What to Do in Your Spare Time…

For my Bowling This Month reincarnation debut, I had several ideas go through my head for a topic. In the end, what better way to get started than to get back to basics. Like the first practice after several months off, focusing on the basics gets you back into a rhythm and builds the foundation for your game moving forward. The most basic of all? Spare shooting.

I get it. Spare shooting is boring. When we go to practice we want to work on physical flaws, versatility, or just about anything that will help us get more strikes. Even beginners and low average bowlers looking for a lesson say the first thing they want is to get more strikes.

Sometimes strikes can be hard to come by and even as we get better and better, they are still dependent on the scoring environment. Easier conditions that match up to your game will give you your fill of strikes, but tougher conditions require managing oil patterns, ball surfaces, and numerous other factors if you want to get strikes.

One thing can remain constant regardless of the conditions you are bowling on: spare shooting. For this reason, it is one of the fundamental skills that can increase a bowler’s average, the number of cuts they make at tournaments, and reduce frustration level.

A common mistake among league and tournament players alike is a poorly executed shot following a missed spare. You don’t just lose pins from the open frame, but from not striking right afterward. Missing spares puts even more pressure on your first ball, especially when bowling on tougher conditions.

Unfortunately, spare shooting often ends up lumped with ...