gfdengine204
12-07-2009, 09:04 PM
Today I went for some practice. My spare shooting in league Friday night was abysmal. In fact, I blame that for costing us our point for series. (Sure, my teammates had bad games too, but.....:rolleyes:) Anyway, I decided I needed to go do some intensive practice and nail this down.
My coach, when I first started with lessons, gave me the following system: for 7-pin single spares, stand with my slide (left) foot on 7, throw over the 2nd to 3rd arrow (adjusting after some trial and error). For 10-pin single spares, stand with the left side of my slide foot on the left edge of 39, throw over 20-21 at the 4th arrow. When I first tried this, it worked well. Then somehow I think my head started messing with me, thinking I am WAY too far to the side for either shot, and all I do now is whiff. :mad: For other pins, essentially use the 3-6-9 system, with slight adjustments for multi-pin spares and splits.
I have been reading Parker Bohn III's book, and his section on spare shooting got me to thinking: Why do I need to be shooting from the extreme edges. His diagrams aren't so extreme; in fact, some of the diagrams show his feet near the center of the approach. :confused: One of my teammates told me she shoots spares more straight on than cross-lane. So today I started throwing, and was doing the following:
For the 10-pin, I stood on 30 (toes of my shoes on 30, that is), which sets me up for a release at the line around 20. (I've noticed my release is right around 10 boards right of my slide foot.) I aim for 3rd arrow (15 board), and when I hit my mark, I was consistently hitting the 10 fairly square. Did a complete line of just 10's, and like I said, when I hit that mark, the 10 was toast.
Off to the 7-pin. For this, I stood on 25, release at the line on 15, aiming at center arrow (20 board), and when I hit that mark, same thing, pretty square on the 7. This one gave me a little more trouble hitting the mark consistently, but when I DID hit it, it was pretty well on line.
Notice, though, in both cases, a few times I would hit the mark, and miss, but I attributed this to being too open or not square to my intended path for the ball.
As I drove home, I was thinking about this, and may have hit on something worthwhile, hence why I am here asking the community for input. (Also, if this has already been "discovered", feel free to let me know. I have no problem with criticism as well. Anyway, what I was thinking was more mathematical in nature. When you know the board the pin is on, and the board you are releasing the ball, and throwing a straight spare ball, I was thinking "Well, if it is a straight line, you should be able to figure mathematically what your target is". With the foul line at zero feet, and the pins at ~60-62 feet, and knowing the arrows are at 15 feet, here is what I figured. For shooting the 10, for example, I am releasing at 20; the pin is on 5. The difference here is 15 boards. The arrows are 1/4th the distance from the foul line as the pins are. So, divide the difference in boards from release point to pin location (in this case 20-5) and here we get 15. Divide that by 4 (3 3/4), and that is the number of boards over you need to aim for at the arrows. As I was thinking this, I realized every time I had a real good cover on the 10, I was inside the 3rd arrow (around 15 1/2). " Hmmmm, maybe this idea has merit", I thought. So I was thinking about the 7-pin. Release on 15, pin on 35. 20-board difference, divide by 4, gives me an aiming mark of 5 boards over. That puts my mark on the 20. Which is where I was hitting the 7 pretty well.
So as I get home, I was pondering this (gee, maybe I over think stuff? ;)) and thought you could do this for anywhere on the approach to any single pin at the deck. At least, I think you could.
Now, I haven't worked yet on multi-pin spares, but my theory is "As long as I can determine where I want the ball to go, I can find where to release and where to aim to put it there" (as long as I throw straight and don't tug it or whiff).
Sorry this is so long. Hoping to get some good input here.
My coach, when I first started with lessons, gave me the following system: for 7-pin single spares, stand with my slide (left) foot on 7, throw over the 2nd to 3rd arrow (adjusting after some trial and error). For 10-pin single spares, stand with the left side of my slide foot on the left edge of 39, throw over 20-21 at the 4th arrow. When I first tried this, it worked well. Then somehow I think my head started messing with me, thinking I am WAY too far to the side for either shot, and all I do now is whiff. :mad: For other pins, essentially use the 3-6-9 system, with slight adjustments for multi-pin spares and splits.
I have been reading Parker Bohn III's book, and his section on spare shooting got me to thinking: Why do I need to be shooting from the extreme edges. His diagrams aren't so extreme; in fact, some of the diagrams show his feet near the center of the approach. :confused: One of my teammates told me she shoots spares more straight on than cross-lane. So today I started throwing, and was doing the following:
For the 10-pin, I stood on 30 (toes of my shoes on 30, that is), which sets me up for a release at the line around 20. (I've noticed my release is right around 10 boards right of my slide foot.) I aim for 3rd arrow (15 board), and when I hit my mark, I was consistently hitting the 10 fairly square. Did a complete line of just 10's, and like I said, when I hit that mark, the 10 was toast.
Off to the 7-pin. For this, I stood on 25, release at the line on 15, aiming at center arrow (20 board), and when I hit that mark, same thing, pretty square on the 7. This one gave me a little more trouble hitting the mark consistently, but when I DID hit it, it was pretty well on line.
Notice, though, in both cases, a few times I would hit the mark, and miss, but I attributed this to being too open or not square to my intended path for the ball.
As I drove home, I was thinking about this, and may have hit on something worthwhile, hence why I am here asking the community for input. (Also, if this has already been "discovered", feel free to let me know. I have no problem with criticism as well. Anyway, what I was thinking was more mathematical in nature. When you know the board the pin is on, and the board you are releasing the ball, and throwing a straight spare ball, I was thinking "Well, if it is a straight line, you should be able to figure mathematically what your target is". With the foul line at zero feet, and the pins at ~60-62 feet, and knowing the arrows are at 15 feet, here is what I figured. For shooting the 10, for example, I am releasing at 20; the pin is on 5. The difference here is 15 boards. The arrows are 1/4th the distance from the foul line as the pins are. So, divide the difference in boards from release point to pin location (in this case 20-5) and here we get 15. Divide that by 4 (3 3/4), and that is the number of boards over you need to aim for at the arrows. As I was thinking this, I realized every time I had a real good cover on the 10, I was inside the 3rd arrow (around 15 1/2). " Hmmmm, maybe this idea has merit", I thought. So I was thinking about the 7-pin. Release on 15, pin on 35. 20-board difference, divide by 4, gives me an aiming mark of 5 boards over. That puts my mark on the 20. Which is where I was hitting the 7 pretty well.
So as I get home, I was pondering this (gee, maybe I over think stuff? ;)) and thought you could do this for anywhere on the approach to any single pin at the deck. At least, I think you could.
Now, I haven't worked yet on multi-pin spares, but my theory is "As long as I can determine where I want the ball to go, I can find where to release and where to aim to put it there" (as long as I throw straight and don't tug it or whiff).
Sorry this is so long. Hoping to get some good input here.