Pretty much skid the whole way down.

You might want to pick one of them up for your spares if you're having trouble controlling your hook. That way you can throw straight at single pins & not have to worry about lane conditions.

The days of the blue dot as a strike ball have pretty much passed us by, there are very rare occasions you might see lanes dry enough to use it, but they are few & far between.

Well, my problem now is that the last few times I've bowled, I've adopted the 3-6-9 spare system. It works well for spares, but the problem is I've had to find a more centralized line to make it work, as opposed to rolling straight down the channel as I did before. I use the 2nd arrow as my target, so for my strikes I start out releasing from the 14th board, and try to adjust a board or two each way depending on the oil. Well, I've been hitting the pocket but leaving some gosh awful spare leaves, a lot of splits.

Since adopting this line, I haven't bowled better than a 170, and most of my games have been in the 130s-140s. Before when I used the channel, I hardly ever left a split, but I crossed over (brooklyn) a lot, but, with good results. I know brooklyns are cheap, but I've get lots of strikes,  and going down the channel made up for my lack of accuracy in terms of margin of error. I was scoring in the high 100s-low 200s with regularity.

I will probably never bowl enough to be a totally serious bowler, but I would like to take the frustration out of the mix when I do go. Any help?

There is a guy in my area that usually only throws a Blue Dot for a strike ball.  If the lanes are juiced he'll pull out a 3 piece resin!  He likes to throw the ball fairly slow, but rev's the hell out of it.  He's really consitent with it...much more than anyone I've ever seen try it.  He actually had 2 - 300's with it this year, go fig!

your question about will a blue dot slide all the way down in the dry - it depends on just how dry is dry.

If the lane is truly dry (1970s 80s dry), the ball will grab and hook. No question. If you're talking too dry for extreme reactive equipment, then the answer is probably not - it'll slide, because even though there's too little oil for the heavy hooking balls, there's still too much for polyester.

I have seen some awesome scores shot with blue dots recently. Do I use one for a strike ball? No. Have I used my spare ball for a strike ball occasionally? Probably once or twice a year. Not really a big enough deal for me to worry about, but the guys with lots and lots of hand, and no knowledge to control it - yep, they use spare balls for strike balls once in a while.

There are two statements you made that concern me. The first is the statement that you only use the 10 board as a target now. The best bowlers will adjust not just their foot position, but their target on the lane based on the changing oil patterns on the lane. Sometimes I'll target outside5 board, sometimes as deep as 25 board at the arrows. It just depends on where the oil has moved to, and where I need to play to get the best carry(in the oil, or in the dry).

The second concern is about the spare shooting. The 3-6-9 spare system has worked from the days of black rubber equipment to today. I use it every day. However, I don't use it the same way with my spare ball, and depending on how high the oil crown in the middle of the lane, it may be the 2-4-6, or the 4-8-12. All the systems out there are proven, but take some knowledge to apply correctly. If you follow any of these blindly, and don't take what you see into consideration, you will not improve. In other words - if you use 3-6-9 for adjustments on right side spares, and the ball is consistently not getting far enough right (I'm talking to you as a lefty here), MOVE!! MOVE LEFT!! You may need to adjust 4-8-12 on that particular pattern. Don't assume it's you, or your equipment...
Any way - hope these help.
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One advantage of bowling over golf
is that you seldom lose the ball.

I knew an old (had to be late 40’s) power stroker (lefty, of course) that used a Manhattan Rubber he picked up in a garage sale for an entire summer league.  The night he bowled me he shot a 649.  He had an easy 7, but in the fifth frame of the third game his kid yells at him for more money to play video games just about the same time he pushed off.  He opens and never really recovers.  He yelled at his kid, but I doubt it made him feel better.  He finished the summer with high average in the league.
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Tisker- Looks like Tarzan, bowls like Jane
God bless the pessimist, for they bring extra ammo

I know of two bowlers who have shot 300 games with a Blue Dot, with one of them being a poster here (Constantine, I believe) and the other being a local bowler in my general area.....however, both threw the 300 games on extremely dry lane conditions.  And, both threw the 300 games with the older, harder version of the Blue Dot before Columbia backed down the coverstock hardness of the ball.  With today's higher viscosity oils and heavier oil patterns, it isn't likely that you are going to see a lane condition where a Blue Dot will deliver a 300 game, but they have been used in the past to rack up a 300 game.

Newbs, if you were bowling on a fairly fresh shot with a ton of oil on the lanes, what dropped your later game scores could indeed have been carrydown.  When carrydown hits, your ball starts to fade when it should be driving into the pocket, and you start leaving light pocket leaves or even light pocket splits.  When carrydown becomes an issue, simply move over to the right a board or so to catch the dry a little bit earlier, and you should find a way to get back in the pocket again.

Carrydown really becomes a major factor when you get into heavy and long oil situations.  You warm up with nice dry backends, and the ball makes a nice charge to the pocket.....but as you bowl, the ball starts to finish weaker and weaker.  At this point, a move towards the dry is in order.  However, the carrydown may start to dry up by the third game or so, so you might find yourself suddenly coming in too heavy, and this would signal that it is time to move back into the oil again.