Summer league....phooooey

[boatman37]

So whose idea was this? Probably my worst night since returning in January. My first ball wasn't too bad all night but no carries at all. The format is 2 man teams and you bowl 2 games against one team then move to another pair and 2 more games against another team. My normal line is between the first and second arrow. I hit light, I hit high, and I hit the pocket and no matter what no strikes. I didn't get my first strike until the 6th frame in the 2nd game. And spares weren't much better. Moved inside 1/2 way through the 2nd game and threw 4 strikes in a row but that ended quickly.

Third game was on a new pair so tried my normal line and same thing so moved back inside. Bought this ball in February and tonight was the first time I have ever seen oil on it. I left quite a few 5 pins but covered them all and was 0/5 on 10 pins (I'm a lefty so no excuse). Just all around horrible. To top it off my app says I bowled a 182 my 2nd game but the scoreboard says 173 and my app looks accurate from what I remember so who knows.

Game 1: 135

Game 2: 173 (or 182)

Game 3: 136

Game 4: 157

[RobLV1]

As a Silver Level Coach, when I hear bowlers talk about their "normal line," I start to shake uncontrollably. Here's the deal; you don't tell the lane where you want to play, the lane tells you where it wants you to play. Not listening to the lane is like not listening to your wife... it can only get you in trouble!

[boatman37]

As a Silver Level Coach, when I hear bowlers talk about their "normal line," I start to shake uncontrollably. Here's the deal; you don't tell the lane where you want to play, the lane tells you where it wants you to play. Not listening to the lane is like not listening to your wife... it can only get you in trouble!

I say normal because 95% of the time that 'mark' works. I may adjust my feet a few boards but my mark is almost always the same. Maybe because I'm a lefty it doesn't change much but I have no problems trying a different line if that isn't working. Normally my mark is between 1st and 2nd arrow. Last night I moved to between 2nd and 3rd arrow and moved my feet about 4 boards right.

And yes, you are exactly right about the wife comment ;)

[Amyers]

Bowling in one league in one alley it's pretty easy to start thinking of normal. things are different between houses, nights, seasons, and sometimes just in general. bowling in the summer is never the same as during the season. If your seeing more oil on the ball and less of a reaction you may want to add surface or get a more aggressive ball. I usually find less oil around here in the summer but things can be different.

[jaypeesmith]

Bowling in one league in one alley it's pretty easy to start thinking of normal. things are different between houses, nights, seasons, and sometimes just in general. bowling in the summer is never the same as during the season. If your seeing more oil on the ball and less of a reaction you may want to add surface or get a more aggressive ball. I usually find less oil around here in the summer but things can be different.

I learned this the hard way, yesterday. This past Saturday, I was at one house and doing quite well (for me, at least). However, yesterday, I played at a different center and it was a mess. Nothing wrong with either center or their lanes. The difference, clearly, is that I don't know how to adjust to the changes.

Tomorrow, I start a new league at yet another new place. So, I don't know what to expect. But, hell, I am going to have fun, whatever I do so, I'll chalk it all up to new experiences.

[JasonNJ]

Also Kegel has done a bunch of topography studies and they found lanes in the summer usually swell because of the higher heat and humidity. This mean your ball actually has to go uphill which makes it harder for the ball to get to the pocket.

[boatman37]

Bowling in one league in one alley it's pretty easy to start thinking of normal. things are different between houses, nights, seasons, and sometimes just in general. bowling in the summer is never the same as during the season. If your seeing more oil on the ball and less of a reaction you may want to add surface or get a more aggressive ball. I usually find less oil around here in the summer but things can be different.

yeah. same house but last week we had our year ed tourney and had to keep changing lanes. on 2, 4, and 6 the ball wouldn't react at all but on 1, 3, and 5 it was perfect. there is another lefty on my team that saw the same thing i did. last night i was the only lefty on our pairs but both lanes were similar. the ball reacted and hooked into the pocket i just couldn't get ant carries playing the outside. i was slightly light on quite a few of my shots but even then i usually get a least a few strikes. i didn't get my first strike until the 6th frame of game 2 and i was at or near the pocket about every ball. the inside was better to me. if i hit slightly high i was striking. we had to switch lanes after 2 games last night and my teammate rolled a 191 and 259 but after we switched lanes he rolled a 161 and 151. said he couldn't get any carries on the 2nd set we were on.

when i say 'normal line' think of it more as a benchmark. its where i start out in practice and 9/10 times its good so i just stay there.

so we will see how the summer goes. just seemed like the ball had to hit just perfect to get the carries last night. even playing inside like i did the ball was still reacting pretty good. i'm not gonna say i was bowling great because i definitely wasn't but i have probably never went 16 frames without a strike and they weren't terrible shots.

[RobLV1]

when i say 'normal line' think of it more as a benchmark. its where i start out in practice and 9/10 times its good so i just stay there.

So if you start there and it's good so you stay there, how do you know what to expect if you have to move (even though you're a lefty... God, I'm tired of hearing "I'm a lefty so I just play the same line"!)?

[Outerlimits]

Last weekend bowled a Benefit No-Tap Tournament for a Bowling alley waitress that was killed by a drunk driver that left 2 small children behind. The house had a great turn out and raised a lot of money for the family. The pair we were on, ended up with 3 left handed bowlers. 2 Crankers one throwing urethane and a tweener type. I don't think any of them ever bowled where they had another lefty on their lanes with them. When the lanes started to transition on their side, you would have thought the world just came to an end. That's all I heard.......whats happening, I never have to move.lol. I laughed and said welcome to our world. We had 7 righthanders rounding out the group of 10 on the pair.

[boatman37]

So if you start there and it's good so you stay there, how do you know what to expect if you have to move (even though you're a lefty... God, I'm tired of hearing "I'm a lefty so I just play the same line"!)?

Usually if I start having issues it's the bowler and not the lane conditions...lol. I make minor adjustments throughout the night. I might move my feet up to 3 or 4 boards and maybe move my mark by a couple of boards but rarely do I make the big move like last night by moving my mark 5 boards. To me that is a huge adjustment and a last resort. I can usually get it after a frame or two. Last night I moved in and my first ball was light. I moved 1 board left and threw 4 strikes in a row in the pocket. But then we had to change lanes and I couldn't get anything to work there. I tried both lines and no good.

[Phonetek]

I wouldn't put too much stock in summer league performance. They generally aren't very serious at all, at least none that I've joined. I've dropped off mid season because I got tired of being the only one who showed up on my team or bowling against blind scores. It's merely organized practice compared to fall. If it were me Boatman I would just work on fixing my issues and not worry about scores, you're probably the only bowler on the league who cares about it much. It would also be a good opportunity to try out using different lines. Don't be afraid to play deep inside or out on first board, experiment and learn.

I understand that if you play the same house all the time having a "benchmark" line to use as a starting point. When you take your first shot of the night for warm up you're always going to have a starting point where you're gonna throw it. However, if your first shot is 1st arrow then it's a good practice to make your second shot should be 2nd arrow then 3rd and so on. I think too many people are afraid to dump it in the ditch trying to see what works best. I assure you, you're buddies will forget about it 30 seconds later. Besides, being a one trick pony you're dooming yourself from being versatile. Lanes have 39 boards going across and it's a safe bet that more than one will lead you to the pocket.

[HowDoIHookAgain]

I've never done a summer league, my family signs up for the Kids Bowl Free promotion and use that as much as we can, normally once or twice a week, just so we don't get entirely rusty during summer.

[boatman37]

I wouldn't put too much stock in summer league performance. They generally aren't very serious at all, at least none that I've joined. I've dropped off mid season because I got tired of being the only one who showed up on my team or bowling against blind scores. It's merely organized practice compared to fall. If it were me Boatman I would just work on fixing my issues and not worry about scores, you're probably the only bowler on the league who cares about it much. It would also be a good opportunity to try out using different lines. Don't be afraid to play deep inside or out on first board, experiment and learn.

I understand that if you play the same house all the time having a "benchmark" line to use as a starting point. When you take your first shot of the night for warm up you're always going to have a starting point where you're gonna throw it. However, if your first shot is 1st arrow then it's a good practice to make your second shot should be 2nd arrow then 3rd and so on. I think too many people are afraid to dump it in the ditch trying to see what works best. I assure you, you're buddies will forget about it 30 seconds later. Besides, being a one trick pony you're dooming yourself from being versatile. Lanes have 39 boards going across and it's a safe bet that more than one will lead you to the pocket.

I don't know. Looked like some pretty serious bowlers the other night. The first team we bowled against were from about 30 miles from here and had never bowled at our house before. They said they heard it was great competition so they decided to join. Both had over 200 average. We have 40 lanes and they have a waiting list so 80 bowlers each week (2 per lane). The captain of my regular team's partner didn't show cause he forgot so he had to grab the first person he could find to sub. If your team didn't show then you got bumped off the list and a team that was there on the waiting list took your spot. Luckily he found somebody. There is no pre-bowling allowed and no blind scores. If you don't have 2 guys then you forfeit. I guess after the first week you are locked in and won't be kicked off the list. It is a 2 man team but you can have 2 subs. My teammates are on vacation so me and the other guy were both considered subs but I will be part of the regular rotation. The other guy that was with me the other night doesn't want to bowl the summer league but did it just to have a team there and isn't planning on doing it after that. He is bowling in Rochester NY this weekend for a tournament I guess.

But as to the lines, yeah, I see your point. I rarely ever have bowled away from my home center so haven't had to worry about it much. I have always just been a league bowler and rarely enter any tournaments but after the last couple weeks I think I need to start thinking about different lines. When I went out and practiced with my new ball I spent one game on 7 pins and the next on different lines but haven't practiced it since then. I'm a creature of habit...lol. I find what works and stick with it until way after it stops working...lol

[Amyers]

It all depends on the center and the bowlers how serious summer bowling is. generally in summer you've either got serious bowlers who bowl year round or guys just looking for something to do with their spare time seems to me there are less of the middle guy there during the summer but that's just what I see locally

[Phonetek]

But as to the lines, yeah, I see your point. I rarely ever have bowled away from my home center so haven't had to worry about it much. I have always just been a league bowler and rarely enter any tournaments but after the last couple weeks I think I need to start thinking about different lines. When I went out and practiced with my new ball I spent one game on 7 pins and the next on different lines but haven't practiced it since then. I'm a creature of habit...lol. I find what works and stick with it until way after it stops working...lol

Could it be the psychological part of it? You just play within your comfort zone. Like even when practicing alone when you work on fixing things do you still try to make a game of it with your score? Have you ever tried playing low ball with the best possible score being 20? I know it wouldn't look good to onlookers who walk by or who are bowling near you. Same thing with practicing different lines. Onlookers be dammed. Who cares if you shoot a 52 as long as your learning something in the process for when it really matters.

Score can interfere bigtime in trying to become better. I know where I work the pinsetters can merely be turned on without scoring. Unfortunately it doesn't time you or track frames. If your friends with the counter person maybe you can pay by the hour and just keep track of the time. I know I'd do it for someone if they asked. Doing that may help you. As far as the other serious bowlers on your summer league, you said there are some which implies not all. Nobody saying you have to be among the serious as difficult as it may be.

[boatman37]

Could it be the psychological part of it? You just play within your comfort zone. Like even when practicing alone when you work on fixing things do you still try to make a game of it with your score? Have you ever tried playing low ball with the best possible score being 20? I know it wouldn't look good to onlookers who walk by or who are bowling near you. Same thing with practicing different lines. Onlookers be dammed. Who cares if you shoot a 52 as long as your learning something in the process for when it really matters.

Score can interfere bigtime in trying to become better. I know where I work the pinsetters can merely be turned on without scoring. Unfortunately it doesn't time you or track frames. If your friends with the counter person maybe you can pay by the hour and just keep track of the time. I know I'd do it for someone if they asked. Doing that may help you. As far as the other serious bowlers on your summer league, you said there are some which implies not all. Nobody saying you have to be among the serious as difficult as it may be.

Yeah i don't worry about the score when i practice and don't care about the onlookers...lol. maybe 20 years ago i would be concerned with impressing people but not now. i think i scored an 80 something the one game but i only focused on spares. in pre-game practice i throw a few pockets shots then a few 7 pin and if i have time i try the 10 pin. i usually shoot for the 7 or 10 on my first ball then the pocket on my 2nd ball. it's practice. most of the guys in our league do the same