Chop Meaning in Bowling

A chop refers to knocking down the front pin of a spare leave while leaving the pins behind or next to it. This term is very similar to a cherry but often describes hitting a larger group of pins and failing to clear them all. It usually results from a ball that is moving too fast or hitting the pins with the wrong rotation. Therefore the bowler must settle for fewer points than a full spare would have provided. For example the crowd groaned when he chopped the 6-10 leave by only taking out the front pin. A chop is a missed spare where only the lead pin of a group is removed. The crowd groaned when he chopped the 6-10 leave by only taking out the front pin.