Zero Open Bowling Frames

By: bowlingball.com, 3/8/17

Updated 10/27/2020

As an experienced bowler, you should have a goal for any series of games of zero open bowling frames.

This means that if you do not strike, you fill the remaining frames of each game in the series of games for the given session.

In order to do so, you must become an excellent spare shooter ready to confidently convert any spare you face other than wide-open splits.

This may be easier said than done. Why? Because many good bowlers fail to work as hard at learning to convert spares on a variety of lane conditions, not just where they bowl most often.

To fill frames, you must make the adjustments to any spare combination of pins on any oil pattern you typically encounter when bowling in leagues or tournaments.

Just as you must find a way to align to the pocket for strikes, you must learn to adjust when you face a different oil pattern which does not allow your bowling ball reaction to act in the same way as on a more familiar pattern.

This line of reasoning also holds true in spare shooting.

In many cases, various oil patterns used in bowling centers as their “house conditions” can be found to be similar so adjusting for spares or strikes may not be difficult.

Perhaps only a difference in the oil distance or perhaps the volume of oil used in the cross lane ratios of application.

The point is that if you have confidence in your spare shooting technique and in your chosen bowling ball for spares, you can adapt to a new pattern for shooting spares.

Once you have developed an adjusted alignment method for any spare on familiar patterns, you can base your spare alignment method to the new pattern.

In many cases the methods will be quite close because you understand your normal ball reaction and can play the patterns to help guide your ball to the spares in much the same way as the pattern can guide your ball into the pocket on strike deliveries.

The keys are applying effort to becoming an accurate spare shooter and recognizing the importance of practicing your spares instead of only playing for the pocket when bowling where scores do not matter.

Make you goal zero open bowling frames and watch your scores with respect to the field of opposition rise.

Another factor in becoming a consistently good spare shooter is the art of controlling your ball speed.

Also maintaining good balance from any angle of attack on the lane is a must. If you are prone to trying to deliver your ball much faster for a cross lane spare than you do for strikes and are not well practicing in doing so, you risk missing the spare.

Fast speeds certainly reduce the amount of hook when the lanes are drier than normal. The risk here is that your body balance may suffer or you might spin your hips out of position at the critical moment you release the ball because of forcing your swing to gain an increase in pure ball speed. Practicing converting your spares is vital to becoming a solid performing bowler on any lane condition. Fill those frames when you do not strike.

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