Coach’s Corner Tip
Get that Count!
Sometimes you should try to make that difficult split, and sometimes you should just try to get the pins that can reasonably be made – the count. To put everyone on
the same page, count is getting as many remaining pins as possible – whether it is on the first or second ball. We refer to “good count” when a bowler gets 8 or more on a fill ball, for instance, or when a bowler gets 3 or 4 pins on the second ball when leaving a “Greek Church”. But do these 1-3 “extra” pins that we make on these splits make a real difference?
Take a look at the example below. In the top game, the bowler has three frames with splits in the 3rd, 6th and 10th frames. We will assume that the 5-counts are Greek Churches, and the 6 count is the big four. In the 3rd frame, the bowler gets only 1, then misses the big four completely in the 6th, then gets only 1 again
on the second ball in the 10th frame for a total of 152.
In the second version of this same game, the bowler gets the best count possible in these three frames without making any of these three spares, and the difference is 12 pins (4 pins from the 3rd frame, 6th frame and 10th frame, since they were all following strikes). How many of us bowl a 4-6 game tournament block? If you multiply this by four, that means that you could have gained 48 pins by better count! How many times would 30-40 pins in a four-game block have meant the difference between missing the cut and making the cut? Wit slightly better lane play, we can also avoid one of those three splits, and add another 10-20 pins to the
score of this game – does this now sound like it makes a difference?
Another example is just making single pin spares. In this example, the bowler gets 5 strikes, but shoots 170 on 25% conversion of single-pin spares. The identical game, but with a 100% conversion rate on single-pin spares, results in a 215 game, or 45 pins better!
Bowlers who learn to bowl on easy lane conditions have found that they can make up the difference in spare shooting with a lot of strikes. However, when you bowl on a tournament (sport) condition that ability to compensate with long strings of strikes is eliminated, and those bowlers suffer much larger drops in scoring
than those who focus on the best possible count and making most or all of the easy spares. Practice your spare game as a part of making you a better bowler. Yes, you will miss single pin spares sometimes, but don’t let that be the reason that you don’t make it to the finals of a tournament!
The moral of the story is pretty obvious, but I’ve seen this happen all too often – the bowler misses way too many easy spares, and misses the cut by less than one of those spares! Be smart when you bowl, and take the count in the middle of a qualifying round if the spare can not be picked up!