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The fastest way to raise your bowling average: spares
Everyone wants more strikes. But if you want your average to jump fast, the answer is boring and reliable: stop missing spares. Here's why, and the one shift that makes it happen.
Spares are worth more than you think
An open frame (a miss) doesn't just cost the pins you left — it costs the bonus you'd have earned. Converting your spares consistently can add 30 or more pins to a game without throwing a single extra strike. The math rewards reliability over heroics. See how scoring works.
Why you miss easy spares
The usual culprit: throwing your hooking strike ball at a lone corner pin. A ball that curves has more ways to miss a single pin — it can hook past it or leave it on either side. You're fighting your own equipment.
The shift: throw straighter at spares
For single pins, square up and throw straighter — ideally with a plastic spare ball that barely hooks and goes where you aim. Take the lane out of the equation. This one change converts a huge share of the spares bowlers routinely miss. It's the foundation of every spare system.
A simple system to start with
Learn two cross-lane shots: one for the right corner (the 10 pin) and one for the left (the 7 pin), standing on the opposite side and rolling across. Drill those until they're automatic and you've covered the most common single-pin leaves. Build from there with the 3-6-9 system.
Practice spares on purpose
Most bowlers only practice strikes. Spend a few frames each session deliberately setting up and shooting common spares. It's the least glamorous practice you can do and the fastest way to a higher average.
Get the gear edge
A cheap plastic spare ball is the single highest-value addition for spare shooting. See why in our beginner ball guide.
Two systems the coaches actually teach
USBC’s 3-6-9 system keeps your strike target on the lane and moves only your feet. Starting from your strike position, a right-hander moves three boards right for the 2 pin, six for the 4 and nine for the 7; three boards left for the 3 pin, six for the 6 and nine for the 10. Left-handers mirror it. It suits bowlers who roll the ball fairly straight or with a slight curve, and it needs no new target to learn.
The plastic-ball system, which USBC Gold coach Michelle Mullen describes in a USBC spare-shooting clinic, takes hook out of the equation: throw a plastic ball straight, shoulders turned to face the pin. For a right-hander’s 10 pin she suggests standing on about board 35 with the target between the third and fourth arrows; for the 7 pin, starting around board 15 aiming at the same gap and crossing the lane. As she puts it, “Split the difference on where you stood for either pin separately” when two pins are left.
Know when a leave is a split
USBC Rule 2h defines a split as pins left after the first ball, with the head pin down and at least one pin down, where pins are left with a gap between them (for example 7-9 or 3-10) or with one pin immediately in front of two others (for example 5-6). A split scores like any other leave, but it changes the decision: on a wide split, making one pin for sure is often worth more than gambling on both.
The spare calculator runs either system for any leave and tells you where to stand and aim, and the spare systems guide explains both in detail.
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