My Grand Experiment

[Mike White]

My "Past Life"...

My bowling experience ranged from 1973 to 1992. Ages 12 to 31.
I bowled 10 years in Junior Leagues with my average climbing from I think 106 to 175.
The final 10 years in Adult Leagues my average climbed from 190 to 210.

My high scores:
Sept 1989 [278 268 245 791] 245 included a 2-4-10 which I converted, then back to back solid 8, and solid 9 to eliminate the 800 possibility.
Jan 1990 [166 300 210 676] 300 was 12 quality shots.
Mar 1990 [227 245 299 771] I had 77 in the 5th frame the 1st game (completely lost) and made a huge adjustment.
Apr 1990 [178 279 289 746] This was in a most pins over average competition so I figured I was toast after the 178 game.

As you can tell by the dates these were shot on conditions probably not seen anymore.

When the reactive balls appeared I tried to use them but for me they were uncontrollable,
and trying to make adjustments had a detrimental effect on my timing.
Bottom line is I gave up the game.

Fast forward 20 years and I got the itch again. Age 51.

My "Current" Life

High Scores:
Zip - Nada - Zilch.

Today I went down to the local pro shop and purchased a ball, shoes and a bag.

The ball of choice was a Columbia White Dot. My thought process was I'll start with a "cheap" ball that will ultimately be a spare ball.

The shoes I chose were not available in my size today so I'll wait until Friday actually begin the experiment.

I need to retrain my body how to get from the approach to the foul line.

I figure my first task is to be able to roll the ball with something resembling balance, then be able to convert spares.

Once I've got that under control I'll consider another ball for striking.

Clearly I'm going to have 1001 questions about how to play todays version of this game.

Wish me luck on my grand experiment.

[TheSheibs]

In my opinion, with today's balls being able to do what they can. The hard thing is consistency. I would advise that you study the various oil patterns, the oil conditions your ball performs the best on, and also work on getting comfortable with the style you use. Figuring ut the oil conditions on the lane will help you know how to adjust to them. And don't forget,vpractice makes perfect. Welcome back to the sport and good luck.

[J Anderson]

Welcome back. As my high school chemistry teacher used to say " There are no dumb questions before the test". So go ahead and ask away, although you might want look through some of the old threads out here to see if they've already been answered.

[The German Shepherd]

Welcome back! I restarted my journey in a similar manner this past winter. Best of luck to you!

Jay

[ursus]

Welcome Mike!! Lots of knowlegeble people on here, helped me a lot

[billf]

Welcome back to the sport and wish you well with your endeavor

[martinezsam2495]

Amazing, you had such amazing scores, from what I heard, bowling wasn't as easy as it was back then. You could probably still tear up the lanes!
Good luck!

[Mike White]

Amazing, you had such amazing scores, from what I heard, bowling wasn't as easy as it was back then. You could probably still tear up the lanes!
Good luck!

First off, I think I know what you mean, but lets go with what you typed.

"bowling wasn't as easy as it was back then"

Whoever told you that, LIED!!!

As for still tearing up the lanes... it helped that I had a 30 year old body back then.
Now the body is not only older, but there is more of it.

My goal used to be to average my age plus my weight. At 150 lbs and 30 years that wasn't too much of a challenge.

According to my BMI calculator I need to get down to 169 lbs. So I'll have to increase my average to 220, and lose about 30 lbs.

I was reminded of another bowling "achievement" from my past life.

I once took the 6-9 only out of a full rack, then showed consistency by going through the hole again on my second ball.

[billf]

Age plus weight? Ouch! Let's see 43 years old, 210lbs. I wish I averaged 253!

[billf]

I didn't bowl back then so I can't say with any certainty but I think it was just different. You had to get more lift and be more accurate but at the same time speed and rotation were more important. Today there are crankers who throw harder than heck with a ton of revs at a general area.