I can't win

[75lockwood]

Rocco, i beg you please break up the blocks of text! your hurting my eyes!

So I went back to two handed again... ...just kidding. Aside from one major mental brain cramp, I haven't bowled two handed in a while. I am one handed from here on in. I'm finding my groove now. I am able to adjust, try new things one handed. My hook is back, and I can still throw it straight for spares. Still not totaly there, but close enough to be very very happy. I have learned so much from the people on this board, and when I actualy started listening, it made my game so much better. i hope to get some video soon, so everyone can see the difference between the old style and the new.


So, about that brain cramp. I was practicing with a few friends. Across the alley, one of the best bowlers on Long Island was practicing. He was bowlng 2 handed. Never saw him do that before. So, I threw 2 games 2 handed. They were my best 2 games of the night. What I ignored (as usual) even though they scored better, it wasn't by much.

So last week, I decided to do a Thanksgiving eve touney. 4 games, drop the lowest game. So I figured I had a game to play with, I'll bowl the first game two handed. If it works, I could drop a 240, and with my handicap that would be in the 300's. Well it didn't work. I couldn't get the ball to the right of the head pin. I just could not get my mechanics right. I changed balls, and boom, struck out the 9th and 10th for a 167.

Worst thing that happened to me because it made me want to keep doing it. First 2 frames of game 2, washouts, and opens. So I raised the white flag, decided to go back to what I have been doing the most, and really the best, over the last 2 months. One hand, nice and smooth. Finished game 2 strong, for a 193. Second game, I was dropping bombs. I knew I was really on when I made the 4-7-10 split. 2 nice strings of strikes, for a monster (with my low average) 256. With handicap, that was a 313.

Third game wasn't pretty. 7-10 split second frame, then 2 more opens on makeable spares, 176. With my handicap, I shot a 796 series. Good enough for 7th place, and to get some cash back. The thing that sucks, There was a stepladder finals for $500, top 5 made it. I missed by 7 pins. That's one of those makeable spares. If I make the 2-8, or the 3-6-9-10, I was in. I probably could have used a pearl, or polished ball for that 4th game, and saved my bacon.

Right now, I just don't have that ball in the bag, and I can't afford one. Had fun, looking foward to more tourneys, and I hope I can dominate in my league from here on out. I went to the tourney to learn, and experience the tourney, and I learned. I learned that there is no need for me to bowl two handed. I have two balls drilled for two handing only. I need to either convert them for one handing, or donate them. One of them is the Fire Road I won here, and it had maybe 8 games on it.

Great job at the tournament, just think what could have been if you hadn't bowled that first game two handed....

anyway, you had fun and that's what counts, don't sweat the makeable spares, while makeable they still take a great shot and should never be the focus of your game.

regarding the two hand balls, talk to your pro shop people around the ally, you should be able to get some money out of the balls being that new.

[scottymoney]

Good job! I think you should definitely stick to one handed and never look back. Never throw 2 handed again no matter how much you may struggle with one handed at times, you need to dedicate yourself to one style and stick with it. You will have such a hard time working out the kinks if you never dedicate to one style. Go get your other 2 balls redrilled for one handed and that will give you more options for arsenal and maybe keep you from going back to 2 handed.

[RoccoRock]

Rocco, i beg you please break up the blocks of text! your hurting my eyes!



Great job at the tournament, just think what could have been if you hadn't bowled that first game two handed....

anyway, you had fun and that's what counts, don't sweat the makeable spares, while makeable they still take a great shot and should never be the focus of your game.

regarding the two hand balls, talk to your pro shop people around the ally, you should be able to get some money out of the balls being that new.

I said that to the guys I was bowling with. What if I didn't waste that first game messing around. The good thing about wasting that game is it showed me what I already knew, but from time to time forget. There is no need for me to bowl 2 handed. I can do the same things with one hand, despite the lower rev rate and speed.

The day before the tourney, I got in my own head. I thought, if I had one series to bowl, for a million bucks, and I needed a 600, how would I do it. To this day, in league play, I have not had a 600 series one handed using my thumb. What I should have remembered is how may 600 series I have two handed. That would be one, and it was a 601, where the last game was a 247. The rest of my 600's came one hand no thumb, and I don't throw that way at all anymore.

Despite not having a 600 one hand thumb in, I feel I'm as good now as I ever was. Actually, I feel like I'm better now than ever. The 600's will come, and I would be willing to bet the 700's are coming too. If you count the last 3 games of the tourney, I bowled a 600. 2 weeks ago I bowled a 596. It was the end of a string of 8 straight weeks that I bowled a higher series than the week before. I know I'm getting better, but it was strange to see my game get better every single week. You have to figure at some point you would take a step back, and I finally did last time out.

We will see how things go tomorrow night, I have high hopes. I know why I struggled last league night, and what I need to do to fix it. I really need to figure out why my games go down at the end of the night. I am not tired, so i can't blame that. I think I made decent adjustments to lane conditions, but I could be wrong. I don't think i should have to go from a Virtual Gravity Nano in game one, to a Fire Road in game 3. I don't think the lanes are breaking down that fast. Maybe I'm wrong.

[75lockwood]

I said that to the guys I was bowling with. What if I didn't waste that first game messing around. The good thing about wasting that game is it showed me what I already knew, but from time to time forget. There is no need for me to bowl 2 handed. I can do the same things with one hand, despite the lower rev rate and speed.

The day before the tourney, I got in my own head. I thought, if I had one series to bowl, for a million bucks, and I needed a 600, how would I do it. To this day, in league play, I have not had a 600 series one handed using my thumb. What I should have remembered is how may 600 series I have two handed. That would be one, and it was a 601, where the last game was a 247. The rest of my 600's came one hand no thumb, and I don't throw that way at all anymore.

Despite not having a 600 one hand thumb in, I feel I'm as good now as I ever was. Actually, I feel like I'm better now than ever. The 600's will come, and I would be willing to bet the 700's are coming too. If you count the last 3 games of the tourney, I bowled a 600. 2 weeks ago I bowled a 596. It was the end of a string of 8 straight weeks that I bowled a higher series than the week before. I know I'm getting better, but it was strange to see my game get better every single week. You have to figure at some point you would take a step back, and I finally did last time out.

We will see how things go tomorrow night, I have high hopes. I know why I struggled last league night, and what I need to do to fix it. I really need to figure out why my games go down at the end of the night. I am not tired, so i can't blame that. I think I made decent adjustments to lane conditions, but I could be wrong. I don't think i should have to go from a Virtual Gravity Nano in game one, to a Fire Road in game 3. I don't think the lanes are breaking down that fast. Maybe I'm wrong.

how many people are bowling on the lanes?

are they wooden lanes?

do you by chance know the oil pattern?

anyway, your doing great, how was league?

[RoccoRock]

how many people are bowling on the lanes?

are they wooden lanes?

do you by chance know the oil pattern?

anyway, your doing great, how was league?

It happens everywhere I go. One house is wood, one is synthetic. Sometimes it's just 2 guys, sometimes 4. It's all THS, don't know the specifics. Bowled like total garbage last night, 130 183 180. Had trouble striking, and missed easy single pins spares. Worst part, I did it in front of a friend who I have known for a long time, who i knew was a good bowler, but found out last night was a great bowler (he was taught by Parker Bohn III). I was outscored by all of my friends (he is friends with them as well) and just embarresed myself in front of my friend. The good things were I never bragged to him that I was all that good, and I didn't act like an ***. I was in good spirits. It was strange, I felt like I was throwing the ball well, and in game two I felt like my mechanics were really good. However, the results were terrible. The one thing I took from last night was I tried an old ball, that I liked. I didn't like the movment, or reaction of the ball, so I didn't use it in my game, juts practice. I liked the feel of it. The difference, it is drilled with a Sarge Easter grip. I am thinking of doing the same thing with my Outlaw or my 607A. I like the way it felt on the backswing, and I liked the fact there was no pressure on my ring finger. I drilled the ball a year ago, just because I wasn't using the ball, and I wanted to try something new. Now that I learned how to throw a ball, I wanted to try it again. My friend sounds like he is interested in coming down every now and then and bowling with us, and giving us all tips.

[AZBowla]

Some times the bowling gods are kind and sometimes they aren't. I've thrown my share of crap games where no matter how many times I hit the pocket I didn't strike. Or I'll have games where I throw Brooklyn and get a strike, only to crush the pocket with the next shot and leave a 7 pin or worse, a split. Sometimes it all comes together and I throw a monster game, other times I struggle just to break 150 and I don't feel like I'm throwing the ball any differently (though obviously I must be). So sometimes it's just dumb luck that makes the difference.

[RoccoRock]

Another league night down, another week without a 600. I had a built in excuse this week. I could barley walk, my knee was hurting so bad. I bowled around 20 games Wed, and most of them without my thumb. Just playing around, finding out what I do better with my thumb and what I do better without. Plus, I wanted to use my 607A, and it doesn't have a real thumb hole.

Yesterday morning at work, my knee acted up, and had trouble getting work done. Felt better as the day went on. Even though I've been doing it for months now, using my thumb is still a project. I still have so many x factors in that delivery. I always find myself "trying" something with it. I have a lot going on in my life right now, and I just wanted one night were I don't have to "try" anything. I just wanted to show up and bowl, and if I don't use my thumb my mechanics are so much easier for me to repeat. So I bowled without my thumb in warmups.

By the time warmups were over, I felt like I needed to go to the hospital. My back hurts as well. Even though the mechanics are easier to repeat, they are much tougher on my body. So much torque on my knee (plus I've put on a few pounds so that doesn't help) and also strain on my back from leaning down more. I tried to gut it out, and stick with the plan, but I just couldn't do it. I can't remember what frame it was, but it was middle of game one, I put my thumb back in. My only goal was to finish the night, didn't care about the score. Started feeling better, and bowling better. Didn't exactly set the world on fire, but a solid 182, 189, 201.

So the next step is plugging, and redrilling my 607A so I can use my thumb. I have to remember why I started using my thumb. It wasn't to score better, it wasn't because I was ashamed of being a no thumb, or two hander, it was because I was afraid of exactly what happened this week. Is it worth averaging 10 pins higher in a recreational, house pattern league if you can't walk after? I still don't know if I will ever really get to where I want to be using my thumb, I can't make a spare on the right side of the lane to save my life, but at least I won't have to stop at the hospital on the way home from league night.

[AZBowla]

Oh man, that sucks, sorry to hear that you're having all these knee and back problems! My GF has issues too when bowling which really sucks because she loves to bowl but can't usually do it for more than a couple of games without her back giving her the white flag treatment.

Sounds like you have your answer, you need to use your thumb to be able to bowl without pain. I would also recommend talking to your doctor about the knee and back problems you've been having. It could be the beginning of something that if left untreated could end your bowling days so I'd definitely have it checked out.

[GeoLes]

I remind my wife from time to time when she does not see progress that changes take time. You will performance wain before it improves, but when it improves, it is better than before.

[MICHAEL]

It’s called the STORM, before the Calm! Things many times get worse, before they get better when making changes, or working on a sports related correction. Golf, bowling, baseball,,, tiddlywinks you name it! You are a work in progress, as many of us are, or should be! Lol….