18yr old professional bowler converts 7-10 split on TV in first time in 30 years

Thanks, that was a surprisingly informative video! I'll admit my initial impression when watching the 7-10 conversion was to think "So what? All he did was bounce the pin off the machinery! It was just a lucky shot." My perspective flipped once I understood that bouncing the pin off the machinery is a requirement for conversion.

Incidentally, I once witnessed a 7-10 conversion, though the technique was quite a bit different from the technique employed by the professional. Rather than striking one of the pins with as much force as possible, the bowler accidentally launched the ball a few feet into the air such that the ball's quake, upon reunion with terra firma, caused one of the pins to fall over, with the second pin falling when the ball miraculously managed to strike it.

Very interesting.

I converted it a dozen times as teenager. Once, it happened twice in a single game. A big caveat is that, I was playing ~50 games a week from age 13-15 when there was a promotion that let members of two leagues play unlimited free practice games.

I used a 16lb ball, threw just over 20mph with as little hook as possible and tried to hit the 10 pin in such a way as to send it near the corner of the pit. At least on those lanes back then, that lead to a high percentage (maybe 15%) bouncing out of the pit. Occassionally that bounce would get the 7.

Even in the 90s, 7-10s were significantly harder in professional play due to their using heavier pins than you'd see in normal league or practice games.

The new pin screens shown in this video make it look like the 7-10 probably is now even another five times harder to convert than it already was!

I totally agree with the last part, too. In all those free practice games I bowled as a teenager, I never converted a single 4-6, "big four" or a "Greek church".

The video made me curious about the Greek Church strategy. As described:

- 60% of professional frames are strikes.

- The Greek Church is rarely converted because bowlers prefer to go for "count", maximizing the number of pins they knock down in the second half of the frame. You can take a basically 100% chance of 3 pins, or a lower chance of 5 pins.

- Those 3 pins are worth 3 points, or 6 points if you bowled a strike last frame.

- Converting the Greek Church is not unachievable. The robot got it 40% of the time.

Assumptions:

- If you pick up the spare, you have a 60% chance of bowling a strike next frame, and a 40% chance of bowling a gutter ball for 0 pins. This is worth 5+6 points. (5 for the pins required to pick up the spare, and 6 for the 60% chance of 10 pins on the next shot you take.)

- If you attempt to pick up the spare, you have some chance of succeeding, and otherwise, you'll hit 1 pin.

- If you don't even attempt to pick up the spare, you always hit 3 pins.

Under those assumptions, you're better off trying to get the spare if your success rate is more than 20% (and you didn't bowl a strike last frame), or if it's more than 29% and you did get a strike last frame. And picking up the spare only becomes more valuable if, during the 40% of frames when you don't bowl a strike, you do still hit some pins in the first half of the frame.

The professional bowler took 12 tries to convert a Greek Church. That implies a success rate well below where it would make sense to try to convert. But it might also reflect a lack of practice. If practice could get you to double that rate, it seems like people should be converting Greek Churches all the time.

The bias (I wish they used that word) between the 7-10 split and the Greek Church was a good, practical example of how you have to be careful with stats.

It's interesting the shot made recently in the twitter vid was different to how they described it working in the youtube in that in the youtube they suggested the pin would bounce of the curtain at the back whereas in the twitter vid it bounces off the side wall.

It's already difficult enough on the Wii!

How did you get that URL? It redirects immediately to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_(bowling)#7–10_split and nothing on Wikipedia would have linked to it. Did you manually type it in?

> I’ve never seen it by going after the 7 pin.

Is this just a repercussion of most people being right-handed?

Amazing! This as well: Shohei Ohtani hit a 450ft homer and threw a pitch over 100mph in the same inning! https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/MLB/2021/04/05/Angels-Shohei...

Aside, it’s so nice to have sports being played again!

If we're sharing crazy rare stuff from other sports I present from international cricket: A bowler achieving a hatrick (3 dismissals in consecutive deliveries - very rare) and also getting hit for 6 Sixes in an over later in the same game. [0] 6 Sixes in an over has only been done 3 times in international cricket. It represents the maximum return for a batter from an over (without no-balls or wides).

[0] https://www.cricket.com.au/news/match-report/kieron-pollard-...

I'd hazard to guess it's more a factor of "professional bowlers try not to end up in the situation they need to pull off a 7-10 split" over how difficult it is to pull off once they're in that scenario.

If you have a 7-10 split, generally you will want to pick up the one point (almost guaranteed) instead of trying for a trick shot that is almost a guaranteed gutter ball. So unless someone is down and needs to pick up the spare, or unless it is totally by accident, most 7-10 split conversion aren't attempted.

I assume part of it is that top professionals that are being televised are usually getting strikes.

I think that'll be 3 times in 30 years on tv.

Only the tournament finals are televised. There are hundreds of games bowled to get to 4 tv matches.

I'd think the 7-10 is probably converted once every tournament or two. (It's mostly luck, and a by-product of great ball speed.)

Thanks for the rec- the article really evoked some emotion in me. Can't imagine the pressure of the last few rolls and the article touches some interesting philosophy

It's a recent and deliberate attempt at a revival. [0]

[0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sport-bowling-edison-feat...

Yeah, I've done it once each from both outside the 7 (spin made it bounce in the gutter, managed to jump out just enough to bump the 7, which scooted over to fall onto the 10 and tip it) and inside (like this clip has, bouncing off the wall).

I average about 130 per game. Mine were definitely not due to skill, just number of games - I grew up close enough to a $1/game-on-Thursdays alley, and my family went to it a lot for a few years.

I'm kinda boggled that this isn't on camera more often tbh. Maybe 7/10s are just a lot less likely for professionals? My rate of them has seemed to go down as I started throwing faster.

At a friend's birthday party in the early 90s (10th or 11th birthday, I believe), he picked up a 7-10 split after his dad bet him $50 he couldn't do it. Fortunately dad was smart enough to be ready with the camera to catch the reaction, just in case.

In my old league, you earned a "patch" if u picked up a 7-10. I've seen it done once over about 40 years. Our lane went nuts when the guy picked it up.

What about a 1, 7, 10? That seems to be as though it would be even more difficult?

But then a 7-10 split is worth more than simply taking out all the pins in the first place with a strike. Indeed a strike gets more points than a spare.

It's like golf too. There's a saying: "They don't draw pictures on a scorecard."