Well.....How'd everyone's summer go?

[jab5325]

Mine went pretty ugly. I didn't hit the average mark I was looking for at all. In fact, I came in much lower than winter.

First ball average was just 8.58 with 37% strikes, down from 8.9 with 44% strikes. But, my single-pin percentage increased since getting my spare ball, and my multi-pin is also increasing.

Next week is championship week, and my team is solidly in second place. We'll have to pick up 2 out of 3 games plus total to win, though. The team we're up against is quite good.

[Stormed1]

With everything that went on this summer, eye surgery,angiogram,redoing the garage/shop I was only able to get out 3 times. Worked hard on timing and release during those sessions. Thing went well during those session so I am looking forward to league starting Friday

[Amyers]

In a lot of ways this summer has been a big disappointment for me. I started off in slump that was a hold over from the end of the fall season then had major issues with the thumb hole in all of my equipment. The first month of the season was a complete train wreck is the best I can say for it. I bowl two leagues during the summer and I think at the end of the first month I had a 149 average in one and 156 in the other. This is after averaging in the high 180's low 190's last fall. The house that I did most of my bowling at closed at the end of the fall season so I had the transition to wood lanes that honestly I don't care for how they take care of and run their leagues by allowing pre-bowling on the lanes before league and only re-oiling the heads a lot of time.

The good news is I did finally fix the thumb issues and I have both averages in the high 170' almost 180. My team with my two daughters in solidly in first place and my team with my wife and I is in third after being in the bottom for most of the season. SO if I can take a First and a Third out of it I guess I should count it as a success.

My biggest problem is I don't feel like I ever truly figured out how to carry on these lanes even after purchasing two new balls that I though might help. A couple of strikes and a lot of 9/ is the best I seem to do there. I think between both leagues I have 4 600 series this season and that sucks. I've just figured out how to consistently throw 550-580 there.

I did have a great time bowling with both of my daughters even if they do drive me nuts sometimes. A little scholarship money for them will be nice too. None of these were big money leagues and I really miss my more competitive leagues I bowled in during the fall. I usually have at least one competitive league during the summer and I didn't have that this year. I think we have one week left in both leagues and then it's on to fall.

[jab5325]

In a lot of ways this summer has been a big disappointment for me. I started off in slump that was a hold over from the end of the fall season then had major issues with the thumb hole in all of my equipment. The first month of the season was a complete train wreck is the best I can say for it. I bowl two leagues during the summer and I think at the end of the first month I had a 149 average in one and 156 in the other. This is after averaging in the high 180's low 190's last fall. The house that I did most of my bowling at closed at the end of the fall season so I had the transition to wood lanes that honestly I don't care for how they take care of and run their leagues by allowing pre-bowling on the lanes before league and only re-oiling the heads a lot of time.

The good news is I did finally fix the thumb issues and I have both averages in the high 170' almost 180. My team with my two daughters in solidly in first place and my team with my wife and I is in third after being in the bottom for most of the season. SO if I can take a First and a Third out of it I guess I should count it as a success.

My biggest problem is I don't feel like I ever truly figured out how to carry on these lanes even after purchasing two new balls that I though might help. A couple of strikes and a lot of 9/ is the best I seem to do there. I think between both leagues I have 4 600 series this season and that sucks. I've just figured out how to consistently throw 550-580 there.

I did have a great time bowling with both of my daughters even if they do drive me nuts sometimes. A little scholarship money for them will be nice too. None of these were big money leagues and I really miss my more competitive leagues I bowled in during the fall. I usually have at least one competitive league during the summer and I didn't have that this year. I think we have one week left in both leagues and then it's on to fall.

Sounds like our summers were very similar!

My first ultra-competitive, bigger money league is this fall. I was feeling confident after I was asked to bowl in it and averaging 190+ toward the end of last season. But, this summer made me have doubts. We'll see how it goes.

I'll be bowling two nights a week, Wednesdays and Thursdays, for the first time in a while. After next week, I'm going to leave my stuff there to be de-oiled and re-gripped. I'll have about 3-4 weeks off from leagues, so I'll hopefully be able to get in some good practice time.

[bubba809]

Great! I bowled 2 whole games this summer. A 219 and a 232. That's it. No more. I did take my daughter a bunch of times, thanks to the Bowl-For-Free program. I think I enjoy watching her bowl more than I enjoy bowling.

Well.........maybe not. Cannot wait for Fall League to start.

[dnhoffman]

good - been practicing once every couple of weeks and killing it... let's hope that translates to the regular season.

[HowDoIHookAgain]

Despite the fact that I only go bowling once a week right now, I've been doing OK with my new ball. I've been changing lines like nuts just to try and adapt to the lanes every week (if I went everyday, I'd have a different line for everyday of the week). Right now, I'm trying to stall my break and get my ball to hook further down the lane for bigger impact. It's a challenge, but I'm already starting to see it happen!

[J Anderson]

Waaaaaaaaaaay too fast.

[John Anderson]

Waaaaaaaaaaay too fast.

I second that thought.

I worked too much, but my bank account doesn't mind. Ah well, college resumes in about two weeks for me, which is both exciting and unfortunate at the same time.

[vdubtx]

Having golf, vacations, house stuff mixed in with bowling has been killer(in a negative way) to my game. I have dropped 20 pins average since end of the Fall/Spring season and since bowling so well in El Paso at the USBC Open Championships. My mind is just not in it this summer, and certainly drives me to not bowl summers any more. My mind and heart are just not in it at this time of the year.

Fall will be starting up soon, so will be able to start focusing more on my bowling game.

[jab5325]

Having golf, vacations, house stuff mixed in with bowling has been killer(in a negative way) to my game. I have dropped 20 pins average since end of the Fall/Spring season and since bowling so well in El Paso at the USBC Open Championships. My mind is just not in it this summer, and certainly drives me to not bowl summers any more. My mind and heart are just not in it at this time of the year.

Fall will be starting up soon, so will be able to start focusing more on my bowling game.

I'm with you.

I don't golf anymore nor can I afford to take a vacation.....but my mind just isn't in it.

I don't want to make excuses for averaging in the 170s this summer.....but I was surprised how little I cared to fix things; I just wasn't into it with other things I had going on. It's the first full summer league I ever bowled.....the last one was a short summer league (July-August) several years ago.

I've been doing better than past 3-4 weeks, but my "better" is still 550s/570s.

[Tony]

I spent a ton of time this summer on remodeling, kitchen, laundry and 2 bathrooms so didn't bowl too much but compared to other summers where I didn't bowl a single game it was a success. I won a ball and went with a 14lb so ended up with 3 new balls heading into the season. As fall leagues approach (start Aug 26) I have decided to invest in some coaching sessions with a Gold level coach and I'm sure his observations and suggestions will result in a much higher average this season. I already had one session where he uncovered one serious flaw and made several small revisions in my approach that will certainly help my consistency.

[NewToBowling]

First league this summer. Averaged around 160. Got better as season went along. Bowled 4-5 times a week with summer pass from AMF. We'll see about the fall

[bubba809]

Having golf, vacations, house stuff mixed in with bowling has been killer(in a negative way) to my game. I have dropped 20 pins average since end of the Fall/Spring season and since bowling so well in El Paso at the USBC Open Championships. My mind is just not in it this summer, and certainly drives me to not bowl summers any more. My mind and heart are just not in it at this time of the year.

Fall will be starting up soon, so will be able to start focusing more on my bowling game.

Ya, but you'll pick up your form and game in no time.

[LyalC52]

I'm very happy to be bowling again. Bowling 3 leagues a week with my oldest daughter.
Started the summer rather well, shot 600+ the first night
then went into a bit of a funk as I was fighting my timing and not producing the leverage I needed for a consistent reaction
got some great coaching and have been building back the swing I had 15 years ago.

One of the biggest struggles for me was forgetting everything I learned about reading lanes in the 90's and learning how things are done now.

The last 3 weeks my lowest series has been a 560

Looking forward to bowing a scratch league this fall and some ABT events.

[Amyers]

I'm very happy to be bowling again. Bowling 3 leagues a week with my oldest daughter.
Started the summer rather well, shot 600+ the first night
then went into a bit of a funk as I was fighting my timing and not producing the leverage I needed for a consistent reaction
got some great coaching and have been building back the swing I had 15 years ago.

One of the biggest struggles for me was forgetting everything I learned about reading lanes in the 90's and learning how things are done now.

The last 3 weeks my lowest series has been a 560

Looking forward to bowing a scratch league this fall and some ABT events.

LyalC52 I just noticed you have the Seismic Photon would you mind letting me know what you think of it? I just got my wife (bug Seismic fan) the Photon Torpedo and thought about ordering her one of those as a step down.

[LyalC52]

LyalC52 I just noticed you have the Seismic Photon would you mind letting me know what you think of it? I just got my wife (bug Seismic fan) the Photon Torpedo and thought about ordering her one of those as a step down.

I really like it.
I ordered it with a long pin distance and my PSO went off the Seismic drill guide for length.

For me the ball gets far down the lane before it starts to read and then has a nice turn to the pocket. One of the houses I bowl at has a TSH that favors the outside shot. I've been starting the night 12 to 4 board, then moving right as the night goes on. Ball hits just as hard at the end of the 3rd game as it did in the first.

It doesn't take a lot of oil or get gummy on the surface like my HyRoad does.

it doesn't do well on slick lanes at all. One of the houses I bowl at has newer, as hard as they get, Brunswick lanes and I really struggle to get the ball to carry.

I was temped to get a Torpedo or Equalizer when I purchased my Chemical X. Being that I'm just getting back into bowling I though I would try a few different manufactures before setting on one or two.

[mc_runner]

Summer went pretty well! Averaged 200 even in my league, which has been my goal for awhile now. Hoping the positive vibes translate over into the fall. As always, still working on tweaking the timing, release, and other parts of the game through the summer.

[Mike White]

Bowling wise, my summer was pretty much same as it has been for 21 of the last 24 years.

I didn't shoot a game under 200. However that's mainly because I didn't shoot a game at all.

My leagues start up on the 11th, and 24th of September, so sometime in late August I'll wander over and practice a few games.

I'm going to try to get back up to 15 lbs this year.

Maybe my carry % will increase as long as my injury rate doesn't.

[jab5325]

Bowling wise, my summer was pretty much same as it has been for 21 of the last 24 years.

I didn't shoot a game under 200. However that's mainly because I didn't shoot a game at all.

My leagues start up on the 11th, and 24th of September, so sometime in late August I'll wander over and practice a few games.

I'm going to try to get back up to 15 lbs this year.

Maybe my carry % will increase as long as my injury rate doesn't.

What weight do you throw? I didn't realize you had injury issues--I must've missed that.

[jab5325]

Another observation about my summer league is quite interesting.

There are largely two distinct groups of bowlers. The hardcore league bowlers who average 185+, and bowl multiple nights per week.

And people who average well less than 150, and have over 80 pins of handicap. These folks also bowl in leagues, but have no interest in doing well or improving.

There isn't much in the middle.

[Amyers]

I really like it.
I ordered it with a long pin distance and my PSO went off the Seismic drill guide for length.

For me the ball gets far down the lane before it starts to read and then has a nice turn to the pocket. One of the houses I bowl at has a TSH that favors the outside shot. I've been starting the night 12 to 4 board, then moving right as the night goes on. Ball hits just as hard at the end of the 3rd game as it did in the first.

It doesn't take a lot of oil or get gummy on the surface like my HyRoad does.

it doesn't do well on slick lanes at all. One of the houses I bowl at has newer, as hard as they get, Brunswick lanes and I really struggle to get the ball to carry.

I was temped to get a Torpedo or Equalizer when I purchased my Chemical X. Being that I'm just getting back into bowling I though I would try a few different manufactures before setting on one or two.

Glad to hear that you liked it I'll let you know what the wife thinks of the Torpedo after she gets some time with it.

[Blomer]

Bowled a lot this summer. Meeting a teacher I have that extra time. I also did a pro shot league. For the league, I struggled big time. Sure is different that the THS. Only 1 more week to go till it's over. As for just going in to bowl, I think it's gone well. Going into my 3rd year this fall, I want to average 180. Last year I averaged 170 and the initial year 160. So my gal this summer is to average 180 each time I bowl and I have. A few times I was under but usually above the 180 mark. I have also been nailing that 10 pin. Such a problem for me last fall. But I have been getting it rather easily. So hopefully it will transfer to the fall.

[epiepenburg]

Bowled a summer league at a different house. With the move my average dropped to the low 190's for the summer. The primary reason for the drop in average was due to normally bowling on wood lanes, this summer league was on synthetic lanes. I primarily worked on spare shooting this summer and had many clean games, my single pin spare percentage was in the 80% range. I'm bowling in 3 leagues this fall, so it was nice to stay in bowling form this summer.

[NYMIKE]

I finished last season, my first with 123 average, I decided to see a coach since I was not progressing. Signed up for summer amf promotion. My coach completely redid my swing, but my first 2 weeks in a league I dropped to 100 average, I felt like quitting. Then I started to get better, I been bowling 5 days a week, since July first I posted 7 200 games. My league average been climbing to 134, I'd love to post a 500 series in the next 2 weeks.

[Mike White]

What weight do you throw? I didn't realize you had injury issues--I must've missed that.

I threw 15 lbs from the late 70's up until I quit in about 1992.

When I came back to bowling in June of 2012, I got a 15 lbs ball plastic and joined a league.

I got 6 weeks into the league and my arm went dead.

I could hold on to the ball, but couldn't come close to cupping the wrist.

I could roll the ball straight, but I couldn't put any lift into the ball.

Between August of 2012 and January of 2014 I tried anything and everything, but nothing was acceptable.

The problem was throwing the ball so straight gave me too narrow of a pocket to compete the way I was used to.

So in January of 2014 I felt I had healed enough that I could put some hand back into the ball.

When I put some hand into reactive resin balls, lets just say if the lane had been wider, it would have completed a u-turn.

I drilled up a 15 lbs urethane ball, and 2 weeks later I shot 300 with it.

Problem is, 2 weeks after that, I was black and blue from about half way between the wrist to elbow, up to the midpoint of the bicep muscle.

So, I spend a few more months throwing the ball straight.

Somewhere alone the way I drilled up some 14 lbs balls and that didn't hurt to throw.

So, I'm thinking, in each case of injury, I hadn't been used to putting some hand in the ball.

That may have been the main factor, not the actual weight.

So this time, I've had a full season of 14 lbs, while putting some hand in the ball.

Hopefully that has built the arm up enough that it can withstand 15 lbs this time.

This getting old thing kinda snuck up on me.

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGgFt4v5aDg) is from August 2012, shortly after coming back to bowling.

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Mc4QRZW3M) is from August 2012, the week before I had the dead arm.

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcwa4n6pUv8) is from November 2012, me struggling with 15 lb resin ball, but no hand.

Finally this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU1qvfKC8_s) is from May 2014, using a 14 lb ball, when I could put some hand in it.

[Tony]

Bowled a lot this summer. Meeting a teacher I have that extra time. I also did a pro shot league. For the league, I struggled big time. Sure is different that the THS. Only 1 more week to go till it's over. As for just going in to bowl, I think it's gone well. Going into my 3rd year this fall, I want to average 180. Last year I averaged 170 and the initial year 160. So my gal this summer is to average 180 each time I bowl and I have. A few times I was under but usually above the 180 mark. I have also been nailing that 10 pin. Such a problem for me last fall. But I have been getting it rather easily. So hopefully it will transfer to the fall.

I'm not really sure why meeting a teacher, gives you extra time?

Not sure if anyone else might be thinking this, but I'm hoping you're not my kids English teacher!

[jab5325]

I threw 15 lbs from the late 70's up until I quit in about 1992.

When I came back to bowling in June of 2012, I got a 15 lbs ball plastic and joined a league.

I got 6 weeks into the league and my arm went dead.

I could hold on to the ball, but couldn't come close to cupping the wrist.

I could roll the ball straight, but I couldn't put any lift into the ball.

Between August of 2012 and January of 2014 I tried anything and everything, but nothing was acceptable.

The problem was throwing the ball so straight gave me too narrow of a pocket to compete the way I was used to.

So in January of 2014 I felt I had healed enough that I could put some hand back into the ball.

When I put some hand into reactive resin balls, lets just say if the lane had been wider, it would have completed a u-turn.

I drilled up a 15 lbs urethane ball, and 2 weeks later I shot 300 with it.

Problem is, 2 weeks after that, I was black and blue from about half way between the wrist to elbow, up to the midpoint of the bicep muscle.

So, I spend a few more months throwing the ball straight.

Somewhere alone the way I drilled up some 14 lbs balls and that didn't hurt to throw.

So, I'm thinking, in each case of injury, I hadn't been used to putting some hand in the ball.

That may have been the main factor, not the actual weight.

So this time, I've had a full season of 14 lbs, while putting some hand in the ball.

Hopefully that has built the arm up enough that it can withstand 15 lbs this time.

This getting old thing kinda snuck up on me.

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGgFt4v5aDg) is from August 2012, shortly after coming back to bowling.

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Mc4QRZW3M) is from August 2012, the week before I had the dead arm.

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcwa4n6pUv8) is from November 2012, me struggling with 15 lb resin ball, but no hand.

Finally this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU1qvfKC8_s) is from May 2014, using a 14 lb ball, when I could put some hand in it.

Glad to hear you're getting on the right track. Must've been scary to go through an injury like that. Hopefully you and your doctors have things sorted out and many 300s are on the horizon.

[bubba809]

I'm not really sure why meeting a teacher, gives you extra time?

Not sure if anyone else might be thinking this, but I'm hoping you're not my kids English teacher!


I'm sure Blomer meant "BEING a teacher". I've noticed he makes quite a few typos in his comments. Thank goodness Aslan is not judging us by our grammer!

[Tony]

I'm sure Blomer meant "BEING a teacher". I've noticed he makes quite a few typos in his comments. Thank goodness Aslan is not judging us by our grammer!

I'm sure he and Iceman are thinking about judging grammar, just waiting for the right or as some people would say"write" or "rite" time to use it.

Yes, we all make mistakes at times. If you want to see some horrific grammar and spelling, all you have to do it look at the local craigslist pages....wow! People have no clue how to use words like their,there, and they're ! I am amazed at all the cars that have breaks, personally I want my car to have brakes. I can't even begin to figure out some of the spelling, some of it is just nonsensical.
End of off topic rant.

[Jaescrub]

I took the summer off to travel and spend time just The Wife and I. We had fun but I missed bowling so much. I made my comeback with 10 games on Natl. Bowling day. Picked up about where I left off. But the time away did help with one of my problems. Throwing to fast for my amount of hand. Also found out my PSO I use for all my drilling need took over as owner of two shops here in town. Now It's time to get back in there lots of league meetings today!