit multiple pieces built for the same category. It's so common these days for a bowler to want products that go long and want to flip strong but when conditions don't call for this motion, they're in trouble. In that bowling bag should also be a plastic ball. What are you going to shoot spares with?

Anyone a Jim Cramer fan? He's the investment guy on CNBC and on Wednesday he has a segment called, "Are you diversified?"  Well, are you?  I've included to the left and on the main page an image. Through that you can email me the top bowling balls in your bag and I'll make a recommendation on what you might change or what kind of piece you're missing.

So in terms of equipment, we need diversity to tackle different parts of the lane, hook at different distances and match up to changes in the lane conditions; that's balance and a big piece toward staying out of bowling's quicksand.

My next article will be on alignment and how you might attack lanes differently.

The most neglected faucet of the bowling game these days is spare shooting. High performance balls, synthetic lane surfaces and the daily strip/oil machine has playing conditions so consistent that people are far more focused on throwing strikes than shooting spares.

I run a Kegel league and on the tough, torturous conditions, spares win games. You basically need to keep the ball in play and make spares. I'm also an assistant coach of an NCAA college team, Sacred Heart University. We constantly work on each player's spare game because making the nationals is all about closing boxes on challenging lane conditions.  Those of you who have made it to the national tournament also know how common it is to miss easy make-able spares.


It seems that most people now-a-days hook at everything except a 10 pin. If you can't predict when, where and how much a ball is going to hook, you shouldn't use your strike ball to make spares. Lots of us gamble at making spares with this method submitting to the trend of making most spares today and missing a few too many tomorrow. It should never be a bad day to make spares.

Truth be told, there's little art to spare shooting; it's mostly science. The old 3-6-9 revisited. Most of us have heard of this system but do we truly commit to this tried and true method, to convert 90% or more of our spares?

I use plastic for close to every spare I shoot at. If you don't own one, I would strongly consider this golf equivalent of the putter. It's low friction and ultra weak core allows this system to work on virtually every lane condition. Those who feel that lugging an extra ball around is a waste of a spot in a bowling bag, will probably find their average a tad lower at the end of the year.

Most people need to mellow out on the second shots. Lane conditions have bowlers so torqued up on speed, turn and hit for their first ball that accuracy has long been traded off for power. Spare shooting is based on accuracy so being relaxed and releasing the ball smoothly with forward roll is essential. We also need the ball to rotate from front to back like a basketball rolling down the court. Side spin makes the ball change direction so we want none of that. Speed isn't a premium either. Balance, letting the ball roll of your hand and accurately hitting the target; that's the proper technique.

Now that you have the right flavor for releasing the ball with the most accuracy, now it's time for alignment. If you stand lets say 35 and hit the 20 board for a 10 pin, the first thing we need to know is if your ball hits the belly of the 10 pin or covers the 6-10 pocket. This is key to having the highest margin of error. To have an accurate spare chart, we need to know where the ball ends up down in the pin deck. If you left a 5 pin, you would want to hit the center of the pin, wouldn't you? Of course. If you left a 3-6, you would want the ball to be in the 3-6 pocket. So every spare is either into the belly of a pin or flush in a pocket.

If you hit the belly of the 10 pin for your spare, we need to add some boards so that the ball hits the nearest pocket. There are 6 pockets to shoot for listed below. You need to add 1.5 boards to move your ball from the belly of the 10 pin to the 6-10 pocket. Then each additional pocket is 3 boards to the right with your feet.

The chart below will give you the math for the system. 1 target/6 standing spots. This is easy stuff.

Basic Spare Chart:

Spare  Stand  Look   Feet

  10        35      20

6-10      33.5    20   1.5R

3-6       30.5     20   4.5R

1-3       27.5     20   7.5R

1-2       24.5     20   10.5R

2-4       21.5     20   13.5R

4-7       18.5     20   16.5R

  7         17       20    18R

You can create a second path for the 7 pin and move 3 boards left for each pin or pocket but I basically use one target and rotate my feet about it. 18 boards from 10 to 7 pin. So I would stand between 17 and 35 for every possible spare I could leave.

So to sum up, spares are about relaxing your physical game. Speed, revs, finger pressure, axis rotation and lift aren't what's necessary here. Think about taking 20% of your power off your first ball and funneling it into hitting your target. If you don't use a plastic ball for your spares, I would suggest you buy one; and with practice, anyone can have a great deal of confidence in closing boxes. Spare shooting is mostly science.

The hottest topic in the coaching end of the sport is whether it's the right approach teaching junior bowlers this kind of game. If you don't know the term, it's the flavor Jason Belmonte and Osku Palermaa from Europe use to effect tremendous revolutions to their equipment. It's importance is the angle of entry into the pocket the higher revs create, increasing strikes by decreasing deflection.

According to David Garber, Director of Coaching at the USBC, this should be taught to bowlers well before the age of 10 and in their very first bowling ball. The technique is to use the non gripping hand as your thumb and holding the ball in a position where your gripping hand can stay way under the ball. At the release point, that opposite hand come off at the last second allowing the gripping hand to lift from a point MUCH farther from the bottom than we can using just one hand. Most of us who bowl realize that the ability to keep your wrist cocked, letting go of the thumb smoothly and lifting is the reason why some can attain ferocious revolutions while others simply can't and this all happens in less than a second. Timing like this is in other sports too: baseball pitchers who throw from 88 to 100 mph, PGA golfers who drive from 260 to now almost 400 yards, hockey players with their slap shot, tennis serve, etc... all in less than a second. Incredible timing and talent.

In the near timeless tradition, bowling utilizes a 3 finger grip comprised of the thumb and two middle fingers. Aided by an experienced bowling pro shop who's job it is to measure, fit and drill bowling equipment based on the bowler's hand, flexibility and body style, the bowler must meld their muscle, gravity and centrifugal force to perform an approach culminating in releasing that ball. Span, pitch, thumb size and bevel along with grip pressure and timing allows some bowlers to attain high rev rates while others create less.

Now technology has come a long way in 20 years to give us a way around needing proper timing and talent: aluminum bats, graphite drivers and hockey sticks, skis, tennis rackets and running shoes just to name a few. The way this sport evens out the playing field is to allow the lower rev player products that significantly enhances their ball motion. Surface textures, denser cores, advanced layouts as well as proper coaching can prepare a bowler for nearly any playing condition.

I'll be the first to admit, from rubber house balls in the 70s to the soon to be released Mission 2.0, bowling has gotten easier for the average player to score higher. But how about the lower average player? I give a conventional plastic ball to juniors and people who average under 120. Should I give then an entry reactive and teach them two finger?

I wouldn't want to think that the years I've put into this sport will be unnecessary in the future by never drilling a thumb hole again. That it could be even easier to stand left and throw right on these already way too easy house patterns. If I start tooling the juniors down this path, ten years from now, will they still stand left and throw right? Will high performance balls go away because they can't keep them on the lane? Will proprietors have to flood the lanes and those with the traditional game won't be able to keep up? Will my shop close because anyone who buys a drill press can put two holes in a ball and glue grips?

Anybody remember Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore and his newly invented hockey golf swing? It was a movie spoof but in a later movie, 50 First Dates, his assistant had a bunch of young kids.  In this one particular golf scene, all 5 of them lined up their tee shots on a par 3 and simultaneously all hit 10 feet from the flag with that run up and hockey slap shot. Isn't that what's happening in real life? Aren't the young influenced by what they see? Tiger Woods ripped drives 15 years ago and now everyone coming out of college makes him seem like a short hitter.

We don't know the long term effects of this style. Your spine needs to be nearly parallel to the ground at release and your back leg has to be high in the air. Higher revs also demand speed control. A tad slow and it's over hooking while too hard or weak with the lift and it's a washout.

Do you know about the Bolivian team in South America that's entirely two finger?  http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/254/8130.html

Bowlers are aware and intrigued by this style but the choice over what we teach the future generations are being influenced by the need for instant results. Two handed is a way for the juniors to create ball reaction, to perhaps compete with the ultimate bowling killer, soccer. That sport has already siphoned tens of thousands of future bowlers out of the junior program each Saturday across the country.

Maybe that's why the USBC is so hot and heavy to make this the standard.

Well, after a long wait, my first entry into a blog.  This webpage wasn't exactly what I thought I was getting into but finally glad that I could put something together myself and finally get a message out there.  Glad you're able to see this.

It's a different sport than the one I grew up with.  I guess it's only fair that each generation gets to put their seal on it with their own "flavor."  I get snickers from so many for using that word.

I grew up with rubber bowling on wood lanes.  Accuracy and consistency were the norm.  Pins were heavy and lane oil was applied with a flit gun, something you would see if you sprayed insecticide out in a garden.  I did this at Homefield Bowl back in the late 70s.  Totally bizarre by today's standards.

I'm going to write some articles on topics that are important to the sport.  Hopefully, you'll find them insightful and able to use them to bowl your best.