I scratch my head when.....

[zacks]

I know that bowler. I deal with that crap all the time. Well I struck like that once!!! Even the blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut.

Yeah, that was me with the 10-pin! Haha. At least I listened to you. I did dump my first couple into the gutter (it's a serious mental adjustment when the ball goes dead straight), but confidence is way up and so is my 10-pin percentage.

[Amyers]

Yeah, that was me with the 10-pin! Haha. At least I listened to you. I did dump my first couple into the gutter (it's a serious mental adjustment when the ball goes dead straight), but confidence is way up and so is my 10-pin percentage.

Awesome. Striking will get you a high average spare shooting keeps it that way and helps you win tournaments.

[1VegasBowler]

Awesome. Striking will get you a high average spare shooting keeps it that way and helps you win tournaments.

Strikes for show, spares for dough.

[fokai73]

I know of two bowlers, both are between a tweener and cranker. Both hooked at their corner pins, both were either on it or or not. One week they are 5 for 5 and the next week 2 out of 6. Both averaged in the 190's for YEARS I've known them (8 yrs). For years I told them to get a spare ball, both gave me different reasons, but the answers were NO.

Then one of them decided to get a spare ball 2 seasons ago - hammer carbon fiber one?. The guy that got the spare ball, came up to me in Reno and said, "hey man, I finally got a spare ball. MAN!!! WHAT A DIFFERENCE!"

Long story short. The guy that still hooks the ball for corners, he is @ 196. The other guy who got a spare ball..... 215!!!! no freak'n joke.

Edit: when bowlers ask me what can they do, or how do they break 200 average... my answer is simple, spares. shoot a double and go sheet with 9/ you'll break 200.

But many bowler take spare shooting for granted.

[NewToBowling]

I have big issue with splits. I can pick up spares and multi spares (non-splits) on a regular basis but 2-3 open frames due to splits kills you. So to me it's about making a good first shot to where I don't leave un-makeable spares (7-10, greek church, etc)

[Mike White]

I know of two bowlers, both are between a tweener and cranker. Both hooked at their corner pins, both were either on it or or not. One week they are 5 for 5 and the next week 2 out of 6. Both averaged in the 190's for YEARS I've known them (8 yrs). For years I told them to get a spare ball, both gave me different reasons, but the answers were NO.

Then one of them decided to get a spare ball 2 seasons ago - hammer carbon fiber one?. The guy that got the spare ball, came up to me in Reno and said, "hey man, I finally got a spare ball. MAN!!! WHAT A DIFFERENCE!"

Long story short. The guy that still hooks the ball for corners, he is @ 196. The other guy who got a spare ball..... 215!!!! no freak'n joke.

Edit: when bowlers ask me what can they do, or how do they break 200 average... my answer is simple, spares. shoot a double and go sheet with 9/ you'll break 200.

But many bowler take spare shooting for granted.

What you have is one bowler who worked to improve his game vs another who sat on the couch.

It's no surprise that the one who worked on his game, improved.

However, what if the one sitting on his couch, instead worked on his game to improve his strike %.

That would allow you to answer the question: Which is more valuable, working on strikes or working on spares.

[fokai73]

What you have is one bowler who worked to improve his game vs another you sat on the couch.

It's no surprise that the one who worked on his game, improved.

However, what if the one sitting on his couch, instead worked on his game to improve his strike %.

That would allow you to answer the question: Which is more valuable, working on strikes or working on spares.

The bowler that never got a spare ball. He practiced 3 to 20 games a week - not sure if he does now. The other guy at 215 only bowls 3 games a week. The improved bowler did practice the one summer to get used to the spare ball, that I know. But since then, he never practices unless before a tourney. He travels for work and is more into training in another sport. bowling for him is fun...


your last statement, "which is more valuable, working on strike or working on spares"...... are you bowling only on THS or sport?

[Mike White]

The bowler that never got a spare ball. He practiced 3 to 20 games a week - not sure if he does now. The other guy at 215 only bowls 3 games a week. The improved bowler did practice the one summer to get used to the spare ball, that I know. But since then, he never practices unless before a tourney. He travels for work and is more into training in another sport. bowling for him is fun...


your last statement, "which is more valuable, working on strike or working on spares"...... are you bowling only on THS or sport?

You would think that improving your spare making ability would be more valuable than striking on a sport condition because you have to shoot are more spares compared to a THS.

It just doesn't work out that way.

It works out that the value isn't based on the difficulty of the lane pattern. It is a function of the rules on how we keep score.

Strikes are overvalued compared to spares in the scoring process.

Back in the "old days" when strikes were much harder to come by, the overvalue of strikes wasn't as obvious.

To make the math easier, lets assume that each bowler either throws a strike, or a 9 count on the 1st ball.

Lets take two absolute beginners. Both strike 0% of the time, and spare 0% of the time. Both are expected to average 90.

One bowler works strictly on their spares, while the other works strictly on strikes.

Lets say for each month of training on a specific ability, the bowler cuts their error rate for that ability in half.

One bowler will now strike 0% of the time, while sparing 50% of the time. For an expected average of 140. Each frame the bowler either achieves a score of 9, or 19, 50% for each result.

The other bowler will now strike 50% of the time, while sparing 0%.

That bowler will have an expected average of 166.

12.5% frames will achieve a score of 30.
12.5% frames will achieve a score of 29.
25.0% frames will achieve a score of 19.
50.0% frames will achieve a score of 9.

If these bowlers start the month with 50% error rate, and cut their error rate in half, their new ability level would be 75%.

The reason for focusing on their error rate is because more work results in diminishing returns, and also avoids going beyond 100% ability.

It works out that it's more beneficial to work on halving error rates of strikes.

The lower your strike error %, the less significant your spare error % becomes because you have less opportunities to attempt spares.

With a 1% strike error rate, and a 100% spare error rate, you're going to average vastly higher than a 100% strike error rate, and a 1% spare error rate.

[LOUVIT]

My warm up is just that to loosen my hand and body, funny that in 10 minutes of practice I'm lucky to get 3-4 shots, people just take their time. if I leave an easy spare I used to just foul and let the next person go but no one caught on so I stopped doing that. In the old day's we just had shadow practice, no pins judt true warm up fast pace and lot's of shots

[zacks]

You would think that improving your spare making ability would be more valuable than striking on a sport condition because you have to shoot are more spares compared to a THS.

It just doesn't work out that way.

It works out that the value isn't based on the difficulty of the lane pattern. It is a function of the rules on how we keep score.

Strikes are overvalued compared to spares in the scoring process.

Back in the "old days" when strikes were much harder to come by, the overvalue of strikes wasn't as obvious.

To make the math easier, lets assume that each bowler either throws a strike, or a 9 count on the 1st ball.

Lets take two absolute beginners. Both strike 0% of the time, and spare 0% of the time. Both are expected to average 90.

One bowler works strictly on their spares, while the other works strictly on strikes.

Lets say for each month of training on a specific ability, the bowler cuts their error rate for that ability in half.

One bowler will now strike 0% of the time, while sparing 50% of the time. For an expected average of 140. Each frame the bowler either achieves a score of 9, or 19, 50% for each result.

The other bowler will now strike 50% of the time, while sparing 0%.

That bowler will have an expected average of 166.

12.5% frames will achieve a score of 30.
12.5% frames will achieve a score of 29.
25.0% frames will achieve a score of 19.
50.0% frames will achieve a score of 9.

If these bowlers start the month with 50% error rate, and cut their error rate in half, their new ability level would be 75%.

The reason for focusing on their error rate is because more work results in diminishing returns, and also avoids going beyond 100% ability.

It works out that it's more beneficial to work on halving error rates of strikes.

The lower your strike error %, the less significant your spare error % becomes because you have less opportunities to attempt spares.

With a 1% strike error rate, and a 100% spare error rate, you're going to average vastly higher than a 100% strike error rate, and a 1% spare error rate.

I think when you look at bowlers with averages around 200 that can't pick up the most commonly left single pin spare because they can't throw the ball straight, buying a plastic ball to bump the average up 10 to 15 pins a game is a lot easier than trying to strike more. It's not a question of practicing, but having the correct equipment.