Thank you for this exhaustive post. I have often started my league evening with solid hits, and as the games progress the ball has slightly more hook. It could be that I'm warmed up and throwing more efficiently, or the lane condition changes. Anyway, as I often adjust to flare the ball wider it starts hitting light and leaving a 7-pin, as I am a southpaw. I play tonight and tomorrow and will try your suggestions. I think the idea is t observe more closely the impact and where the 4 pin is going. On most shots I tend to watch the ball approach the pocket then look over at the 7-pin to see if it goes down.
I've been told a slightly light hit is good to get mixing pin action, as you talk about in your last paragraph, but this can lead to many 7-pin leaves as well. It usually works well because I very rarely leave a 5-pin on any first ball. But I have left some 7-10 splits lately on balls that looked good coming into the pocket. Perhaps these were also light hits.
Last question: how important is rotation for pin action? I imagine the ideal way to bowl is to get maximum repeatable rotation on every strike ball while finding the best line. Often I have to back off or else I get too much hook.
Thank you for your response when you get a chance.
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