My tragic love life aside...I figure I'll actually post a score update...
Tuesday League Night: medium oil synthetics
519 Series: 164-135-220
Got to the center LATE...due to Thanksgiving traffic nightmares. So my practice was relatively limited. I therefore didn't finish figuring out my line/ball situation until after the 1st game of the series. In Game 1 I chopped a 2-4-5 in the 4th and completely missed a 2-8 (which I simply can't pick up)...other than that it was a clean game....I just didn't have a good strike line established because I was still trying to figure that out in the 9th frame.
In Game 2, yet anolther "Game 2 disaster"! Missed a 7-pin in the 3rd...then chopped two STRAIGHT 2-4-8s. Managed to pick up a 5-pin before completely MISSING on another 2-4-8 in the 7th. Add to that a miss on a 4-7 in the 9th and then unable to pick up a 10-pin on the 3rd ball of the 10th...just was a really bad, bad game.
Game 3, "looks" impressive...but I can honestly say it was NOT. I started out with 3 straight spares and got lucky on the 1-2-7-8. I missed another 4-7 in the 6th. And even though I ended with a 5-bagger and a 9 count on the last ball...2 of those strikes were Brooklyn...and one was through the headpin. I deserved maybe 2 of th 5 at most.
PinPal Stats:
First Ball Average: 8.53 pins
Strikes: 32% (1 5-bagger and 6 singles)
Spares: 57% picked up
Single Pin spares: 60% (3/5)
1 for 3 on corner pins.
Multiple Pin spares: 56% (9/16)
Most common multi-pin leave: 2-4-5 and 4-7 (3x each).
Splits: N/A
Average over 3 games: 173.00.
Average had I picked up 100% of single pin spare leaves: 176.33.
Another disappointing night.
- 519 is good...I like seeing 500+...but it's not the 525 goal I have each night.
- The 220 game was a farse. It took me FAR too long to figure out that the lanes were too slick and my release too weak to play the line I was playing. It shouldn't take leaving a 2-4-8 THREE TIMES in a game to figure out that the ball ain't moving. The 220 game was luck with a tiny bit of lane breakdown as assistance.
- The strike rate was better...but I'd say well over 1/3 of those were brooklyn strikes. So, I wasn't hitting what I wanted to hit...I was just carrying.
- Single-pin spare shooting and shooting at the 4-7 or 6-10...essentially the shots where the plastic ball comes out...STILL horrible. I can't let a bad night derail my progress...but thus far this plastic ball thing is sort of for the birds.
Good News?
- 220 is my high game thus far this season. I think it gave me a 277-279 handicap which is either my highest or second highest this season.
- The team still took 3 out of 4 so we should still be on top of the standings or at worst tied atop the standings.
The team struggles as of late are more due to our anchor. He's a high 180s bowler and the last couple weeks has bowled just awful. I think he had a 195 game to start but then bowled really, really bad. 120s/140s. Our low 190s guys has been on a terror...and almost threw a 700+ series scratch last night. I'm slowly getting better and have a nice cushion of handicap to work with right now...but I wasn't planning on being one of the top 2 guys on this team...certainly not this early in the season. So if our anchor doesn't snap out of his funk...I'm gonna have to put on my big boy pants and start anchoring from the #2 position. And thats gonna ruin my handicap situation...and probably cost me at sweeps in Vegas.
Last night the lanes seemed "slick". I had trouble, even with the Bullet Train of getting the ball back to the pocket playing the 10-board or the 8-board..so I moved inside a little playing about 13. The problem with that is, I had to be very EXACT. One board right...missed the headpin. One board left...it would hit some dry and miss the headpin on the other side. I blame their new "oil a ton in the morning and not for the rest of the day" strategy...so now there's carry down from house balls...mostly RH bowlers...so the whole right side has a slightly longer pattern. But the left side...a shorter pattern since there's less carrydown. Our lefty nearly shot a 300 last week and a 700 series this week. His ball is moving fine. But us rightys are throwing straight at the friggin headpin.
As MWhite would say, "the ball has to find some dry to move". Well, me throwing it straight up the 13...it doesn't find dry until probably 42ft...and then it's experiencing carry-down...so it doesn't actually encounter much friction until probably <10ft in front of the headpin. So for rightys...we're essentially bowling a long PBA pattern while the leftys are on a slightly longer THS.
And still trying to figure out what to focus on. Lord knows I can't focus on EVERYTHING all at once. I must limit myself. So, I either focus on:
1) Slow but continuous feet, easy/effortless swing, effortless release (almost just dropping it), FOCUS on the mark.
OR
2) Continuous feet, form/balance, stay behind and under the ball, FOCUS on the mark, and keep that hand facing up through the follow-through.
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