I've struggled for awhile on the house shot.  There are nights where it can work for me, but for the most part I have to work hard on spares and such to put up decent scores.  Sometimes I am simply unable to find a line that works for me.  I play down and in from the track area and outside for the most part.  I don't yet have the equipment or skill to play deep inside, as I can't bring my ball (a Sling Blade) back.  I can play deep inside and play a nearly straight line to the pocket, but it isn't very dependable.  The problem is my ball going brooklyn on me.  I guess that it may be because I'm a tweener and have difficulty playing outside the oil line sometimes.  A lot of people have told me I need to put more mustard on the ball to try and reduce the hook, but it's never worked for me.  Well, I think the other night I finally figured it out and want to see if I was just lucky or I have finally gotten the info/technique I needed.  I was struggling as usual on a house shot when I started to focus not on throwing the ball hard, but rather on projecting it further down the lane, I aimed for a target beyond the first or second arrow and tried to hit it, and it worked great for me.  Is this what I need to do all the time, concentrate on projecting the ball out further, rather than continually try to adjust left or throw "harder?"  Thanks for the advice, I'm really hoping I finally have something to give me consistency on THS.

Lol, sounds like me.  It's hard to get comfortable on a house shot if it doesn't play to your strengths.  I've had one that I've struggled with for a couple years now.  The simplest thing I can tell you is to aim primarily to hit the pocket.  You may not hit it the way you want to (my biggest problem), but when you really look at the other bowlers, only the best of the scratch bowlers hit high flush for a high percentage of their strikes.  It's hard to develop trust in what your reaction is gonna be.  It's easier to have more control on tougher shots, because there's not such a pressure to strike on every shot.  The scoring pace is going to be lower, so you can just concentrate on hitting the pocket and leaving yourself easy spares.  

I've found that sometimes I have to sacrifice this weird pride I have and play the shot that knocks the pins down.  If I have to be a fluffer to score, that's what I need to make myself do.  I might catch crap like "oh, you really mowed them over that time," but it's ultimately the scores that get people's attention.  I can in effect sell out and shoot 750, or stick to an angle that looks more impressive and shoot 650.  Besides, that's the name of the game.  Knowing how to score is more important than knowing how to bowl on a THS.  Sucks, but that's life.
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Hey, I am NOT Michael Jackson.  I like little GIRLS, not little boys . .

Rock on kitty.

Anyone else have these kind of problems with the supposedly easy house shot?

I really didn't learn to score well on THS until I learned to swing the ball a little.  You need to keep the ball in the oil and then try to bounce it off of the dry around the 7 or 8 board at 40 to 45 feet down the lane.  If it breaks too early then you need to change something.  This could be by moving a little deeper inside to get more oil, more speed, more side turn to induce more skid or use a ball with less surface.  There are some great tips at the link I have listed below.  Some other generous soul on this site turned me on to this last fall.  It has helped alot.  Hope this helps.

http://www.bowl4fun.com/ron/roncarchive.htm

If you have a clean walled shot you will not need more aggressive equipment. Just try different lines and take advantage of the fiction which is present on the outside boards. If you do not play too fast (considering some reasonable amount of oil on the lane) you should be able to let the dry boards "guide" your Sharp Blade into the pocket, even when you try to play a more inside line. It should react good to this lane setup?

Another solution could be that you try to steer the ball subconsciously. That's tricky...

What I found out and works fine for me on my local THS (they gave us bone dry 7 boards left and right!) with rather light oil is to play my "light oil" equipment (TPC Shooter, Eraser Particle Pearl, Trauma - all of them rather strong balls...) with a straight or broken back wrist to kill/reduce hook and side roll, lightly increased speed (held between waist and shoulders) and standing at board 29 with my right shoe tip, aiming at the area 3' behind 13th board at the arrows.
Sounds complicated, but this shot works perfectly for me - I either can let the balls roll down into the pocket through the oil, have good impact on Brookly hits and con exploit the dry outside borads to let the ball bounce back when I stray to the right. Gave me on Sunday my second highest average ever - a 185 through 7 games, with a 234 high game (and 2 other 200+). And it only works because I do not play against this grippy lane, but just let the balls roll down and let dynamics rule.

This may not directly help, but this is how I overcame my current THS.
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DizzyFugu --- Reporting from Germany

Team "X" league website: http://homepage.mac.com/timlinked/

"All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream..." - Edgar Allen Poe

I remember awhile back Anthony Chapman(achappy) told me a very helpful strategy when attacking a shot that's "too easy".  Simply get in your comfort zone, and try to replicate the same feel out of your hand on each shot.  That way you're in your natural playing zone and you'll adjust subconciously, the only work you have to do is repeating the same feel from everything in your approach to delivering the ball.

Due to an injury I haven't been able to throw a ball in the past 5 or 6 weeks, but I may get around to doing so this weekend or next week.  Hopefully that'll help some on the THS.
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-DP3
Respect the Game

Oh above section has a lot of other good tech stuff...great site!

Also one of our good bowlers on this site is having very good success with
http://www.princetonbowl.com/CURRENT%20ARSENAL.htm

Take a look at the drilling on his hot Rod Hybrid to see a drilling for over/under.

Haven't tried one in a long time but I'm going to!

REgards,

Luckylefty