Question About Changing Lines

[Florida Bowler]

Last night I had a line that stayed consistent all night long. I found it early in the first game and it was still there at the end of the third. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to hit my target through most of the second and third games.

My question is, should I have tried changing lines if I can't hit the one that works? I thought about moving outside, and I think I could have found the pocket from there. It was just so hard moving away from what worked. It was frustrating, because I had about a 3 board buffer, but I could not hit that consistently. I was missing on both sides.

[Amyers]

Truth is were all inconsistent it's just a matter of how much? The average league bowler thinks they are 1 board consistent truthfully most of us are lucky to be within 3 boards at the break point on 75% of our shots. if your thinking your missing your target your probably correct but you usually do lol. Make the move unless your feeling your accuracy is much less than normal and inconsistent to boot you want to move even then it's probably the way to go.


I will say making a move outside from inside on a house pattern is unusual the move is usually deeper.

[ChuckR]

Amyers, I would normally agree with you. Equipment comes into play as well as the amount of oil as you move left. I through a Tenacity and Tyrant.
Red Rock in Las Vegas has been dry the last 2 weeks. Moving left still found to much dry and over hooked. I had to go right and pick up the speed.

[Florida Bowler]

Right now, I'm throwing plastic, so moving inside usually does not work for me. My ball will just slide and not come back.

I'm not to the point where I'm watching the accuracy of my breakpoint. I'm watching at the arrows, and I know that leaves out a lot of info, but last night it was pretty consistent. If I was between the second and third arrows, it would hit the pocket. Right in the center of those 2 arrows gave me a flush strike.

I think I will make the move next time. In the mean time, I need to figure out why I couldn't hit that target, whether it was physical or mental.

Thanks for the reply!

[Amyers]

lol well throwing plastic may change some things. You may want to start a little farther outside to begin with.

[Florida Bowler]

lol well throwing plastic may change some things. You may want to start a little farther outside to begin with.

I normally do, but during warmups, this line was much better. I just wish I could have hit it more consistently.

[RobLV1]

lol well throwing plastic may change some things. You may want to start a little farther outside to begin with.

On the contrary. I normally start a little left of the reactive players, let my carry down build me some shim, and wait for the reactive players to suck up all the oil in the track area. The result is that they usually beat me the first game (as one would expect), but by the third game when they are stubbornly staying in the track area, I have gotten so much area to the right and the left that I can beat them easily.

[boatman37]

It's probably not the right thing to do but when I am struggling I will try another ball or a new line. And when I say 'I am struggling' I mean me, not the ball or the lanes. Sometimes I just can't hit my mark or am tugging my shot so I just try something different and sometimes that sort of resets myself or something. It usually helps but likely more of a mental thing.

[GrumpyCatFace]

I don’t know if I’ll ever be accurate/consistent enough to “read a lane”. I tend to hit my spot at the dots, but I can feel my release a little differently on almost every shot. It’s very hard to repeat the motions exactly.

That said, if I throw my first ball and hook into the 7 pin, I’m probably going to move inside and stay there. :)

[RobLV1]

I don’t know if I’ll ever be accurate/consistent enough to “read a lane”. I tend to hit my spot at the dots, but I can feel my release a little differently on almost every shot. It’s very hard to repeat the motions exactly.

Hitting your spot at the dots or the arrows is one of the carryovers from the 80's. The main concern today is where your ball is at the end of the pattern. You should notice where your ball is at the dots or arrows, but your true target is at the breakpoint.

[Amyers]

It's probably not the right thing to do but when I am struggling I will try another ball or a new line. And when I say 'I am struggling' I mean me, not the ball or the lanes. Sometimes I just can't hit my mark or am tugging my shot so I just try something different and sometimes that sort of resets myself or something. It usually helps but likely more of a mental thing.

This works for my wife too. I've got to the point I'll even suggest it to her. Myself if I'm throwing ball A bad I'm going to throw ball B bad. Her its like a switch flips wish it worked that way for me. DO what works.

[Florida Bowler]

Hitting your spot at the dots or the arrows is one of the carryovers from the 80's. The main concern today is where your ball is at the end of the pattern. You should notice where your ball is at the dots or arrows, but your true target is at the breakpoint.

I think I'm doing that. I'm aiming for a spot at the arrows, but I'm watching how it breaks. If I hit my target and it does not break the way I want it to, then I make a move. I can see the motion of the ball, but I have trouble aiming at the breakpoint. In other words, I think I can see if my ball breaks at the right spot, but I can't see the spot before the ball gets there. Does that make sense?

[boatman37]

This works for my wife too. I've got to the point I'll even suggest it to her. Myself if I'm throwing ball A bad I'm going to throw ball B bad. Her its like a switch flips wish it worked that way for me. DO what works.

So I'm not the only weird one (no disrespect to Mrs. Amyers....lol)

[GrumpyCatFace]

I think I'm doing that. I'm aiming for a spot at the arrows, but I'm watching how it breaks. If I hit my target and it does not break the way I want it to, then I make a move. I can see the motion of the ball, but I have trouble aiming at the breakpoint. In other words, I think I can see if my ball breaks at the right spot, but I can't see the spot before the ball gets there. Does that make sense?

Same!

I can see that it's a good shot as it's happening, about halfway down the lane, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me what board the "breakpoint" was on.

How do you spot a certain board on a curve??

[RobLV1]

The breakpoint is when it starts to curve, not some point during the curve.

[Florida Bowler]

The breakpoint is when it starts to curve, not some point during the curve.

I think that's why I'm having trouble targeting it right now. I can tell when the motion is right, but I can't tell you where it happens. I will start to focus on that more in practice. Especially when I get a new ball, which should give a much more defined break.