The Hidden Variety of House Shots

To many, the term “typical house shot”—also often referred to as “THS”—is synonymous with easy conditions. It also implies very little variety, but the reality is that house shots can be quite different from center to center, week to week, and lane to lane. In bowling, every week is different, thanks largely to the people you are bowling with. This is the hidden variety of typical house shots.

Walk into any bowling center these days and you can immediately spot the league bowlers, because these are the folks who are carrying or dragging their own equipment. League bowlers know that they need some basic equipment: a ball, bowling shoes, a bag, and some form of towel for various wiping purposes (hand, ball, etc.). In my first article, we talked about what should and should not be in your bowling bag. The one item we really didn’t talk about was the actual bowling ball.

Let’s examine the most common types of bowlers you’ll see in a league context, as it relates to the type of bowling ball(s) they use.

One-ball bowlers

Are there any bowlers in your league who only carry one ball? Are you one of them? Do any of these bowlers wisecrack and say things like, “Why do you need so many balls? I only need one ball to bowl well!” My preferred response is to ask them if Tiger Woods only uses one ...