Bowling Guy

My name is Jeff and bowling is my game. I have decided to start this blog for several reasons. The first is that I have been bowling ever since I was very young. My dad taught not only me, and my sister, but even got my grandfather into bowling back when he use to work part time at the local bowling alley. I took a 10 and a half year break due to serving in the US Coast Guard. Since getting out, I found that I have more free time than before. So I decided to get back into bowling. I joined a league at the local bowling alley called Lane Lovers. During the season I struggled to bowl where I use to backin my youth league days, 145-180. Back then I had an average of 154, which for the area I grew up in was pretty good.

My dad always emphasized being able to throw the same "strike" or "first" ball every time you get up and then focus on picking up the spare. So a lot of my games were spent picking up spares more than it was getting strikes. I knew how to throw a strike but wouldn't get the necessary pin action to knock them all down. So I learned how to pick up any spare any day of the week. Executing, on the other hand, was something else. Since a lot of spares require you to hit a specific mark or board and doing that is pretty difficult. Especially if you have a weird combanation of pins left. For example 2, 8, 10 would be a weird on to pick up. You have to hit the 2, 8 head on to get the sleeper pin (8 pin) but then you have to be able to get to the 10 pin. So in order to do it you have throw the ball just right that the 2 pin slides over to get the 10 pin while the path of the ball doesnt change and hits the 8 pin. How many out there have picked this up? I know I haven't and I ended up with it twice in the past week.

So after having some difficulty during the Lane Lovers season, not to mention that fact that we ended it early due to the lanes being shut down, I knew that I had to figure out what was going on with this used ball that I got. I was having the problem of really have to work to get it curve for some reason. I was also havign the oil ring going right through my thumb hole and between the finger holes. After bowling three games one day, I decided to bowl a fourth. I set up directly in front of the head pin and threw to the left of the middle arrow and not try to put any spin on the ball to see what the ball would do. Low and behold, the ball went straight! So had been bowling with a ball that is set up not to curve at all.

I took it into the pro shop at the alley and told them I wanted a new ball. They, of course, asked to see the ball I was currently using. They said I was using a convential grip and that it was set up to be a straight ball. So after talking with them for a while they recommended a cyclone or a freeze hybrid. Since I was looking for a 14lb ball, they only had that weight in the freeze hybrid. So I decided to go with that. They also said that they were going to drill it to be a finger-tip grip. After waitng for about 40 minutes, the ball was done. They set me up with a lane and even taught me how to hold the ball. A finger tip ball requires you to not grip it with the fingers but use the thumb to hold the ball. I need to do some more research on finger tip grips since I am new to it. The first ball went brooklyn, clear to the other side of the lane into the gutter before reaching the pins.`He had me make an adjustment and my next ball knock down 6. After another adjustment, strike. Kept taht adjustment and the next one was a strike. I ended up trying out a few other things with that ball as suggested by the guy from the pro shop and ended up bowling a 131. I used it in the league I am bowling now, and bowled a 121, 148, and 142 that night. Which moved my average from a 119 to a 125.

I have since bowled 21 games with that ball and have had three games in the 180s, three in the 190s, and one 216 game. This was all due to remembering the basics or fundamentals of bowling. I'll talk about fundamentals or bascis another time. I will also post about the league I am in and the results of each week. This will also be used to talk about various bowling related topics as they come up.

Feel free to leave any comment or questions and I will address them in the next entry. thank you and MAY THE STRIKES BE WITH YOU.