Common Reasons For Poor Bowling Spare Shooting

If you are averaging between 135 - 160 and wonder why you miss too many routine spares for your own liking, then it will help your to to know some common reasons for poor bowling spare shooting.

There are any number of reasons why you may be missing spares you know you should be making. Repeating the same delivery mistakes toward your spare over and over will not solve your problem.

It is advisable to seek advice from an experienced bowling instructor and develop a system for shooting spares. Within the new system, you will develop the techniques which will lead to success.

Make certain you develop a spare system and learn to trust in your new strategy by practicing until the changes in technique become comfortable.

Let’s itemize a few reasons why bowlers miss common spares, maybe not every reason, but several reasons why routine spares are missed:

1. Improper Alignment - one common reason bowlers miss routine spares is poor alignment relative to their delivery style and to the lane conditions.

2. Inconsistent Walking Lines - it will surprise you how many bowlers miss spares, particularly corner pin spares, because after moving across the lane, they will inadvertently walk away from their intended walking path, usually by drifting the center of the approach, and thereby cut off any effective angle to pick up the spare.

3. Varying Ball Speed - too many bowlers miss spares because they either deliver their bowling balls too slowly in an attempt to be overly careful to make accurate shots or by throwing the ball too fast and lose balance and control. It is best to use your normal strike ball delivery speed in which you are most comfortable so you give yourself the best chance at retaining accuracy.

4. Follow Through - By trying to steer the spare shot toward the spare instead of trusting the alignment adjustments, bowlers typically try to save the shot at the last moment by forcing their bowling arm toward the direction of the spare instead of making a normal delivery to the proper sighting target on the lane. Make the same bowling swing motion from start to finish each and every delivery and trust the alignment changes you made to convert a given spare will allow you to be successful.

5. Decelerated Forward Swing - never decelerate your swing in an attempt to make a careful shot toward a spare. Continue making fully accelerated forward swings every time you deliver your ball. Decelerating your swing only risks overturning your ball and making at errant shot.

6. Body Alignment - many bowlers make good moves across the approach to position themselves for corner pin spares by do not align the front portion of their bowling shoulder at the given key pin of the spare. Maintaining alignment with the front of your bowling shoulder and the spare throughout your approach allows you to follow through toward your spot on the lane and make an accurate delivery to the spare.

7. Over-Adjusting The Release - if you try and change your release to either make your ball travel a straight line to the spare or try and hook the ball more than you normally do for strike deliveries, then you risk making poor shots. Unless you are well practiced at changing your release so a noticeable ball motion occurs, then it is best to retain your same delivery style for all shots, spares included. Changing bowling balls is a better strategy than changing releases unless you are very adept at doing so.

These seven reasons bowlers miss common spares are not the only ones but they do seem apply most frequently with bowlers everywhere. If you feel one or more of these reasons above applies to you, then it is recommended to seek advice from a bowling instructor to help build a strategy and a spare plan which includes adjustments and techniques to help you improve your spare shooting skills.

Once you make an effort, a sincere effort, it improve your spare shooting, your bowling scores will rise and the level of pleasure you get from recording good scores will also rise.