Hi everyone! I am just getting back into bowling after a 7 year hiatus. The last few years I bowled I was carrying a 180-190 average in 2 house leagues. I have been bowling now for about the last 2 months about 8 games per week and am having a problem with all right hand spares (I am right handed by the way). I absolutely cannot pick up anything on the right side. I think it is some kind of mental thing as I don't seem to have a problem with left side or center spares. I just can't seem to hit my mark on the right side of the lane. I'm not even close most of the time. I'm staying near the pocket on all my strike balls but those 10s and 6-10 spares are killing me. I'm getting really frustrated. I don't understand why I can hit my marks center and left, but miss it so badly on the right side. If anyone has any suggestions I sure would appreciate it. Thanks!

Are you using a spare ball or using your strike ball? If you are using your strike ball, are you "deadening" your hand/wrist?

You might need to check your alignment. It could be that you're not lining up properly to your mark once you hit the foul line. Either that or your getting into other bad habits in trying to force the ball. I find that a little bit of loft helps me with all of my spares along with opening the wrist (bending my hand to where the knuckles face the floor).


Edit: Forgot to mention you should be using a plastic spare ball. This is good for not only taking the oil out of play, but also prolonging the life of your expensive reactives.

Sorry. I should have mentioned that I'm using a plastic spare ball. My problem is not a matter of hooking past the pins and missing that way. I am plain just not hitting my mark. I know as soon as the ball leaves my hand that I missed my mark, but I can't seem to correct the problem. The fact that I can pick up the majority of my center and left side spares makes me think I have some kind of goofy mental block but I don't know.

Could be alignment problem. Maybe your ending up squared to the foul line instead of being squared to your target. I had the same problem for a while. Other than that could be mental or just lack of practice on spares. Maybe go and just shoot a whole game at those spares.

Are you using different marks for different right side pins, or using the same mark?

It sounds to me like you throw the ball pretty straight--otherwise, you'd be able to throw an inside strike shot with the plastic ball and at least carry the 6.

You probably just need some practice, going for that shot and nothing else for a couple of games at a time. If your other shots all go right to left, it's no wonder you're more comfortable with those lines.

I would move a half board right ot carry the 10 pin first of all. Second if I were you I'd stand on the filler board (39 board) and throw across the lane and aim for anywhere between 20-15 for the 10 and the the 6,10. The way I do it is I point my toes at the pins and have my arm and the ball aligned with the pins. The tricky part is not walking at the pins too steeply because you'll put in the gutter or take out the ten in the 6,10 and leave the 6 (I've done it 3 times in the last week).

It could be a mental block. A lot of people (righties) hate throwing at right side spares for one reason or another. Most misses I would say are because people are letting the previous shot affect them and they aren't ready, mentally, to throw their second ball but go ahead anyways and miss. But you have to go about it the same way you attack the pins on your first ball and how you attack the remaining pins on your center and left side spares. So it or they are still standing, instead of getting mad or upset at yourself, stay cool and put down the reamining pin(s). Then you can get mad afterwards while your teammates are bowling (kidding).

How do you usually react to leaving a ten pin or the 6,10? And then how do you feel when you go to pick them up?

The easy way is simple. Just draw a line from the pin to you. Where the line end on the lane.. you should be aligned to the target or spot on the lane that you are comfortable hitting. Some like to throw far out, other like to aim closed. Whatever you are comfortable with.

By aligned. Shoulder, ball and feet should all be pointing at your target.

I find that if I don't properly prepare for the shot, I nearly always pull it. I started taking my time on my spares and it's given me my first clean game (finally!). I usually line a shot up with an arrow or an adjacent board and I focus on getting the ball to the arrow. I also line the ball to the arrow, and adjust my body as needed. Finally, if I'm going to do anything outside a free swing, I figure that out before I start bowling (usually, I follow through with my ring and pinky fingers).

I also focus a lot of my attention on the ball's path during the approach. It should be straight and free-flowing, unless you've got an approach that compensates for any drift.

where are u usually standing when u throw at them? more to the middle, right, or the left?

Those 6 and 10's I've been practicing a lot with lately and have actually been fairly decent with being able to pick them up. What I discovered is standing about as far left as I can and angling myself at the six pin and walking in a straight line just left of the target pin. My target board that I am aiming for is right around 22. It will almost always just clip the 6 pin on the right side if I do that.

I will also do the exact same line up to shoot at the 6,10, 7 split.. I have been able to pick that one up 3 times doing this.

For the 10 pin I stand with the inside of my left shoe @ 34-33 and roll the ball over 17-18 at the arrows. I stand approximately 4 inches behind the 12 foot set of approach dots. My ball is plastic with negative side weight so it goes fairly straight with no snap on the end.

Although I don't have the physical game down yet, I've spent some time figuring out my spare targeting as an engineering problem. So when I manage to execute correctly, roll the ball straight and hit my target, I convert the spare.

Assuming a straight ball, you can visualize the path of your shot as the hypotenuse (long side) of a right triangle. The target you choose intersects with this line and determines your angle. Knowing the distances between various spots on the lane, approach and pindeck allows you to figure out how to line up to convert the spare.

For example, the 10 pin sits on the 4 board. I choose to target between the 3rd and 4th arrows (so, let's call it the "17.5 board") and line up at the first dots 12 feet from the foul line.

The distance from the 10 pin to the arrows is approximately 48 feet. The difference in boards between the 10-pin (4 board) and my target (17.5 board) is 13.5 boards.

13.5/48 = 0.281

The distance between where I want to stand and the 10-pin is about 75 feet.

75 (.281) = 21

The 10-pin is on the 4 board, so I count 21 boards to the left of that and determine that my bowling arm should be lined up around the 25 board. In my case, this means that I'll line up my slide foot at the 35 board, since I like to line up with my slide foot 10 boards to the left of my bowling arm. (The width of your stance may be different). I face the target and the pin, deliver the ball across the target and--if I don't pull the shot or otherwise screw up--it picks off the 10-pin.

If you perform this calculation for the 6-pin, 3-pin, etc. you'll find that there's a 3-board increment between them. (Don't forget to account for the fact that the 6-pin is about a foot closer to you, the 3-pin is about two feet closer and so on). So once you've endured the drudgery of choosing a target and figuring out your optimum position for 7- and 10-pins, you can just move right or left in 3-board increments as needed. If you end up with a starting position that puts your slide foot or bowling arm outside of boards 5 through 35, you may want to choose a different target lest you have trouble clearing the ball return.

This is tedious and it's not something you would do in your head while standing on the approach. But it is a process you can use to build "spare systems" to try out at the lanes.

I shoot the 10 from the far left. I shoot the 3,6,10 combo from the 10bd and throw the plastic almost parallel to the gutter, using the gutter as an easy guide line. Added a lil flare if the lanes are drier. Since doing so I'm 99% for anything with the 3pin in there. If I get the 3,10 baby I'll stand 12bd and add a lil more flar so I can cover the gap between those pins. I've tried to shoot if from the left but my hand is so used to swinging out for the 10 pin that I don't like it.

Dave, with that angle on the 10, don't you lose half the width of the ball on the right side?

Similar to jsigone, I stand 30, walk toward the pin, and target the 10 board for the 6. But, stand 8 boards outside of last dot and target 14 for the 10. At that angle, and flattening the ball, I almost have a full width of the ball on either side of the pin. And yes, 3-10's are dead with my 6 pin shot. If I only left 3-10's, I'd have way over 90'% spare accuracy.

I stand about 33-34 for 10 pin and aim 20. 6 Pin i'll stand 30 and aim 20. 3-6-10 ill stand about 25 and aim 18. 3-10 ill stand about 28 and aim 20.

I start at board 36 for 10 pin and work 3 board over but the 20 board target remain the same. Left side I stand 6 board and use the 10 or 15 board as my target. Depending on what is more comparable for me.

It was funny - I was very good at picking up left side spares and all of the sudden, I couldn't hit the ten pin to save my life.

Bowling in a mixed league, a lady gave me some advice. She said to stand on the left side of the lane like normal and turn my body towards the ten pin (face the ten pin basically). She also told me to pretend the foul line is angled differently - same angle that I am standing and just throw the ball straight. It took me a minute to understand what she was stating (I am slow sometimes) but once she walked me through it, my rate of pick up when back up to where it was before - nearly 100% as long as I keep my speed down. If I rush, I pull the ball each time.

If you understand this, this may help. You start out facing your target and you walk towards it a bit - helped me keep my arm swing straight.

stracing,
that's really good advice. I'll have to remember that. I would add to it be saying you should stand about 36-39 and throw anywhere between 15-20 get any spare on your swing side.

NewYorkDave,

I never thought of breaking it down to that extent, but that is a great idea. You can't get anymore accurate than that.