Developing a Split Strategy

Splits happen. All of the towel-throwing, ball-return-kicking and obscenities verbalized will not help you when you leave a 7-10 split or a Greek Church. Gold Coach and Bowler Development Lead at Bowlersmart Richard Shockley and Silver Level Coach Dan Triske explain the importance of getting count when splits occur.

Take Count for the Team

The expression “take one for the team” is not applicable when shooting at splits. For example, when you try to make the greek church split and you take one pin because you are trying to convert the split, you are actually hurting your team in the long run.

Below is an example of what your score looks like if you only take one pin when trying to convert a greek church split.

Your score increases by four pins when you take count (knocking down 3 pins) instead of trying to make the spare and knocking down one pin.

Adding it Up

At a glance, four pins don’t appear to be a big deal, but over the course of a three-game league night, not taking count on your splits can cost you 10+ pins on your total set. Multiply this by five for your team total and you start to see how quickly this adds up and contributes to loosing on a given night.

When bowlers lose a close match, generally they look at the spares they missed and blame the loss on those moments. Taking count for your split strategy can make the difference between winning and losing. The exception to the rule for your split strategy is when you are in match play and there is no tomorrow, make it and move on. You have to go for it.

Check out “Spare Shooting Practice” and “Best Way to Approach a Washout” to improve the often-overlooked second shot in the sport of bowling.