Pros don't always throw straight at spares.........

[Hammer]

I was watching a few pro tournaments from 2015 on youtube. I noticed on certain spares they would hook it to pick the pins up. Corner pins seemed to be picked up with plastic balls thrown straight. You can see this for yourself by watching a few tournaments on youtube. Do you hook sometimes on certain spare leaves to pick them up?

[Blomer]

I was watching a few pro tournaments from 2015 on youtube. I noticed on certain spares they would hook it to pick the pins up. Corner pins seemed to be picked up with plastic balls thrown straight. You can see this for yourself by watching a few tournaments on youtube. Do you hook sometimes on certain spare leaves to pick them up?

I'm not. A pro for sure, far from it, the only spare i throw straight at is the 10! Everything else I hook at it.

[ep1977]

I throw plastic straight at the 6,9,10 and any combination of those pins.

[zacks]

I just got my first plastic ball, and now I'm throwing it only at the 10, the 6-10, or certain splits like the 4-9. Everything else I hook with my strike ball. If I start to do tournaments on real patterns, I'll likely start practicing throwing straight for single pins and some multi-pins just to take the oil variable out of it. On a THS, I don't miss any single pins (10 excluded) with a hook.

[zacks]

I also believe it to be a better shot to throw a hook when you have something like a bucket (2,4,5,8) or a sleeper/double wood (2-8).

[RobLV1]

I just published and article on BTM entitled "Playing the Percentages." It's about developing a spare shooting system. Personally, I use my strike ball to hook at the 2-8, but have a much higher make percentage at the 2-4-5, and the 2-4-5-8, using plastic going straight up the fifth arrow. It's just too easy to chop something hooking at those two spares.

[collinwho]

I try to throw straight at all the corner-ish pins (4,6,7,8,9,10). I throw a smaller hook at the baby splits on the corners (3-10, 2-7) because it is easier for me to cover both pins with the ball that way. I also throw a hook at any leave that would have me targeting the same spot as the baby splits (3-6-10 for example). I also usually throw a hook at buckets and sleepers because they are just easier to cover that way.

[JerseyJim]

I pretty much throw straight at everything. If you can dig it up, find the Rolf Gauger's article on "Triax Spare System".

[J Anderson]

My pet theory is that since the typical house shot is designed to funnel a hooking ball into the middle of the lane, it's counter productive to hook at any pin right of the 3 pin or left of the 2 pin. I spend about a quarter of my time bowling on sport patterns, so I tend to shoot straight at almost all spares. The exceptions are the 5 pin, the 2-8, and the 1-2-4-7.

[bowl1820]

I pretty much throw straight at everything. If you can dig it up, find the Rolf Gauger's article on "Triax Spare System".


For those interested in the Triax System heres Rolf Gauger's "Up your Average" 2 part article from bowling news where he tells about it. Also I added Triax chart to the pdf.

http://home.earthlink.net/~litefrozen/downloads/Triax_spare.pdf (http://home.earthlink.net/%7Elitefrozen/downloads/Triax_spare.pdf)

[LOUVIT]

6 or 10 is my only attempted straight shot

[Turkey Track Hammer]

Well I can't roll a Perfectly straight ball.

[LOUVIT]

I do not yet have a spare ball, Even when I do get one I will probably only use it for the 6 or 10. Right now I just take everything off the ball to make it hook less, in other words like a suitcase release with no follow through, I am still not accurate enough though I make maybe 50-60% of right corner pins destroys a lot of my games. I would move on the approach and throw my normal ball at buckets, etc...

[Mike White]

Well I can't roll a Perfectly straight ball.

Thats ok, since most balls are "perfectly" round.

[vdubtx]

I throw straight at 3-6-9-10 and most combinations of them. On Sport patters I will throw straight at all leaves.

When I leave a 3-6-9-10, I do hook at it to lessen chances of chopping and leaving the 9 pin.

[NewToBowling]

I throw straight at 3-6-9-10 and most combinations of them. On Sport patters I will throw straight at all leaves.

When I leave a 3-6-9-10, I do hook at it to lessen chances of chopping and leaving the 9 pin.

Huh???

[Mike White]

I throw straight at 3-6-9-10 and most combinations of them. On Sport patters I will throw straight at all leaves.

When I leave a 3-6-9-10, I do hook at it to lessen chances of chopping and leaving the 9 pin.


Huh???

Yeah there is a bit of Huh?? there.

My Huh? is on the last part.

It seems the word "chop" has mutated it's definition to something like, I got some, but not all of the pins.

To me chop means the ball deflected less than expected, causing one or more pins to be left.

Such as a 6-10 leave, where (for a right handed bowler) the ball hits the 6 pin slightly on the right, and drives the pin back without the ball contacting the 10 pin.

Hitting the 6 pin on the left, and sending it to the right, and around the 10 pin, or just into the right gutter, is not a chop the way I learned it's definition.

I've seen the comment.. I chopped the 5 off, leaving the 2-4. To that I say Huh???

[Amyers]

Huh???

I believe he meant that he throws straight at the 3-6-10 but hooks at the 3-6-9-10 due to the possibility of not taking the 9 out with the deflection of the spare. As mike stated I'm not sure that leaving the 9 in this instance is actually a chop but I'm not sure if there is a particular term for it. If you leave the 3-9 or 2-8 and hit the front pin but miss the back pin is that a chop also? I'm not sure myself.

[bowl1820]

I'm not sure that leaving the 9 in this instance is actually a chop

The classic definition of a "Chop" or "Chopping" is:

"knocking down only the front pin of a multi pin spare leave"
For the 3-6-9-10 leave in this case the true chop would be hitting just the 3 and leaving the rest.

And to be considered a true chop the ball should hit in the middle of the pin. (not left or right of the middle)

A slightly more modern variation is "To knock down one pin of a multi pin spare leave"

In the case of the 3-6-9-10 leave here, picking off just the 3 or 9 or 10 could be considered a "Chop".


Leaving only the 9 pin from the 3-6-9-10 leave, would not be considered "Chop" in any case.

[J Anderson]

Huh???

I believe that what Vdub means is that he throws a straight ball at any single pin leave to the right of the headpin as well as any multi-pin combination of them with the exception of the 3-6-9-10.

[zacks]

The classic definition of a "Chop" or "Chopping" is:

"knocking down only the front pin of a multi pin spare leave"
For the 3-6-9-10 leave in this case the true chop would be hitting just the 3 and leaving the rest.

And to be considered a true chop the ball should hit in the middle of the pin. (not left or right of the middle)

A slightly more modern variation is "To knock down one pin of a multi pin spare leave"

In the case of the 3-6-9-10 leave here, picking off just the 3 or 9 or 10 could be considered a "Chop".


Leaving only the 9 pin from the 3-6-9-10 leave, would not be considered "Chop" in any case.

I'm not sure what the original term was meant to include and I'm sure there are many different definitions you could find, but I agree with most of what everyone is saying. I do however consider missing the 5 off of a 2-4-5 a chop. It's not much different than the 2-5 leave and chopping the 2 off the 5. So I do believe you can chop more than one pin off of a leave.

Leaving the 9 off of the 3-6-9-10 I would consider "not covering" rather than "chopping".

[foreverincamo]

I've heard the pros say " straighter is greater ", but they can't throw dead straight at everything. Just doesn't work.

[J Anderson]

I've heard the pros say " straighter is greater ", but they can't throw dead straight at everything. Just doesn't work.

When I've heard this it's usually been from Randy Pederson. He always trots this phrase out when Walter Ray Williams makes the finals, but also uses it when referring to players who used to throw nothing but a gigantic hook and didn't have much success until they became more versatile. He is usually talking about how on many PBA patterns it's necessary to start with as direct a line as possible to leave as much room as possible for lateral adjustments.