The transition is real (first night with new ball)

[boatman37]

So I need help...lol. Used the new Conspiracy tonight with my new higher rev release. Game 1 was awesome. 227c with 7 strikes. Everything going great. I almost always throw the 1st arrow and I'm the only one out there so not much adjustment needed all night. With this ball and higher revs I need oil so worked the 2nd arrow. There were 3 of us lefties all targeting that line. I wasn't real consistent in game 1 but if I was close to the pocket they fell. Game 2 I started having issues but was reluctant to try anything because of my inconsistency and thinking maybe it was me. Towards the end of game 2 I started moving around. Tried the 3rd arrow and went back out to the 1st arrow but ball wouldn't rev. I could get some revs on the 3rd arrow but the one time I hit the pocket I left the 7-9. After that I went out to the 1st arrow and switched to my Kingpin.

So having never having to deal with this much transition what should I have tried differently? I considered trying my Rhino in game 3. That ball barely hooks but might have worked in these conditions? I have the Black Widow Gold, the Kingpin, and the Rhino. The BWG never came out of my bag tonight. The Rhino was only used for a few spare shots so never tried a strike shot with it. The Kingpin worked pretty good on the 1st arrow later in the night but I waited too long to try that.

Should I have flattened out my release and stuck with the Conspiracy? Flattened my hand with a different ball? In these conditions do you want a ball more like the Rhino? Or more like the Kingpin or BWG? All 4 of these balls are layed out similar. The Kingpin reads a little sooner and has a smoother arc. The BWG goes a little longer and has a little more backend. The Conspiracy has the most length with a snappier backend. When you encounter these conditions do you need a ball with less surface? I didn't think the Kingpin would be the best choice because it reads the lane sooner so would lose more energy? The BWG would have probably not been much different than the Conspiracy. Which direction would I go?

Like I said, in my 20 years of league bowling (from about 1980 until 2002 before these types of issues existed....lol) I never had to make big adjustments so time to learn this thing...lol

[JasonNJ]

I responded in your other post but I think the Conspiracy is like the Cash, the OOB surface is way too dull. It needs oil or it burns up. I would hit the surface with a 3000 abralon pad to shine it up and I think you'll be much happier with it.

[boatman37]

I responded in your other post but I think the Conspiracy is like the Cash, the OOB surface is way too dull. It needs oil or it burns up. I would hit the surface with a 3000 abralon pad to shine it up and I think you'll be much happier with it.

It is 3000 OOB but the PSO has a brand new one on the shelf that was much more dull than mine. I bought mine off a fellow bowler but it was brand new in the box. The PSO said he has seen where they aren't quite what they are advertised as OOB so he hit mine with a brand new 3000 wet before I picked it up. It is quite a bit shinier than the one on his shelf.

[boatman37]

So after sleeping on it I know I need something with less friction. Would it matter if it was a stronger ball like a Conspiracy at lets say 5000 or a Rhino at 1000? In other words, does it matter if it is a strong core or not? Or is it just the idea of a ball with less friction?

[ALazySavage]

It is tough to determine without being there to have eyes on what different parts of the lane is doing so I will go through a very basic house shot scenario and see if that helps. Take the typical Christmas tree pattern (with little oil outside and a good amount inside) and the change in equipment you are throwing. Essentially you used to throw straight up 1st arrow and threw a ball that didn't chew up the pattern a lot - with the added benefit of being the only one out there (requiring at most a few boards of adjustment throughout the night). With the bigger Conspiracy ball you are now playing the track with 2 other bowlers; taking no other considerations you are going to have 3x the oil depletion and relocation simply from the traffic - add in the more aggressive ball you are throwing and likely they are throwing compared to your old situation we can easily see a ton more breakdown.

What the above situation is causing - depending on the combination of equipment being thrown (surface chewing up the fronts, less surface carrying more oil to the breakpoint) you are going to get to a point that you don't have enough front end oil to throw the hook monster and will then have to move inside and find oil or switch to a ball that has much less surface and can retain enough energy at the breakpoint (assuming there isn't a shocking amount of carry down - we will assume there isn't a lot of that in this situation). The issue with moving in is that you need to know your limits of how much angle you can create (the 7-9 says that if it is a good shot you likely hit your limit) and once you hit that limit you must ball down and move left (there are other ways to change release/ball speed to handle this, but going to use the one hand position). For these moves I would really recommend learning the concept of reading a lane back to front rather than left to right - you want to (a) make sure the ball is getting to the breakpoint and (b) read what it is doing at the breakpoint rather than just adjusting off of high and light hits.

Hope this helps.

[RobLV1]

Welcome to righty world! We deal with these issues every time we bowl. I can't help but notice that you keep referring to where you were playing at the arrows. Where were you playing at the breakpoint? Did you move, or did you keep throwing to eight board at the break point? Please refer back to the thread that I started about watching other bowlers on the pair. Your situation last night is exactly what I was talking about.

Also, just FYI, there is nothing sacred about the OOB finish. I once did at study of the ball reviews on BTM and found that 60% of bowlers on average need a surface that's different from OOB
to make the ball work.

[boatman37]

I never paid much attention to the breakpoint since my ball usually had a smooth arc that started early. Never really had a 'breakpoint' to worry about. I always targeted at the arrows and adjusted feet till i hit the pocket.

@Savage...makes sense. will have to give that a try. but yeah, tried 3 shots from the 3rd arrow. 1st was high so moved left then was light. moved back right and hit what looked like a nice pocket shot and the 7 and 9 never moved. at that point i moved out to the first arrow and switched to the kingpin, which is usually decent out there even after 3 games

[J Anderson]

Towards the end of game 2 I started moving around. Tried the 3rd arrow and went back out to the 1st arrow but ball wouldn't rev. I could get some revs on the 3rd arrow but the one time I hit the pocket I left the 7-9. After that I went out to the 1st arrow and switched to my Kingpin.

Should I have flattened out my release and stuck with the Conspiracy? Flattened my hand with a different ball? In these conditions do you want a ball more like the Rhino? Or more like the Kingpin or BWG? All 4 of these balls are layed out similar. The Kingpin reads a little sooner and has a smoother arc. The BWG goes a little longer and has a little more backend. The Conspiracy has the most length with a snappier backend. When you encounter these conditions do you need a ball with less surface? I didn't think the Kingpin would be the best choice because it reads the lane sooner so would lose more energy? The BWG would have probably not been much different than the Conspiracy. Which direction would I go?

Usually, for an amateur bowler who only bowls once or twice a week, it’s best to only have one release. If you’re not a pro, you don’t need a huge bag of tricks, just a few simple adjustments with either where you are playing or what you’re playing with should be sufficient.

When I bowl lefty, I’m usually in the place where you used to be, line all to myself and very slow transition. My adjustments tend to be either parallel or angular moves in. Most of the time just a one and one or maybe two boards with my feet and one with my eyes. In other words, just because second arrow dries up it doesn’t mean you have to jump five boards left with you line.

[boatman37]

Usually, for an amateur bowler who only bowls once or twice a week, it’s best to only have one release. If you’re not a pro, you don’t need a huge bag of tricks, just a few simple adjustments with either where you are playing or what you’re playing with should be sufficient.

When I bowl lefty, I’m usually in the place where you used to be, line all to myself and very slow transition. My adjustments tend to be either parallel or angular moves in. Most of the time just a one and one or maybe two boards with my feet and one with my eyes. In other words, just because second arrow dries up it doesn’t mean you have to jump five boards left with you line.

I was thinking about trying a move from the 10 board to about the 12 instead of going all the way to the 15. That might have helped that 7-9 issue. I got so consumed with figuring out the new ball that I should have just switched to my Kingpin and went to the first arrow as I'm a pretty consistent 175 from there. Last night I had a 227, 155 and 156

[vdubtx]

Rob brings up one of my usual adjustments as the night progresses. I shift my focus towards the pins vs. from the arrows, if on a sport shot, to the breakpoint about 40ft down lane on fresh conditions.

Sometime my eyes will shift just a few feet from where I was targeting, sometimes it is a bigger move. All depends on how the ball is jumping off the spot.

[fordman1]

I believe Rob was right. Left handers have a much easier time bowling. Their shot usually doesn't change much. When it does a little more or less speed will fix it. For right handers it is rare that you bowl more than 5 frames with having to make a big move. Then you may have to move back to where you were or make an even bigger move left. All the while moving your spot too. Watch you league mates who are left handed they usually look the same in the 1st frame of the 1st game as the 10th of the 3rd.

[Amyers]

There is some good information here. What I would suggest is to start make 2-1 moves to start once you get more comfortable with that you may want to experiment some to see exactly what works for you but that's always a good starting point. If your lefty just move right 2 boards with your feet and 1 board at the arrows is a good start.

[RobLV1]

I never paid much attention to the breakpoint since my ball usually had a smooth arc that started early. Never really had a 'breakpoint' to worry about. I always targeted at the arrows and adjusted feet till i hit the pocket.

Regardless of the shape of your particular reaction, the oil is picked up by your balls and others, down the lane. This dissipation of the oil will affect your ball. I once had a tape taken after a four game trios league. There were some interesting results. The pattern which started at 41' was bone dry in the track area clear back to 34'. In other words, what started out as a 41' pattern ended up being a 34' pattern. What was also very interesting was that the breakpoint at 8 board was bone dry, but there was plenty of oil left at eleven board. Just because you are not familiar with the terminology does not mean that you can ignore what's happening to affect your ball reaction. One of the easiest ways to avoid learning something is to rationalize that it does not apply to you... it does!

[boatman37]

Regardless of the shape of your particular reaction, the oil is picked up by your balls and others, down the lane. This dissipation of the oil will affect your ball. I once had a tape taken after a four game trios league. There were some interesting results. The pattern which started at 41' was bone dry in the track area clear back to 34'. In other words, what started out as a 41' pattern ended up being a 34' pattern. What was also very interesting was that the breakpoint at 8 board was bone dry, but there was plenty of oil left at eleven board. Just because you are not familiar with the terminology does not mean that you can ignore what's happening to affect your ball reaction. One of the easiest ways to avoid learning something is to rationalize that it does not apply to you... it does!

I think I'm confusing breakpoint. I'm thinking the point where the ball turns hard where I think you are meaning just the point on the lane where the oil ends? Thats why I said my ball really had no breakpoint.
And isn't it hard to replicate this for practice? Really can only get this scenario in league play?

I know last week when I was practicing the guy I got the ball from stopped and was watching and made the comment that the heads get shredded when our league bowls. I'm guessing he meant with all the high rev bowlers they are tearing up the oil at the front of the lane?

[vdubtx]

I think I'm confusing breakpoint. I'm thinking the point where the ball turns hard where I think you are meaning just the point on the lane where the oil ends? Thats why I said my ball really had no breakpoint.
And isn't it hard to replicate this for practice? Really can only get this scenario in league play?

I know last week when I was practicing the guy I got the ball from stopped and was watching and made the comment that the heads get shredded when our league bowls. I'm guessing he meant with all the high rev bowlers they are tearing up the oil at the front of the lane?

The point at the end of the oil pattern where the ball encounters friction and starts to make its move on the lane is considered the break point. The break point will shift as the night goes on due to pick up of oil from the lane or carrydown depending on who is bowling with what equipment.

I rarely, if ever, get to practice on fresh conditions. The best practice can come from "burned" up or used lanes. That is when you can get the best use of a practice session to see what a ball can do, or not do, for you. USing varying lines to get to the pocket can be great practice.

Yes, tearing up the heads means that balls are removing oil from the first 10-15 feet of the lane. If you encounter friction too soon, your ball will lose it's energy hooking too soon and roll out. Projecting past the target at the arrows will help push the ball through the heads.

[ALazySavage]

There was a comment on here that I want to potentially bring a different perspective on in regards to the right vs. left handed difficulty; there are times when each have their advantages.

In your typical house league where the strategy is find a line and hope it stays I will agree that there are benefits to being left-handed. For the most part you will be able to find a line that works relatively easy in league and then make much smaller moves, there are also topography arguments to be made in this scenario. I am almost bold enough to make the blanket statement that left-handed bowling in a THS situation is an advantage. What people either forget about or do not realize is that as the shot gets harder and the level of team and competition improves you can argue the advantages of being right handed with this decreasing when talking about really long blocks. On difficult patterns I think we all know something about the concept of breaking down the pattern for your advantage (at nationals it is popular to throw very sanded equipment outside of the line, plastic inside of the line with the hopes of increasing your miss room), so the more competent your team and the more bowlers you have on a side you can accelerate the process of building the shot. This essentially takes the advantage of being alone on a side away and can make it more difficult since your precision has to be at a higher level.

In Rob's prior post about what do you pay attention to during bowling, the other advantage is the higher volume of bowlers to watch and make adjustments with. It is a lot easier to not get lost with 8 other bowlers telling you what they are doing that is and is not working.

[boatman37]

The point at the end of the oil pattern where the ball encounters friction and starts to make its move on the lane is considered the break point. The break point will shift as the night goes on due to pick up of oil from the lane or carrydown depending on who is bowling with what equipment.

I rarely, if ever, get to practice on fresh conditions. The best practice can come from "burned" up or used lanes. That is when you can get the best use of a practice session to see what a ball can do, or not do, for you. USing varying lines to get to the pocket can be great practice.

Yes, tearing up the heads means that balls are removing oil from the first 10-15 feet of the lane. If you encounter friction too soon, your ball will lose it's energy hooking too soon and roll out. Projecting past the target at the arrows will help push the ball through the heads.

So I have seen what you are saying about the heads. Every once in awhile I set the ball down a little too early, like right at the foul line, and the ball crosses in front of the head pin. Doesn't happen often and probably an exaggerated example but I see what you are saying. I didn't notice it happen to me last night but last week when I practiced I did notice if I set it down too soon I would hit high and the ball 'rolled' rather than 'revved'

[RobLV1]

I didn't notice it happen to me last night but last week when I practiced I did notice if I set it down too soon I would hit high and the ball 'rolled' rather than 'revved'

You need to understand the five phases of ball motion: Skid, Hook, Hook-out, Roll, and Roll-out. The ball cannot roll until it stops hooking. The Revving up that you are talking about is when the ball has stopped hooking and is beginning to roll. This is where the ball is at its peak energy. The idea is to have the ball beginning to roll as it enters the pins. What you saw when you set the ball early was the ball going through the roll stage and begin to roll out before it got to the pins. This loss of energy results in loss of carry. Here again, you focus on what happens at or before the arrows, where the important stuff doesn't even start until the ball reaches the break point.

[boatman37]

You need to understand the five phases of ball motion: Skid, Hook, Hook-out, Roll, and Roll-out. The ball cannot roll until it stops hooking. The Revving up that you are talking about is when the ball has stopped hooking and is beginning to roll. This is where the ball is at its peak energy. The idea is to have the ball beginning to roll as it enters the pins. What you saw when you set the ball early was the ball going through the roll stage and begin to roll out before it got to the pins. This loss of energy results in loss of carry. Here again, you focus on what happens at or before the arrows, where the important stuff doesn't even start until the ball reaches the break point.

It wasn't so much that I focused on it but that I knew it was bad as soon as I let go. My hand wasn't in the right position, etc. I could have told you it was a bad ball even with my eyes closed it was that apparent. These were exaggerated shots that hit the floor at or even before the foul line but seeing the farther end of the spectrum helps to understand the effects. But I didn't understand why it would take off to the right almost right away. And there were 2 other bowlers with me and the one pointed out that if I sat my ball down about 3' from the foul line I looked perfect and right to the pocket but if I sat it down any earlier it just wasn't the same.

I never had much skidding because of playing the first arrow where it was pretty dry. I got a little (just enough to make it work I guess). But I get a bunch more when I get more in the oil and now that I'm getting a little more around the side of the ball. What I had been doing before last week was pretty much letting it roll off my fingertips with my hand directly behind the ball. Last week practicing I turned my hand in just a little and I open up my shoulders to get a little more under the ball. I'm still not real consistent with it, which didn't help matters last night.

Man, so much has changed in this game since 15 years ago. Like starting over...lol

[JasonNJ]

So someone threw a 900 series tonight using the Radical Conspiracy. I thought you might like to know Boatman37.

[boatman37]

So someone threw a 900 series tonight using the Radical Conspiracy. I thought you might like to know Boatman37.

Whoa. Very nice! Never heard of anyone rolling a 900 before. Do you know if they used the Conspiracy the whole night through the transitions?

[JasonNJ]

Whoa. Very nice! Never heard of anyone rolling a 900 before. Do you know if they used the Conspiracy the whole night through the transitions?


I believe he used the Conspiracy the whole night. I think it's like something like the 30th 900 series ever or close to that number. Although it seems like it's happening every few years now.

[ALazySavage]

There have been 35 sanctioned (and approved) 900 series...

1997 (1), 1998 (1), 1999 (1), 2000 (1), 2001 (1), 2004 (2), 2005 (1), 2006 (4), 2008 (1), 2009 (2), 2010 (3), 2012 (3), 2013 (2), 2014 (2), 2015 (3), 2016 (3), 2017 (3), 2019 (1)

The variance between this source and the USBC is the following:

Chris Clinton (Cornwall, Cornwall - 2015)
Joe Novara (East Islip, NY - 2017)
Sam Esposito (Homer Glen, Illinois - 2019)

Another note, Robert Mushtare from Fort Drum, N.Y has 2 900 series (2005 and 2006).

[Bloyer]

That 900 series was crazy!

[tomcat]

I notice wet lanes in middle with dry 5 board area where my break point starts big hook. But not sure best ball to use every week.

[boatman37]

Much better tonight. We actually bowled against the guy I bought the ball from's team. They are a solid team. Their lowest average guy was 182 but the other 4 are between 210 and 217. Our guys are all in the 190's except me at 176 (177 after tonight). We won the first game by 64 and the second by 3 but lost the last and total pins. So used the Conspiracy all night tonight. I struggled a little in game 1. Hit the pocket almost every frame but just couldn't get strikes. Game 2 was much better. Moved in 1 board and that was it. Missed a stupid spare (1-2) in the 6th frame and really screwed up in the 10th. Tugged it for a 5 count then did the exact same thing on the spare shot so ended with a 196. Game 3 started with a 4 bagger then started to miss my mark to the inside. Moved in another board and it helped. Ended with a clean 220 for a 599 on the night.

So tonight there were our 3 lefties on our team and 1 on the other team. We all were playing pretty much the same line but the other 3 were much slower speeds than me. The guy on the other team moved to the 3rd arrow sometime late in the 2nd game. Our other 2 stayed in the same spot all night. I played slightly inside of them all night and only had to move a couple boards all night. I started thinking about how they would create that dry line for me to use as a cushion and it seemed to work.

My speed was up a little tonight so that might have helped

https://i.postimg.cc/wMC4kbmx/2019-01-15.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Looking over my scores on my spreadsheet and talk about consistency. I don't have it on this computer but there are only 5 pins separating my highest game from lowest in terms of game 1, game 2, and game 3. I think I had 3017, 3019, and 3022 for my 3 game totals. Game 2 had been my worst game for awhile but I guess I evened that out. That puts my averages for those games at 177.47, 177.58, and 177.76 (not in that order)

EDIT: just looked at my spreadsheet and this was my 3rd best series (643, 635) since I came back a year ago. In one hand that is horrible but on the other it shows some consistency that my average is a 533 but only have 2 600's.

[boatman37]

Was thinking about this last night. I rarely bowl better from start to finish meaning my 1st game being my lowest and my last being my best. Could have been coincidence but just wondered what everyone thinks about this theory. I bowled just inside the other 3 lefties on our pair. What are the thoughts on my game getting better as the night went on because the other 3 dried up the line just outside my line and gave me a little cushion to ride against? Kind of like a rail for my ball to follow?

[RobLV1]

Was thinking about this last night. I rarely bowl better from start to finish meaning my 1st game being my lowest and my last being my best. Could have been coincidence but just wondered what everyone thinks about this theory. I bowled just inside the other 3 lefties on our pair. What are the thoughts on my game getting better as the night went on because the other 3 dried up the line just outside my line and gave me a little cushion to ride against? Kind of like a rail for my ball to follow?

Exactly right! Depending on how a bowler adjusts, it is not uncommon to see games going from best to worst (don't make adjustments at all), from worst to best (as you were thinking last night), or good-bad-good (fighting the transition game). As a lefty, you have a tremendous advantage when you bowl with other lefties as many of them don't move at all, giving you more and more miss room to the left.

[vdubtx]

Was thinking about this last night. I rarely bowl better from start to finish meaning my 1st game being my lowest and my last being my best. Could have been coincidence but just wondered what everyone thinks about this theory. I bowled just inside the other 3 lefties on our pair. What are the thoughts on my game getting better as the night went on because the other 3 dried up the line just outside my line and gave me a little cushion to ride against? Kind of like a rail for my ball to follow?

You are correct on your theory that the other lefties created some "bump" room for you. Way to go in staying inside of them. :cool:

[boatman37]

Good to know:). That was kinda my plan going in as the week before I struggled and after reading some of the posts on here and thinking about it. I wasn't thinking about a 'cushion' but more along the lines that I needed oil and playing the same line as them didn't work the week before, even after I tried to adjust to it.

Surprisingly to me my 3 games are very close together this season. Game 1-3022 pins (177.76). Game 2-3017 pins (177.47). Game 3-3020 pins (177.64). Seems like up until a few weeks ago my 2nd game was my worst (last season I was 20 pins lower in game 2 while game 1 and 3 were the same). So based on what Rob said I must be getting a little better dealing with the transition?

The other 2 lefties on my team don't adjust much. They will target the 2nd arrow and move their feet a couple boards and/or adjust speed a little or switch balls. But rarely ever leave the 10 board as their target. The lefty on the other team last week started out on the same line but I noticed in game 3 he was targeting the 15 board.

[boatman37]

Well tonight was rough but there were bright spots. I struggled compared to the last 4 weeks but was pretty close to my overall average and was 5/6 on single pin spares so that was an improvement. Just struggled to hit the pocket tonight. Targeted 2nd arrow in warmups and did good. Once game 1 started I kept hitting light. Made and adjustment but would hit light one frame then high the next. Moved out to the first arrow and was better but still not as consistent as I should have been. Tried moving back just inside the 10 board but still struggled so went back out to the 5-7 board and stayed there. I stuck with the Conspiracy all night as I figured a ball change wouldn't help my accuracy. One thing I noticed was I was my speed was way up. I did try to slow it up a few times but it didn't help. I just felt off tonight. Had my hopes up after the last 2 weeks but just couldn't figure it out tonight. We lost all 3 games. I did get better as the night went on again so that's a good thing (162, 179, 184). Had a 175 average and my average for the season was 177 so close to it. There were a few times I hit a nice pocket shot and the next ball it would just go straight and miss the headpin. The shot looked the same and the release felt good but the ball never broke. I had good revs all night and was getting a pretty good angle into the pins. It just seemed like I hit my mark most times but the ball would either be too light or too high. Not sure if it was me or the line was that sensitive. Either way I tried the 5-7 boards and 10-12 boards and nothing helped. Dunno. Maybe a different ball would have helped?

Hoping next week is better.

[RobLV1]

Well tonight was rough but there were bright spots. I struggled compared to the last 4 weeks but was pretty close to my overall average and was 5/6 on single pin spares so that was an improvement. Just struggled to hit the pocket tonight. Targeted 2nd arrow in warmups and did good. Once game 1 started I kept hitting light. Made and adjustment but would hit light one frame then high the next. Moved out to the first arrow and was better but still not as consistent as I should have been. Tried moving back just inside the 10 board but still struggled so went back out to the 5-7 board and stayed there. I stuck with the Conspiracy all night as I figured a ball change wouldn't help my accuracy. One thing I noticed was I was my speed was way up. I did try to slow it up a few times but it didn't help. I just felt off tonight. Had my hopes up after the last 2 weeks but just couldn't figure it out tonight. We lost all 3 games. I did get better as the night went on again so that's a good thing (162, 179, 184). Had a 175 average and my average for the season was 177 so close to it. There were a few times I hit a nice pocket shot and the next ball it would just go straight and miss the headpin. The shot looked the same and the release felt good but the ball never broke. I had good revs all night and was getting a pretty good angle into the pins. It just seemed like I hit my mark most times but the ball would either be too light or too high. Not sure if it was me or the line was that sensitive. Either way I tried the 5-7 boards and 10-12 boards and nothing helped. Dunno. Maybe a different ball would have helped?

Hoping next week is better.

Was there a change in the weather; either temperature or humidity? Sometimes a change in the weather can create an over/under ball reaction. When this happens, you have to abandon the oil line and either play in the oil or play in the dry. Trying to play the oil line will cost you 20 pins a game.

[boatman37]

Was there a change in the weather; either temperature or humidity? Sometimes a change in the weather can create an over/under ball reaction. When this happens, you have to abandon the oil line and either play in the oil or play in the dry. Trying to play the oil line will cost you 20 pins a game.

It has been much colder out, like 0* lately. Last night it was back to normal temps but the last 3 days or so were very cold.
Sounds kind of like what I did. I had started out game 1 playing the 10 board like last week. Tried moving in a little and no change so went back to the 5-7 board and stayed there the rest of the night. Wasn't great but it was a little more consistent to the pocket out there. Would a ball change help in that situation?

[boatman37]

Struggled again tonight. Got my average but that isn't good enough. Average is 177.60 and tonight it was 179.67 (161, 190, 181-539). I struggled with consistency all night, missing the pocket more than I hit it. Tugged a bunch of shots and a few got too far outside and wouldn't come back. I did happen to notice in the 3rd game the pair next to us had 17 splits between the 2 teams by about the 9th frame and the pair next to them was pretty close to that. Our pair we had about 10 between the 2 teams. I didn't have any all night but did leave the 1-3-7 twice (picked it up once) and left the 1-3-6-7 once and covered it even though they weren't splits. 2/3 on 7 pins too so happy about that.

In warmups I struggled with the Conspiracy but that was more me than the ball so tried the Kingpin twice and pocket strikes for both so used the Kingpin for game 1. Switched to the Conspiracy for the last 2 games but game 1 and 2 tried to target near the 10-12 board but kept tugging the ball. Game 3 I moved to the 7 board and still tugged a few shots but when I didn't the ball hit the pocket like a truck. There were only 2 of us lefties on our pair so that might have had something to do with it.

We won all 3 so happy with that. Our guys had 661, 647, 639, 535 and me at 539 so 3 of the 5 had good nights. The other 4 average about 191 to 200.

[boatman37]

Horrible night. I had a 186, 151, and 137. Wasn't the lanes or the ball. I was just inconsistent and kept dropping the ball. Used the Conspiracy all night. There were 3 of them on our pair (the PSO and one of his teammates). I know the one teammate had a 268 and 258 in the first 2 games with it. I think the PSO had a 247 and 217 with his but he switched balls for the 3rd game. The other teammate used his all 3 games. I think he had a 211 the last game with it. The 3rd game the PSO switched to a Quantam Bias for a few frames then switched to the Squatch to end the game. I think he had a 190 that game. He kept leaving 10's until the Squatch.
So far the Conspiracy is awesome. That teammate had a 300 with it a few weeks ago.

[boatman37]

ok. now that I settled down a little...lol. I was really frustrated and just didn't care last night. Anyway, my speed was way up. I was hitting about 18.8-18.7 almost every ball. My 'normal' is about 17.2-17.7. I think that might have been some of my issue with accuracy and I also kept dropping the ball way early. It wasn't slipping and I wasn't dropping it I just kept skipping it before the foul line. I'm thinking with the increased speed my timing was way off and my feet were way ahead of my arm so I was letting go.

Anyway, my accuracy was way off all night. Another thing I noticed recently is I can't see where my ball hits the arrows at. Not that my eyesight is bad, just that I can't seem to notice it like I used to. Maybe because of my speed or maybe because of a mental thing or something. It's almost like I black out lately on my approach and don't really remember any of it. Think I need to get back to basics here.

[fordman1]

I always wonder where the speed quoted on here comes from. I never see anyone throwing the first ball at 17-18 mph. If you are letting your ball hit the floor in front of the foul line you are putting dents in the approach. If you can't see the arrows and are blacking out you better see a DR. Just an old veterans opinion.

[J Anderson]

I always wonder where the speed quoted on here comes from. I never see anyone throwing the first ball at 17-18 mph. If you are letting your ball hit the floor in front of the foul line you are putting dents in the approach. If you can't see the arrows and are blacking out you better see a DR. Just an old veterans opinion.

I can think of several people I know whow consistently throw 17 to 18 mph on the first ball. Two of them throw pretty much straight at the pocket, one is a bronze level coach who likes to play as far outside as the pattern allows, three work for Buddies Pro Shop, and the others are either current or recently graduated youth bowlers.

But then again, our center’s speed sensors may be highly optimistic;)

[fordman1]

The center speed measurement is what I am talking about. The only time I see a ball over 20 is when some young bowler tries to make a 7-10. Rarely do I see some one averaging over 15-16 on the 1st ball. It is using the Brunswick Sync system. Measured near or at the pins.

[boatman37]

We have the AMF system and it measures near the pins. Whether it is accurate or not who knows but the other 4 guys on my team are all about 15.5. Our sub is up around the 18 mark too but he pretty much angles straight towards the pocket. When I throw that hard I'm hitting about the 7 board at the arrows and pretty much ride there till the end of the pattern then it turns hard right. But wither way, I was about 3 mph faster than any of my teammates the other night and normally 1.5-2 mph faster than them.

[boatman37]

Well think I figured it out...now just have to fix it. I had been trying too many things and just complicating it. Been trying to cup the ball more, open my shoulders (to help in cupping the ball) and using a little different release and this has been leading to inconsistency. Tonight wanted to focus on slowing down, forget about cupping more than usual, and try to stand a little more upright at my release. Did a good job of this all night. My ball speed was slower than usual (thats a good thing). Problem is game 2 I started throwing harder and tugging my arm. Game 3 got worse until the 10th frame when I really focused on it. Ended with 213, 178, and 166. My spare shooting killed me. Had 6 strikes in game 1, 5 in game 2, and 6 in game 3. But game 3 was only a 166 with 6 strikes. I only had 1 spare and 4 opens and they were easy spares. I really need to focus in games 2 and especially 3. My speed goes up and I start tugging the ball. If I can fix that and stop missing those easy spares...I had 17 strikes tonight. Problem is I only had 6 spares but had 8 opens. I threw a gutter to start game 3 and left the 6 pin, missed the 1-2-3-4-5, missed the 5-8, 1-3-6-7, 2-4, the 10, the 4-7, and the 5-9. Should have easily made 5 of those.

https://i.postimg.cc/tTMrMZtx/2019-02-12.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Just an update on the 'blackout' thing I commented about. It was more of a mental thing than physical and it was better last night. I think it was because I was trying to focus on so many different things at once. Last night I went back to more of my 'normal' release and slowed my speed back down and things were more calm and I could pay attention to what I was doing.