Spare conversion conventions?

[TamerBowling]

Hi All,
I recently wrote an article questioning the "straight and hard" convention for spare shooting.

http://tamerbowling.com/index.php/spare-shooting-questioning-convention/

May raise some controversy or discussion, but please let me know what you think.
I would be happy to also get other coaches' opinions.

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www.TamerBowling.com
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USBC Certified Level I

[Gene J Kanak]

I think this is simply a case of a phrase with less-than-ideal wording becoming a bowling colloquialism. What I''m getting at is that although the phrase is "throw it hard and straight," I don''t think most bowlers, high-level bowlers anyhow, actually attempt to throw the ball any harder. I think the word "hard" is just getting at the notion of keeping the ball on a firm line directly toward the target. I don''t think it was truly intended to suggest literally throwing the ball with more speed. Now, obviously, casual observers and/or bowlers newer to the game may hear the phrase and think it suggests there is an advantage to increasing ball speed on spares. However, I think most of the higher-level players out there realize that "hard and straight" is pretty much a bowling figure of speech.
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Bowling bad since 1979 with no end in sight

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Edited on 3/26/2010 11:50 AM

[TamerBowling]

Hi Gene,
I get what you're saying.  However, if you watch the PBA telecasts, you will notice that many pro bowlers do throw their spare shots much harder than their strike shots.  I can see that a straighter ball, not fighting the friction caused by side rotation, may have increased speed, but not like Robert Smith or Sean Rash.  Although these are extreme example, I am concerned that youth do take this, as you say colloquialism, to heart and actually practice it.  I see house bowlers do it all the time.
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www.TamerBowling.com
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USBC Certified Level I

[trash heap]

I always thought of it this way. When you are up there shooting at that one pin its easy to lose focus and slow everything down. I cathch myself doing that sometimes (Not good for me). So when I am throwing it "straight and hard", I am actually going at the same (maybe a little faster) speed as my normal approach on a strike ball.

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Always the last one to POST!

[eglleftcoast]

From my perspective I believe there is a significant difference in speed when you throw plastic at spares.  My typical speed with my strke ball is around 15 MPH. When shooting spares I throw plastic, take my hand out of the shot, and do not throw it any harder, but my speed now is in the 21 MPH range.....

[arickdm]

i throw it a little harder at spares for some reason but if it's a split i throw a lot harder.

[bitbytebit]

I throw it hard, else for some reason I don't always hit my target arrow and am actually less accurate.  Feels like I can get lazy with my targeting when I slow down my arm swing, may just be psychological for that issue.  The second reason though is when I throw it less than perfectly straight then the speed makes up for that.  I can reduce my hooking potential if I make sure it's thrown fast.  Besides that I normally throw pretty fast as it is for my strike ball, am speed dominant, so it is what I'm used to doing.  My strike balls are usually at about 17-18 MPH, that's what I naturally throw, but can slow it down for long oil.  My spare ball goes about 20.5 MPH or so, sometimes 19 MPH, depends usually on how much oil there is I'm guessing (so retains speed from my release from the oiler lanes not having friction).  Also for buckets and groups of pins, a hard fast plastic spare ball has more chance to blow the group up completely and get every pin.  I recently tried urethane for spares, it's ok (An Ogre Urethane, 1500 polish, hard urethane ball), I do like it too.  I might be switching back to plastic though combined with the Triax Spare system I found online which seems to calculate out every spare straight and all the splits etc.  It seems when truly throwing a perfectly straight ball, and choosing something like the middle arrow (4th) for every spare to cross, the plastic ball is perfectly straight and gives me more percent of chance for accurate hits.  The Ogre Urethane works ok, but reduces my chance if it's dry and I don't release perfectly straight and with full speed.  So there's less percentage of chance from reducing speed with the urethane, if the conditions or minor fluctuations in my release happen.  Usually with the plastic ball I track right over my thumb hole, so I release very straight, but the Ogre Urethane doesn't do this (assume the fact it has a good weight block off center of the CG in it).  So that says there's some more dynamics going on with it and with the plastic thrown hard it truly goes straight in more percentage of throws.  So for me that's why I seem to be stuck with plastic and speed for spares, otherwise I seem to drop in percent of converted spares.  Plus it's kind of fun to wack the pins that hard and watch people cringe that don't bowl much see a 20 MPH 16lb plastic ball hit single pins, especially open bowlers who are being annoying and not understanding how to wait and other things.

[TamerBowling]

I honestly have no concerns at all with people using plastic for spares.  I don't have a big issue with throwing it straight and hard, but I do not recommend to launch the ball harder than necessary.  I simply can't see how that's good for accuracy.
Plastic will definitely be straighter than urethane, no question, unless you are a Norm Duke who can roll any ball end over end perfectly straight.
My personal preference is Urethane simply because I feel more control over the ball than the skid I get from plastic.  It's really a personal preference.  I mention it on my site as a good option because it can serve multiple purposes where as plastic will generally only serve one.

Regarding speed, plastic will be faster at the pins than a reactive or urethane ball because there's simply less friction.  If you throw 17-18, I can buy that you will naturally get a 1 or 2 mph increase with a plastic spare ball.  However, if you throw 15 mph, you are definitely throwing it harder if your spare ball is at 20 mph.  

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www.TamerBowling.com
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USBC Certified Level I

[bitbytebit]

It's definitely a very good topic to talk about more.  I've found there's a lot of cloudy information on spare shooting in bowling.  I'm surprised that even back in 80's PBA broadcasts they talk about shooting straight, in 90's they often say your crazy to hook at single pin spares.  Yet even today you see lots of people that hook at single pin spares, which is ok on some oil patterns but seems like a harder thing to change in different conditions instead of standardize yourself with one way.  Also it's strange to me to see college bowlers in the NCAA who seem to often hook at spares on sport shots.  So it confuses me, I don't understand why it's often talked about on high levels as straight is the only safe way.  Yet in other places you see high level athletes in College bowling not following this guidance.  Of course it's all up to the individual, but from what I've seen of information out there about it can see why some individuals may not always be directly given the seemingly logical information to me, that throwing straight at most spares has a track record of being more accurate (WRW jr as example, Mark Roth threw straight too).  Also it's interesting, about the speed of a persons normal throw, maybe that could be seen as a factor in what they use and how they convert spares.  Like a speed dominant player like myself can throw my reactive ball, just less hand in it, and usually get it straight across anything.  Yet a person with a 15 MPH ball probably would have a lot harder time doing that consistently.  So definitely a great topic to talk about, and really like your articles on it since they got me thinking and are really timely to me right now since I'm going through figuring out this myself for my game.

[TamerBowling]

Making spares is a topic that will always be critical.  Bowlers will go through phases where some things feel right and others feel wrong, and vice versa.
I will admit that I have gone through the spare conversion conundrum.  I used to throw my spares a la Norm Duke, i.e., throw my reactive strike ball straight at my spares.  Then I found that depending on the feel of the ball, i.e., thumb fit, etc., I was no longer consistently picking up my spares.  So I went to a single spare ball (a reactive solid) and threw it straight.  I was fighting feel with that as well, i.e., going from one bowling ball to another.
Then went to plastic for a while and more recently Urethane.

THS is a confusing pattern for the psyche if you ever bowl on PBA or sport patterns, when it comes to spares.  Many bowlers will hook the ball, especially at their same-side spares.  On a house shot, it is extremely easy to do.  The ball just funnels across, i.e., a righty might hook the ball 35 boards to pick up a 7 pin.  Try to do this on a sport pattern and you would be surprised how inconsistent it is.

In the end, the sport is mostly mental, like any other.  It's you and the pins.  If you are not comfortable with what you are doing, odds are you will not be consistently successful.  
Bottom line is whatever methodology you use, you must COMMIT to it.  Randy Pederson mentions several sayings, but one I like is, "Trust is a must or your game is a bust."  This is true even for spares...
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www.TamerBowling.com
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USBC Certified Level I

[ParoxysM]

What I hate is when the guys throw their spare balls > 20MPH, then the lane disables showing the speed for the remainder of the session.
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14lb Animal | 13lb WD

[TamerBowling]

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[bighook69]

I agree that harder is not necessarily better... I only throw it "harder" when I leave a split and need some sort of pin to bounce somewhere along the lines

[charlest]

quote:I honestly have no concerns at all with people using plastic for spares.  I don't have a big issue with throwing it straight and hard, but I do not recommend to launch the ball harder than necessary.  I simply can't see how that's good for accuracy.
Plastic will definitely be straighter than urethane, no question, unless you are a Norm Duke who can roll any ball end over end perfectly straight.
My personal preference is Urethane simply because I feel more control over the ball than the skid I get from plastic.  It's really a personal preference.  I mention it on my site as a good option because it can serve multiple purposes where as plastic will generally only serve one.

Regarding speed, plastic will be faster at the pins than a reactive or urethane ball because there's simply less friction.  If you throw 17-18, I can buy that you will naturally get a 1 or 2 mph increase with a plastic spare ball.  However, if you throw 15 mph, you are definitely throwing it harder if your spare ball is at 20 mph.  

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www.TamerBowling.com
Everything Bowling, coaching tips, ball reviews, General bowling discussions
USBC Certified Level I

I actually throw it slightly slower in an attempt to be more accurate. I throw an original Columbia Blue Dot at 99% of spares. I do try to throw it with less hook thanmy spare ball. I odn't try to throw it perfectly straight.

I do also see many people trying to do like (some of) the pros they see on TV. I am not sure I see where you say it yet, but I believe trying to throw it extra hard throws off their timing. I think for that reason many people are still missing these easy spares, on TV and elsewhere.

Oddly, I watching both WRW and Duke the past couple of years more closely when they shoot their spares. I believe they also throw it more slowly than their strikes balls.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

[TamerBowling]

quote:

quote:I honestly have no concerns at all with people using plastic for spares.  I don't have a big issue with throwing it straight and hard, but I do not recommend to launch the ball harder than necessary.  I simply can't see how that's good for accuracy.
Plastic will definitely be straighter than urethane, no question, unless you are a Norm Duke who can roll any ball end over end perfectly straight.
My personal preference is Urethane simply because I feel more control over the ball than the skid I get from plastic.  It's really a personal preference.  I mention it on my site as a good option because it can serve multiple purposes where as plastic will generally only serve one.

Regarding speed, plastic will be faster at the pins than a reactive or urethane ball because there's simply less friction.  If you throw 17-18, I can buy that you will naturally get a 1 or 2 mph increase with a plastic spare ball.  However, if you throw 15 mph, you are definitely throwing it harder if your spare ball is at 20 mph.  

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www.TamerBowling.com
Everything Bowling, coaching tips, ball reviews, General bowling discussions
USBC Certified Level I

I actually throw it slightly slower in an attempt to be more accurate. I throw an original Columbia Blue Dot at 99% of spares. I do try to throw it with less hook thanmy spare ball. I odn't try to throw it perfectly straight.

I do also see many people trying to do like (some of) the pros they see on TV. I am not sure I see where you say it yet, but I believe trying to throw it extra hard throws off their timing. I think for that reason many people are still missing these easy spares, on TV and elsewhere.

Oddly, I watching both WRW and Duke the past couple of years more closely when they shoot their spares. I believe they also throw it more slowly than their strikes balls.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

I completely agree regarding timing.  That's what I try to get at with the article.  Trying to throw the ball harder could cause all kinds of things to go wrong.
Good observation on WRWJ and Norm Duke.  They take their time and stroke it end over end at their spares.  That's why they're the best.
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www.TamerBowling.com
Everything Bowling, coaching tips, ball reviews, General bowling discussions
USBC Certified Level I