Aslan
04-29-2014, 01:22 PM
Well...yesterday (practice) didn't go so well.
You can read about it here (http://www.bowlingboards.com/threads/15116-Aslan-s-Scores-(of-the-non-lady-kind)?p=105937#post105937) is you like numbers and scores and statistics and other stuff Mudpuppy would refer to as "gobbly gook".
But after the last 2 practices...one thing I've come to realize is....I need to semi-retire the Rhythm until the new synthetics lanes are installed. I wanted to use it...using my new approach that Rob worked on with me...but as Rob would say, "You can't outbowl a bad ball reaction" and quite frankly...the Rhythm just isn't a good fit for wood lanes. It's "useable" on a fresh sheet of oil....but once that oil starts moving around....the Rhythm starts moving around.
BALL SPECS: Minutia numbers aside (Mike has the specs/drilling layout in his computer if anyone needs to know that)...the Rhythm is a SYMMETRIC core ball with a SOLID COVERSTOCK. Cliff notes...it's designed to have a very large, smooth arc....reading the lanes earlier.
And one thing I learned watching MWhite and ZDawg struggle in the 1st Annual Billy Hardwick Memorial Aslan vs. ZDawg Southern California Invitational...is the more your ball (or release, etc...) favors the reading of lanes...the more lane conditions will affect it. I.E....everyone's belief in plastic balls.
Throwing the Rhythm last night...I felt like I was trying to use a claw hammer as a screwdriver. It's "possible"...everyone's done it...but it just doesn't feel right. I've never had the problem with splits and hitting that headpin in the center as I am now. And it seems like with that solid coverstock reading every little minutia of the lane surface...I'm trying to thread a needle to get it exactly where is needs to be...at a speed, that is not optimal for pin carry....so when I luck out and hit right of the headpin....I'm leaving 6-10s and 10s like a madman.
The DOWNSIDE to abandoning the Rhythm (for now, until the synthetics are complete by end of June)...is I'm back to using the Frantic as my strike ball...and the Slingshot as my spare/"Plan B" ball. That means using TWO different weights (15 and 16 respectively). OR...flattening my wrist and using the Frantic for strikes and spares...however I really don't want to mess with that.
I'm still going to work on Rob's technique changes...but I'm gonna "ball down" for now. I'd like to slow things down and develop my inside game...but, I just don't think thats possible with an arsenal of symmetric core balls.
And THAT leads me to the topic title. Inside game is great...if you have an assymetric core ball with an angular backend. But if YOU DON'T...and you AREN'T a high rev player...then its pointless. You're trying to thread a needle between a washout when you hit right and a split if you hit left.
Two weeks ago, I switched to the Slingshot and played 2nd arrow...after a "so-so" night of practice.
Rhythm (moving left over time): 162-154-145-144-179-171-180-156
Slingshot: 235 (clean)-170-167-202
And that was AFTER 18 holes of golf AND 8 games with the Rhythm when I was virtually exhausted. Straighter is Greater...because it takes all the variability out of the game. The variability of lane conditions...the variability of ball specifications...etc... You just walk up to the line...and Earl Anthony that ball over your mark with accuracy and square shoulders...and the ball hits the pocket. It's not fancy or flashy...but it STILL WORKS just like it did for Don Carter and the greatest bowler to ever live Earl Anthony.
And, until synthetic lanes get installed...I feel like I have no CHOICE but to bowl straighter. Those old wood lanes are just too variable. With my old "chucking it" style...I took much of the lanes out of play. But this new "rolling it" style means those lanes are constantly messing with the ball. I watch the USBC video (Bowl1820 posted) and they talk about rolling out to a break point...thats great...if you have decent revs and an angular back end...AND the lanes between the foul line and the break point are somewhat slick and consistent. But try doing that with a symmetric core ball and < 300rpms. My speed has dropped from 21mph to 14mph and if I go ANYWHERE near that "break point"...I get to say "hello" to my ole pal the 1-2-4-10...who I have had far, far too many encounters with. So "no thanks". :mad:
Not meant to start a war between old and new...or somehow reopen the plastic ball or 2-handed debate (which is inevitable in every thread)...and I KNOW I don't get to have a "valid" opinion because I'm under the 191 average threshhold for knowing what I'm talking about...but I guess this is part rant, part frustration, and part awakening.
Obviously, practice didnt go "well" yesterday....as was evident by me graduating from Gin to Tequila at night's end. :eek:
You can read about it here (http://www.bowlingboards.com/threads/15116-Aslan-s-Scores-(of-the-non-lady-kind)?p=105937#post105937) is you like numbers and scores and statistics and other stuff Mudpuppy would refer to as "gobbly gook".
But after the last 2 practices...one thing I've come to realize is....I need to semi-retire the Rhythm until the new synthetics lanes are installed. I wanted to use it...using my new approach that Rob worked on with me...but as Rob would say, "You can't outbowl a bad ball reaction" and quite frankly...the Rhythm just isn't a good fit for wood lanes. It's "useable" on a fresh sheet of oil....but once that oil starts moving around....the Rhythm starts moving around.
BALL SPECS: Minutia numbers aside (Mike has the specs/drilling layout in his computer if anyone needs to know that)...the Rhythm is a SYMMETRIC core ball with a SOLID COVERSTOCK. Cliff notes...it's designed to have a very large, smooth arc....reading the lanes earlier.
And one thing I learned watching MWhite and ZDawg struggle in the 1st Annual Billy Hardwick Memorial Aslan vs. ZDawg Southern California Invitational...is the more your ball (or release, etc...) favors the reading of lanes...the more lane conditions will affect it. I.E....everyone's belief in plastic balls.
Throwing the Rhythm last night...I felt like I was trying to use a claw hammer as a screwdriver. It's "possible"...everyone's done it...but it just doesn't feel right. I've never had the problem with splits and hitting that headpin in the center as I am now. And it seems like with that solid coverstock reading every little minutia of the lane surface...I'm trying to thread a needle to get it exactly where is needs to be...at a speed, that is not optimal for pin carry....so when I luck out and hit right of the headpin....I'm leaving 6-10s and 10s like a madman.
The DOWNSIDE to abandoning the Rhythm (for now, until the synthetics are complete by end of June)...is I'm back to using the Frantic as my strike ball...and the Slingshot as my spare/"Plan B" ball. That means using TWO different weights (15 and 16 respectively). OR...flattening my wrist and using the Frantic for strikes and spares...however I really don't want to mess with that.
I'm still going to work on Rob's technique changes...but I'm gonna "ball down" for now. I'd like to slow things down and develop my inside game...but, I just don't think thats possible with an arsenal of symmetric core balls.
And THAT leads me to the topic title. Inside game is great...if you have an assymetric core ball with an angular backend. But if YOU DON'T...and you AREN'T a high rev player...then its pointless. You're trying to thread a needle between a washout when you hit right and a split if you hit left.
Two weeks ago, I switched to the Slingshot and played 2nd arrow...after a "so-so" night of practice.
Rhythm (moving left over time): 162-154-145-144-179-171-180-156
Slingshot: 235 (clean)-170-167-202
And that was AFTER 18 holes of golf AND 8 games with the Rhythm when I was virtually exhausted. Straighter is Greater...because it takes all the variability out of the game. The variability of lane conditions...the variability of ball specifications...etc... You just walk up to the line...and Earl Anthony that ball over your mark with accuracy and square shoulders...and the ball hits the pocket. It's not fancy or flashy...but it STILL WORKS just like it did for Don Carter and the greatest bowler to ever live Earl Anthony.
And, until synthetic lanes get installed...I feel like I have no CHOICE but to bowl straighter. Those old wood lanes are just too variable. With my old "chucking it" style...I took much of the lanes out of play. But this new "rolling it" style means those lanes are constantly messing with the ball. I watch the USBC video (Bowl1820 posted) and they talk about rolling out to a break point...thats great...if you have decent revs and an angular back end...AND the lanes between the foul line and the break point are somewhat slick and consistent. But try doing that with a symmetric core ball and < 300rpms. My speed has dropped from 21mph to 14mph and if I go ANYWHERE near that "break point"...I get to say "hello" to my ole pal the 1-2-4-10...who I have had far, far too many encounters with. So "no thanks". :mad:
Not meant to start a war between old and new...or somehow reopen the plastic ball or 2-handed debate (which is inevitable in every thread)...and I KNOW I don't get to have a "valid" opinion because I'm under the 191 average threshhold for knowing what I'm talking about...but I guess this is part rant, part frustration, and part awakening.
Obviously, practice didnt go "well" yesterday....as was evident by me graduating from Gin to Tequila at night's end. :eek: