Pick up Bowling Spares to Increase Your Score

Picking up a bowling spare will help you score higher.

The main secret to increasing your bowling score and raising your bowling average is to pick up spares. If you are a professional bowler your main goal is to bowl strikes. For those of us who are not pro or would like to be pro we must first master this part of the game. Many people tend to overlook this part of bowling and scoring, and focus more on strikes than picking up spares. Until you reach pro status you can really help your score greatly by picking up spares. First you must change the way you play the game slightly.

How to leave a single pin spare

You must aim and hit the head pin more regularly. Throwing the ball from the side of the lane with just a little curve to the ball will produce more strikes. Aiming for the middle with a big curve on the ball will leave a split. Less curve on a ball is easier to control than a big hard curve that crashes into the pins.

Picking up a single pin spare

Practice is the key when trying to pick up spares. You should throw a hook across the lane at the side pins. If you leave the head pin on most of your throws, you may want to buy a ball that is heavier just for picking up this type of spare. You can throw a heavier ball straighter at this pin.

Picking up the harder spares

The harder spares will become impossible to get in some cases and you just count on luck and skill level. Shooting across the lane with a straight ball at the 3-10 is usually the best bet. If you run in to a 7-10 split, just try to hit one pin and cross your fingers that the ball or pin hits the other pin. Your previous throw was probably to blame for leaving a split like this to begin with and you may want to work on that before your hard spares.

Your approach

Most serious or pro bowlers use a five step approach that gives the bowler a graceful and smooth beginning. A four step approach seems too jumpy and unorganized, but most beginners seem to find the four step easier.

Your release

If you throw your ball too hard it can slide down the alley and not roll smoothly. Rolling the ball is very important to your game. If you have trouble with this you may want to adjust your ball weight or material it is made from.

Practice makes perfect

Some bowling alley owners or managers will give you a discount pass for practicing. Bowling in more than one league for fun and practice is a good way to sharpen all of your bowling skills. The only way you will improve any aspect of your game is to practice. If you are bowling and leaving 3 or more
spares something needs work.

We show you how to pick up spares in bowling.

Continue to practice and consider a new weight ball for certain pickup shots. Bowling a strike is always going to be better that picking up a spare but by how much? If you bowl several strikes in one game they may amount to twenty to thirty because it is followed by another strike or even a spare. If you get more spare pickups a strike may only be worth twenty. Spares are worth eighteen / nineteen so your bottom line is a spare will only be worth a couple pins less than a strike. For this reason the casual bowler needs to remember how important picking up spares can be to your game skill and your score.

Knowing how important spares are is one of the most hidden and forgotten secrets in bowling. Practice picking up your spares and your game will improve by leaps and bounds. Bowling For Dummies will teach you even more secrets, such as the best way to pick up those tricky splits. This guide will help you bowl like a pro so if you’re really ready to improve your game, check it out.

Good luck picking up your spares and have fun bowling!