I've been working on playing deeper angles lately and its feels a bit weird when you are used to playing more of a typical second arrow kind of shot. Getting better at it though, just gotta work on consistency (and getting the ball down lane better, I tend to pull it)

I tended to have the same problem, would come out with a bang the first game of leagues  when it was fresh and break 200 pretty consistently, from there it just slowly got worse.

Granted thanks to this sites and others around I've learned a bit more about the game since then, but I would of never been able to bowl inside the 4th arrow like I can at least do with marginal success now. Not tearing it up, but tbh this weekend was the first time in a month or so I actually got a lane in pretty decent shape. Summer has been brutal lol

You can't play the game with any real degree of proficiency unless you can get comfortable playing anywhere from 5 board to 20 board.  When I was young I learned the game playing second arrow and deeper.  In those days there were a lot of corner shots around.  I had a terrible time learning to play the corner, so I joined a league in a corner shot house, and just kept practicing until I could play the shot.  I made a point to bowl leagues in houses that played differently just to gain versatility. 

I have always felt that it wasn't walled conditions per se that impedes development as a good bowler, but the homogenous nature of todays walls thanks to the modern machines and the tendency for everyone to set up a shot around 2nd arrow.  In the 60's and 70's we all bowled on walls, but some were set up off the corner, and some were set up inside of 10 board.   I never practiced in brickyard houses, but with a free arm swing and the ability to move around, I could hit the tough houses as well as anyone else. 

Practice on a house shot is rough, with the huge buildup of oil in the middle, that playing 5th arrow will not yield the same results as if you were playing on a flatter pattern. If you bowl in a center that is heavier oil, go to a center that has a lighter house shot. If you want to play in, make outside of 10 OB. If you want to play the gutter, take your plastic ball and play down 2 or 3. Don't worry about score at all. Dump 10 in a row in the ditch while playing the twig.

i have bowled with some people for years now and they have been bowling one way for over 20 years so they will never try anything new. I try to help them even if its just a small adjustment that they wont feel its to much but they still after 1 shot go right back to the same routine they have.

I have this same issue with a teammate of mine. He is the one who introduced me to bowling but back in his heyday, he was king! Back then, we started out bowling on heavy oil, so all he knows is to roll it down ten! I try to get him to practice other styles, to no avail. I have long since passed him up in efficiency and style. I keep telling him to get an "A" game; a "B" game; and a "C" game.....at the very least! He listens intently and then goes right back to the same old insanity......and runs thru ball after ball, after ball. It amazes me!

I even showed him it wasn't the ball, by taking a ball he couldn't get to strike......moved in on the lane.....and struck with it continually. Does he change? NOPE!! Very frustrating.