Why practice a shot that really isn't a real shot?  Each house has its own shot, tournament stay within a standard short pattern dry or extremely oily, and pba have certain shot patterns they follow but why practice on something that really isn't a shot...  

Example - OPEN play lanes that have been abused....
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2 Fingers 4 Life
I Am The 3 Fingers Nightmare

If I get to a fresh lane condition I will intentionally use a ball that does not fit the condition.

The purpose of practice is to practice...not throw the highest scores you can on a given lane. Your approach and release are completely divorced from your on lane ball reaction. If you don''''t like the lane condition, work on repeating your release or hitting your mark on the lane

The best place to practice is on a lane condition where you struggle...for me that is a dried out and abused lane condition.

Anybody can bowl on fresh oil. The true bowlers surface when the conditions breakdown and you need to repeat shots so you know how and where the oil is moving.

My normal practice session starts off with a game of regular bowling to loosen up followed by a game of lowball. I throw at the 10 pin and 7 pin alternatively. Perfect score for this game is 20. Then I will take a ball that doesn''''t match up to the lanes normally and use it. If I don''''t have such a ball with me I will throw my "normal" ball on a line I don''''t normally play.

So use the abused dry lane to your advantage...grab a differnet ball or try a new hand position or target line and make it work.

Remeber that "real" shot as you call it only exists at the beginning of the block. Once there are 4-5 games rolled on the lane that "real" shot is now something totally different.


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Doug Sterner
Doug''''s Pro Shop
Owego, NY
http://dougsproshop@aol.com
www.dougsproshop.net
Lane 1 Buzzsaw...The Official Power Tool Of Bowling
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Edited on 10/15/2009 10:18 AM

Edited on 10/15/2009 10:22 AM

I seldom practice anymore but when I did there were certain things I was looking for.

Spare shooting is a must. I would work on certain spares for a prolonged period.

I would work on balance and release. But in order to know if the release I was working on was effective I would play the sweet spot on the lanes, if any existed.

I wanted to know if on that condition how a given ball would read the lane and if it would carry effectively. I wanted to learn the differences in the balls I was carrying.

Score wasn’t an issue other than a gauge of how effective my work was.