Good drill for practicing spares?

[e-tank]

Since ive basically become the coach of my friends, ill always getting asked on how to fix their form, release and such. My league teammate wants some help with spares. Is it really just as simple as leaving pins on the first attempt then just trying to pick up the spare? For me all i do is move across the lane from the pins, for example if i leave a 7 pin ill move to the right side of the lane, slow down the speed of the ball, release it further down the lane and adjust revs depending on the pins needed to be picked up.

[J Anderson]

Since ive basically become the coach of my friends, ill always getting asked on how to fix their form, release and such. My league teammate wants some help with spares. Is it really just as simple as leaving pins on the first attempt then just trying to pick up the spare? For me all i do is move across the lane from the pins, for example if i leave a 7 pin ill move to the right side of the lane, slow down the speed of the ball, release it further down the lane and adjust revs depending on the pins needed to be picked up.

Most bowlers will either learn or develop a system for shooting spares. For an average bowler who throws a modest hook the easiest systems let them use their normal strike target and release and just move their feet the right number of boards right or left. I bet Lockwood has something on spare shooting in the FAQ thread.

As for a drill or practice, I spend a game where on the first ball I shoot the 10, 6, 3, 1, 2, 4, 7, 4, 2, 10. Those are the key pins for making most spares. Since you won't get many, if any, strikes you'll have lots of spares to practice on.

[billf]

My two cents. Most league bowler who struggle with spare want to hook the ball on spare attempts. Other than the 2-8 or 3-9 this is usually foolish. Ever notice how in game one shooting at a 7-pin is different than in game three? You're just playing with the oil, guessing about carry down and break down.
I shoot my spares with as much angle as possible to increase the margin for error. If you miss a single pin spare, you missed by at least 18 boards. How? Take the fattest part of the pin and a ball from one side to the other. The right side of the ball/ left side of pin to left side of ball/right side of pin. That's a lot of room to connect. That's why good bowlers get so upset at single pin misses.

Ten pin: I stand with my left foot on 40 and target 20. I keep 20 as my target but move 5 boards right for each key pin (6,3). For the other side I do basically the same thing. Stand with my left foot on 5 and target 20 for the 7-pin. 5 boards left for the 4 and 5 more left for the 2.

Drills? I play games of just corner pins. Personally I shoot the ten first then the 7.

[J Anderson]

I shoot my spares with as much angle as possible to increase the margin for error. If you miss a single pin spare, you missed by at least 18 boards. How? Take the fattest part of the pin and a ball from one side to the other. The right side of the ball/ left side of pin to left side of ball/right side of pin. That's a lot of room to connect. That's why good bowlers get so upset at single pin misses.



How do you figure if you hit your target? Do you say part of my ball went over the arrow or is it the center of my ball rolled over the arrow? I know with me its the latter. Likewise I'm sure that when you shoot at single pin leaves you intend for the ball to hit the pin dead center. The pin has a diameter of about 4 boards. The ball has a diameter of about 8 boards. So if the ball just misses the pin the center of the ball is a bit more than 6 boards from the center of the pin. While it is a big miss, its nowhere near 18 boards. Your margin for error, the width of the area that the center of the ball tracks through, would be the diameter of the ball plus the diameter of the pin.

By the way I've been upset at myself a lot lately, mainly when bowling left-handed.

[billf]

The coach that told me said 24 boards was the miss. I actually dropped it some because it seemed too much to me. Maybe they went 4+8 for one side plus 4+8 for the opposite side=24 boards?
Yes, I also go by the center of the ball as for hitting my mark.
John, don't feel bad. I missed my shot by 25 boards at the arrows. Add that Gold coach's theory and I missed by more than a whole lane! lol

[ArtVandelay]

During league warm-ups I always shoot 10 pin on my first ball and strike ball the 2nd ball. First, I am pretty decent with just about any other spare (the 10 pin give me fits... at my best I was about 70% on it, these days I'm about 50-50), and second, we normally have a decent line for practice so I want to get BOTH balls. If I strike I feel like I wasted a warm up ball.

I can tell I'm getting old... Proper warm up was never important to me, but these days I need every ball I can get to warm up! hahaha. I also found I have to start with low speed and work myself up. It never used to be that way when I was in my early 20s...

[SSG]

I would try to change to throwing straight for all single pin spares. As bill had said with trying to hook the ball and playing all that lane, you can set yourself up for some bad reactions.

[Mike White]

The coach that told me said 24 boards was the miss. I actually dropped it some because it seemed too much to me. Maybe they went 4+8 for one side plus 4+8 for the opposite side=24 boards?
Yes, I also go by the center of the ball as for hitting my mark.
John, don't feel bad. I missed my shot by 25 boards at the arrows. Add that Gold coach's theory and I missed by more than a whole lane! lol

Bill did the military completely beat out of you the idea of questioning authority?

Lets use target shooting as a basis.

A perfect bullseye is when the center of the bullet hits the center of the target.

Lets assume a target with a diameter of 4.5"

If the center of the bullet is more that 2.25" from the center of the target that could be considered a miss except when it is very close to 2.25" away, the radius of the bullet comes in to consideration.

In our case we have a bullet with a 8.6" diameter. If the center of our bullet (ball) is more than (2.25"+4.30") 6.45" from the center of our target (pin) it is considered a miss. Since we could miss the center of the target (pin) either left or right, our "room for error" is 12.90".

[e-tank]

I can tell I'm getting old... Proper warm up was never important to me, but these days I need every ball I can get to warm up! hahaha. I also found I have to start with low speed and work myself up. It never used to be that way when I was in my early 20s...

Im only 22 and i still have to warm up pretty good before im ready to go. I credit it to 2 shoulder dislocations in the past but i was starting to feel old myself haha.

And just and update we decide to practice last night and she did surprisingly well. I was also to get my gf to be more comfortable with her approach, backswing and follow through. Id say it was a good practice.

[billf]

Bill did the military completely beat out of you the idea of questioning authority?

Lets use target shooting as a basis.

A perfect bullseye is when the center of the bullet hits the center of the target.

Lets assume a target with a diameter of 4.5"

If the center of the bullet is more that 2.25" from the center of the target that could be considered a miss except when it is very close to 2.25" away, the radius of the bullet comes in to consideration.

In our case we have a bullet with a 8.6" diameter. If the center of our bullet (ball) is more than (2.25"+4.30") 6.45" from the center of our target (pin) it is considered a miss. Since we could miss the center of the target (pin) either left or right, our "room for error" is 12.90".

Mike, to be perfectly honest, I didn't care enough to question it. A miss is a miss. Just like sniper training though, I do get upset if I hit the target but not exactly where I want to. If I can hit a spot smaller than a dime from 3,000+ meters away then I should be able to roll a ball and hit a 4.5" target. If I want dead center and just clip it, I do get upset with myself. I blow if off after a few seconds to not affect the next shot but I also expect more from myself.

[UBowling]

My opinion on the matter of spares is to learn to throw at them straight. Take the lane pattern out of the equation.

With that being said there is a starting point for spare shooting that I find useful. For every pin to the side of the head pin, move 3 boards in the opposite direction. So for example leaving a 3 pin would cause you to make a 3 board move to the left. Leaving a 4 pin would cause you to move 6 boards to the right. And from that you can adjust. If you miss right, move your feet more right.

When I practice I am usually 5 boards to the opposite direction for each pin. For the 7 pin I am 15 boards right with my feet. For the 10 pin I am 15 boards to the left with my feet. I look at the 10 pin and trace an invisible line back down the lane to where I am going to slide so I know what to look at for my target. Then I try to take the 10 pin and 7 pin off the rack on the first shot and second shot. If I have a pin setter that will set up specific spares, I will set those up time after time. But taking each one off the rack is good practice.

[UBowling]

And as far as the missing your target and being way off down lane, that is because of a few different factors. Main one is launch angle, you could be dead on your target, but if your launch angle is off you will miss what you are shooting for. Also when you are hooking the ball, if your launch angle is correct and you hit your target, you can still miss because your speed may be slower or faster, and your revs could be higher or lower, or you could have lofted the ball more or less. All of those things factor into the complete picture.

There is an article on our site called "Bowling's Big Miss" here: http://www.ubowling.com/coaching.aspx and it explains it all in detail.

[billf]

Great article Levi. Thank you for sharing it.