What's the Best Way to Practice?

I recently mentioned an exchange that "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark had with PBA exempt bowler Ritchie Allen on Xtra Frame last week regarding the best way to practice on easy conditions to prepare for difficult ones. That is, many of us aren't readily able to bowl in PBA Experience or Sport leagues, but we still want to improve our games so that we can be competitive on tougher league or tournament conditions when the need arises.

As you may recall, Mark and Allen had conflicting philosophies of how to do this. Allen argued that when you bowl in competition on any condition, your aim is to strike as often as you can by finding the best line to the pocket, playing that line, and executing as well as possible on every shot. Therefore, when you're practicing, you should do the same thing that you would in competition no matter how easy the shot is. Find the line that gives you the best pocket and strike percentage and play it so well that you can string "forty strikes" in a row. If you can do that on an easy "house" condition, you can apply that same method to bowling on much more difficult PBA or sport conditions. After all, even on a tough condition, you're still looking to find and play the line that maximizes your strike percentage.

On the other hand, Jeff Mark argued that if you play the easy line--or, as he calls it, "on the china"--on a regular house shot, the margin of error and inconsistency that this allows you to still hit the pocket and carry strikes with will prevent you from developing the accuracy, speed control, consistent release, and ability to repeat shots that you'll need to do well on demanding lane conditions. So, Mark's philosophy is "Practice where it's hard, play where it's easy."

I admit that I think both make valid points, and it's long seemed to me that the best way to practice is to do what both Ritchie Allen and Jeff Mark advise. That is, spend some of your time practicing easy and the rest of it practicing hard. For if I were always to do what Mark advises and move my line way left of the optimal line, I would encounter so much oil that I'd have to slow my ball way down to hit the pocket and carry with any consistency whatsoever, and that might make it difficult for me to throw harder playing a more effective line on that or some other condition in league or tournament play.

On the other hand, if I always play the easiest or most forgiving line that allows me to throw as hard as I want, not only will I not develop the "softer" game that I may need on some conditions, but I may also fail to develop the overall precision and consistency I need on tougher conditions. Yet, just as one can develop bad habits from practicing on very easy or forgiving conditions, I think one can also acquire bad habits, such as throwing the ball too fast or slow or "aiming" the ball too much, from bowling only on conditions or by playing only lines that are extremely demanding. It seems to me that there needs to be some balance.

Interestingly, it also seems to me from my personal experience over the past forty-five years or so that "easier" houses tend to produce better junior and adult bowlers than harder ones do. Has this been your experience too? If so, why do you think this is? I speculate that easier houses tend to encourage people to bowl more than harder ones do, and when they bowl more, they get more enthusiastic and serious about the game, and then they get better.

What do you think? And how do you practice on easier house conditions for competition on more demanding ones?