Coach’s Corner Tip

Is it you or the lane???

When the ball doesn’t go where we expected it to, many of assume that we did something wrong, and don’t adjust to what we see. This month we’ll talk about figuring out if the mistake was you or the lane.

First, you need to understand your game well enough to know if you made a mistake. When the lanes change or you’re in a tournament, the ball often does something you may not be expecting. If the ball suddenly starts hooking too much, what do you do? 

If you are in team competition, the shots of everyone on your pair of lanes can help you “read” the ball reaction. Look to see if anyone else is seeing the same thing in their ball reaction, or if they have already moved due to a change in the lanes. Second, try to understand where the oil and the dry parts of the lane are when you begin competition, and then try to picture a 3-D graph of this lane condition in your mind. As the shot breaks down, try to understand which parts of the lane are getting dry and which parts of the lane still have oil. If you suddenly find yourself in the middle of the dry part of the lane and the ball is hooking too soon, move in (toward your left for right-handers) on the lane until the ball “sees” the oil and skids through the front part of the lane, slows down in the mid-lane area (30’-38’) and rolls smoothly back to the pocket. 

Even if you made a mistake on your shot, determine how much to move based upon the reaction of the ball. You may have pulled the shot a bit, but if the ball goes through the nose, leaving a big-4 or a greek church, you may still want to move your feet 3 left and your target 1-2 left, because part of the result of the swing was due to the lane condition (if you threw the ball well, this normally calls for at least a 5-2 move to the inside). Would you rather move, leave a makeable spare on the next shot, or face another open frame?

Finally, many of us are good spare shooters on a familiar lane condition, but seemingly forget how to make one in an unfamiliar lane condition and/or center. The center and the lane condition contribute to spare shooting, and you must adjust to the characteristics of the center and the condition to make your spares. Even when using a plastic ball, a lower concentration of oil in the middle of the lane will make even a plastic ball hook a bit. This can be enough to miss the 10 (or
7) pin slightly to the inside. The question is – how many spa es are you going to miss before you make an adjustment? There’s no excuse for missing multiple single-pin spares in the same direction! Make the spare shooting adjustments to what you see right away, and you won’t be throwing away pins in multiples of 11!

Remember, when in doubt, make an adjustment. It beats repeating a bad result!