Latest update (and my game)

[Iceman]

Sorry for the long time away, company got busy - many changes around the household - medical emergencies, and of course kid sports have just consumed the last few months. Things are back to a nominal level for our company and life in general, Wife is feeling much better after the surgeries and all seems to be back in place.

I did start back on the PBA leagues this summer (even though I said I was not going to..) We started on the cheetah and I'm taking a much different approach to this pattern than I did last year. They say to play as close to the channel as possible (is 1 - 3 board close enough?) I shot 628 for first set playing outside 3 board with controlled speed. Just a little fast and the breakpoint is too far down. Which caused me a few 6 counts. Overall, it was much more consistent and controlled. We're doing this for 3 weeks, then switching patterns. I used my Venom Widow standing right 7 and hitting outside 3 with no swing. I have a board or 2 pull room as long as I follow through - otherwise, I go high and leave 4 or 47.

[JAnderson]

Good to see you're back, Iceman.

I haven't bowled on the "new" Cheetah yet (they changed the Cheetah pattern before this last PBA season), but have tons of experience bowling both PBA experience leagues as well as PBA tournaments on the "old" Cheetah.

On the old Cheetah, I worked with a couple of exempt players on-lane (no name dropping) who gave me ideas on what to look for and how to maximize scoring on Cheetah. I found everything they suggested to work wonders. In a nutshell, you want your break point to be as close to the gutter as you can make it and get your ball to roll early. Usually, a ball with a strong surface such as 1000 grit sanded with a length drill allows you to use a weaker, end-over-end release playing the ball straight up 2-3 board (lay down point is 2-3 board, ball is at 2-3 board at the arrows and the break point is the 2-3 board). This gives you a board of miss room on each side of target at the break point. Depending on the lane surface, sometimes during games 4-5 in an 8 or 9 game block, there will be some carry down. At that point, a switch to a more polished ball with a stronger back end usually gets the corners out. After the carry down goes away, its usually a move back to the first ball with a corresponding move slightly inside, throwing it back to the gutter. Alternately, a weaker release works well.

Mind you, that's the old Cheetah and I haven't bowled on the new Cheetah yet. From sources I trust, it sounds like the above strategy still works, but the break point needs to move closer to the foul line and the ball needs to roll even earlier to take advantage of the miss room on the gutter. That's because they've incorporated more oil closer to the end of the pattern on the outside. Moving in and throwing to the gutter longer down the lane doesn't work because the friction spot isn't as dry as it was on the old pattern and the ball doesn't have as much time to recover. So playing a lay down point closer to the gutter means more room to miss towards the gutter. The slight hold room is still there (and grows if your squad is breaking down the lane together).

[kev3inp]

I'll be happy if I can get my missing 5 pins back over the summer on the THS. I plan on picking J's brain every chance I get in NC.