My first singles tournament.....ugh

[jab5325]

Yesterday was my first singles tournament--it was fairly cheap, and handicap......so I figured, what the heck?

It was at the aforementioned "other" local house that has AMF lanes/approaches.

In practice, I threw all of my equipment. Again, it ALL just slid and never caught. The closest thing I had to a good ball reaction was with my Urethane, standing in the middle and throwing up 8-11.

Started off the first game with a nice shot, but left a solid 7--picked that one up. Followed it up with a turkey, another 7 pin, and then a 4-6 on a shot I tugged.....all of which I picked up. Then, the wheels came off. A strange 10-pin on a nice shot, and throwing across the oil, my ball NEVER turned. I don't even know that I would've got a 6-pin. A strike and a 3-6, followed by a baby split/open combination for a 192. Not the worst game in the world, and with handicap, I was still in it.

Then, the wheels came off. By the 3rd frame of the second game, my line was shot. Leave it outside of 8, it would go through the nose. Get it 13-16, and I'm lucky to hit the 2-pin. So, I switched to the Rocket....that was finally getting in the vicinity of the pocket, so I went with it. The rest of my arsenal pretty much went straight on a frozen rope. I tried every conceivable line, and eventually started spraying the ball over. The rest of the day went 154, 140, 165. Minimal strikes, and a first ball average of 8.

It was an incredibly frustrating experience--quite frankly, I made an idiot of myself. But, it proves that I need to work on my outside game.

The thing is though, I'm still stunned that my stuff didn't turn over. My typical speed is about 13mph and fairly consistent. Even when slowing it down to 11, as slow as I could comfortably go, it never happened.

Last year, I bowled in a doubles tournament on the Kegel Route 66 at this house, and got more turn with an Ebonite Xxcel than a Bad Intentions, Saw Blade, or Rocket on the house shot.

[billf]

Followed it up with a turkey, another 7 pin, and then a 4-6 on a shot I tugged.....all of which I picked up. .

You picked up the 4-6 split?
Are you left-handed? Just trying to make sense of the lines you were playing.
It's not the fact that you got the ball out that made it go through the nose but how far down the lane the ball was when it went outside.

[jab5325]

You picked up the 4-6 split?
Are you left-handed? Just trying to make sense of the lines you were playing.
It's not the fact that you got the ball out that made it go through the nose but how far down the lane the ball was when it went outside.

Sorry, I edited my original post--I got a 3-6. I was thinking of my Wednesday league, where yes, I did make a 4-6 (first time ever making one, actually).

As for the line to the pocket, I tried my entire arsenal outside of 8 and couldn't get anything back to the pocket. The Rocket was the closest, allowing me to at least get a mix strike. The BI/Saw Blade could barely get to the 2-pin. I was also the only lefty on my pair.

[Amyers]

Sorry, I edited my original post--I got a 3-6. I was thinking of my Wednesday league, where yes, I did make a 4-6 (first time ever making one, actually).

As for the line to the pocket, I tried my entire arsenal outside of 8 and couldn't get anything back to the pocket. The Rocket was the closest, allowing me to at least get a mix strike. The BI/Saw Blade could barely get to the 2-pin. I was also the only lefty on my pair.

What was the shot like down 9-12? I bowled on a "supposed" house shot a few weeks ago where they had applied heavy oil outside of 8 and a puddle over the middle The shot was straight down 10 but it became an issue as the shot broke down and you had to move farther inside. I struggle to keep the ball consistently inside 9 at the breakpoint as I move farther left you leek one or two out a board and end up with a washout off them it'll kill your game.

[jab5325]

What was the shot like down 9-12? I bowled on a "supposed" house shot a few weeks ago where they had applied heavy oil outside of 8 and a puddle over the middle The shot was straight down 10 but it became an issue as the shot broke down and you had to move farther inside. I struggle to keep the ball consistently inside 9 at the breakpoint as I move farther left you leek one or two out a board and end up with a washout off them it'll kill your game.

9-11 got burned up by the Urethane for the first roughly 1.5 games--putting the Rocket there saw some success, but then that too went away.

I also tried playing a deep angle over the middle, but am not accurate/comfortable enough to do it consistently yet. It's one of the things I've been working on--after yesterday, I'm also going to add the outside game to my list.

[Amyers]

9-11 got burned up by the Urethane for the first roughly 1.5 games--putting the Rocket there saw some success, but then that too went away.

I also tried playing a deep angle over the middle, but am not accurate/comfortable enough to do it consistently yet. It's one of the things I've been working on--after yesterday, I'm also going to add the outside game to my list.

It sounds like a similar shot and I've had trouble finding a solution to it too. The high rev guys seem to be able to play strong equipment and get the ball to come back out of it. The high speed guys can ball down and pick the speed up and stay in the same spot. Us tweeners I haven't seen any be real successful with it. I'm sure there is a solution I just haven't figured it out yet either. If it is the same I'm not sure moving right (left for you) is the answer. Hasn't worked for me yet.

[jab5325]

It sounds like a similar shot and I've had trouble finding a solution to it too. The high rev guys seem to be able to play strong equipment and get the ball to come back out of it. The high speed guys can ball down and pick the speed up and stay in the same spot. Us tweeners I haven't seen any be real successful with it. I'm sure there is a solution I just haven't figured it out yet either. If it is the same I'm not sure moving right (left for you) is the answer. Hasn't worked for me yet.

Agreed-big time crankers weren't having a whole lot of trouble.

The perplexing thing was that a guy on my pair with whom I've bowled with before (he has a similar style, rev rate, speed but is righty) was using a Hyper Cell Skid with success. He's not terribly accurate and was spraying it all over the lane, but it was getting back to the pocket.

My arsenal is noticeably lacking a heavy oil, high-RG asymmetric, and it's next on the list. Perhaps that would've helped by going straighter through the heads to only start its move once it hit the dry. Despite this, I still can't believe the Rocket had issues.

[billf]

I've seen a lot of tournaments lately where the "modified house shot" is flooding outside 8 and from 15-15. It's a joke really as they are catering to high rev, aim for an area type bowlers. One manager told me they did it to negate the "lefty advantge". I'm not even left-handed and it ticked me off.

My gut says a strong asym like the Motiv Jackal Carnage would have worked great for you playing straight up ten. But that's my gut. I wasn't there so can say for sure.

[jab5325]

I've seen a lot of tournaments lately where the "modified house shot" is flooding outside 8 and from 15-15. It's a joke really as they are catering to high rev, aim for an area type bowlers. One manager told me they did it to negate the "lefty advantge". I'm not even left-handed and it ticked me off.

Interesting theory. The real crankers were the ones having success, throwing it around 10-13.

I had trouble at this house and had more success on a crazy long pattern then their house shot. On the Kegel Route 66 at this house, I averaged 208 with a high of 255.

Though I was away for the game for 7-8 years and am only 30, I used to bowl all around eastern Pennsylvania and got to throw at many different houses.....from old wood lanes with manual scoring, to newly built houses with synthetics and bells/whistles. I've just never had as much trouble getting the ball to turn like I do at this house--it's incredibly frustrating and I can't seem to crack the nut. There's another tournament there coming up in March, so we'll see what happens.

[Amyers]

I've seen a lot of tournaments lately where the "modified house shot" is flooding outside 8 and from 15-15. It's a joke really as they are catering to high rev, aim for an area type bowlers. One manager told me they did it to negate the "lefty advantge". I'm not even left-handed and it ticked me off.

My gut says a strong asym like the Motiv Jackal Carnage would have worked great for you playing straight up ten. But that's my gut. I wasn't there so can say for sure.

The one non-power player I bowled who had success and kicked my a$$ was using a 900 global respect that looked like it was finished to 2000 grit playing over the 4th arrow out to about 8. I always thought the respect was an early rolling ball how he got it to go that long with that surface at his lower speed I have no idea. I tried playing a similar line with my Storm Virtual Gravity Pearl Nano with mixed results.

The shot is just ridiculous. Especially to call it a "house shot". I still haven't made my mind up if your better off to go strong and swing it or try to ball down but if you ball down it's going to have to be weaker than my Arson Low Flare