Aslan's Scores (of the non-lady kind)

[Aslan]

Thursday Practice: low oil synthetics

First practice with the new equipment. Warm-up Game: 199.
Was kinda all over the place early as I tried to find a line with the new equipment.

457 Series: 167-159-131
Mainly focusing on form. After the first two games, I had to ball down to the Dark Encounter. The lanes were just too beat up around 2nd-3rd arrow. Then, the transition to the Dark Encounter didn't go well because it's much weaker than I had presumed…a big drop from the Lethal Revolver.

434 Series: 124-156-154
During this set I just focused on my target, accuracy…very little form or hand work. The first game I had 4 splits. This was a harder ball to use. It didn't seem to have much bite on the backend. I moved right and got it to work for a little bit, but then it started diving left and by the end of the 2nd game I was back too far left…which for me is my left foot on 30-35 and my target left of 20. By the end of Game 3 it was time to ball down to the Asylum.

479 Series: 154-168-157
In this series I focused primarily on release…and I actually started feeling like my fingers were finally coming through the ball…giving me decent axis rotation, I moved back outside because this was my first time using the Asylum since I got it drilled last week. It's the first ball I won on bowlingboards.com (about a year or so ago). In the first game, I came in right and opened on a 1-2-4-7 but was clean the rest of the way until the 10th when I chopped a 1-2. But not many strikes. In the second game I was doing well…just missed a couple single 4-pins and then a single 5-pin in the 10th. But for the second straight game…the Asylum seemed to have a nice track to the pocket…but hit weak. Game 3 was more of the same.

Pinpal Stats:
First Ball Average: 8.35 pins
Strikes: 28% (5 doubles and 20 singles)
Spares: 52% picked up

Single Pin spares: 70% (17/24)
Most common single-pin leaves: 4-pin and 6-pin (5x each).
Never left a single 1-pin, 2-pin, nor 8-pin.

Multiple Pin spares: 43% (21/48)
Most common multi-pin spare leaves: 1-2 (5x).

Splits: 11% (1/9)

Average over 10 games: 156.90.
Average had I picked up 100% of single pin spare leaves: 164.50.

When I was warming up and focusing on form, focus, and release…I did rather well. And I'm happy that I finally seem to be getting a more "through-the-ball" release. Obviously the scores weren't that great…but it's practice so, thats okay.

Still impressed in the L. Revolver and was impressed with the way the Asylum moved in dry conditions. But I was a bit disappointed that the Asylum just didn't seem to strike much…even on pocket shots. And the D. Encounter was very unimpressive.

Thumb fit hasn't been an issue since switching to an arsenal where all but the spare ball are VISE IT drilled. But now footing has become more of an issue as I've started to slide a little.

[Amyers]

Aslan you stated it yourself. You are bowling on low oil synthetics neither the Dark Encounter or the Asylum are designed to be used on those conditions.

[Aslan]

Aslan you stated it yourself. You are bowling on low oil synthetics neither the Dark Encounter or the Asylum are designed to be used on those conditions.

On heavier conditions, I can't see either ball being of any use. I never really believed RotoGrip's claims about a HP3 ball being a good option on medium to heavy oil. And at this point I don't think Columbia makes any good options for heavier conditions. Thus far, I'm just not seeing it. Don't get me wrong, I like the Asylum and it has a nice movement and feel to it...and I've only practiced with it once....but either it's a strong ball like a Hyper Cell....but just burns out way too fast on beat up conditions (thus hitting light and not striking) OR...it just doesn't have the power/movement unless things are very dry.

I think the Asylum will end up being a useful ball down option...not sure if the D. Encounter will be very useful at all unfortunately. I'm far more disappointed in the D. Encounter than the Asylum. I figured with a PerfectScore of < 200 that the Asylum wouldn't be a hook monster...but figured it'd be a better ball than the Encounter was for drier/beat up lane conditions...and that's okay. I'm more disappointed in the D. Encounter because it 'should' be stronger than it is....and it's in the crucial #2 spot in my line-up...so it should see a fair amount of use...especially with the Le. Revolver being so much stronger than I anticipated.

Oh well. It's still early. Still lots of time needed to practice and see whats what.

[Amyers]

Everyone's different in what and how things work for them. I can't imagine using anything stronger than mine other than maybe sport shots. You have more speed and less revs than I do so I'm sure that's part of it. My pro shop operator has one too though and doesn't use it a whole lot because it's too strong for him even after changing the surface to 4k. Glad to hear the loaded revolver is working for you if you had a miss I figured that would be it. I think the solid asymmetrical balls just burn up too fast unless you have serious revs. Probably the problem with the d encounter. Good luck

[RobLV1]

An observation: Lately, most of the time that I hear bowlers talking about "heavy oil," it's because the lanes are so dry in the area that they're trying to play, that the ball goes straight as it burns up. So how do you tell when there really is "heavy oil"? You can't go by the amount of oil on the ball, because that's due primarily to the amount of oil on the first twenty feet of the lane. What you need to look for is a tell-tale wiggle down the lane that indicates a heavier than usual volume of oil. With the cost of oil today, and the proprietor's desire to allow bowlers to see their balls hook whether or not they know how to hook them, "heavy oil" is a real rarity today. IMHO.

[Aslan]

An observation: Lately, most of the time that I hear bowlers talking about "heavy oil," it's because the lanes are so dry in the area that they're trying to play, that the ball goes straight as it burns up. So how do you tell when there really is "heavy oil"? You can't go by the amount of oil on the ball, because that's due primarily to the amount of oil on the first twenty feet of the lane. What you need to look for is a tell-tale wiggle down the lane that indicates a heavier than usual volume of oil. With the cost of oil today, and the proprietor's desire to allow bowlers to see their balls hook whether or not they know how to hook them, "heavy oil" is a real rarity today. IMHO.

That is something I'm slowly trying to learn. It's very difficult to see the ball enter the hook phase...and can sometimes be even harder to see it enter the roll phase...unless you're watching it in slow motion. I bet there are lots of people that have a bunch of revs and a ball meant to go long and snap...and they don't even ever get to the roll phase until the ball hits the pocket. And I doubt they even know that.

I'm able to see the hook to roll phase on low speed players. Like, we have a lady on Wednesday that throws a Tropical Breeze at about 6-9mph. You can usually see that ball, up the outside (2nd arrow) as it starts to hook...then straightens out. But in contrast...the old Encounter Project videos I made...even at 14mph...it was very hard to see where that ball started to hook...and it seemed like almost immediately after hooking it went into the roll phase.

My hypothesis is that I'm seeing a great deal more backend with the Lethal Revolver, not only because it's Brunswick, but because it's drilled with the pin beneath the fingers rather than above. Every other ball I've thrown, the pin is above the fingers or above and off to the side. From what I understand (and I could be off base), a pin higher up shortens the time between hook and roll. It may be why I've never seen a pronounced hook phase...because with the pin above...the ball is immediately going from skid to roll...with only a minor hook phase. And maybe playing more of an outside line (drier area) exasperbates that problem.

For my own reference...when I use the term heavy versus medium/moderate versus low in terms of oil...I sometimes also add long versus short...but in general:

Long/Heavy Oil: This would be a longer pattern...maybe upper 30s/low 40s in terms of feet. It could also be a pattern that is significantly wider than a THS.

For example, on Tuesdays, WHEN they actually oil pre-league (I guess enough people whined that they are back to doing it), the pattern is noticeably longer...I'd guess 42ft. It also, even more importantly, is about 3 boards wider than a THS. So anything inside of 10...it's not going to move...the oil volume is significant. There is also oil to the outside of 10...but it's a lighter volume. The difficulty in playing this pattern is that because the pattern is wider and longer...IF they don't oil/clean pre-league...that oil gets pushed around and gets pushed into the breakpoint...so you end up with no breakpoint. And in modern bowling, that's a problem.

Low oil/shorter pattern: Generally, if I'm forced inside of the 12-board...because 2nd arrow is going Brooklyn...with my speed (15-17mph)...then I call it a "low oil" pattern. It may be just that it's shorter...but in general THS shots aren't drastically shorter. And it's usually easy to see the difference because a shorter pattern will be much harder to play (for me) than a THS that just has a lower oil volume or a THS that is more narrow.

Example: On Wednesdays and when I get my lessons....both are THS...but in both cases my 2nd arrow shot with my most aggressive ball is likely going to go through nose. I'm going to have move in to say the 12-15 board area to delay the hook phase a little.

Medium Oil is generally a THS where my most aggressive ball moves up the 11-board...rides the oil line...breaks near the tracers...hits the pocket. It doesn't skid past the breakpoint and leave the 2-4-5 or 1-2-4...but it also stays right of the headpin.

It would be nice to actually know for sure...and I've asked both houses I play leagues at to give me a print out...but that's like asking the waitress on a date...I just get back a sorta blank yet also terrified stare of confusion.

[Aslan]

Glad to hear the loaded revolver is working for you if you had a miss I figured that would be it.

Lethal...not loaded.

The Lo. Revolver is still in the pro shop getting re-drilled because he messed it up.

The Lethal (Le.) Revolver is the one I've been using as the first ball out of the bag recently and have really liked what I've seen thus far.

I'm not sure how the cores are involved...if at all. Every assymetric core ball I've thrown seems to have no real noticeable bite at the end...yet seems to be very erratic in terms of what it does shot to shot. It just seems like they're too sensitive to even minor variations in speed. And you may be right...it may require a more advanced release to throw that equipment...I don't know. It may also be that the Columbia Encounter series (my only assymetric experiences) is just not that great a series. That's possible. I saw guys back in the day throwing the Wicked Encounter with some degree of success...but not the predecessors.

I also was a bit torn on the Revolvers. They seem almost a "mid-level" ball...so I wasn't sure if I'd get pro type of performance out of them...and I still don't think the Loaded Revolver will give me much...it's just more of a "nuclear option" for when things are so beat up or dried up that I got not shot right of 20. But the way I look at it...it's a perfect replacement for the Slingshot...and that's all it needs to be.

Figuring out and trying to get some performance out of the Dark Encounter is going to be key to my success between now and next summer. I can't have a #2 ball in my line-up that is absolutely horrible. I was able to deal with the Encounters because they were the #3 option and rarely got used on league night. But that won't be the case for the D. Encounter. I need to be able to confidently throw it on shorter/drier patterns and I need it as a ball down option. I'm not saying I can't just skip it and go to the Asylum...but if that was the plan...I might have had the Asylum drilled a little more aggressively than I did.

[Amyers]

Lethal...not loaded.

The Lo. Revolver is still in the pro shop getting re-drilled because he messed it up.

The Lethal (Le.) Revolver is the one I've been using as the first ball out of the bag recently and have really liked what I've seen thus far.

I'm not sure how the cores are involved...if at all. Every assymetric core ball I've thrown seems to have no real noticeable bite at the end...yet seems to be very erratic in terms of what it does shot to shot. It just seems like they're too sensitive to even minor variations in speed. And you may be right...it may require a more advanced release to throw that equipment...I don't know. It may also be that the Columbia Encounter series (my only assymetric experiences) is just not that great a series. That's possible. I saw guys back in the day throwing the Wicked Encounter with some degree of success...but not the predecessors.

I also was a bit torn on the Revolvers. They seem almost a "mid-level" ball...so I wasn't sure if I'd get pro type of performance out of them...and I still don't think the Loaded Revolver will give me much...it's just more of a "nuclear option" for when things are so beat up or dried up that I got not shot right of 20. But the way I look at it...it's a perfect replacement for the Slingshot...and that's all it needs to be.

Figuring out and trying to get some performance out of the Dark Encounter is going to be key to my success between now and next summer. I can't have a #2 ball in my line-up that is absolutely horrible. I was able to deal with the Encounters because they were the #3 option and rarely got used on league night. But that won't be the case for the D. Encounter. I need to be able to confidently throw it on shorter/drier patterns and I need it as a ball down option. I'm not saying I can't just skip it and go to the Asylum...but if that was the plan...I might have had the Asylum drilled a little more aggressively than I did.

Man if you think the Dark Encounter should be a step down from the Lethal Revolver me and you have two drastically different ideas on ball progression.

[Aslan]

Man if you think the Dark Encounter should be a step down from the Lethal Revolver me and you have two drastically different ideas on ball progression.

I didn't think it would be based on the specs...but they're both solid covers. The differential is about the same. I just figured the lethal revolver would go slightly longer due to it's higher RG.

However, when putting the arsenal together prior to drilling...the coach seemed to think that just the fact that it's a Brunswick versus a Columbia that the Brunswick would hook sooner so should be ahead of the Dark Encounter in terms of progression. Given that the specs are so close...I didn't have a problem with that.

[Amyers]

I didn't think it would be based on the specs...but they're both solid covers. The differential is about the same. I just figured the lethal revolver would go slightly longer due to it's higher RG.

However, when putting the arsenal together prior to drilling...the coach seemed to think that just the fact that it's a Brunswick versus a Columbia that the Brunswick would hook sooner so should be ahead of the Dark Encounter in terms of progression. Given that the specs are so close...I didn't have a problem with that.

I will say I've never seen the Lethal in action so I could be wrong but combine the higher Rg of the Lethal with the propel x cover which is more of a medium oil cover vs the asymmetrical heavy oil cover and lower Rg of the Dark Encounter it's easily the stronger of the two balls. Not even close. I have seen the Loaded sanded and it should be about the same as the Lethal.

I would suggest giving the DE a try playing more of an inside line in the oil on fresh conditions (I know not your strong suit) and see how it performs.