leaving the 9 pin

Question
Right handed bowler semi-roller. I leave the 9 pin more than I leave the 10 pin. why and is the ball supposed to take out the 9 pin or a defected pin?

Answer
Ted,
The perfect shot would split the 8 and 9. Normal strikes would have ball hit 1,3,5,9 for a right hander. Your ball reaction has the ball finishing very strong deflecting very little and powering past the nine leaving it standing. Do you roll 16 pound equipment? How close to the foul line do you finish?

My first thought would be shorten the lane by moving forward on the approach to have the ball hook a little less. If you don't have room to do this, some energy must be bleed off the ball so it isn't rolling so hard through the pins, so a very minor surface adjustment on the ball should help. If your ball is dull (4000 for example) freshen the surface with 3000. The slight modification should burn up the balls energy a little sooner, helping get the proper deflection. If shiny, break the surface down with 4000 grit. If 1500 and shiny, cut the surface shine, maybe cut the ball to 1000 and re-polish or just hit the ball with 2000 and see what happens.

Your delivery (rev rate, axis rotation, etc.) and the lane conditions/lane surface all come into play. So there is not just one option to suit your skills and consistency. Thanks for the question.