Coach, I’ve Got a Question! – August 2025

In this recurring feature, I answer questions from Bowling This Month readers and bowlers that I work with. If you have questions, please leave them in the comment section below so I can address them in a future installment of Coach, I’ve Got a Question!

I’ve really been struggling with my left-side spares recently, especially the 4 pin (I’m righthanded). I’m trying to throw it straight, but sometimes it feels much more comfortable to just hook at it. If I do that, then I don’t know what to do in tournament conditions. Can you help me figure this out?

Every so often, I get a question that I can personally relate to. I can vividly remember struggling with my 4 pins as a teenager and spending hours practicing it. It was actually around this time that I first developed my spare shooting system, which eventually became the foundation of how I coach others to shoot their spares.

For most bowlers getting started, the opposite-side spares (left-side spares for righties, right-side spares for lefties) feel easier than same-side spares. Eventually, though, it’s pretty common for that to flip. Aside from the trickier multi-pin spares, more struggles tend to happen on the opposite-side spares.

While I can’t quantifiably prove this, I think it has a lot to do with how a bowler’s alignment shifts as they develop. Starting out, a bowler throws the ball pretty straight and naturally uses a more closed alignment. This makes it easier for a righthander to throw the ball to the left than to the right.

As bowlers develop a hook, their alignment favors a trajectory away from them, so it becomes harder to send the ball across the body to opposite-side spares. This could also be why this bowler finds it easier to hook the ball at those spares: it’s closer to their ...