Staight or curving?

[Scott]

I'm new to duckpin bowling. I as wondering if it is better to curve the ball or throw it staight? Is one more effective than the other?

[mcrochip]

I just discovered the sport the other day, and it's a lot of fun. I found that, for me at least, putting a spin on the ball increased my score. My guess is that it's pretty similar to regular bowling as far as spinning or curving the ball goes.
-Steve

[xmradiodave]

Scott said:

I'm new to duckpin bowling. I as wondering if it is better to curve the ball or throw it staight? Is one more effective than the other?

Putting some spin on it might work out a bit better. If you hit the head pin straight on in ducks, you are likely to just punch a hole through the front set, making it more difficult to pick up the spare. Spin/Hook increses your odds of getting the ball in the pocket resulting in better pin action.

The method I use is the toss and pray. This method is usually followed up by a slew of under the breath curses and blame placed on the ball/lane conditions.

[jerseyntn]

I have always thrown a straight ball since a young age. You can get more velocity that way and create more pin action.

[Robin]

I like to throw it hard and straight and watch the pins explode. But not too straight or it might chop chop. It just depends on your bowling style. Everyone is different.

[rob]

I have bowled for many years, thrown the ball fast, slow and with a curve. The name of the game is accuracy. Try an throw the ball the same way everytime, stay in controll. If you throw the ball really hard but can not hit the head pin or throw a curve and can not hit the head pin your scores will not be where you want them.

[BillV]

I bowled duckpin the first time yesterday. I found I couldn't throw a straight ball to save my life. I had a natural curve, a pretty good one actually. I bowled pretty a wide array of scores in 3 games. 91, 106, 78.

[parked]

I started bowling in the 1950s and stopped in 1989. I bowled a backup ball with a little break and tried to spin when I released. I've seen a many different approaches work but almost, if not all, had spin on the ball. Following is a list of some of the best bowlers I've ever seen and the type of balls they had.:
Dick Frechette of RI threw mostly a straight ball with a little backup from the right side of the lane.
Nick Tronsky, who was in his 60s at the time I saw him, threw down the middle and straight sort off - the ball didn't exactly go straight. I saw him when he was winning a 12 game tournament bowling with Marty Alford who I always thought would have been better than he was.
Jimmy Dietsch threw with a little curve down the middle - he was on the left side of the approach. As he got older he moved more to the center of the approch.
Jeff Pyles, as I remember, threw the ball hard from a little right of center on the lanes with a little left hook to the ball.
Charles Creamer threw a backup ball from the center of the lane.
Peter Pierce, a left-hander, threw the hardest, fastest ball I ever saw. It backed up a little. Hard and fast he threw - I swear I saw him knock over the seven pin for a spare without hitting the pin. Optical illusion - probably - but I wish ESPN had been filming.

I'll stop here.

Don...