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Author Topic: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?  (Read 2523 times)

Whysoserious

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Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« on: December 03, 2010, 05:27:39 AM »
I am a very avid bowler.  Three leagues a week and go to tournaments when I cant on the weekends.  Lately though I am scoring better on the sport shots and struggling big time on house shots!  Is it my ball selection?  I have all Storm equipment.  What is the best approach to a house shot?  Hard hooking ball to open up the lane?  I cannot believe I am asking this being that I have been bowling for a very long time, but I need some help here.  Im tired of getting beat by guys who just stand left and swing right and strike like crazy with the worst forms!  Anyone help me here?
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Buddy Christ

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2010, 01:32:45 PM »
Have you bowled well on the same house shot before? Some HS are put down very sloppy, or there's a number of other variable's that could play a factor. How does your current equipment react?

Whysoserious

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2010, 01:35:36 PM »
Lately I am leaving a hell of a lot of splits.  Most of the balls are snapping way too hard off the dry.  I have a lot of bowling balls, but the four that I take with me to leagues are:

Reign of Fire - Pin up, Leverage
Reign Supreme - 5x4 pin up
Reign - Pin up 6x4
2Fast - Pin down 5x3

These are rough estimates. Cant remember all ball drillings lol
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"The only place I get hurt is out there" - Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler")

"If you're good at something, never do it for free." - The Joker (Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight")

"I love Caroline Dorin-Ballard.  I will plug CDB any chance I get." - Rob Stone. LOL. You make it too easy for us to pick on you Rob!

Stan

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2010, 01:39:20 PM »
Hard to give advice when you did not state the type of ball reaction you are getting.  House shots are normally more forgiving, giving most bowlers plenty of "miss" area and still hit the pocket.  Is your ball over reacting or is your carry bad ?  Also, when you are bowling on a tougher shot, you tend to focus more and make better shots.  Could be that you are just not making good shots on the house pattern.

Whysoserious

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2010, 01:41:29 PM »
There is a ton of over reaction.
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"The only place I get hurt is out there" - Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler")

"If you're good at something, never do it for free." - The Joker (Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight")

"I love Caroline Dorin-Ballard.  I will plug CDB any chance I get." - Rob Stone. LOL. You make it too easy for us to pick on you Rob!

Centers

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2010, 01:44:57 PM »
I have the same problem.  Your not alone
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River700

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2010, 02:42:45 PM »
What surface do you currently have those 4 balls at? The surface is one thing that can make or break a ball on certain conditions.
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jodyk24

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2010, 04:15:21 PM »

Whysoserious...

Most bowling centers do not change their procedure that much. The weather changes the lane condition up to a point. This time of the year they turn heat on and we have a different shot and the oil seems to go quicker. About this time of the year, I dig out my old Track Animal and start to carry it with me. This is my old reliable standby. It is a ball for me that will not over hook but a controlled hook. Not a strong cover but likes to hug the oil line or can handle some of the dry boards depending on speed. My point is that you more than likely have something in your older line up that used to work great for you and still will. Most of your equipment listed appears to be on the stronger side.

jodyk24

KennedyMan

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #8 on: December 03, 2010, 07:11:45 PM »
I have had the same issue I have been bowling real well in all my tournaments and they lay day sport patterns and struggle by comparison on house shots. But that has changed about two weeks ago. I am strong power player but found that I was getting to much reaction with almost every ball. So I changed my release from a power position to a weaker release and the ball seems to read the pattern much better on house shots. I am now not trying to hit the ball but allow it to naturally roll off my hand. On sport I am still off the back of it controlling the mid lane if it ain't broken don't fix it.

dizzyfugu

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2010, 12:40:48 PM »
I also "suffer" under league conditions, and in my case it is lack of (jead) oil, lots of traffic on the lane with soaker balls and a rather rolly, high track release of mine. Effectively, I fight with my balls rolling dead, while people around me with lower tracks and spinner releases can even use heavy oil balls - or at least they do so, stubbornly, carry and consistent scoring is another thing.

But coming back to the subject: I consequently re-positioned my league arsenal for (subjective) medium conditions at best. Beyond that I started to accept the fact that I bowling is about scoring, and not sticking to my A-game - esp. when the conditions out there are not matching up with it. I do not have much revs (average, about 300 RPM) and do not like to move ever deeper - at least when something is on the line, because I will sacrifice control. I had to develop a game strategy.

So I revamped my game to straighter lines and less hook overall. For me, breakpoint control and control about the amount of hook and entry angle are vital game assets - doing "more" and play at the upper limit is no problem, but controlling the lower baseline keeps me actually in the game.

Less revs, straighter hand, weaker balls - that's what I found useful. And working on a proper ball reaction rather than a big hook or just "that one" high game in the series.
My game does not look spectacular, but once I am in the lane's groove I can keep up scoring and simply stay in the game.
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Locke

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2010, 01:23:58 PM »
If you are getting over reaction you need to move you break point in a couple boards. When I start having that problem I start moving my feet 2 left and my mark at the arrows 1 board. This will get your ball to the same spot usually but it will start moving the break point into the oil a little more.
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TWOHAND834

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2010, 08:32:04 PM »
quote:
Lately I am leaving a hell of a lot of splits.  Most of the balls are snapping way too hard off the dry.  I have a lot of bowling balls, but the four that I take with me to leagues are:

Reign of Fire - Pin up, Leverage
Reign Supreme - 5x4 pin up
Reign - Pin up 6x4
2Fast - Pin down 5x3

These are rough estimates. Cant remember all ball drillings lol
--------------------
"The only place I get hurt is out there" - Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler")

"If you're good at something, never do it for free." - The Joker (Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight")

"I love Caroline Dorin-Ballard.  I will plug CDB any chance I get." - Rob Stone. LOL. You make it too easy for us to pick on you Rob!


The reason for the over reaction is because you have all higher end equipment with length drillings.  You put length drillings in higher end balls and you will get uncontrollable backend reactions at times on shorter patterns and/or fresh backends.  I know they are rough estimates.  However, if they are pretty close to what you say, then that is the reason. Because of the pin down layout, your best bet is to take the 2Fast and put a abralon finish without polish to even out the backend, possibly a 2000 abralon.
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charlest

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Re: Why am I having so much trouble with house shots?
« Reply #12 on: December 04, 2010, 09:11:22 PM »
quote:
The reason for the over reaction is because you have all higher end equipment with length drillings.  You put length drillings in higher end balls and you will get uncontrollable backend reactions at times on shorter patterns and/or fresh backends.  I know they are rough estimates.  However, if they are pretty close to what you say, then that is the reason. Because of the pin down layout, your best bet is to take the 2Fast and put a abralon finish without polish to even out the backend, possibly a 2000 abralon.
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I'm not sure if this is the only reason for your over reactions, but it is a good one.

This time of year many houses around my way have high school bowling all afternoon. They do affect the lanes by mostly drying out the oil and sometimes by causing carrydown. In really bad situations they can do both. Many house do not have time to re-oil between afternoon high-schoolers and evening leagues. So they sometimes oil more heavily. This has affected evening leagues in 3 or 4 houses, of which I am aware.

I do agree with TwoHand's/Steve's possible solution: roughen up the 2Fast so it reacts sooner, but retains some energy. This will reduce or eliminate over-reaction. I'd suggest trying 4000 grit matte finish first, then 2000 if 4000 doesn't do enough. Some of that (which grit to use) depend son your ball speed and rev rate.
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