Does your league do this too?

[Mike White]

Back in the "old" days, the pinsetters would neither sweep nor reset pins during practice.

It appears the house I bowl at has a policy of no practice on the lanes between the time they are oiled, and the league starts it's practice.
This means that there are no pins on the pin deck when they turn on the lights for league practice.

99.9% of the people will hit the reset before throwing the first ball. I'm the 0.1% that will throw at an empty pin deck.
On that first ball, I'm happy if it just goes down the lane without part of my hand still in it.

[75lockwood]

Well, during league for the first few months the foul lines aren't on (get new kids used to the sport without the lane buzzing at them lol.

Regarding practice, i'm normally the only one that bothers to show up early for practice, so i do what i want. but in tournaments we typically go by frame, you get a strike and your turn is done, otherwise you go for your spare (i always go for the 10 my first shot)

[10-in-the-pit]

I do this as a courtesy to others behind me. We normally tell each other if we want the guy to leave his spare up. I prefer to start practicing my strike shot at the beginning of practice, then move on to spares. If the guy in front of me does not foul to get a rerack for me, I just bowl. Even if I'm practicing a strike shot, I just shoot my line and watch the ball reaction. I don't need to see the ball hit the pins every shot.

If you do foul, make sure to foul over the gutter and not the line where the lane is or you'll track oil onto the approach.

[AZBowla]

As I said in the other thread regarding this, I'll just use the practice time to drink beer and not worry about it. It takes me so long to read the lanes anyway that I'd be halfway into the third game before I figured out what line I needed anyway.

[UBowling]

This is normal in a competitive environment. Just about every league and tournament I have bowled in the past couple of years the person throwing the ball will step on the foul line before the ball even hits the pins. It is second nature. Some houses have the pinsetters on a one ball cycle so you don't have to foul. If you need to practice spares during the 10 minute practice I suggest throwing at the 10 or 7 off of the full rack. But if everyone else is only throwing one ball and then changing lanes, I would recommend being courteous to them and only throwing one ball as well.

[Hampe]

If you ask me, 10 mins. before league starts is not the time to be practicing spares. That's what practice time during the week is for. The 10 mins. before league is to get warmed up and ready, and also to find the line your going to play.

That said though, I personally don't have a problem with people taking both their shots during warmup. The company league I play in does it that way, and I usually use the 2nd shot (if I strike the first few throws then I'll do it on the next 1st shot) for the 7 or the 10, regardless of what's left standing.

[noeymc]

if theres a spare i still throw what i think would be a strike ball just to see how my ball reacts that night

[Ball99999]

If you ask me, 10 mins. before league starts is not the time to be practicing spares. That's what practice time during the week is for. The 10 mins. before league is to get warmed up and ready, and also to find the line your going to play.

That said though, I personally don't have a problem with people taking both their shots during warmup. The company league I play in does it that way, and I usually use the 2nd shot (if I strike the first few throws then I'll do it on the next 1st shot) for the 7 or the 10, regardless of what's left standing.

This just sounds odd to me. Like somehow spares are not a part of the game. To me it's the most important part.

[Ball99999]

if theres a spare i still throw what i think would be a strike ball just to see how my ball reacts that night

That makes sense to me too, I think the idea should just be that everyone should be able to finish their frame.

I mean the alternative is leaving someone else your spare or messing your shoe/oil up.

[Hampe]

This just sounds odd to me. Like somehow spares are not a part of the game. To me it's the most important part.

Yeeaa....that's why you practice your spares.....during the week....in practice. The only time you should need to use warm up time for spares is if you are playing in a new house or on a new pattern.