Sport shots are only intimidating when you haven't bowled them before. Don't try to hook everything. Focus on being accurate and hitting your target. The biggest thing you have to remember is sport shots no matter which one it is won't do you any favors. On a house shot you miss your intended target by a board a lot of times the house shot unless you really missed by a lot will find its way back to the pocket for a strike.
On most sport shots you miss just a little it might be an 8 count or a split.
For me I found the biggest problem was and sometimes still is the spare shooting. You just don't have,the same margin for error that you do on a house shot.
Your other big issue is the lane transitions. Depending on lane traffic from other bowlers, and the oil pattern the could be slow and subtle, or faster and more drastic.
Just try to be more direct to the pocket on the first ball and don't miss your target if possible on your spare attempts. Watch other bowlers with styles similar to yours watch how they play the Patterns. It will help. Only other thing you can do in the moment is,try to relax while at the same time maintaining your focus. Mental errors on a sport shots are enemy number 1.
My advice if you really want to get better on a sport shot join a spot league take your lumps. You will have nights where the pattern fits your A game. Other times not so much. That is when you figure out plan B and C. But after awhile you start to learn which ball matches up with which pattern have different balls with different drill layouts surface prep all that.
The oil pattern no matter what it is will be less intimidating after you see a few.
What will probably happen if you do what I do and a lot of other bowlers do bowl both a sport league and a standard house league. You will find you will get better at the sport shots, and struggle more on your standard house patterns. Hell sometimes even a dry lane open play shot will be less frustrating then the WTF pattern is this mystery variation of whatever the house shot is in your home center. Good luck and happy😁🎳
What are you talking about? He said sport shot, not US open, you can miss by a board left and right of target.
That depends on the bowler and the bowlers stylebmy point was the margin for error is not as wide. On a house shot you can miss sometimes by 3 or 4 boards and still strike. Regardless of your style.
On the sport shots Bowler style makes a difference also. I am not a high rev power guy. Put me on a heavy oil pattern long to medium in length I can hold my own most of the time.
But put me on a really short pattern or one with a very light overall volume of oil I am going to struggle unless I can move the oil down lane. With my slower ball speed missing event a board on a short pattern is big because I don't have the ball speed to control the hook. I miss by Board one way it comes in light I miss the other way it hooks too much.
My point is depending on the pattern the margin for error is very small. You probably have alot more ball speed than I do and more Revs so for you a board left or right no big deal. For me on a pattern like Dragon decent oil volume and long a board is not a huge deal either I can use a heavy oil ball. Actually with my new redemption solid I can even miss by a board and a half and sometimes still strike. But that ball won't do me a damn bit good on short oil. I will have to go with my old ebonite werewolf plastic ball from 97 & hope for the best. Or hope my timing is right on that night and not miss my target even by a board. I think on short oil I do well maybe 25 percent of the time. Usually when another bowler accidentally crates a hold area for me.
One guy in my league does it often. He hates when he bowls me because he doesn't do it on purpose but at least on the short patterns he tends to open up the margin for error for me just enough. He really hates when I say thanks D you opened up the shot for me. Would even a gutter 3 frames ago.😁 His response usually something like.🙄 NP anytime.😟 😄
