spare shooting with the 3,6,9 system what a difference!

[H3RBSKI]

Up until Sunday I have been self taught for around a year and my average has been around 165 for most league matches. Sunday I had my first coaching session where we worked on a few things but mainly my accuracy/consistency, I've never been great at spares beause I just kinda guess where to aim Eg if i was aiming for a 7pin I would stand on 35yh board annd aim over 20 and hope it would come back etc
The coach told me about the 3,6,9 technique and my god it's so stupidly easy andnout of 10 games today i had an average of 189 just because of my spares so that's over 20pins in 3days
For anybody like me who didn't know about it (maybe I'm just stupid) basically if you leave a 2 pin then stand 3 boards left of your strike position so for me I stand on 28 and bowl over 13 so for me to hit a 2pin I would stand on 25 and bowl over 13
For a 4 pin stand 6boards right so I would stand 22 and bowl over 13
For a 7pin stand 9 boards to the right so would stand 19 and bowl over 13.

For 3/6/10 pins I was shown to stand 2boards left of the last dot on the left of the approach and aim over 18board for a 10pinstand 3 boards right of that for a 6pin and bowl over 18
And for a 3 pin stand 6 boards right of the 10 position and bowl over 18 board
This never occurred to me at all before and I would miss such simple spares! Today I barely missed any leaving one maybe 2 open frames max each game all day which for me is really good.
Hope this post makes sense and for anybody else new to the sport then you should try this out for spares its so simple!
Even managed to get lucky and hit a 4/7/10 a 5/7/10 and a 5/10 today which I was very pleased about :)
Hope I explained it right. This is for a right hand bowler btw

[dnhoffman]

Above 180 is calling to you... But ya you gotta learn to hit those spares!

[Aslan]

I started out using the 3-6-9 but now use the 4-8-12.

I agree with H3R...it's a very simple technique that can drastically improve someone's spare game. The only "variance" are pins on the right side (for righties). Those pins are slightly harder because you can't keep the same target...and thats where "some" variance comes into play. You have to move your target left as well as your feet when shooting at right side spares...and it's not "quite" as simple as just saying "shoot at X board" because it's going to change slightly based on what ball you're using (strike versus spare) and the lane condition.

The other thing I learned later...and you'd be surprised how many people don't know this...if you're using a spare ball...it has a different "strike line" than your strike ball. So first you have to figure out your strike line for your spare ball (which most people don't know because they would never throw their spare ball as a strike ball) and THEN you use 3-6-9 or 4-8-12.

From what other bowlers have been telling me, and from some of the newer instructional stuff on the internet...I think bowlers have been moving away from 3-6-9 and 4-8-12 to the "cross lane" approach which is simpler especially for single 10-pins which are the predominant leaves for better bowlers. I still use 4-8-12. It's made my spare game on the left side very much improved. Right side leaves are still a bit "iffy"...because of needing to alter my target...but still very much improved.

[H3RBSKI]

I started out using the 3-6-9 but now use the 4-8-12.

I agree with H3R...it's a very simple technique that can drastically improve someone's spare game. The only "variance" are pins on the right side (for righties). Those pins are slightly harder because you can't keep the same target...and thats where "some" variance comes into play. You have to move your target left as well as your feet when shooting at right side spares...and it's not "quite" as simple as just saying "shoot at X board" because it's going to change slightly based on what ball you're using (strike versus spare) and the lane condition.

The other thing I learned later...and you'd be surprised how many people don't know this...if you're using a spare ball...it has a different "strike line" than your strike ball. So first you have to figure out your strike line for your spare ball (which most people don't know because they would never throw their spare ball as a strike ball) and THEN you use 3-6-9 or 4-8-12.

From what other bowlers have been telling me, and from some of the newer instructional stuff on the internet...I think bowlers have been moving away from 3-6-9 and 4-8-12 to the "cross lane" approach which is simpler especially for single 10-pins which are the predominant leaves for better bowlers. I still use 4-8-12. It's made my spare game on the left side very much improved. Right side leaves are still a bit "iffy"...because of needing to alter my target...but still very much improved.

i use my strike ball as my spare ball unless im shooting straight so i know what to expect when i release it. is 4/8/12 much different? i always moved left for the 2/4/7 and used to miss alot i used to bowl straight for the 3/6/10 but after sunday/today i wont be doing that again :) now i have to work on my carry!

[Aslan]

is 4/8/12 much different?

I used to miss more with 3-6-9. But one thing I like about 4-8-12 is I can "customize" based on how I'm throwing or whether there's a 3rd pin or a sleeper or a 4th pin. Like, if I know I've been just barely hitting to the right of the 4-pin…and I leave a 4-7…maybe I go 9 boards or 10 boards instead of just 8.

At the end of the day…3-6-9 versus 4-8-12 isn't that much considering most people have a slight or natural "drift". So you may start out at 8 boards right and end up 7 boards right…or start out 6 boards right and end up 7. Like sometimes if I start out 10-12 boards right shooting at the 7-pin…throwing the ball over the gutter/ball return makes me nervous…so I almost naturally drift a little left.