Making 'Impossible' Splits

Making 'Impossible' Splits

You may have had the unfortunate joy of creating one of bowling's hardest splits. Some of your friends might even say it's 'impossible' to pick up. But don't lose hope! Below are some split pick-ups that nearly defy physics and clearly defy the odds.

The 7-10 Split (Bedposts) 

The infamous 7-10 split. While the bedposts are the most well-known difficult split, it's actually not the hardest combination of pins to convert in bowling. However, getting the corner pin to slide all the way over does take a lot of skill (and perhaps a little luck). Here are some of the most famous 7-10 split conversions:

4-6-7-10 (The Big Four)

The Big Four would seem a lot easier than the 7-10 to pick up. After all, you have more material to work with - so that should make it easier, right? According to data gathered from PBA.com by Slate contributor Ben Blatt, not really. Your chances of making this shot are only around 1%. And that's compared to a 0.7% success rate of the 7-10 split!

5-7-10 (Sour Apple or Lily)

Now we come to it - a split so rare that even creating this split is an accomplishment. According to the data gathered by Ben Blatt from PBA.com, this split's success rate isn't even recorded because it happened less than 25 times in a 477,000+ frame sample. Picking it up is considered impossible to this commentator:

However! There is video out there of a 5-7-10 actually being picked up. Check it out:

And now to bring us back to Earth...

While making splits can be exciting and a lot of fun, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard helps us keep things in perspective with this USBC Bowling Academy video:

More from USBC Bowler's Source... 

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