Definite improvement tonight

[boatman37]

Went out and practiced yesterday and worked on speed and trying to not bend as low on my release. Started tonight doing this but struggled and kept leaving 7's but was finally able to convert those (5/6 tonight). Used the Conspiracy in game 1 and started out targeting the 7 board but about 1/2 way through moved to the 10 board. Still not carrying strikes so game 2 switched to the Black Widow Gold but not much change. Finally went back to the Conspiracy and the 7 board but picked up my speed a little (but still wasn't bending down). Finally hit it. 8 strikes and a clean game (183, 184, and 240).

I noticed that when my speed was slower my Conspiracy had a smoother arc while when I sped up it went straighter longer with a sharper turn at the breakpoint and had more revs. Seemed odd to me but I could understand why I guess. 3 times tonight I tugged the ball hard and just caught the right side anf those were after strikes or spares so that hurt my score.

Game 3 we were on fire. I rolled a 240 and was the 3rd highest on the team....lol (246, 245, and 240). We won game 3 by 167 against the 1st place team. Lost game 1 by 29, won game 2 by 2 and smashed them in game 3.

So it was only my 3rd 600 since coming back to bowling a year ago and the 3rd highest game since I came back. Also, been hovering around 173-177 average for the past year. Hit 178.20 after tonight so that is a new high since my return (still 15 lower than when I left 17 years ago). With the Conspiracy I'm averaging 185.10 but that is partially due to higher revs due to new release.

https://i.postimg.cc/nrKF2wRw/2019-02-19.png (https://postimages.org/)

[Florida Bowler]

Very nice. I'm hoping to get back to the 180-185 average I had when I stopped. I'm at 150 right now, but I'm learning the ball I got for Christmas and how it transitions. I've topped 450 the last 4 sessions after doing that just 5 times in 17 weeks.

Keep up the good work. Too bad you had that 2 in the 9th, otherwise you would have had the high score on your team.

[boatman37]

Yeah. Those 3 tugged shots hurt all 3 games. Even though I converted the last 2 it still cost me about 8 pins each. That 5 pin in the 4th of the last game was a good pocket hit too. One of the best all night. Same with the 7th frame in game 2. Nice pocket hit that even the other team was amazed at. Left an odd 6-8 there.

Good going for you too. I'm surprised it is taking me this long to get my form back but hopefully I'm finally making some progress. I think I really needed to move outside in the middle of game 2 but didn't. Oh well. I'm still low man on the team as far as average goes but I'm improving and with the handicap I'm actually more help to my team this way...lol. Our team averages are 201.50 (substitute), 201.21, 198.73, 196.11, 191.82, and me at 178.20. So I have a long way to go to catch up to them and it won't likely happen this season but as long as I keep beating my average then it will help the team.

[Florida Bowler]

That's the way I'm looking at my season. I have the third highest handicap game of the season so far (292), and I have a feeling that I will be above average a lot in the second half.

As far as how long it's taking, I think the game has changed since we stopped bowling. I'm learning about how my ball transitions. My instincts seem to be wrong, but it's getting better.

[boatman37]

Another nice night until the 3rd game. Struck every ball in the left lane in game 1 including 3 in the 10th. Game 1 I tugged the ball a few times in the right lane. We were on 39 and 40 (the last 2 lanes that everyone struggles on). Our whole team struggled except me. I was high series between both teams but the other team was the last place team with lower averages (even though they beat us 2/3 and total pins). 4 of our guys have 191 to 201 average (mine is 178). They all rolled 578, 556, 565, 535, and me at 583. So yeah, they struggled. The other team has a guy with a 145 average that bowled a 229 and another with a 154 average that bowled a 173. They made it tough on us.

So I had a 216, 202 and 165. The 3rd game started with an ugly washout split (4-6-8-10). Left 2 more harder spares that I missed (1 of those in the 10th) so that game was tough.

On another note, me and a teammate stuck around after we were done and bowled a practice game. Deal was loser paid for that game. We both started out ugly with me leaving a 2-7 split in the 1st and missing it then in the 4th left a 7-9 split and missed both. Teammate threw a 3 or 4 bagger so I knew I was in trouble. I turned it up and threw a 3 bagger in the 8th, 9th and 10th then closed it out with a spare. We both ended at 192 so we tied...lol. His average is 191 so he is about 13 pin higher average than me.

So tonight in our 3 league games I was 8/8 on single pin spares and 4/4 on 7 pins. Last week I was 4/5 on 7 pins so definitely an improvement there. Missed too many multi pin spares though (2/6). Had 18 strikes tonight so that was good.

Definitely gaining confidence and my scores are showing it. The last 2 weeks since going back to my normal release I'm averaging 198.33. Right now my average is 178.90, which is the highest it has been since I came back a year ago. It was 193 when I quit in 2002 so still have a ways to go. Was really disappointed I didn't get a 600 tonight. But I have had 4 200's in the last 9 games. Only had 11 in the previous 60 games this season. Finally seem to be turning that corner (I hope...lol)

https://i.postimg.cc/TwLGgfPV/2019-02-26.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Went out for practice today by myself. When I'm by myself my 3rd game is always bad because of fatigue but I also noticed something kind of odd too but I'll get to that later. Anyway, started the 1st frame with the Conspiracy at the 7 board and strike. Grabbed the Kingpin at the 7 board and 4 more strikes. 6th frame left the 10 pin so moved in to the 10 board and the strikes stopped. Still ended with a 218. Game 2 I kept switching between the 3 balls and started with 4 strikes then left a 7 pin in the 5th and missed it. Also missed the 6 pin in the 7th but still ended with a 205 with 2 opens. 3rd game was a struggle. Ball kept hitting light even though I didn't change anything. Seems odd? Experience tells me the ball should hit higher after a few games and the oil gets picked up? I have noticed this before. Why would I start hitting light? Anyway, ended game 3 with a 170 with 2 opens but only 3 strikes.

Also, Tuesday night I left 4 7 pins in the 2nd game with what looked to be good pocket hits. My adjustment was to move back a couple inches on the approach to get the ball to come in a little higher. Seemed to fix it but what is usually the cause for 7's for a lefty and how should I adjust?

https://i.postimg.cc/ry76By66/2019-03-01-practice.png (https://postimages.org/)

[Amyers]

Hitting light is the other thing that can happen during transition that confuses people. Most likely your ball was burning up causing the light hit. a 2-1 move inside should help with that. 7 for a lefty are basically a 10 for a righty I see everything from moving up to ball changes for that lol.

[boatman37]

Hitting light is the other thing that can happen during transition that confuses people. Most likely your ball was burning up causing the light hit. a 2-1 move inside should help with that. 7 for a lefty are basically a 10 for a righty I see everything from moving up to ball changes for that lol.

Now that I think about it Tuesday night was VERY similar to today. Tuesday was 216, 202, 165. Today was 218, 205, 170. Had a very similar issue Tuesday night. Tuesday about the 5th frame I cleaned my ball with my Motiv cleaner and it helped.

Will definitely keep that in mind next week.

[RobLV1]

Today's bowling balls absorb so much oil that even lefties have to move. Oil dries up, you need to find more... and I'm not talking just at the arrows, I'm talking about the breakpoint!

[boatman37]

Well happened again. Went out tonight with a teammate cause he had to pre-bowl for our Tuesday night league. His average is 199 but tonight he bowled 234, 189, and 238. I bowled 258, 221, and 120. Game 1 wasn't as impressive as it sounds. 1st frame hit light leaving the 3 pin and picked it up. 2nd frame strike, 3rd frame left the 5-8 and missed the 5 for an open then finished the game with a 9 bagger but at least 4 of those were Brooklyns. Just couldn't hit my mark. Game 2 4th frame left a 5-10 split and missed the 10 then 5th frame left a 2-7 split but picked it up then a 4 bagger. Game 3 was just open after open. Pretty sure most of the problem was fatigue. Knee was sore and aching and really struggled to hit my mark all night. Tried moving in to try to find oil, tried swapping to the Black Widow Gold. Just struggled all night. This is 3 sessions in a row where my 3rd game just fell off hard. I think it is mostly fatigue and a little lane conditions but if my body would hold up I think I could work past the lane conditions. Haven't had many issues with the 3rd game until recently.

https://i.postimg.cc/sfYz91Dg/2019-03-02-practice.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Looking at my scores my last 19 games I'm averaging 193.05 and my last 13 games I'm averaging 198.00. My leagues average is at 178.90 right now and was about 174 around early January so I'm definitely seeing improvement. When I quit in 2002 I was about 193 so that is encouraging.

Overall in last 14 months since I returned:
Strikes: 41%
Spares: 54%
Single pin spares: 66%

Last 19 games:
Strikes: 49%
Spares: 58%
Single pin spares: 76%

So definitely seeing improvement even with my 3rd game struggles lately. Like I said earlier, pretty sure about 90% of it is fatigue and 10% lane conditions

[bubba809]

If you tell us one more time your average was 193 in 2002!!!!!



J.K. (kinda)


It does sound like you are improving. This may of been a "back to basics" year and next year you will average 193.5! Good bowling mate.

[boatman37]

If you tell us one more time your average was 193 in 2002!!!!!



J.K. (kinda)


It does sound like you are improving. This may of been a "back to basics" year and next year you will average 193.5! Good bowling mate.

If you had a memory like mine you would need to be reminded often...lol

But yeah, I think you are right. I saw all the changes in releases and ball reaction and tried to mimic that and it really messed me up. Decided a few weeks ago to forget about how others are bowling and do what I know and what comes naturally to me. So far so good.

[boatman37]

Well not so good tonight. I got my spinner today and took all balls back to OOB. None would hook tonight. The lanes were a little heavier than usual but it took awhile till I could find the pocket. Kept hitting light all night until the last game. As a team our scratch average is 962. Game 1 we had 1076 and lost by 28. Game 2 we had 955 and lost by 161. Game 3 had 953 and lost by 69. The other team was on fire. They had a 794, 681, 672, 648, and 567. Hard to beat that. And these guys aren't even in the top 3 as far as the highest average teams in our league.

I still hit my average tonight with a 548 but after the way I have bowled the last 3 or 4 weeks it was a letdown.

https://i.postimg.cc/SRmnx89x/2019-03-05.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Well I was a little sore after the tournament Sunday. Legs were sore, thumb had a crack and ring finger was sore. Left the 500 on the Kingpin and 2000 or the Conspiracy from Sunday. I really liked how they were rolling but my thumb kept sticking in the Conspiracy so about the 8th frame of game 1 I put it away. Used the Kingpin the rest of the night and was happy with it until the transition then I struggled. Game 1 started great then my thumb must have got a little bigger cause it got worse and I tugged a few shots. Ended game 1 with a 180. Started game 2 with a 5 bagger and ended with a 214 as the transition hit. Game 3 was a mess. 158 and that was only because I had 2 strikes and a 9 count in the 10th.

I really like these finishes on these balls so plan to put them on the spinner this week and do it right. Teammate had a 679 tonight. Going to have the PSO open up my thumb hole slightly next week on the Conspiracy and hopefully my sore fingers are better.

https://i.postimg.cc/t4DVZhKw/2019-03-12.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Well at the tournament the lanes were so slick with the 47' Scorpion everyone was scuffing their stuff up between qualifying rounds. I hit the Kingpin with 500 and the Conspiracy with 2000 and liked the way they reacted last Tuesday for league so tonight I put them on the spinner and did them right with those same grits. Also hit the Rhino with 2000 and the Motiv polish. I only use that ball for 7 pins so figured I'd slick it up a little more. It was at 500 polished.

Let you know tomorrow night how it works.

[boatman37]

Well I liked how the balls rolled tonight but I struggled. I was hitting my mark almost every shot but just missing the pocket by the smallest of a fraction each time. Struggled in the 1st 2 games but picked it up in the last game. Started with the Conspiracy and kept hitting light. Made adjustments then started hitting high. Changed to the Kingpin near the end of the 1st game and same thing. Decided to move further outside near the end of the 2nd game and that was it. I had been targeting the 7-8 board at the arrows but moved out to the 5 and the ball went straight to the pocket. Just wish I would have found that earlier. We got smacked pretty hard tonight so we weren't having fun. 1st game we lost by almost 200. We were about 100 below our average and they were 100 over theirs. 2nd game we were 60 over our average and still lost by 45. 3rd game we were 10 over our average and lost by 60. Their guys all average between 200 and 210 and 1 guy had a 760 and another had a 728. Tough to beat that. We were 1st half champs but this half seems like every team we face bowls their best of the season.

So I had a 171, 172 and 195. My average coming in was 179.25. Now its 179.26...lol.

https://i.postimg.cc/DfQLp412/2019-03-19.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

On another note my spare conversion has been much better. My last 15 league games (not counting the tournament on the 47' Scorpion pattern) my single pin conversion is 87% (35/40) and my overall spare % is 63% (55/86)

Compare that to my overall league stats for this season and here is that: Single pin 69% (141/203) and overall is 56% (268/474)

My most common is the 7 pin with my season average at 30/66 (45.45%) and my last 15 games is 10/13 (76.92%)

[boatman37]

So tonight was tough. Started the first game with a very tight line. Miss by a hair and it would be either high or light. A couple frames in I moved my line out closer to the 5-6 board and started hitting the pocket consistently but couldn't get the carry and had no movement on the ball. Near the end of the game I started tucking my pinky and that changed everything. 6 of my next 7 shots were pocket strikes then started coming in light. Assuming the oil was getting carried down? We had 5 lefties on our pair tonight but I was the only one that far outside. Made minor adjustments and kept game 2 clean for a 224. Last game was miserable. Started hitting lighter and either struck or split the first 6 frames. At that point it got worse. Opened the rest of the game missing easy spares for a 140. Game 1 was a 169.
Used the Conspiracy all night. After I moved to the 5-6 board and tucked my pinky I only moved about 1/2 board the rest of the night and fine tuned by moving forward or backward a couple inches. At one point I tried moving in closer to the 10 board but got no carry there either.

Game 1: 169

Game 2: 224

Game 3: 140

So as for our opponents performance when they bowl us....yep. they did it again. Game 1 we were 42 below our average but they beat us by 93 so they were about 50 over their average. Game 2 we were 54 over our average and still lost by 27. Game 3 we were 19 under our average but they fell apart so we got that one. But this has been the story of this 1/2 for us. Our opponents bowl way over their heads against us.

[boatman37]

Well might have found an issue tonight. Started out good and was spot on until the 5th frame of game 1 then it fell apart. Had 118 in the 5th frame and ended with a 181. Game 2 wasn't any better. Struggled all game then realized I was throwing over 1 MPH faster than I was at the start of the night. Kept coming in light and tried adjusting but no luck. At the start of game 3 I slowed my ball back down and started hitting good again. Game 3 started getting strikes and covering spares again.

We bowled the last place team and they were a guy short so they had a -30 deficit right off that bat. Game 1 they bowled 25 over their average. Game 2 they were 50 under and game 3 they were 50 over (this is with the -30 penalty). In the end we lost game 1 but won the last 2 to take 5 of 7 points.

So noticed that when I start to struggle I subconsciously start throwing harder which snowballs my issues. I need to work on this speed issue. Game 2 I threw hard every frame and that was my worst for strikes and spares. I had noticed before that my speed would creep up but hadn't correlated it to my worst games. Lately my 3rd game had been my worst so I was blaming it on transition or fatigue but tonight I slowed down in game 3 and it ended up being my best of the night.

Used the Conspiracy all night. Current average = 179.29

https://i.postimg.cc/wx2tBw51/2019-04-02.png (https://postimages.org/)

[thebigmile]

Ball speed is very important to my bowling game. I rarely move my stance or target. I just increase or decrease my ball speed depending on the lane conditions.

[boatman37]

So my ball speed was pretty consistent tonight. Most were lower 17's and a few in the 16's. Didn't notice any in the 18's and I usually have quite a few up there. My spare shooting was miserable. Strike shooting was really good though. Lanes were pretty dry outside tonight and just got worse. Started out hitting light so moved feet out a little and still no luck so tucked the pinky and started hitting the pocket pretty good. 2nd game it started drying more so untucked the pinky and moved feet 1/2 board out and started hitting good again. Game 3 started out great then about 1/2 way through started leaving 7's. Made a few minor adjustments but started tugging the ball and just got out of whack.
In the end got my average series and we won games 2 and 3. Finished the regular season in 4th but we won our division in the 1st half so we were locked in to the rolloffs already. Next week is divisional position round.

Tonight we bowled the team with the highest average in the league. They are all hi revvers and struggled tonight.

If I had been able to cover my spares I would have had a pretty good night. My running average is 179.39. Average 182.33 tonight.

https://i.postimg.cc/bwJsbLcy/2019-04-09.png (https://postimages.org/)

[IshmaelMunson]

Good job, and good luck in the Roll off! My leagues roll off is tomorrow and my team is 1 of the 4 teams in!!

[boatman37]

Tough night. We won all 3 and ended up in 3rd for prize money this half. Hit the pocket pretty consistently all night but no carry. Tried moving in/out, changing balls, changing speed, tucking the pinky, you name it. Nothing helped. 3rd game went back to the 9 board where I started and adjusted a little and that worked. We had 5 lefties on our pair tonight.

Last week I threw strikes but missed my spares. Tonight I couldn't strike but covered most spares. Just wish I could put it all together in one night.

https://i.postimg.cc/DzNHCk7Z/2019-04-16.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Tonight was league tournament. All 16 teams in. We got 4th. 1st place was about 100 pins higher than us but they have a big handicap. Their anchor rolled a 299 in the last game and had an 821. His average is about 207 but the rest of their team all average about 140-170. Lanes were very dry and the approach very tacky. We were on 39/40, the last pair and the worst in the house. I was surprised at the end of the night to see that I had 16 strikes. I struggled to string anything together so didn't think I had that many. Missed too many spares tonight again but in the end beat my average. Our team was only 51 over our average on the night and we still got 4th of 16 so that shows how conditions were, and we were on the toughest pair.
I played more inside all night than I normally do. Targeted the 9 board all night and only had to move my feet about 1 board all night. Guess when there is no oil to start then there is no transition....lol. Used the Conspiracy all night.Stood on about 17 and targeted 9 at the arrows. Speed was up tonight trying to overcome the dry lanes.

Next week is rolloffs. Top 8 teams area eligible.

My average at the end of last season was 173 and I was at 173 about the beginning of January. As of tonight I'm at 179.86 this season. Averaging about 185 since New Years. Still have some work to do to get back to where I was 16 years ago when I quit.

Threw a warmup game before league tonight and rolled 189

https://i.postimg.cc/BQSg61FW/2019-04-23.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

So tonight was the rolloff. Top 8 teams were in it. Our whole team struggled. I think we had 1 guy that bowled his average and he barely got it. I was 9 pins under my average for the night. 2 of us were really low and I think another was fairly low too. We ended up 8th of the 8 teams and I think we were about 200 below 7th...lol.

So I started with the Conspiracy like I usually do but struggled with consistency. Switched to the Kingpin in game 3 and it was night and day. Hit the pocket almost every shot. Spare shooting was very good tonight. Only 65% overall but had 4 splits. I was 81% makeable spares (13/16) and 100% single pin (5/5). Multi pin spares I was 72% (8/11). Game 2 I had 3 splits. Our team had 12 or 13 splits in game 2.

https://i.postimg.cc/5tJMdY22/2019-04-30.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Started our summer league tonight. 4 games on 2 pairs. Started on 39-40, worst pair in the house. Struggled in game 1 hitting light. Used the Kingpin until 8th frame then went with the Conspiracy. Made an adjustment and woke up. Spare shooting was pretty good all night and strikes started coming in game 2.

Rolled 166, 191, 233, 205 (198.75 average)

Won all 4 games. Teammate rolled 277 in game 1. Summer league is 2 man teams

https://i.postimg.cc/D0qhTmJ1/2019-05-07.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

Wow. Big guns come out for summer league. We have a pretty good winter league but only had 1 300 all season. Last night was the first night of summer league and already had a 300. We bowl 4 games and that guy had a 1031 scratch. My teammate (he was the only 300 in our winter league) rolled a 908. I rolled a 797. These were all scratch scores.

Last year we had 8 or 9 300's and one guy had 3 or 4 of them. It's only a 16 week league...lol

[boatman37]

Wow. Just horrible tonight. Teammate struggled too. First set we bowled a pretty good team. 1 guy has 224 average and the other 176. We lost game 1 by 5 pins and game 2 they both bowled about 170 and we lost by 27. We were horrible. They tried giving us that game. My 127 didn't help.

I tried the Conspiracy and the Kingpin from the 5 board to the 10 board and could not get strikes. Between both teams all 4 games I bet we left over 40 10 pins (and 7's for me). This would be out of about 160 frames. I know I left 7 10 pins tonight. My ball had to be perfect or I left 1 or 2 pins. I really got to the point I was ready to try my spare ball every shot.

The bad carry started getting into my head as I started tugging my shots and missing spares. Teammate didn't do any better. And actually our opponents struggled all night too. They just did enough to beat us 3 of 4 games.

Really hole things are better next week.

[boatman37]

Better tonight but still disappointed. Spare shooting was very good but missed a few strikes that I should have got. I was 3/3 on 7 pins so that was good. Rolled a 198c, 179, 171, and 225. Struck in the right lane every frame in game 1 but no strikes in the left lane until the 9th frame of game 2. We won all 4 games and got a bonus point for winning game 2 by over 60 pins so we went 11-0 tonight. Teammate struggled a little still but we did enough to win. Asked the owner about the oil pattern as it seems everyones averages are down this summer. He said nothing has changed but talked to another bowler that said down towards lane 1 is wetter than towards lane 40. They get drier as you move up. Not sure why but the first week we were on 37-40 and we killed it. The following week we moved to 1-4 and we have struggled since then. Tonight we were on 17-20. We bowl 2 games against one team then move either 1 pair or 2 pairs and bowl another team.

One thing I did differently tonight was about the 2nd or 3rd frame of game 1 I pulled my pinky in tight to my ring finger to get a little more revs. Bowled like that the rest of the night. Ball was in the pocket almost all night. Targeted the 6-7 board at the arrows all night and my speed was actually down about 1 MPH from where it normally is. Tonight was at about 16.2 at the pins all night. Accuracy was much better. 3/3 on 7 pins so that was nice. Used the Conspiracy all night except for the 3 times for the 7 pin.

So it was a good night but could/should have been so much better. As good as I was hitting and carrying I feel I should have had better scores. Oh well. We won.

https://i.postimg.cc/FRtV7ZbD/2019-06-11.png (https://postimages.org/)

[JasonNJ]

Topography changes with the season, usually during the summer months with the heat and humidity the lanes may swell in some areas so the lanes may appear wetter since the ball is going uphill in some spots. Also end pairs usually end pairs are affected more since they are closer to the outside environment than middle pairs.

[boatman37]

Just looked at my stats so far. After 4 weeks of bowling (16 games) my last game is my highest average by far.

Game 1: 181.5

Game 2: 169

Game 3: 176

Game 4: 196.5

Big difference. I'm not doing anything different so it must be the lanes coming to me? Last summer after 4 weeks I was averaging 160.18 so definitely better. Towards the end of our fall league this year I was averaging about mid 180's. I finished the previous fall league at 173 so 4 weeks in I was 19 pins lower and I ended that summer league at 177 so hope that trend continues....lol

[boatman37]

So-so night. Bowled almost exactly my average. Game 2 was real good but game 3 was real bad. We won 3 of 4 and went 8-3 on the night and moved up a few spots.

So with only 20 games in my averages will move quite a bit. Last week my game 2 was my worst by far but after a 215 in game 2 last night and a 145 in game 3 that has changed...lol. Game 3 is now my worst but not by much but game 4 is by far my best

EDIT: just checked my stats and I left 5 6 pins and 4 4 pins. Those were my 2 most common leaves last night. Covered all 5 6 pins and 2 of the 4 4 pins.

My single pin opens were 0/1 on the 2 pin, 2/4 on the 4 pin, 2/3 on the 5 pin, and 1/2 on the 7 pin. Definitely shouldn't have missed most of those

Game 1: 180.2

Game 2: 178.2

Game 3: 169.8

Game 4: 195

[boatman37]

What a rough night. Definitely one to forget. Teammate picked up his new Squatch. Said he liked the ball but he struggled too. Doesn't help that our opponents bowled probably their best games all season. We bowl 4 games, 2 against one team then move lanes and 2 more against another team. Only 2 bowlers per team. So my average coming in was 180 and teammate was 185 (his 'normal' average is about 200). I rolled a 170 and him a 174. Our opponents rolled 204 and 256. Their averages are 181 and 210 respectively. They won by 96 (they were spotting us 20). Game 2 I rolled 193 and teammate was 190. Our opponents rolled 160 and 226. We won by 17.

So we moved lanes and went up against our next opponents. Third game I rolled 167 and teammate was 147. Opponents rolled 188 and 266 (their averages were 198 and 199 respectively). They were spotting us 25. They won game 3 by 115. Game 2 I rolled 183 and my teammate rolled 190. We both beat our averages. Opponents rolled 193 and 245. Yeah, the one opponent rolled a 1001 series tonight with a 199 average. We lost game 4 by 40. So we went 2-8 tonight.

I tried everything. Got no breaks all night. Tried the Conspiracy and the Kingpin. Played inside and outside. Varied my speed by about 2 MPH and everything in between. Tried pinky in tight, pinky spread wide, and pinky tucked. I wasn't as consistent as I should have been but even when I hit the pocket I left a pin somewhere. Not sure what else I could have done. About the only thing I didn't try was the Hammer BWG. Lanes seemed a little dry. The Conspiracy never showed a drop of oil all night but the Kingpin showed a little. Most of the night I targeted the 10 board at the arrows. I would rather target the 6 or 7 board but my ball just wouldn't come in. In the last game I moved out there near the end and threw a 3 bagger but early on that line wouldn't work. I had my pinky tucked most of the night too.

Teammate was inconsistent all night but left alot of 10 pins with good pocket hits. He said he liked the new Squatch but just struggled. He missed most of his 10 pins and he usually gets those. One of the top bowlers watched him and said it looked like he was trying to force the ball.

https://i.postimg.cc/PrzdyMKf/2019-07-02.png (https://postimages.org/)

[boatman37]

BOOM! 863 4 game series tonight. Best average since I have came back from my 16 year break. Still not up to where I was back then but getting closer. The lanes are much drier this summer so used my BWG all night with a 4000 finish. Ball worked great all night with a very small adjustment.

[boatman37]

Decent night but still frustrated with how it ended. Bowled the owners daughter and her teammate the first 2. Split that and got total pins so 3-2 there. Oddly we lost game 2 even though we were 85 pins over our average. I had a 234 and my teammate had a 224. Our averages were 185 and 187. We lost by 5 pins. The owners daughter and her teammate average 205 and 192 and they rolled 258 and 225 that game. Unreal...lol. 2nd set we bowled against the owner and his teammate. We won the first one by about 70 and got 1 bonus point (1 point for winning by 60 and 2 bonus points for winning by 100). 2nd game against them I missed the 4 pin in the 10th in a tight game and thought we had lost. Guy on the other team opens in the 10th too and we win by 4 pins so went 9-2 tonight.
First game I couldn't get to the pocket. Tried the Conspiracy and the Black Widow Gold. Moved feet left, moved target right, slowed my speed. In the end I had my pinky tucked and targeting the 5 board. Ended up with the Conspiracy in games 2 and 3 but left 2 pocket 7's at the end of game 3 so switched to the BWG for game 4. That was the right decision as I started game 4 pretty hot but then missed too many spares. All in all it was a good night and my average is up 7 pins in my last 2 weeks of bowling (180 to 187). Even more impressive is my teammate bought a new Squatch a few weeks ago. So far with it he is averaging 201 after 12 games and his first night with it he struggled getting used to it. His last 8 games with it he is averaging 214.375. His average when he got the ball was 181. He is now at 191. He really likes that ball...lol.

Feels good to have 2 good weeks in a row. My last 2 weeks I am averaging 208.125 (currently at 187). I think I'm finally starting to understand what ball does what and why I would use one over the other in certain conditions. I think that is the biggest reason for my recent improvement. When I quit in 2002 I was averaging 193 with a Cobalt Rhino on wood lanes. I figured after a month or two I'd be over 200. Well it has been about 18 months and I'm finally getting close to my old average and hope to pass it by the end of the summer league. I ended the first winter league back at 173, then last summer at 177, then this past winter league at 179 and now at 187. I still need to get a little more consistent with my spares but thinking I can average over 200 in the winter league this year.

It's funny. When I left in 2002 the internet was still pretty new and there was no Google. You didn't have access to the information we do now. I showed up and bowled and never understood why I might have a bad game. Just figured it was me. Now with forums like this and youtube it makes it much easier to understand why things happen and how to fix them. I'm even getting my teammate up to speed and he is extremely old school and would never make more than about a 2 board adjustment and if that didn't work then he would just accept the fact that it would be a bad night. He used his bowling balls forever and never (literally never) wiped them off or cleaned them. We have resurfaced 2 of his balls and he just bought a new Squatch and he sees the difference in all 3 balls now and even cleaned them today...lol

https://i.postimg.cc/FzKkZv9Y/2019-07-23.png (https://postimages.org/)

[Amyers]

Congrats on a great season bud.

[boatman37]

Well all-in-all I guess it wasn't a bad night but I struggled. I wasn't supposed to bowl tonight but went down to support my team. Pulled in and teammate called and said his car wouldn't start and asked if I could bowl. Sure but my bad was at home. So rush home to get it and get back. First set we bowled against the PSO and the league President (216 and 209 averages). We split with them but they got total pins. 2nd set we bowled against the owners son and his teammate (teammate had a 300 last week) (221 and 219 averages). Both of these teams are ahead of us in the standings. We all struggled tonight. PSO had a 278 but followed that with a 164. His teammate had a 200 then 221. I rolled a 169 and teammate rolled a 181 (187 and 197 averages respectively). 2nfd game I rolled 170 and teammate had 193. Both of us were below our averages but we still won by 10. 2nd set I rolled 200 and 181 and teammate rolled 188 and 170. We were both below our averages but considering who we bowled I'll take a 5-5 night bowling that bad.

I could not hit the pocket all night. Used the BWG the first 3 games (tried the Conspiracy a few frames in game 1 but it just wouldn't come in). Game 3 tried moving in to the 10 board but couldn't even get close to my mark and kept tugging the ball. Seemed like my timing was off all night. Not sure but just didn't feel right all night. Game 4 went to the Conspiracy but still had trouble finding the pocket. I moved 2 boards left to get the ball to the pocket as I kept hitting light most of the night except when I tugged the ball.

Overall I should be happy with averaging 180 tonight but after my last 2 weeks it was a disappointment. We were in 12th out of 39 teams but I'm sure we dropped tonight. Seems like the top 15 teams are getting 7-12 points a night so getting 5 isn't good. Last week we got 7 or 8 and only gained 1 spot. On the positive side the top 20 teams make rolloffs and there are only a few weeks left but the standings are pretty tight. Next week we bowl the 3 place team the 1st set then the 1st place team the 2nd set so it doesn't get any easier.

https://i.postimg.cc/zDSfjQ9k/2019-07-30.png (https://postimages.org/)

[Amyers]

Actually looking at your scores you converted single pin spare very well this night. I know not striking like you want is a disappointment but when your cleaning up afterwards on a slow night is often more impressive to me

[boatman37]

yeah that's the only thing that saved my butt. and i was 4/5 on 7 pins...lol. usually miss more than that and the one i missed was wobbling.

[boatman37]

So for the heck of it I looked at last summers stats. The newest I have from then was 7/24/18 and I was ranked 79 of 93 so 84.94% of league bowlers were ahead of me. My average was 174 at that time (I finished that league at 177 so I got better near the end). Currently my average is 186 and I am 57 of 84, or 67.85% of the league is ahead of me. So I moved up past about 20% of the league this year...lol. yeah, i'm bored

[boatman37]

Well another good night that I left unsatisfied. My spare shooting was horrible but I did beat my best ever so that was good. And we went 7-3. We were in 14th and the top 12 make playoffs. After tonight we are in 11th. We bowled the 4th and 3rd place teams tonight. The first team we bowled their averages were 223 and 221. Ours were 195 and 186 (me). First game I had 194 and teammate had 257. Other team had 258 and 185. 2nd game I had 222 and teammate had 215. Other team had 206 and 256. Next set we bowled the 3rd place team and both guys had 229 averages. I bowled 190 and teammate bowled 225. Other team bowled 278 and 259. Hard to beat that. Last game I bowled 267 and teammate bowled 181. Other team bowled 216 and 237. Good games there.

So I struggled with spares tonight. Kept coming in light. Moved feet and target. Ended up further outside than I normally play but needed the dry to get the ball to come back but struggled with carry. Late in game 3 I switched to the Black Widow Gold (used the Conspiracy till then). Ended up with 13 strikes in the last 15 frames with it. The BWG helped but what made the difference was in the 2nd frame of game 3 I tucked my pinky. That slowed my speed and got the rotation I needed to get the carry. But late in the game I had a couple strikes I didn't deserve. Started hitting high and ended up with an ugly Brooklyn then the next was through the headpin leaving the 4-6-7-10 but they were all wobbling and all fell just as the sweep came down. Ugliest strike I think I have ever seen.

Another thing I did different tonight was moved up about 8-10" on the approach. My timing felt much better. Didn't really affect my speed but just felt better overall. Next week I will be sitting out. My average is up to 189.68 now. I was at 193 when I quit in the early 2000's. That was the highest I was ever at. Finished the fall league at 179 so quite a jump from that. The last 4 weeks I'm averaging 203.625 (863, 802, 720, and 873 in last 16 games). 9 of my last 16 games have been over 200. The first 24 games I only had 4 games over 200. Just hope to keep this up and to get better with my spare conversions.

https://i.postimg.cc/76WqRPS5/2019-08-06.png (https://postimages.org/)

[Aslan]

My average is up to 189.68 now. I was at 193 when I quit in the early 2000's. That was the highest I was ever at. Finished the fall league at 179 so quite a jump from that. The last 4 weeks I'm averaging 203.625 (863, 802, 720, and 873 in last 16 games). 9 of my last 16 games have been over 200. The first 24 games I only had 4 games over 200. Just hope to keep this up and to get better with my spare conversions.


I'm in the same boat. Ended last fall averaging 177...my highest average before that was 195. This summer, I'm at 200. I keep having this pessimistic feeling that I'm in some type of "dream world" where...in a couple weeks...I'll wake up and be back to usual.

[boatman37]

Mine was opposite. I would have a good week and think I got this figured out then the next 2 or 3 weeks I struggled. Have had 4 good weeks in a row now (last week was so-so) so I'm hoping I got this now.

Next week is our last regular week of summer league. The following week is position round then playoffs. The top 12 teams make the playoffs (there are 39 in our league). Currently we are in 11th. It's a 2 person/team league but we have 3 and rotate. 2 of us have 40 games and 1 has 32 so that person will likely bowl the rest of the weeks and I will bowl either 2 or 3 more times. I think our fall league starts the same night as playoffs so 2 of us will have to pre-bowl and the night of playoffs all 3 of us will be bowling no matter what, just a matter of which league it will be in...lol.

Payouts for 1st place is $2000 but 12th is only $60. The good thing for us is 2 of us had been struggling but the last 4 weeks I have been 20 over my average, my one teammate struggled then last time he bowled he did really good. His current average is about 15 below his normal average. The 3rd teammate had been struggling but this past Tuesday he averaged about 219 so hopefully he got it back and the 3 of us should be in good shape to finish the year.