The dreaded pocket 7-10

[The German Shepherd]

Inmy Monday night league last night, I left two pocket 7-10s. Both balls looked like they were good enough to carry. I left ne with a Lucid (at OOB finish) and also with my Defiant (also at OOB).

What causes one to leave them? WHAT is the cure??

Jay

[sprocket]

I wish there was a cure. Pocket 7-10's have become a reality of the modern game. In order to get away from leaving the occasional 7-10 you're going to have to be willing to give up other light hits that carry. Modern balls carry light hits that would not have carried in the past. Sometimes though, the pins just fly in a way that the 5 pin missed the 7 and nothing hits the 10 pin either including the messenger headpin that almost got it but left it rattling. I left one last week on the first ball in the tenth frame on a double for 197. Yesterday I was bragging on how well my ball was carrying and really rolling strong and leaving the pin deck right between the 8 and 9 pins. I should have kept my mouth shut because on the next shot I left a weak 8-10 in the pocket! Then I left 2 ten pins in the next three frames and missed them both. No 7-10's though...

[mxjosh]

This may be unhelpful but my coach is a very good bowler. He is respected by pba members who have won titles that also bowl in same league. He has an 8 week 7/10 split streak. he has left at least 1 sometimes 2 7/10 splits every Thursday for 8 weeks. Different balls, different lay down points, different breakpoints, different oil patterns. At first it was comical but now he so sick of it, he gets mad. Mostly quiet bt it definitely bothers him. Could be bad pin placement with the machines at this one house, who knows. but in that same stretch, the rest of us have only left 1 or 2 total. So hard to really say how it should be fixed.

[sukeetoshyoo88]

since i started league 4 weeks ago. i've had a pocket 7-10 every week.
and i've noticed it's when i put too much rotation on the ball, and the ball skids too far but recovers will a lot of angle. at least for me, that's what it seems like.

[J Anderson]

Inmy Monday night league last night, I left two pocket 7-10s. Both balls looked like they were good enough to carry. I left ne with a Lucid (at OOB finish) and also with my Defiant (also at OOB).

What causes one to leave them? WHAT is the cure??

Jay

If you weren't a pastor I'd say its caused by bad karma;) But neither us believes in that.

Seriously I think they are a product of modern ball technology, because I don't remember seeing them back in the 70s and 80s, and never experienced one until I got a reactive resin ball.

[billf]

The only known cure is to quit bowling. Seeing as that isn't happening (or better not be) then you just take the good with the bad. Convert it, it's fun.

[Kobra167]

The cure is to throw a better ball! No, I'm not being mean. A clue can be when you throw strike and for a split second you thought you might have had 7-10 split as the pins go flying back, but they all went down fast with no messengers. Do you remember where the ball hit the pocket? Just from observation whenever I happen to pay attention. The ball finished strong, but light in the pocket. There may or may not be any merit to it, but thats my hypothesis. Light hits increases its probabilty.

Sometimes we just get unlucky and we're surprised when it shows up. There's no rhyme or reason why pins stand up sometimes. Gotta take the good with the bad. Luck is part of the game. Instead of getting mad about it. Take your 7-10 split like a champ, just like your brooklyn strike that you high give everybody when you pulled your shot.

[tommyd2107]

I left one last night, first time in a long time I left a pocket 7 10 split but in the back of my mind I know they can always show up, especially at the lanes I bowl league in.

[Judy clemons]

CHALLENGE your self to pick it up... if by chance it happens ???? count your BLESSINGS you got the opportunity to ACCOMPLISH another GOAL.:)

[tommyd2107]

CHALLENGE your self to pick it up... if by chance it happens ???? count your BLESSINGS you got the opportunity to ACCOMPLISH another GOAL.:)

I have a funny story about this. My friend is 6 foot 7, and throws the ball about 25 mph. During one of our high school matches years ago, he left a pocket 7,10, this was after having the front 7 strikes. He threw the ball so hard the next shot, it went right down the middle, hit the back stop so hard the pins hopped up and both fell down. He made the 7 10 split with out hitting a pin. It was incredible. My coach didn't think it counted, but the other coach insisted that since he didn't throw the ball in the gutter that it was legal and counted. We won that game by 2 pins.

[mxjosh]

Thats awesome.

Bowled league last night and our team each left a 7/10 split. We were not using the same balls or lines.

[ecub]

I don't look at a split as a split. I see what pins I've been leaving with the combination. If I leave a combination of 10 pins, like a 7-10, 8-10, 3-10, etc. I just think of it as leaving a 10 pin, and got unlucky. So I figure out what the 6 pin is doing (dead or wrap around). Then I adjust from there.

[Tampabaybob]

AH yes the dreaded 7 - 10. This is a reality check folks, if you are a bowler one or more will eventually find you, regardless of what type of ball you throw, line you play, amount of rev's on the ball or whatever. The key is to try to make one of the damn things sometime during your bowling career. Years ago, much younger and stronger, I made the 7-10 probably 4 or 5 times. Just throw hard and accurate and keep your fingers crossed.

As one poster also said, and I agree, these machines are mechanical. They go in and out of calibration and a pin only needs to be off spot a tiny bit (but still within USBC specs) for you to get a crazy reaction. Nothing you can do to change the game. Just take it for what it is and good luck.

[Hammer]

Maybe you need a ball drilled with a layout that is less angular and more of an arcing shot to the pocket like Norm Duke. Or it could be the core of the ball that needs to be looked at. Different cores will give you different ball reactions. You have to find a ball that works with your technique which includes layout, core and surface.I haver a Blue Hammer that I use since October of 2012 on a THS pattern and have never had a 7-10 leave. My leaves are the 7 pin. Sometimes lane conditions make me hit the pocket light and leave ringing 7
pins. I had a game where I had five of them. YIKES!

[Tampabaybob]

I've got 6 or 7 balls that I rotate and they're all different cover stocks weights (just by a little) and most with different drilling patterns. I can tell you I can and have left 7-10's with all of them at one time or another. You could spend countless dollars trying to find that one ball made and the drilling pattern that will never leave a 7 - 10. In other words save your money !

[aussiedave]

Inmy Monday night league last night, I left two pocket 7-10s. Both balls looked like they were good enough to carry. I left ne with a Lucid (at OOB finish) and also with my Defiant (also at OOB).

What causes one to leave them? WHAT is the cure??

Jay
I reckon it's the pin setter - the pins could be off spot in just a manner that a lightish pocket will leave it. Lanes 3 - 4 at our house are notorious for them - I got three in league one night with two in one game and one of them wrecked a possible six bagger and a 600 series. Now that's frustrating!
ad.

[got_a_300]

I've had nights where I've left back to back
7-10 splits on both lanes during league on
what looked to be perfect pocket hits.

[Greenday]

My coach yesterday threw what looked to be a perfect shot. Great off his hand, read the lane beautifully. 7-10. Crushing but all you can do is laugh about it and move on.

[swingset]

My coach yesterday threw what looked to be a perfect shot. Great off his hand, read the lane beautifully. 7-10. Crushing but all you can do is laugh about it and move on.

It used to be a joke in my scratch leagues about my 10th frame disasters, but in one season I ended 9 strikes in a row three different times with a 7-10.

Now, here's what's worse - I made one of those 7-10's and struck out for a 278. I consider that the single greatest game I've thrown...with a Ebonite Thundbolt on wood lanes, btw, but the score does not show it. In my mind, what I did was far more implausible and hard to repeat than any 300 game. I'd love to know if anyone else has ever done that, I haven't heard of it but I'm sure it's been done.

Wish there was video of it - but back then the cameras were pretty honkin' big! hehe.

[billf]

And recorded only in black and white? lol

[Tampabaybob]

It used to be a joke in my scratch leagues about my 10th frame disasters, but in one season I ended 9 strikes in a row three different times with a 7-10.

Now, here's what's worse - I made one of those 7-10's and struck out for a 278. I consider that the single greatest game I've thrown...with a Ebonite Thundbolt on wood lanes, btw, but the score does not show it. In my mind, what I did was far more implausible and hard to repeat than any 300 game. I'd love to know if anyone else has ever done that, I haven't heard of it but I'm sure it's been done.

Wish there was video of it - but back then the cameras were pretty honkin' big! hehe.

Swingset....Yeah, that might just be a Guiness World record !! I can't say I've ever heard of anyone doing that 3 times, let alone making it once.

7-10's are just weird. You'll almost never leave one that you didn't think would be a perfect pocket strike. Right?