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• Shannon O'Keefe is a two-time Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Player of the Year & a five-time Collegiate Coach of the Year at McKendree University. She is also a member of the Hammer pro staff.
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• In this learn to bowl video, Coach Shannon teaches you how to pick up spares while bowling. Use her simple method to raise your average.
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Special thanks to the South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas for providing the venue for us to shoot this video. We highly recommend the South Point Hotel & Casino when you visit Las Vegas!
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Nice video! Whether you shoot them straight or use something like 3-6-9, I think the important thing is to have a system, not just “wing it”. Also, and this is more of an advanced thing as you know, but ideally you want to hit the corner pins on the inside (as you did, of course!)…outside and you risk falling into the gutter.
Great tips for spares ! I’m def going to incorporate this into my practice session !
Same here
Being old(school) loved the tips of shooting off the center arrow. I know that some of the R handed Pros shoot the 7 pin from left side of lane hard and straight right at the pin. I feel more secure using center of lane as this great video illustrates. This is real bonus having McKendree University coach and PWBA star Shannon O’Keefe coaching us!
Excellent explanation and demonstration. Simple, short and sweet. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Do you have a spare system? Tell us what works for you!
3-6-9 system for 35+ years. I still use my strike ball for “center” deck (1,2,3,5,8,9 combinations) spares and sleepers. I’m left handed and a couple of years ago went to plastic ball for 4,7 6-10 and 2,4,7 spares. My spare percentage went way up.
I also believe that plastic balls can deflect on sleepers so using a strike ball is better for those vs plastic.
Thank you Shannon, for the great bowling tip of using the middle arrow to work the spares. I am awful at picking up the spares, all over the lane. This video, I know will definitely improve my spare shooting. Thank you again for an excellent video.
Hi Shannon thanks for the great tip! I would like to know on which board do you start the approach towards the ten pin? It wasn’t clear in the video.
We don’t all have an identical approach. Some drift more than others so there will be some variance. I like straight lines so I walk parallel to my launch angle. 1:05 The line is about 26 and at foul line. I slide at +7 to my launch board so I would slide to 33 but there can be variance there as well. Depends on your form. A consistent target is a good strategy. How we get there tends to have variance. Launch at 26 hit the middle arrow and adjust until its right. This does require minimal ball reaction which for me means plastic if you can flatten your reactive that will work too.
If and when I can bowl again this will be the first thing I do!!
This is far and away the best that I’ve even seen Shannon O’Keefe look. In competitions she not only has her hair drawn back, but it seems that she always goes with heavy eye makeup that gives her a sort of “Wicked Witch of the West” look. Another factor is that during competition she is very intense and there’s almost a permanent scowl or frown to her face. I’ve never see her as she is here, relaxed, hair down, and wearing light make-up. She looks YEARS younger and 300% more pleasant to look at. Oh, and BTW, nice video and very sound advice, lol.
Bruh, pretty rude to critique someone’s looks…
Great system and video. Visual of the line thru the middle arrow helped.
Please keep the tips coming
Im gonna try this
Great tip! Thanks you!!! 🙏🏼😊🙏🏼
You are so welcome!
I’m going to give it try, but it’s harder for me doing left side
This video has helped my game tremendously. I purchased a plastic ball and rarely miss ten/seven pins anymore during league.
My 10 pin shooting is my bane, when it goes cold it’s ice cold. Can cost me 30 to 50 pins a night.
Great advice, Shannon! Ten pins spares are so rewarding when u make them cuz it keeps your score moving. Nothing worse than missing it when you’re working on a string of strikes or need that spare in the 10th frame to win a game. I will definitely practice using the tips you gave us.
Thanks. I never thought of the middle arrow as a guide.
Great video. For years I have shot spares off of my strike line (using my strike ball for all but the ten pin) and employing variant of the 3-6-9 rule. But every now and then I would find myself getting into trouble and was looking to find a system that would take the lane conditions out of play for the spares.
well with my urethane I am really great at picking up the 9 pins, some epic fails on the 10, I am getting my plastic ball drilled next week, done with hooking spears, ooo soo easy the pros claim. I was at a tournament once with a long pattern and nothing hooked, I went on practiced and got an ally ball for my spears.