Coach’s Corner Tip
Which Ball Should I Use for Spares?
In this age of high-performance reactive resin bowling balls, strikes are easier to obtain, but in many ways spare shooting is tougher than ever. Even on a “simple” house condition, some spares are just a nightmare to pick up! This month, let’s look at a couple of different ways to attack left side spares (for a right-hander).
If you are bowling on a typical house condition, spares such as the 2-4-5 or the 2-4-5-8 can be difficult to convert. If you only move 3-4 boards, you can easily miss the spare to the right, due to the large concentration of oil in the middle of the lane. On a house condition, you may have to move your feet 2-5 boards farther to the right for these spares, depending on how much oil there is in the middle of the lane.
Another approach is to use less ball speed, to give the ball a chance to hook a little more. I like to use less ball speed, but not as much hand action, so that the back end movement of the ball is not so severe that I risk chopping the spare.
On a sport condition, you face an entirely different challenge when shooting at left-side spares. If you move the normal 3-4 boards for the 2-4-5 combination, you might chop the 2-4 off the 5 due to the LOWER volume of oil in the middle of the lane. In this situation, when using a strike ball, you can cut the number of boards
you move down (maybe 2-3) to make this spare. However, there is another way to shoot left-side spares on `sport shots.
If you use your spare ball and select a separate target for the 7-pin, you can simply move 3 boards to the left for the 4-pin, and 3 more boards for the 2-pin. A typical target to use is the 5th arrow on the lane. You will want to figure out which board to stand on the make the 7-pin. You also want to make sure your right shoulder is pointing toward the 7-pin, so the ball goes in line to your target pin. The ball should strike the middle of the 7-pin. If it misses left or right, you need to make a small (1 board) adjustment for your 7-pin target.
The advantage to using a spare ball and a target on the right side of the lane is that the trajectory is straighter and the left side of the lane generally does not have a lot of play that will affect a spare ball. This is the method for making left-side spares that I recommend and teach to students who want to compete on sport conditions. You will want to spend some time practicing many different left-side spares and develop consistency making spares this way before you use this technique in competition.
If you are left-handed, I also recommend using a target on the left side of the lane with a spare ball for making right-side spares. I have found that when using the 5th arrow as a right-hander I often faced inconsistent reaction in right-side spares toward the end of a tournament. Consistency in how the ball reacts is key to a great spare-shooting game.
I hope this will improve your spare shooting for left side spares.