Let’s say you bowl by rolling the ball straight down the lane – no hook. If you practice consistently, what is the best you can get your average up to? I realize there are a ton of factors to consider, but I am trying to get a feel for how much bowling with a hook helps. Or how much bowling straight-on limits a bowler’s average.
In theory you can still bowl a 300 with a straight ball. The probability is just much lower as the window for error is much smaller in terms of finding the pocket angle for throwing a strike.
FWIW, I’ve heard Street (or rather, Alley) Talk that a pure straight bowler will “top out” at around a 180 average.
It’s not that hard to develop a hook, I did so and only bowled semi-seriously for 2-3 years. I never got as high as a 180 average either, more like a 170+, but with large swings (my scores clustered around 150 or 200) – throwing a hook makes you more susceptible to different lane conditions (oily vs. dry) and I never did become one of those “toolbox bowlers” who have 4-6 balls of different properties.
My limited Google-fu turned up this webpage discussing this very topic.
I bowl “no hook” and swing between 130 and 160.
Hooking (which I am certain I am doing incorrectly) hurts the hell out of my wrist and I only bowl a few times a year anyway.
This sounds about right to me. A 9-spare game (all frames 9 pins on the first ball, then spared) gets you a 190, it’s unreasonable to think a straight ball will get you 9 every single time, you’ll get some 8’s and 7’s or that you’ll pick up every single spare. Throw in a few random strikes, you get only 1 extra point per strike, it doesn’t really drive up your score.
The way to get above 180 is to make your spares, and regularly string together strikes. 3 strikes in a row gets you 20 points more than 3 spread out. You can’t string together strikes reliably with a straight ball.
When my brother bowled in a league, he had a 167 average with a ruler-straight ball. I’d buy it that 180 would be about the absolute limit–no matter how deadly you are on the easy spares (and my brother was pretty deadly), you just don’t get enough strings of strikes to really kick ass. Too many straight balls go into the pocket but leave a back pin standing, plus you get too many splits.
I have around a 150 average with a straight ball and my very best game was 195. I think the highest maximum average would be around 180 (like a previous poster said, all 9-spares will do that). I basically get all of the easy spares, but none of the splits, and few strikes (maybe 2-3 per game).
I really need to develop a hook…
Since the key to strikes is entry angle and revolutions, a straight ball would leave a lot of 8 and 9 counts. You might luck out with a strike once in a while, but not with any great consistency. I’d put the max at 170-180.
I have bowled over a 240 with a straight ball. Started with 7 strikes, and 5 more would certainly be possible.
But the margin of error is low and the best I could average is about 165-170. I have read that you cannot expect to average over 200 with a straight ball, and 180 doesn’t seem too low to me, either.
I don’t know how to hook, and my high score is 180, FWIW.
I used to bowl a lot, and averaged around 195-200 at my peak. The optimum entry angle is around 14 degrees (IIRC), and there’s just no way to consistently get that angle without throwing a hook. Throwing a hook does not mean twisting your wrist to roll the ball. You basically keep your hand straight behind the ball and lift with your fingertips. The ball you throw determines its hook, as does the lane condition/friction of the ball surface.
FWIW, I had to wear a wrist brace to keep my wrist straight enough to lift the ball like that.
(And just 'cause I have to brag, once upon a time I shot a 298! I sure did choke in the tenth. :))
I’ve always been a straight line bowler. The one summer back in high school I played A LOT (25 cents a game, 3 games a day, 3-4 days a week) and I remember hitting 200 several times.
Before learning to hook I bowled a 187 but averaged around 155. My son actually taught me the proper bowling technique, bought me a good ball and now I average about 210.
I bowled a 242 once with straight throws, and broke 200 a few other times.
It was just dumb luck; I throw very hard, and so if I’m accurate I can do well by sheer chance. But my average would be about 150, 160, and 200 is totally impossible unless I learn to hook.
I just realized, You said “straight down the lane”. Even tho I bowled without a hook, I would bowl from the extreme right of the lane, aiming to hit the “pocket” with a line towards the left side. you do have to ignore all those little dots and arrows. My spares were gererally straight.
The pocket for a righty is just between the 1 and 3 pins?
Yes. I think the above poster was saying he aimed for the"Brooklyn" side, between the 1 and 2.
I bowl straight, and my best score is 171. I average about 130-140.
Oh absolutely, if you bowl a straight ball you have to do that. In effect you simulate the angle of the hook by coming in on an angle.
One of my friends refused to do that–he bowled a straight ball, but stood in the center of the alley. He’d get boatloads of splits, and half the time when he was in the pocket his ball would deflect around the 5 pin. He couldn’t get his average out of the 130’s. But if you tried to tell him he was wrong, he’d take it as a personal affront.
I used to bowl league and never could manage a consistent real honest-to-goodness hook. Started off somewhat to the right and tried to hit the correct arrow/spot to come in at the pocket with good speed and spin. It wasn’t like I was just beelining directly for the pocket; the ball went pretty straight (aiming at about the 6 pin I guess) about halfway or 3/4 way down and then started to curve into the pocket. But it certainly was not that stand to the left, spin it out to the right and have it come in the pocket after an impressive parabola. I never could figure that out. For me it was just a little twist of the fingers at the end to get that bit of curvature near the pins.
And on some lanes (or some nights) it just would not work. Then it was more of positioning and arm motion to get pin action. Stand *way * to the right to get the angle with a more straight ball. In these cases my ball drop point was right on the lip of the gutter.
When I could find my correct spots (which changed quite a bit) and get that last curve toward the pins I could string some strikes together. I was always good with the spares and could bag a few 200+ scores. Even some 230+. But my average (as predicted in this thread) was right around 177.
I can’t throw a hook and I once had a 234. But rarely over 150, though.