Setting Goals

[classygranny]

In most of my bowling career, I tend to set goals (ok, actually for most things in my life - I set goals). I need ideas/help with one.

I decided to bowl a short summer 9-pin tap league this summer, along with my regular summer league. I have only bowled 9-pin tap tournaments, so I have no idea what I should be expecting on a regular basis of 9-pin tap games/series week after week. I like to keep my goals within reach, so a 300 every game, or every series is not in what I would call reachable. I'm looking more for what an average goal might be.

I have recently been averaging around 160 since my elbow surgery. In dropping weight of the ball, I see a decrease in the amount of strikes I typically get. And, I seem to be averaging a 1-3 opens a game (albeit, mostly corner pins).

So give me your ideas and expectations of goals for the new league. I need ideas to noodle on. Oh, and I will most definitely be concentrating on posting my shot (as I have started to come up out of the shot recently).

Thanks!

[J Anderson]

In most of my bowling career, I tend to set goals (ok, actually for most things in my life - I set goals). I need ideas/help with one.

I decided to bowl a short summer 9-pin tap league this summer, along with my regular summer league. I have only bowled 9-pin tap tournaments, so I have no idea what I should be expecting on a regular basis of 9-pin tap games/series week after week. I like to keep my goals within reach, so a 300 every game, or every series is not in what I would call reachable. I'm looking more for what an average goal might be.

I have recently been averaging around 160 since my elbow surgery. In dropping weight of the ball, I see a decrease in the amount of strikes I typically get. And, I seem to be averaging a 1-3 opens a game (albeit, mostly corner pins).

So give me your ideas and expectations of goals for the new league. I need ideas to noodle on. Oh, and I will most definitely be concentrating on posting my shot (as I have started to come up out of the shot recently).

Thanks!

My only experience with 9-pin tap is one tournament where it seemed like I either got a real strike or a 7 or 8 count. So will the automatic scorers give you a strike on the 9 drops and sweep the offending pin off the deck or will someone have to change the 9 to an X and cycle the pinsetter?

I would guess that no tap will give you an extra 2-3 strikes per game. The question is will that give you an equivalent increase in doubles and other strings of strikes. After all a strike that isn’t followed by another strike doesn’t count for much more than a spare. Then again you won’t be missing any corner pins so that should be good for at least 10 more pins a game, so maybe that 160 average becomes a 180ish average in 9-pin tap. Maybe a goal of averaging 190 would be reasonable.

You might also try process goals, like staying down on 80% of your shots and working up to 99% by the end of league. Other goals might be based on hitting the pocket, covering both pins of the 4-7 and the 6-10, or hitting your target on the lane.

[Ryster]

No-tap leagues are kind of interesting. Many people go in with the mindset that they will average 250+ on these types of leagues. There is a no-tap league currently going on at our center, and the averages of the bowlers are anywhere from 120 all the way up to 230.

I would think a reasonable goal would be to average at least what you normally average on a standard league. Also think about how many single pin spares you typically leave each game and take that in to consideration as well, and maybe add 10 pins to your standard average for each. So if you average 185, and know you typically leave 2 single pin spares each game, then set a goal to average 200-205 on the no tap league. Not a perfect formula, but something reasonable.

[Aslan]

Since single-pin conversion percentage is off the table, I'd have to look at strike %. Since it's a summer league, perhaps shorter in length; I'd be more focused on physical issues like balance, posting, and release. I like to use shorter summer leagues to work out those kinds of kinks.