Tip 5

How to practice on an easy house shot 180 average and up

A lot of high quality players don't think they can practice on an easy league shot.  But you can if you are honest with yourself. It is no great task for a good bowler to string strikes on today's walled up house shots. If you pay attention to your ball path and be honest with yourself you will know if you are making good shots or not.  I suggest in practice you ignore the strikes and concentrate on the ball line.  Are you hitting both targets? How many times out of 30 do you actually hit both? The times you miss. Do you tend to miss inside or outside? I suggest keeping a chart. You will see a pattern and it may not be the one you expect.

When you missed your target did you miss by just one board or 3? Write that down too. Do the chart for both targets. What I mean by both targets is this. It takes two points to make a line.  Your 1st target which may be around the arrows and the
2nd target which is the break point you wish to hit at around 42 feet.  IF the manager of the center will allow,  always try to get the end lane  if you are right handed. In most centers there is a walkway beside the lane that will allow you to walk down
beside the lane in order for you to place a tape target for you to shoot at. ( ALWAYS REMEMBER T O REMOVE THE TAPE WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED )  Also don't go past your break point. Never reach into the  area were the pins are. Some centers have light beam type of triggers that if broken will make the rake come down and it will not care if your
head is in the way or not.  Take a piece of bowlers tape and place it on the 8 board about 42 feet down the lane. This will help you find your break point.  If you are a pretty good bowler chances are you have a few guys around the center that like to watch you bowl. Have them help you practice. Most times they will be honored to do so and it keeps them
out of your hair. Have your friend go down and place the tape where it looks like your break point is on the length of the lane and on the 8 board. Place a 2nd piece of tape on your target. Let's say that you wish to target the 17 board  at the arrows.
Place the 2nd piece of  tape there and try to line up so if you hit the 1st target at 17 your break point is around the 8 board at 42 feet. Now that we know where your break point is move the piece of tape on the 8 board to the 9 board and place another piece of tape on the 5 board. The idea is to go between the two without hitting them. That gives you 3
boards of area at the break point.

Have your friend watch for you if you can. Tell him to watch the very bottom of the ball and report each time what board the ball rolled over at each target and have them write  it down. It is your job to hit or come very close to the first piece of tape
and go between the two at the break point. Watch your ball at the break point to see if it turns the corner and heads for the pocket. Watch your ball go all the way through the pins and into the pit. You may ask the question when you review your chart, how close is good enough. Here is my opinion on how accurate you should be.  If you wish to be a pretty good league bowler then 3 boards of area at your 1st target would be your goal. That means the board the piece of tape is on and one
board on each side. You can't miss 2 boards left of the tape and say "well that is within 3 boards because the piece of tape is on the 3rd board". Your second target should be within 4 boards to be a pretty good league bowler. If your goal is to bowl at any level in the PBA or the WPBA or make money bowling as a scratch amateur then I suggest 2 boards for both targets should be your goal. That means 2 inches. That is how accurate I think you should be to compete and be a true contender at that level of play.  That means your target board  and only half of the board on each side. If you use one inch wide bowlers tape for your targets you can put 2 side by side and get your 2 inches.
If you hit the first target tape you will often hear the ball roll over the tape which helps verify that it was indeed hit. It will not affect your ball path enough to mess up your shot. To get your 2 inches for your break point I suggest you place 2 pieces of
tape so there is a 2 inch gap between them and try to make the ball roll between the two pieces of tape.
That way on a good shot you can see an honest ball reaction. I can hear some of you screaming now!  "I have seen some of the PBA tourneys and a lot of  those guys don't seem to have 2 inch accuracy."  You are right, a lot of them don't and often
you see them spray the ball the most in the later games after the lanes have broken down some and opened up due to oil depletion.  But if you watch the first squad of the day on the fresh very flat oil, you will see the guys with the highest scores do indeed have 2 inch accuracy.  You can be a power player and still have accuracy and believe me if you try to compete at that level and you don't have it you will loose money. You can't be successful in the PBA if you have to give away pins to the more accurate players until the lanes come to you. If you give those guys a head start you will never see them again.