Saving the Spare -- How to Knock Down Those Trouble Pins by Johnny Cartwright

No matter how skilled a bowler you are, you're going to find yourself in a spare situation--and for those of us that are casual bowlers, it happens more often than not.

Picking up a spare can be difficult or easy. It all depends on the location of the remaining pins. Some spares are fairly easy for novice bowlers, such as a single pin standing in the center of the lane. Other situations require more concentration, and a little knowledge of geometry ;)

Splits--when there is two or more pins standing, with a gap in between--are considered the most difficult to spare, and the larger the gap, the tougher the shot.

Single Pin Spares

Potential spares that do not involve splits, are fairly straight-forward. With single pin spares, a straight aim at the remaining pin is often all it takes. Because even a glancing blow will knock the pin over, there's a wide target area to aim for.

An exception to this simplicity is a single pin adjacent to the gutter, especially when on the same "hand" as the bowler. For right-handed bowlers, the 10-pin is the culprit, for left-handed bowlers, the 7-pin.

Because of the natural throwing motion, and the narrowed target area, it is easy to end up with a gutter ball when attempting this shot.

One technique is to move to the opposite side of the lane, and throw the ball across the lane, towards the pin.

When the single pin is against the gutter, but opposite the bowler's hand, the shot is less difficult. If you can hook the ball, do so, as this increases the size of the target area.

Adjacent Pin Spares

When you are left with two adjacent pins, and one is closer t o you than the other, you have a fairly easy spare, as well.

Aiming for the forward pin, on the opposite side of the rearward pin, will usually result in the front pin hitting the back pin, giving you the spare.

While you can also attempt to use the ball to hit both pins, by aiming the ball at the forward pin on the same side as the rearward pin, often this results in the ball ricocheting and bypassing the second pin, and missing the shot.

Making the Split

Splits are considerably more complex shots than other spare situations.

Baby splits, splits with small gaps between pins, are easier, but they still require skill and precision to hit the shot.

To pick up a 3-10 or 2-7 split, the best technique is to hit the leading pin on the side closest to the back pin. This allows the ball to hit both the front and back pins, by taking advantage of any minor ricochet.

With the 4-5 and 5-6 splits, the pins are equidistant from the bowler, and this shot can only be made by sending the ball between both pins, hitting them both at the same time.

Larger splits, like the 7-10 split, require not only skill, but also luck. The only hope of hitting this spare is to hit one pin, and have that pin fly across the lane and knock down the other one.