Aslan's Scores (of the non-lady kind)

[Amyers]

Take your plastic spare ball, figure out where to stand (in practice) and stop trying to hook across the puddle in the middle of the lane on a house shot.

I've heard this advice a lot and I understand the reasoning behind it but I don't think I've ever me a a league bowler who picks that pin up with a plastic ball at as high a percentage as the ones who hook at it. On sport shots I completely agree but on a house shot it seems to be just about as difficult to pick up the 7 with plastic as the 10. For me it takes a shot that I make at 90% into one I make at 80% I guess I just need more practice with it. On both the high level leagues I bowl I know guys who use plastic for that pin and neither of them hit it with as high a percentage as I do hooking at it.

[mc_runner]

I've heard this advice a lot and I understand the reasoning behind it but I don't think I've ever me a a league bowler who picks that pin up with a plastic ball at as high a percentage as the ones who hook at it. On sport shots I completely agree but on a house shot it seems to be just about as difficult to pick up the 7 with plastic as the 10. For me it takes a shot that I make at 90% into one I make at 80% I guess I just need more practice with it. On both the high level leagues I bowl I know guys who use plastic for that pin and neither of them hit it with as high a percentage as I do hooking at it.

In league I still hook at those too, for the 4 and the 7 pins. I've missed two of each so far across both leagues this year - 96% and 94% conversions. Obviously that's on a THS... however if I throw plastic at it I'm looking at probalby going down to 80-85% conversion. In league when the shots "count" i'm not going to be doing that until I am as good at it as hooking the lane. In practice, I shoot plastic at all single pins, it's helped and of course when I do a sport league, or tournament - that practice is going to come into play. For me right now missing those extra few spares is just a tough pill to swallow when I can be consistent to the point I am at left side spares.

Now, with that said. If I was missing 7 pins with some regularity, I'd be throwing plastic at them. What would I have to lose in that case? Better to learn the right way that will serve with a lot more applications than the standard hook-across-the-lane that only works on THS.

[Amyers]

In league I still hook at those too, for the 4 and the 7 pins. I've missed two of each so far across both leagues this year - 96% and 94% conversions. Obviously that's on a THS... however if I throw plastic at it I'm looking at probalby going down to 80-85% conversion. In league when the shots "count" i'm not going to be doing that until I am as good at it as hooking the lane. In practice, I shoot plastic at all single pins, it's helped and of course when I do a sport league, or tournament - that practice is going to come into play. For me right now missing those extra few spares is just a tough pill to swallow when I can be consistent to the point I am at left side spares.

Now, with that said. If I was missing 7 pins with some regularity, I'd be throwing plastic at them. What would I have to lose in that case? Better to learn the right way that will serve with a lot more applications than the standard hook-across-the-lane that only works on THS.

Exactly how I feel MC. I've been working on it in practice too but I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get to the level I'm at when hooking at them. Occasionally on my challenge shot league they put something down that requires going straighter at it. So I've been working on it but it's a slow progress.

[Blacksox1]

Why over complicate single pins, make 90% or more, using strike line adjustments for 3, 9, 1, 5, 2, 8, 4, and 7 pins. Use plastic on single pins 6, 10. Make 90% on those. Keeping it simple.

[Blacksox1]

Sport shot, challenge league, usbc nationals, regional pro, etc. needs the use of plastic on all single pins.

Remember this is Aslan on a Typical House Shot.

[Aslan]

Interesting comments.

My thought process about left side leaves is as follows:

1) I need to figure out why (as a RHer) I'm seemingly leaving a 7-pin more often than a 10-pin.
2) There IS some momentum in bowling theory that perhaps hooking into left side leaves is better than throwing straight at them.
3) My philosophy on left side leaves (7, 4-7, 4-7-8) is that if I can't be accurate enough to pick them up using a plastic ball throwing straight at them...then thats something (accuracy) that I need to improve.

Well, time to get some practice in. I should be well rested; I slept 16 hours last night.

[Tony]

Interesting comments.

My thought process about left side leaves is as follows:

1) I need to figure out why (as a RHer) I'm seemingly leaving a 7-pin more often than a 10-pin.
2) There IS some momentum in bowling theory that perhaps hooking into left side leaves is better than throwing straight at them.
3) My philosophy on left side leaves (7, 4-7, 4-7-8) is that if I can't be accurate enough to pick them up using a plastic ball throwing straight at them...then thats something (accuracy) that I need to improve.

Well, time to get some practice in. I should be well rested; I slept 16 hours last night.

I don't know what all coaches would say about shooting left side spares with your strike ball on a house shot, I see very few guys using a plastic ball and few guys using a weaker ball on those shots, the vast majority are using a strike ball.
I also specifically asked my coach a couple of weeks ago and he said for me and most people on a house shot he thinks it's ok if they use the strike ball, the exception is if you have problems picking them up, then you should try a plastic ball.

[Aslan]

Saturday Weekly Color-Pin Tournament:

530 Series: 186-168-176

Game 1 was decent; two opens on missed single pins.

Game 2...same thing...until the last half of the game when the ball just seemed to lose it's energy and I couldn't carry. And, a missed 10-pin in the 10th frame didn't help the score any.

Game 3 I had more corner-pin problems...also a couple splits I couldn't convert...but I struck out to salvage the 176.

PinPal Stats:
First Ball Average: 9.00 pins
Strikes: 48% (1 turkey, 4 doubles, and 5 singles)
Spares: 47% picked up

Single Pin spares: 44% (10/11)
Most common single-pin leave: 10-pin (5x)
Also left the 5-pin, 6-pin (x2), and 7-pin.

Multiple Pin spares: 50% (4/8)
Most common multi-pin leaves: 1-2-5-9 (2x)

Splits: 0% (0/3).

Average over 3 games: 176.67.
Average had I picked up 100% of single pin spare leaves: 195.33.

Hard to stay motivated when the scoring has been so consistent:
562, 567, 568, 534, 439, 535, 531, 530

But, no bigee. I spent $20 and won $7 back...got some practice in...apparently I need to play some "low-ball" at my next practice because I can't score very high if my strike % is higher than my spare %...unless I'm striking in the 60 percentile or higher.

Used the Loaded Revolver for the first 2 games and the Melee Jab for Game 3. Probably switched too late...but the Jab scares me if I break it out too early.

The new release position seems to be working well though. When I had good spine tilt and balance, I made good shots and hit the pocket consistently. So, just gotta keep practicing and hopefully it'll come along.

[Blacksox1]

Single Pin spares: 44% Average over 3 games: 176.67. Average had I picked up 100% of single pin spare leaves: 195.33. As they say on TV, come on man! If only there was a way to increase single pin percentage. Leaving a 7 pin, usually involves hitting the pocket LIGHT, make an adjustment, not excuses.

[Tony]

Another possibility for the 7 pin leave, can be when your entry angle is too strong and the ball cuts through the 1 and 5 pins rather than driving through the 5 and into the 8, the pins fall in such a way that the 4 pin wraps around the 7 while the 5 goes straight into the pit, and nothing hits the 7

As others have indicated an adjustment would be needed ...

I bowled against a team Fri that had a guy who couldn't buy a strike, instead of adjusting he just complained that he was robbed, in one game he shot 9 spares in a row.....he figured they all were strikes.
He also did two other things, he made noises groans , complaint sounds when any of the rest of us got strikes on what he considered bad shots. For me and my teammate that was every time we struck. I also heard him behind me saying he was throwing a better ball than anyone on our pair and was getting robbed, during a game when one of his teammates was throwing a 260 game.....all by luck I guess.
One thing that is nice is my teammate beating the guy every game, I thought he was going to cry !