More practice or less, or it's a wall shot it doesn't matter

[LOUVIT]

Both of my leagues turn the practice lights on 15 minutes before we start. All they do is destroy the pattern. By the time I bowl one game I am luck to have a shot. 5 Minutes should be the max.
It turns into a speed contest and once you get a older throwing more speed isn't an option.
Neither is going just to practice a few games. It takes a day or two to recover.

we have 10 minutes with pins practice before league but that is for 8 people to warm up. I don't like when people throw a shot and foul on purpose if it's not a strike. That leaves the next guy 1 shot. I am warming up to get my body to function not to throw a strike.

In the old days we had 10 minutes of shadow, no pins during warm up.

[NewToBowling]

I like the idea of shadow practice/warm ups

[J Anderson]

we have 10 minutes with pins practice before league but that is for 8 people to warm up. I don't like when people throw a shot and foul on purpose if it's not a strike. That leaves the next guy 1 shot. I am warming up to get my body to function not to throw a strike.

In the old days we had 10 minutes of shadow, no pins during warm up.

For the first 30 years that I bowled, it was in one league and everyone threw full frames in practice. It wasn't till I started bowling in other more serious leagues that I ran into the "practice foul line stompers". I get the fact that they want to find a good strike like fast, and that stomping gives the next guy a full rack to shoot. My problem with them is that they don't really read the lanes. They go right to their favorite line, make whatever small adjustment they need to hit the pocket, and then keep right on playing there. Then when they need to shoot a spare it's all dumb luck because no one has any idea what the lane is like outside of the track.

[fordman1]

Since I already got us off topic what about keeping score when you practice? I don't think it is a good idea then you start worrying about your score rather than what you need practice on. I love the guy who when asked if they have ever hit a 300 game and they say "3 or 4 in practice" which means "no" If it isn't in league or a certified tournament you didn't do it.

[KYDave]

Ok, let me ask this.

If you go bowling and it is not in a league or tournament, is that practice? Or is that bowling?

[NewToBowling]

Ok, let me ask this.

If you go bowling and it is not in a league or tournament, is that practice? Or is that bowling?

It's bowling to me. I do keep score in bowling and to me bowling is just fun. I really don't practice, I just go Bowl.

[got_a_300]

I love the guy who when asked if they have ever hit a 300 game and they say "3 or 4 in practice" which means "no" If it isn't in league or a certified tournament you didn't do it.

A 300 game is a 300 game no matter if it is league/tournament or open bowling/practice
it is still a 300 game if you throw 12 strikes in a row in a single game.

[fokai73]

Every bowler has their idea of practice.

There are those who consider the 10 15 mins before leagues practice. I personally don't like to call it practice.

I can bet money that MAJORITY of bowlers, even the ones on this site, spend most of their practice sessions just bowling. Whatever reflects on the monitor will either be a good or bad session. Very small percentage do drills. Very small percentage plan their session, and if they do, they don't really do what they had planned - they just bowl.

I understand bowling isn't cheap and who wants to spend their money doing one step drills, foul line drills, and stuff like that. I have yet to see one person do drills every single time I go practice. Nobody here does it unless they are being coached, or are in a high school/college team.

practice can be fun if you play games like low ball. Lowest score wins, loser buys food or pays for practice.

Other practice games we've played is pickle nickle or nickle pickle... with the permission from the house, we tape down a nickle between 40-43' down lane on the last lane on the right and see how many times we can hit it during one game. A set of "three in a row" is a bonus point. So if you hit it three in a row, that's 4 points. Every hit is one point, But with new management, we use tape only.......two pieces of tape that is 2 or 3 inches/boards apart.

[LOUVIT]

I need the warm up before the league to get my hand and body loose not to find a line even though they coincide, My fingers take a few shots to get the lift I need, and God knows my back and legs need to know....ok we are bowling now......lol

[mc_runner]

One of the very few times I have tried to give advice was fairly recently when a guy on one of my leagues was next to me in practice and kept complaining that he didn't know how to throw his spare ball that he just got. 2 games in and he had left maybe 4-5 10 pins, and dumped all of his spares into the gutter. I happened to be practicing 10 pins next to him (1 shot at the 10, try to clean up the spare) and showed him what I was doing with the game... it's how I got used to my first plastic. I dunno - I don't see a point to going for score in practice. If you're there to learn a new ball reaction/spare shot, work on it.