First night with new team

[boatman37]

Had alot of fun. We won 2 of 3 and total pins. We had 3rd highest team scratch game (1047 and also had a 1043), 2nd highest team scratch series (3028), highest handicap game (1194 and had an 1190) and tied for highest handicap series (3469).
I rolled a 619 with a book average of 191 so did my part...lol. New teammates were alot of fun. Looking forward to this season.

EDIT: I already knew these guys having bowled against them for the last 3 or 4 years but haven't 'hung out' with them until now. I was already confident that we would have a good time together

[Phonetek]

I’m happy to hear you found a good fit. That will be important for you to have a good season. It’s nice when things work out. Good luck in the coming months, may the bowling gods be with you.

[boatman37]

Not quite as good tonight. Yeah we were on my worst pair and it may be psychological but we all struggled, even the other team. Lanes were very dry and balls were just rolling out. Left a ton of 7's. Spares were tough too. And we only had 4 bowlers so had to take a 30 pin per game hit there. We lost the first 2 but won the last and lost total pins to go 2-5 tonight. Team was still fun but they were all frustrated with bowling bad. We bowled one of the higher average teams in the league and they rolled 627, 522, 608, 606 and 620. Doesn't look bad but 4 of those guys have 200+ averages and 2 are closer to 215. Our team had 528, 474, 549 and 604. Our blind score has a 213 average so we got 183/game for him. We lost game 1 by 109, game 2 by 21 and won game 3 by 25. On to next week

[boatman37]

So I love this new team but we are getting screwed here...lol. 3 of the first 4 weeks we have bowled top 5 teams (13 teams in the league). And next week we bowl the highest average team in the league. So 4 of the first 5 weeks we are getting hit hard. Statistics say that at some point we should run into an 'easier' stretch....lol

Week 1: 12th place team
Week 2: 1st place team
Week 3: 3rd place team
Week 4: 2nd place team
Next week: 4th place team

Us: 10th place but we have the 5th highest scratch pin count and 7th highest handicap pin count
Schedule only goes out that far so don't know who is after that

[boatman37]

So I was wrong. We bowl the other top team next week. This week we bowled a team that is pretty close to us in terms of ability, etc. We won all 3 games. The other team really struggled. We were on the end pair and they were playing different from each other. If I hadn't seen my scores I'd have thought I may have rolled about a 520-540. Ended up I had a 595 so that was good. Had to really adjust all night and salvaged a decent night. Also went 3/3 on 7 pins but missed a bunch of multi pin spares that I shouldn't have.

[boatman37]

Man...lost all 3 games last night to a pretty low average team. We have the 5th highest scratch pin total in the league and are 12th in the standings out of 13 teams for scratch scores. We are 6th highest handicap in the league...ugh. Just shows that the teams we have went up against have really good nights when we bowl them.

[Ryster]

It's all about the schedule. Currently, my team has the highest scratch pin total in our scratch league. We are 3rd in the standings out of 7 teams. We bowl for 15 points per week.

This week we bowl the 1st place team, but they are 16 points ahead of us. Even if we win all 15 points [unlikely based on how they have been bowling lately] we will still be one point behind them. Position round is the following week and we would have to bowl them again.

[boatman37]

It doesn't help that the first few weeks we had to use last years average when 3 of us were bowling about 20 pins below that. We still have a guy that has a 192 book average from 2 years ago and after 7 games he is averaging about 155. I'm sure other teams have experienced similar problems but the proof is there on our stats sheet. We seem to get screwed every week. On top of that in the first 6 weeks we bowled the top 4 teams. Schedule should go our way soon but we have 3 3rds and our position round for 1st round is in 2 weeks then we all go back to 0-0

[boomer]

We had the opposite problem at the start of this league. A group of bowlers wanted to change the rule from carry-over average for the first three weeks to start fresh. These are our suspected (LOL) sandbaggers and we know that they wanted to establish low and gradually ramp up as the season progressed. They've done this before, and we were able to get it squashed and go with carry-over avgs for the first three weeks.

[boatman37]

Just looked at the standings after tonight. We are in last place (13th) but have the 5th highest scratch and the 5th highest handicap totals after 9 weeks. Ugh.

[boatman37]

Well we lost the first game by 115 but won the 2nd by 43 and won the 3rd by 150. Should be out of last place now...lol. Position round for the 1st 3rd next week. First game was a struggle for the whole team. High game was 182 and low was 171 (me). Consistent but not good...lol. My forearm was pretty sore I assume from bowling 5 games Sunday in the tournament. Wasn't getting any wrist into it in game 1 then settled in. Ball was deflecting big time without that wrist action. My night...171, 214, 257 = 642. Covered a 6-8 in game 3 to keep it clean.

Was actually surprised by how much deflection I got with no wrist. Went from pocket 9 counts to stringing strikes just by getting that wrist flick in there.

[boatman37]

Geez. Looked at the standings today and after our 5-2 night last night we are still in last. Every team close enough for us to catch all went either 5-2 or 7-0. The only team we gained on was the one we beat and they are still 1 game ahead of us. As for the stats....well....we are still 5th in total scratch pins but moved up to 4th in total with handicap pins, yet we are still in last place (13th).

[Ryster]

We finished the first quarter 4th out of 7 teams. We have the highest team average and the highest overall pinfall. Oh well. Maybe next quarter we will win and claim a spot in the roll-offs at the end of the season :)

[boatman37]

no bowling for me tonight. Started feeling a little sick the other day and felt horrible today.

[boatman37]

Well got a text and we lost all 3 games. ugh. Lanes must have been tough. We have a 216 avg guy that rolled 504. A 196 guy that rolled 496 and a 204 guy that rolled 568. In fact 568 was our high series. The other team wasn't a lot better but good enough to take all 3. I was starting to worry that I was the issue cause they are good bowlers but we keep losing. On to next week.

[Ryster]

The 204 guy rolling a 568 isn't all that bad. Parker Bohn III did a Q&A at our house a couple of years ago and said that if you bowl within 10 pins of your indicated average [above or below], you have basically bowled average. The 204 guy averaged 189 for the night, which is close enough in my book. That 216 guy averaging 168 and the 196 guy averaging 165, on the other hand...yeah that's pretty rough.

[boatman37]

The 204 guy rolling a 568 isn't all that bad. Parker Bohn III did a Q&A at our house a couple of years ago and said that if you bowl within 10 pins of your indicated average [above or below], you have basically bowled average. The 204 guy averaged 189 for the night, which is close enough in my book. That 216 guy averaging 168 and the 196 guy averaging 165, on the other hand...yeah that's pretty rough.

yeah. haven't seen the whole league scores but our pair was definitely down

[Ryster]

yeah. haven't seen the whole league scores but our pair was definitely down

There has been a lot of that at our center recently as well. Scores down in general even among the higher average bowlers. Not really sure what to attribute it to. Yes, they did get a new lane machine, and yes the shot is slightly different than what it was. But it isn't that drastically different and it is certainly a shot that can be scored on. We were also acquired by Bowlero a few months ago and that has created a lot of disgruntled bowlers. I am starting to wonder if it is just a general case of bowling burn-out. There are some people at our center that literally bowl 3-4 times a week. There are also people, like myself, that have been bowling there for 20-30 years.

[boatman37]

Man. So we are 5th of 13 in total scratch pins but now down to 13th of 13 with handicap. We finished last the first 3rd and after 2 weeks are 2-12 the 2nd 3rd.

[classygranny]

There has been a lot of that at our center recently as well. Scores down in general even among the higher average bowlers. Not really sure what to attribute it to. Yes, they did get a new lane machine, and yes the shot is slightly different than what it was. But it isn't that drastically different and it is certainly a shot that can be scored on. We were also acquired by Bowlero a few months ago and that has created a lot of disgruntled bowlers.

When Bowlero took over our lanes, the shot "stayed" the same, but the GM told us they use a different brand - so it does react a bit different. Our league scores suffered a few weeks, but eventually things evened out and all got "used to it".

[boatman37]

So our team was on fire tonight. Our averages are 192, 170, 179, 202 and 195 for the 5 we had there tonight. Game 1 we rolled 1062 scratch and still lost by 17. We won the next 2 by a bunch, rolling 1104 and 960 scratch. We finally had a good night as a team. My spare shooting still sucked but I was able to roll 686.

[boatman37]

Tough night. Lanes were very dry. I went in early and threw 2 games only throwing at the 4, 6, 7 and 10 pins with my spare ball. Definitely helped. Last week me and our leadoff bowler did great but tonight both of us struggled and 3 others bowled great. We won the 1st game by alot but lost game 2 by 9 and game 3 by about 70 but were able to take total pins so went 3 out of 7 points tonight.

The spare practice helped. I had pretty much been 'winging' it before. I used to have a system that I used but kind of forgot it over time so tonight I went back and got that figured out again. Was 3/4 tonight on 7 pins. Didn't leave any 10 pins. In fact only left 1 4 pin, 1 6 pin and 4 7 pins. Made all except 1 7 pin. For my multi pin spares I made all but 1 except for my splits. They were (2) 4-7's, (2) 2-4-7's, a 2-4, a 3-5, a 6-10 and made all of those. The only multi-pin spare I missed was the first frame of game 1 when I dropped my first ball in the gutter and left the 2-4-7 on my spare attempt. Happy with that.

Now if we get 'normal' lane conditions next week I'm hoping for a good night. Really would have liked to have had another ball to ball down to tonight.

[boatman37]

Very similar tonight. Whole team struggled. Spare shooting was tough again but might be because I was worn out. Had to throw with quite a bit of speed to keep the ball on the left side of the lane. The 2 hander on my team struggled with it too. He ordered a Radical Counter Attack tonight so hopefully that fixes his issues. A guy on the other team rolled an 803 tonight (247, 277, 279 with a 215 average). Another guy on their team rolled 681 with a 215 average and a 3rd rolled a 658 with a 218 average. Yeah that team is loaded. The other 2 guys on their team struggled though. We had 4 lefties with 2 of us being higher rev rates (me and the 803 guy). Our high series was 576 (2 guys both rolled 576). They are 193 and 213 averages (the 213 average is the 2 hander that struggled with dry lanes). I rolled a 547 but started the night with 3 splits in the first 4 frames to start the night and 5 opens to start off and 4 splits in the game. Finished with a 160 after a horrible start. Tried playing inside a little to get to the oil. Gave up on that after the 5th frame and moved back outside but moved up about 4" on the approach and added speed. Normally I'm about 15.5-16.0 but tonight was about 16.8-17.3. Used the Igniter all night which is my weakest ball. Talked to the PSO tonight about drilling up a Hammer Raw pearl for me. He agreed that should help and thought it was a good idea. Told him I'd let him know. The last 2 weeks the lanes have been like this. Tonight I went in early and practiced working inside between the 15 and 20 boards and was pretty inconsistent. Had to hit right on my mark or came up light and went through the nose. Bowled 2 games trying to get it but no luck. So lost all 3 games tonight so pretty sure we are in last place again.

[boatman37]

So-so night. On a good note we bowled one of the better teams and won 2/3. On a bad note I struck good most of the night but my scores weren't great. First game ball jumped straight to the pocket. 2nd game didn't change anything but started leaving 7's like crazy and I started coming in a little light. Tried slowing my speed down a little but no change. Grabbed my new Raw Hammer pearl just to try it even though the lanes weren't dried up but no luck there. Tried moving my line in but wasn't having much luck there either. Was hitting the pocket but getting 8 and 9 counts. Went back to the Igniter and moved back outside and started striking again. Thinking maybe my speed crept up without me realizing it. 212, 189, 202 (603)