SouthpawTRK's scores

[Aslan]

@Asian: I'll take that as a compliment My goal is to raise my average to 180; a little more than 20 pins above my book average.

It's an "L"...but our goals are similar. I hope to carry a 190 average or better by the end of leagues that start 9/27 and run 23 weeks. My average has already went from a 120 to a 129 just by practicing the last couple months...so I'm thinking by the time leagues start...my starting average is likely to be in the low 140s. That'll give me 23 weeks to get up about 50 pins.

I'm starting out without a "book average"...first league. I've been keeping track of my average for about 18 years...just during the occasional practice. It's always been in the 110-120s. Now I'm in the 130s-170s these last couple months. Just gotta get my form and consistency down...pick up more spares.

Good Luck!!

[SouthpawTRK]

League was interesting tonight; kinda like the Clint Eastwood movie; The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. When all the smoke cleared, I ended up being 1 pin under my current average. The plus is that I did win a few bucks in a side pot game. Here's what I shot for the night:

154, 187, 134

The 154 game should have been higher; but a few too many open frames. The 187 game was clean until the 9th frame. The 134 game stared out with 4 to 5 open frames. I tried to shake them off, but it's easier said than done.

[SouthpawTRK]

One of my goals for the new Winter season is to get two days of practice in per week; hopefully on the day of or the day before league night. I went out to my home lanes for some practice since I have league later in the week. I made it a point to dedicate the first series to working on my spares. Since the seven pin is my nemesis; I would shoot at the seven pin on the first ball and then throw my strike ball on the second shot. For the first series, I had some good looks at just knocking down the seven pin by itself; most times I would take out the 5-7-8 or the 7-8. After a series of working on my spares, I then proceeded to bowl another series to see if the spare shooting drill helped out much. Here's what I shot for both the series:

Spare Series: 141, 81, 116

Standard Series: 180, 139, 162

[SouthpawTRK]

The practice at my home lanes the day prior to league really paid off! I only had 4 open frames over the entire series; usually I might have up to two to four open frames per game. I was like a completely different bowler last night and it definitely showed in all the spares that I picked up and my overall average for the series was twenty pins over my book. I also wanted to say that if you have not checked out Joe Slowinski's tiered thumb hole taping system, then you should!!! Here's what I shot for the night: 172, 194, 179.

[SouthpawTRK]

Went out to practice today; mainly to work on shooting spares and to work on my release. I used the Joe Slowinski 4-2-1 tiered tape system in my Misfit; definitely came off my hand better; just did not have the pin action that I was looking for from it. I also brought my 706A to see how the pin carry would be and since the lanes were a little more oily than during league. I shot two series; the first series I used the Misfit, 706A and Zombie per game (the Zombie on any spares). The second series I had the mindset that it was league, so I used the ball that worked best; Misfit; and the Zombie. Here are the results.

Series #1: 152, 144, 90 (the 90 was all spare shooting; no strike ball)

Series #2: 136, 191, 150

[Aslan]

YAY!! Scores like mine!!

Congrats on the 191 though. My best today was a 184.

[SouthpawTRK]

Another goal of mine for this Winter season is to be able to keep my head in the game; being able to shake off a bad shot(s). I need to be able to just concentrate on making good throws and dismiss all the bad thoughts/feelings of an open frame(s). I did not do a good job of this last night; here's what I shot:

134, 141 and 199

I started out the first game with my Misfit, but then decided to make a ball change at the start of the second game. While the second game was slightly better than the first, I was determined to bowl at least one good game. During the first two games, I made several different moves in regards to my feet. For the third game, I decided to start my feet at ten and play up the second arrow. I did not strike much in the last game, but did pick up most of my spares (I think I had one open frame). The one other positive thing was that I won the high handicap pot; a nice reward for such a frustrating evening.

[Mudpuppy]

can't change the last shot. I never worry about it. Just shoot the next shot. And spares are MASSIVE. Once I consistently hit my spares I went from 185 average up to 209.

[SouthpawTRK]

I try to clear my head after a bad shot; try to shake it off. Sometimes I'm too critical and put too much weight on a bad shot. I totally agree on spares; the last game I did not leave any open frames until the final frame. I still need a lot of work on my spares.

[SouthpawTRK]

Went out to practice tonight to work on a few different things; release, timing, and spares. During practice I noticed that I drift right about 5 boards, so that was another thing to work on during the practice session. I'm hoping to bring it all together for league this week and help raise my average. Here's what I shot for the night:

151, 191, 160

157, 166, 172