1st Annual BowlingBoards.com Virtual Tour!!!

[vdubtx]

Submitted my scores to Aslan's email.

[Mike White]

SMH... What's your excuse for not striking consitantly? Oh yeah, it's always the lanes fault not yours right? With all that knowledge and accessibility to equipment, you should be a 240 average house bowler Mike.

Yeah I have access to any kind of ball, and yes I can get them at wholesale prices,
but 1) I still have to pay for them, and 2) my "A" game is not compatible with reactive resin.

I started back in June of 2012 after about 20 years away.

1st thing I bought was a 15# White Dot to work on spare shooting.

I used that in a small summer league and was averaging about 215 when I hurt the muscles around my elbow.

Sometimes after 20 years away, muscle memory can get things wrong.

I tried to find an alternate way of throwing the ball to complete the league but my average dropped like a lead balloon.

I went from very rev dominate to very speed dominate.

It took until mid January of 2014 before I felt it was healthy enough to throw the ball the way that works.

Feb 2nd I shot 300 with a urethane ball, and by Feb 14th it was hurt again.

I dropped the weight of the ball to 14 to avoid injury beginning in April.

I've been able to throw the ball again, and my scores have improved.

My best option has been to throw high revs, with either urethane, or plastic.

So I've had about 3 months total of healthy in the last 2 years.

Not a lot of time to work out the kinks from 20 years of not bowling.

[Aslan]

I know April isn't even over, but - do you have any idea when you might have alley assignments for May.

Just as soon as everyone is done bowling in April. I was hoping by the end of this weekend…but thus far have 50%. I was pretty sure everyone would wait until the last minute….I hate being right all the time.

aslan need to know about this one

My ruling is "no" due to the fact that it violates the rule, you have a half a month to schedule it but didn't, and it delays May by 2 days.

However, if you can get Mudpuppy AND ZDawg to agree to the delay…consider me over-ruled.

[Aslan]

Well…I have no idea what Mike is rambling about…but apparently it's because I'm just not a good enough bowler "yet" to figure out all that high end jargon. But…someday.

Back to reality…


I will create a "Virtual Tour Scores/Standings Thread" to start listing scores as they come in and the standings. Still missing 50% of the scores at this point, but whatever.

[vdubtx]

Well…I have no idea what Mike is rambling about…but apparently it's because I'm just not a good enough bowler "yet" to figure out all that high end jargon. But…someday.

Back to reality…


I will create a "Virtual Tour Scores/Standings Thread" to start listing scores as they come in and the standings. Still missing 50% of the scores at this point, but whatever.

Aslan, need to check handicap amounts per game for the bowlers. I am somehow getting 22 pins handicap per game when I should only be getting 4 per game, per the 90% of 220.

[Mudpuppy]

SMH... What's your excuse for not striking consitantly? Oh yeah, it's always the lanes fault not yours right? With all that knowledge and accessibility to equipment, you should be a 240 average house bowler Mike.

I agree - lots of smoke and no fire. I have a headache. Just bowl. Have fun. Whatever you score you score. Man oh man. I think the percentages were way off on that issue sheet - should be 99.9999999% for MWhite. Should we buy a hyperbaric chamber for him to sleep in, have the head of the USBC inspect every single pin and the THS oil pattern, make sure the day is perfect temperature, humidity and barometric pressure and then, and only then will the great Mike be able to bowl. That's my cliff notes of all the chatter.

[Mudpuppy]

Brief summary of my experience - full report to follow I am just about 300 emails deep at work and I have 3 meetings today. Just wanted to submit a brief overview.

Yesterday around 12:00pm I headed out to Parkway / 10 Pins of Trenton. The place is listed as 10 Pins of Trenton but the sign out front and on the lanes is still Parkway. Anyways it was about a 45 minute drive. My son, who is 7 almost 8, went with me as he enjoys bowling as well and it gives me a chance to spend time with him and give him some tips on bowling. He is coming along. My first rule with him is BUMPERS ARE FOR BABIES - NO BUMPERS. So any score by him is a pure score and not based on manipulation of the bumpers like a pool shot. So anyways it was a cool / cloudy day (around 40-45 degrees) so really was a good day to bowl inside - wasn't like I was headed to the beach. Drove to Trenton to find a pretty outdated looking building (note rust on the sign in the picture). Went inside and the lanes themselves were in good condition as was the ball returns, etc. Did a dutch doubles game with my son for my warm up game. I threw the first strike and then after that I picked up (or attempted to) his spares. That was more than enough for me for warm up. The center, at the time I was there, was being run by a young 20s kid - he said he could not print out the scoresheet. So I took pictures of the screen after each game and video. We left my house at 12:00pm with the intention of eating at the bowling alley and their sign (as pictured) said "Open Daily for Lunch" - well yes if you want lunch at 2pm because that is when the grill opened and we were about wrapped up by then. Definitely not in my top 1,000 bowling centers to bowl at - just a notch above Lucky Strike and not by much - only because it is more of a pure bowling center than the ridiculous gourmet lanes called Lucky Strike. Full report and 3-5 minute video to follow. Scores are submitted to Aslan. I did a live twitter feed during my experience as well which included the picture below.

[Bunny]

Submitted my scores.

Yeah, the conditions were less than ideal. You could see that people had crossed the foul line and had been on the lane doing snow angels or some s**t from cosmic bowling the night before. Approaches were sticky to say the least.

Mostly it was my spare shooting went south for the first and second games. Which is obviously bad when you're not striking! (We bowled Saturday night and my spare shooting was spot on.)

For the last game I moved inside, tightened up my line, added a bit of loft and scored better.

[Aslan]

Aslan, need to check handicap amounts per game for the bowlers. I am somehow getting 22 pins handicap per game when I should only be getting 4 per game, per the 90% of 220.

195 average. 220-195 = 25. 25 * 0.90 = 22.5. Rounded down to 22. Is that not correct?

Yeah, the conditions were less than ideal.

I agree. You, Mike, and I all bowled at the same center and it looks like we all struggled. I won't go into detail until tr33frog gets around to posting his scores...but I had a similar experience as you. My spare shooting is always a little off when I bowl in a new center. Probably (as some might point out) because I don't use a straight plastic ball...thus my spare shooting is affected a little bit by lane conditions.

In addition, I couldn't figure out how to play those lanes. If I tried to elevate speed...I'd hit way right. If I tried to slow things down...it would hit a dry area and grab like nobody's business and I'd miss way left.

For me, the key is hitting the headpin. If I can knock down 9, usually my spare shooting will be at AT LEAST 50% and maybe closer to 80%. But when you can't consistently hit the headpin...not only are you not striking, but you're left with spares that are far more tricky to pick up. In game 2 I was fortunate to pick up a lot more of those multi-pin spares...but that was offset by my inability to strike in game 2.

I know nobody wants to admit it...but the random bowling center idea seems to really be working well. So far, with the exception of the OK twins...scores seem to be a little lower than what we'd see if we just reported league scores. And as I hypothesized...the ADVANTAGE of our higher average bowlers like MWhite and vdub is their ability to adapt more quickly. Vdub started out badly... by game 2 was dialed in with a strong game and then by game 3 threw a 257!

So my contention to MWhite's criticism that this format completely takes skill out of the equation is that it absolutely DOES NOT. What it DOES...is it makes the more skilled bowlers PROVE they are more skilled...rather than perhaps rely on simply familiarity with their house conditions. The better bowlers will STILL have the edge...but this makes them WORK FOR IT...and doesn't just hand them a trophy for their 25-35 years of experience.

I need to figure out how to adjust faster. How to move inside faster. Even in my league...it seems like by the time I realize the outside (boards 6-9) isn't working...and move into the 2nd arrow (boards 12-14)....the 2nd arrow area is already burned up....and by the time I learn that...the series is over. This is why in "practice", I score in the 140s-190s...2, 4, 6, 9 games.....then when I'm finishing up...and I move inside...start playing more towards the center arrow....suddenly I'll hit a 190-230s range. So why not go there earlier?? Because if I go there too early, without an assymetric "big hook" type of ball in my arsenal...I can't get it to make that turn. And I'll waste 3 frames...usually with disasterous washouts...just to confirm what I already know.

[vdubtx]

195 average. 220-195 = 25. 25 * 0.90 = 22.5. Rounded down to 22. Is that not correct?

Nope. I posted in other thread about it too. But, feel free to keep me at 195.