Tuesday Night League: Fairly new synthetics, low oil to dry THS
448 Series:
136-164-
148
PinPal Stats:
First Ball Average:
8.36 pins
Strikes:
24% (8 singles)
Spares:
50% picked up
Single Pin spares:
44% (4/9)
Most common single-pin leave: 4-pin and 10-pin (3x each).
Also left a single 5-pin (1x) and 2-pin (2x).
Multiple Pin spares:
53% (
7/
13)
Most common multi-pin leaves:
2-4-5 (3x)
Splits: 0% (0/3)
Average over 3 games:
149.33.
Average had I picked up 100% of single pin spare leaves:
168.33.
No line. Couldn't find it all night. Balls were coming back with almost no oil lines.
In practice I was striking by throwing the ball out right, letting it enter the hook phase about just midway of the lane...then while in the roll phase...roll the rest of the way to the pocket.
As has been beaten to death recently...I don't have a "weaker" ball that I can go to when I'm playing on shiny particle board...so Game 1 I channeled my "Inner Rob/Amyers" and started moving those little hooves of mine laterally. I was FINALLY going to do it!! I was FINALLY going to move from my A-Game near the track...to my "C-Game" opening up the shoulders a little!!
Is everyone excited to hear what happened? No? Oh....you saw the scores so that made it anti-climactic? I get it.
Well, needless to say....the "RobM/Amyers" attack sequence was a miserable failure. But don't feel too bad...when bowling on a pattern that is essentially a 1 foot wide oil pattern going about 45% of the way down the lane...even the greatest laid plans can fail.
In Game 1 I tried the Reax Pearl...but it entered the roll phase at about 35 feet. I tried to move inside...that wasn't helping much. I tried to ball down to the Innovate...but it lost so much energy at 3/4 of the way down the lane that most times it didn't even make it back to the pocket. If I was "lucky", I hit pocket and left a very weak 10-pin. If I was "less than lucky"....I left a 2-pin, 5-pin, a bucket, a washout, etc...
I was so upset about Game 1, I went out to the car and grabbed by 16lb Hammer Big Blue Spare ball. It's beat to caRp...I just keep it in the trunk in case I make an impromptu stop at a bowling center and want to throw something other than a house ball.
RobM 'might' ask "what were the other bowlers throwing that were doing well?"
Well, imaginary RobM...our two worst bowlers had the best games they could remember. One lofted a ball even further than Amyers...old resin ball straight at the headpin...no axis rotation. Another guy throws an old pearlescent ball from the 60s/70s...he throws a back-up ball and he had his first 5-bagger ever...so he was on cloud 9. But the only "legitimate" bowler that was doing well on our pair was throwing an old "Mark Roth" urethane ball...he was a lower speed...almost a palm or thumbless release. So hey! If ya can't beat em....join em!
So, I had my best game of the night...a horrid 164...by playing the Big Blue Spare ball up the 7-9 boards...almost a straight shot at the pocket. As you might imagine, no carry whatsoever. I was kinda hoping to just play for spares...try to get an all-spare game under my belt. Lord knows my spare shooting in Game 1 was atrocious...might as well practice. I struck once...but opened a couple times...otherwise all spares...mostly 7 /s.
So...that duo of voices returned....from the bowlingboards.com realm...it was Amyers and RobM...demanding that I put that stupid spare ball away and really open up those lanes!! So, I did just that. I grabbed that Reax Pearl...moved my feet to about 25-30...and started targeting the 16-19 area at the arrows. I was FINALLY an INSIDE PLAYER!!!
First shot, pocket 10-pin...which I missed because my thumb has swollen from all this wonderfully embarrassing bowling I have been doing lately...so I had to make an emergency stop at the pro shop to have the thumb hole widened.
Next shot, STRIKE! Actually, the ball dove through the nose and it was a spill strike...just like the pros...
Then it was a 2-4-5-8 bucket...my "usual" when I try to play inside.
Then I really started having FUN FUN FUN when I left a 1-2-4-10 washout on the next shot...literally my FAVORITE leave. Most people leave weak 5-pins...maybe a 2-pin...or an 8-pin....not me! I play inside and it doesn't work...I get to spend a lot of time on my 1-2-4-10 game....JOY JOY JOY!!!
So, I switched to the Innovate and moved back towards the track...was clean the rest of the way...but the inside game was still leaving me gifts like the 2-pin and 2-4-8.
So, Good Times.
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