How to Pick Up the Big Four Split in Bowling

How many of us out there have stared the 4 6 7 10 big four right in the face? Leaving the big four in bowling can be a pretty tall order, but with these tips, you may get lucky every now and then and pick up this tough spare.

The first thing you must consider when you are preparing to throw your bowling ball at this difficult spare is hit just on the outside of either the 4 or the 6 pin, depending on your comfort zone. Typically for a right-handed bowler, this would mean to throw it outside the 6 pin, sliding it over towards the 4 and 7 pins and hope they fall. In most cases, the best you can cut it would be into the 7 pin and if it reacts right, maybe a stray pin will also take out the 4 pin thus converting the second hardest spare in bowling.

The second step is to throw your bowling ball really fast. Throwing the ball faster will increase the chances of getting the pin to bounce off the sidewall or off the back ball curtain and end up back on the pin deck to knock down the other pins your bowling ball did not strike. If you cannot throw your bowling ball fast, this greatly reduces your chances of picking up this incredibly difficult spare.

The final step in attempting to pick up the bi four split happens just after you release your bowling ball. You close our eyes, put your hands together, and pray that you will get lucky and pick up this spare. I just converted this spare a few weeks ago in my USBC bowling league for the first time in 20 years of bowling. There is only 1 harder spare in bowling and trust me when I say there is no way to pick this spare up 100% of the time. It requires you to have some luck or maybe a helping hand from above. Good luck!