The state of Georgia opened up bowling alleys as early as April, despite the current crisis. However, many other states in the US have yet to give recreational businesses the signal to reopen.
Here are some awesome bowling trick shots to practice and study in the meantime.
1. Norm Duke’s Spare
You may have a framed photo of bowling legends in your bowling alley. One of them may be the legendary Norm Duke, a master bowler. He’s the best at what he does, which includes doing trick shots.
One of his fresh bowling shots is the spare ball conversion. First, he prepares a spare ball. He spins it and lets it take a slow trip down the lane. Before it can reach its destination, Duke will send out another ball to take out all but one pin.
You may already know how this shot will end. Duke’s slow-rolling spare ball will then finish the trick shot by taking out the pin standing last.
This move will take some time to master.
It’ll be tricky to nail the nine pins and leave one standing. It’ll be trickier still to learn to spin your spare ball and direct it to hit a specific pin. If you’re already good at curve-balls and controlling how many pins you want to strike down, you’ve got a great start.
2. Seated Strike Shot
Do you want to show off laid-back bowling tricks? Here’s a casual way of making a strike. You won’t even have to get up from your seat to make a strike.
To do this, you need to understand how curved shots work. Take a seat at the players’ area at the lane beside the one you plan to send your ball down. Make sure you don’t sit down at the center chair facing your lane.
Instead, park yourself at the left or right seats. This way, you have a clear view of the lane that you’re targeting. From where you’re seated, send your ball down the next lane you’re facing.
This is a simple trick that’s easy to master. However, you may have a hard time seeing the results of your shot. Also, it may not be all too possible if the players’ lounging area is at an elevated level.
This trick shot will be easier to do if alternating lanes are open. Then again, you may have to impose social distancing measures, anyway.
3. Two-Player Spare Bowling Trick Shots
Do you feel like practicing with a friend? Here’s another simple spare trick that’s easy to pull off. Before you go, you want to strike down all the pins except for the 7 and 10 pins.
Now, take a partner who has some skill in making a curved shot.
It’s better to pick a partner who uses the opposite hand or who can do a curve that’s opposite your main hand. For example, your main hand is right, and the curve of your shot is often a reverse C curve. You want your partner to be a lefty and good at making a C-curved shot.
The goal is to create the illusion of your bowling balls crossing paths before curving back. It’s a simple trick, but it looks good. The hard part lies in how well you can synchronize your shots in speed and curvature.
Better yet, get the whole gang to try it with each other. It’ll also be a fun time for the local bowling league in your bowling alley once it opens up again. It’s also a great way to bond with family in your at-home bowling alley.
4. Chris Barnes’ Flying Eagle
This list of bowling trick shots won’t be complete without the legendary Flying Eagle. Chris Barnes has already shown off this trick shot tons of times in many Skills Challenges. However, his most impressive skill is his ability to bowl with his off-hand.
For the flying eagle, you’d want to set up a 7-10 split in two lanes. The 7-pin needs to be in the lane where you’ll throw your ball down. Add a third pin on the lane with the 7-pin to act as the lead pin.
The goal here is to hit the lead pin and send it flying into the opposite lane to knock down the 10-pin. Also, your ball needs to continue rolling and knock down the 7-pin. For this trick to work, your ball needs to travel down the lane at high speed.
The trick may take a lot of time to master. However, the pay-off will be worth the time and effort you put into it. Plus, you’d learn an awesome bowling trick shot that’s hard to nail down.
5. Varipapa’s Two-Ball Spare
For the last entry in our bowling tips and tricks, we’re giving you some old-school moves by Andy Varipapa. For this one, you’ll want to set up a ball two-thirds of the way down the lane. It needs to be in the of the lane middle.
You want to have a ten pin also set up at the end of the lane. Next, you want to throw a ball down the lane and hit the ball you set up. When the two balls hit each other, they’ll fall into the gutter.
However, you want the ball that was at rest to bounce back onto the lane and hit the pin. That is the goal of this trick. It won’t matter if the ball you threw won’t bounce back onto the lane. The important thing is that the other ball rolls back in and hits the pin.
At least once a year, around 67 million people bowl. However, tens of millions of them only play casual bowling. This trick is old and looks simple, but it’s useful in making a big impression.
Bowl Like a Trick Shot Pro
That’s it for our guide on how to do bowling trick shots. We hope you enjoyed and learned a lot from this guide. If you want to read more on bowling trick shots, check out the rest of our blog posts.
If you have any questions about bowling, don’t hesitate to contact us for further inquiries!
