THE PROCESS
As noted in the first post of this series, making spares is critical to good scoring. Open frames cause you to lose the “bonus” points from the next throw. But good spare shooting does not just happen. Besides accuracy, good spare shooting requires consistency which comes from repeating angles which have worked before. This is achieved by following what is called a system for shooting spares. There are established systems, which will be discussed in this series or you can establish one of your own. Try out various systems, see which one works best for you, adapt the system of your choice to your own style of bowling and be consistent with your system on each spare shot you make. Regardless of the system you choose to use, the process in the approach to spare shooting is the same. The steps are:
- Identify the pin(s) still standing and determine the Key Pin.
- Determine the adjustment needed to your starting place on the lane based on the Key Pin,
- Determine the shoulder adjustment needed based on the location of the Key Pin, and
- Concentrate on hitting your target to make an accurate roll.
All of the steps in the process must be carried out fully and followed consistently. In addition to improving your success in shooting spares, consistently executing the process builds confidence in your ability to shoot spares. It is golden to know where your spare shot is going to go and, when it doesn’t, you’ll know if it was because you made an errant throw or that the angle you used needs adjusting.
Identifying the pins means you should memorize the pins by their number. The pins stand in a triangular shape in four rows starting with one pin in the first row, two in the second row, three in the third and four in the fourth. The lone pin in the first row is number one and the remainder are numbered front to back and left to right. The second row pins are 2 and 3, third row are 4, 5 and 6 and the back row are 7, 8, 9 and 10. It;s important to memorize the pin positions and their related number.
KEY PIN
By definition, the pin closest to the bowler is the key pin and with most spare systems, the primary pin of interest is the “key pin”. The key pin must be knocked down for the spare to be made. Whether you need to hit the key pin head on, or at various points to the right or left of the center of the key pin will depend on what other pins make up the spare combination you are aiming at.
BOWLING LANES
Bowling lanes are made up of 39 boards and are 40 inches wide from gutter to gutter and 60 feet long from foul line to head pin. For right handed bowlers, the first board from the right side gutter is number one. Boards are numbered consecutively going to the left with the middle board being number 20 and the last board next to the gutter on the left being board number 39. The lane is marked with arrows on every fifth board (board 5, 10, 15, 20 ,25, 30 and 35, Fig. 2.2). For left handed bowlers, the numbers are reversed (numbers in red, Fig. 2.2).
The 3-6-9 System–
The 3-6-9 system is a standard system for converting spares. It works the same for right handed and left handed bowlers, as well as, bowlers who throw a straight ball or a hook. The elements of the system are (1) the bowler’s starting point for the first ball (we’ll call this the strike ball), (2) the bowler’s target for the strike ball and (3) The lateral adjustments either right or left from the strike ball position with your feet on the approach in increments of three boards. Now, let’s get into what that means.
The first element is the starting point for the strike ball (indicated with and “S” in the diagram, Fig. 2-3). Take note of which board number the toe of your sliding shoe is on when you make a pocket shot. This is your starting point (for our example in the diagram, the starting point is board number 15). The lateral adjustments to the right or left, mentioned above, will start from this position.
The next element is the target for the strike ball (indicated with a “T” in the diagram). This will also be the target for all spare shots.
The third element is the lateral adjustments from the starting point. These adjustments will be calculated based on the single pin spare or Key Pin of the spare, if it is combination of pins,
If the spare is the 1 or 5 pins or a combination of both, there is no adjustment. You throw the spare as a strike ball. Note the blue lines in the diagram to the left and right of the head pin. For pins in to the right of the head pin, a right handed bowler will move 3 boards to the right for each blue line. So, for spares where the 3 or nine are the single pins or key pins, you will move three boards to the left from the starting point. For spares where the 6 pin is the single pin or key pin, you will move 6 boards to the left from the starting point. And, for the ten, you will move nine boards to the left from the starting point. For pins to the left of the head pin, you will move three boards to the right for the 2 and 8 pins, 6 boards to the right for the 6 pin and 9 boards to the right for the 7 pin.
The 2-4-6 System
This system is similar to the 3-6-9 system in that adjustments are made by lateral moves to the right and left except the bowler remains in the same starting position and moves the target based on which pins are left for the spare.
Again, for the 1 and 5 pins, individually or in combination, there is no change and the strike ball is used for converting the spare. For the pins to the right of the head pin you will move your target to boards to the right for each blue line. In this case, for the 3 and 9 pins you will move your target two boards to the right, for the 6 pin you will move your target you will move your target four boards to the right and for the 10 pin you will move your target 6 boards to the right. For pins to the left of the head pin, you will move the target two boards to the left, for the 2 and 8 pins, 4 boards to the left for the 6 pin and 6 boards to the left for the 7 pin.
The Shadow Pin System
The first thing you need to do to for this system is to learn how to throw a ball straight. This means throwing it straight, end-over-end by keeping your hand behind the ball, your palm underneath the ball and your fingers pointing straight at the pins.
In this method you will shoot all of your spares with the exception of those with double wood (2-8 and 3-9), throwing a plastic ball end-over-end with a straight trajectory.
For right handed bowlers, you will shoot the 10 pin cross lane targeting somewhere around the fourth arrow and the 7 pin cross lane also targeting around the fourth arrow.
For the 2 pin use the Shadow 8 Pin (first blue line to the left of the head pin in Fig. 1 or the 25th board).
For the 3 pin use the Shadow 9 Pin (first blue line to the right of the head pin in Fig. 1 or the 15th board).Throw all of the spares that include the 3 pin or the 9 pin, with the exception of the 3-9 double wood, in this manner including the 1-3-7, 1-3-9-10, 1-3-6 and the 3-6-5-9.
Throw all of the spares that include the 2 pin or the 8 pin, with the exception of the 2-8 double wood, in this manner including the 1-2-10 washout, the 1-2-8-10 washout, the 1-2-4, the 2-4-5, and the 2-4-5-8. For the 5 pin and the headpin, throw a straight ball down the fourth arrow (20th board).
Conclusion
There are many, many systems for making spares. You can even create one of your own. Practice using the above, or other, systems and develop the one you are most comfortable with.