Up Your Average?

[wireman]

Looking for expert opinions on practice routine for upping my average over 180. Been bowling 2 leagues a week for a couple years in different houses. Jumping from 150 to 180 just seemed to happen over time, and lessons.  I want to try and eliminate those weeks when I just feel  lost, if you can relate? I want to get to the point where I can enter more tourneys without feeling like I am making donations to everyone else! LOL

Rob G 'Wireman'

[Hogsharley]

Whatever you're doing is not working for you since you can't raise your average over 180. We can't really tell what you need to work on without seeing you bowl. Post a video and the forum will respond to it.

3 holes of fun!!

[milorafferty]

HogsHarley is right of course. But I've yet to see a 180 average, house shot bowler who was a good spare shooter. You might want to start there.

[Nails]

#1 thing to do is make spares and be consistent.

 

I do my own form of low ball.  First game shoot a 10 pin on the first ball, then practice a strike ball or just work on my release for the second ball.  Next game shoot a 7 pin on the first ball, then shoot the spare, strike line, or release practice for the second...  If 3-6 combos are giving you fits, practice that the first ball then whatever on the second.  Don't worry about score or the fact that others around you might not think you know what you're doing.  By not trying for a strike on the first ball, you get the maximum amount of throws per game or amount of time you're going to be there.

 

Getting better at spares will have the biggest impact of anything you'll do.  Getting one solid release that you can repeat over and over is something not every one has.  After that, work on another release you can throw pretty well when you have to.  If you normally come around the ball a lot and cover a lot of boards, work at coming up the back of the ball and going straighter with the same ball, or vice versa.

Telling it like it is.

[kidlost2000]

No matter your average spares is one of the most important things to maintaining a higher average, especially on nights when your not bowling well. So keep some notes on how many opens you have a set during league or practice and you will have an idea on how many pins you may be losing because of it.

 

Many other suggestion may require someone seeing you bowl. Spare shooting is one of the biggest differences you see in higher and lower average bowlers. 

 

(wow everyone had the same thought, lol)

Be good, or be good at it.

 

Edited by kidlost2000 on 5/11/2011 at 12:16 PM

[dizzyfugu]

My first bet would also be spare conversion, that's IMHO the easiest way to raise the average. Converting 10 pins easily raises the game score by 10, and filling frames just keeps you competitive, even if you cannot string together some strikes.

But that's curing symptoms - another aspect to look after would be becoming adept at reading the lane and the ball reaction. That's more sophisticated and needs some understanding about your game and equipment, but might help avoiding spares and esp. splits before they kill your game and leave you with a 150 game, despite a good basic execution. Actually assessing what you do and making aducated guesses on adjustments will also get you away from that lost feeling when nothing seems to work properly.

DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany
Confused by bowling? Check out BR.com's vault of wisdom: the unofficial FAQ section