After much searching, I found a great venue to run day game in my area. There is a downtown grocery store near a big university that has a steady stream of hot girls and plenty of props to open them using indirect openers. I ran about 20 approaches today in 4 hours, but only got one number, from the ugliest girl I approached (6/10). I got two numbers from the same venue last week, but mishandled both of them. I am still a relative game novice (just started taking this seriously a few months ago), and I am currently analyzing my performance to identify and correct weak points.

As an aside, I've tried direct approaches and don't care for them - I think it's easier to start and hold a conversation with indirect.

I consider all my approaches to have 4 checkpoints that go sequentially:

1. Will she stand still and talk to me based on my indirect opener?

2. After a couple minutes of me pretending to be confused, rambling and asking questions about the food item, will she take my conversational bait when I drop it by asking me a personal question?

(i.e. I hope she asks about my travel when I say, "When I was living in western Europe, there wasn't nearly as much produce selection, so it was much easier to make decisions about what to buy.")

3. Will she give me her number when I ask for a good way to stay in touch?

4. Is she open to discussing plans to set up a date after she's given me her number but before the interaction is terminated?

What I have noticed is that I start to become a bit robotic with the early lines I use to set-up a conversation. I'm getting stuck a lot at checkpoint two, where girls won't invest in the conversation by taking my bait and asking a personal question so I can steer the conversation personal.

I suspect I need to either make the bait juicier or change something about my sub-communication. I start to get tired of being on my feet and going through so many interactions that fizzle the longer I stay out, that I think my energy level declines. So even though I'm saying the same words, girls are reacting differently to them. Has anyone had a similar experience or have any general advice to offer on how to counteract this?

Also, does anyone have advice on how to open a two set during the day without a wing?

It's killing me to have to pass on beautiful women in a two (or more) set because I can't think of a way to isolate them and get the number without alienating others in the group.

You're asking them about carrots and then switching to personal questions. First off, they know why you're talking to them. And you beating around the bush with your interest isn't something they see as "cute". When you go from friendly to personal / seduction, that sudden and incongruent shift makes it pretty obvious you have a hidden agenda. That in turn makes them distrustful of you.

The whole bait mentality sets you in a frame in which you have to trick the girl into having a conversation with you. Which basically means you're putting her worth above your own before you even start talking to her. You're running catch up from the start. No wonder your energy declines.
You hardly need a wing to pull a number close especially during the day. Of-course you don't want to alienate the group, but that becomes significantly harder not to do when again, you're talking about carrots when in fact your true intentions are getting the cute girl's digits. Not to mention isolation.

I get it OP, you said in the start that "direct openers" are not your thing. Guess what? they aren't anyone's preferred thing when starting off. When you talk weather it's easy to play a rejection off because you weren't interested in the girl in the first place right? It's like asking her out on the 1st of April and when she declines you can always say it was a joke.

If you're gonna go through the grind, do it right in the first place. Direct is "riskier", it will expose you to more rejections, but with that comes a steeper learning curve, much better results and less wasting of your own time.

"Hi, I saw you from over there and thought you were cute so I wanted to meet you."
or if that feels to uncomfortable at first reassure her with something like
"Hi, I know this is random but I thought you were cute blablabla."

In the end it's your decision OP, but playing in the amateur league won't get you to the pros.

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My goal with any approach is to have a good conversation out of it. Without that, it really doesn't make sense to even go for the number. Why would this girl want to see me again if we have nothing to talk about? With that in mind, I think it's easier to have a good conversation via indirect.

With direct, it's like you blow your load in the first thirty seconds of the conversation. Where do you really go from transition wise after you tell her you think she's beautiful? It's just not as conducive to good conversation in my opinion.

I think of indirect more like boiling a frog. If you just throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out. But if you put it in and slowly increase the temperature, it will stay in until it's sitting in boiling water. That's the scenario I try to create. If it's a "sudden and incongruent" shift, then you're doing it wrong. The conversational bait is something that is related to your opening topic.

You don't tell her she's beautiful. You tell her she looks half cute. And anyway there's plenty of beautiful women in the world. That alone doesn't mean much. I think you have a slight misconception of what a direct opener is. You state your interest, but that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't have a great conversation. It doesn't mean anything other than just that, you finding her cute. Unless you're one of those guys willing to go full doormat just because she has a nice smile.
Look, openers are irrelevant either way. I advise you to go direct because it builds a mindset of avoiding stealth tactics and staying true to your desires. If you're getting bad results it's not because of the words you say, it's because of the message you subcomunicate. And that's influenced by your frame.
This is what I mean by frame. You feel like you have to prove to her that you're worthy of her time. The frame you want to achieve is scanning whether or not she's worthy of yours.

And again, direct opener is not mutually exclusive to quality conversation.

_________________
I know my place. It's me on top of the world.

My in depth texting & dating guide.
There's no such thing as shit-tests.
How to keep a girl.