Expert: Chip Aki - 11/19/2008

Question
my ball goes into the pocket and there stands the ten pin  what can i do to correct this or what is going wrong

Answer
If you are leaving the ten pin, your ball is hitting the 3 pin too far in front, or hitting the 3 pin head on.  You need to get the ball to hit the 2 pin on the left, front quadrant to carry the 10 pin.
The reasons can be several.  One could be the ball rolling too soon and hooking out, causing the ball to not finish well.  Another could be the ball is skidding due to carrydown and not finishing well.  One more can be the balls surface being too shiny for the condition and not gripping the lane.

The first thing I would suggest when you start leaving the 10 pin is to move your feet slightly right on the approach and keep your same target on the lane.  This will get the ball to hit slightly higher in the pocket.  If you are good with speed changes, you can also slow the ball down a bit.


Good luck,
Chip