You should be proud of yourself. Averaging near 180 on the U.S. Open pattern is quite an accomplishment. Learn from your experience, and I have a hunch that you'll do much better next year.
Hey Congrats on getting out there and doing it. Which is more than most of us here will ever do. There is nothing to be disappointed about with a 180 average on your first try and bowling on difficult conditions. Share your experiences with us once you recover some. Can't wait to hear all about it. An Aslan length post would be great.
I am a proud member of Bowlingboards.com bowling forums and ball contest winner
Current arsenal
900 Global Badger Claw - Radical Ridiculous Pearl - Spare Ball Ebonite T Zone
Awesome bowling and awesome experience Vdub! Glad you got to cross this off your bucket list, hopefully you'll get another opportunity to do it again in the future. Can't wait to see the more in depth post about what you learned, thanks for sharing!
Yeah. As IF just ANYONE can put an Aslan-length post together. You do realize he's from Texas and the average Texan has the vocabulary of a 6th grader in the State of Vermont correct??Originally Posted by Amyers
Actually, that 'may' not be true...because I made it up...but I can't guarantee it's 'not' true either....nor do I want to procrastinate badly enough to google such things and see if my hypothesis is remotely true.
Besides, I'm waiting until next year's summary when VDubtx travels to Reno to bowl the Open in the National Bowling Stadium....which is near the top of my bucket list in terms of places I want to visit...and VDub shares what its like to bowl there (versus the hot and dirty city of El Paso, TX).
I'm pretty sure that after telling him he has the vocabulary of a 6th grader I wouldn't want to be you when you meet at some future event. It's been a while since I've seen one of those pictures of just someone's feet sticking out of the ball return.
I am a proud member of Bowlingboards.com bowling forums and ball contest winner
Current arsenal
900 Global Badger Claw - Radical Ridiculous Pearl - Spare Ball Ebonite T Zone
Not actually being from Texas, your comment about vocabulary level is invalid.
As for bowling in El Paso vs. Reno. Have already bowled in Reno the prior 2 years for Nationals. Not much difference bowling in one vs. the other to be honest.
El Paso was actually a nicer city than Reno is. Not "dirty" by any means. Maybe you're thinking of across the bridge/river in Juarez.
High Sanctioned Scratch Game - 300(12) Hi Sanctioned Scratch Series - 822(3)
2016/17 Book Average=221, 2017/18 Composite Average=223
Equipment in the bag - Storm Crux Prime, Storm Physix, Roto Grip Idol, Roto Grip Idol Pearl, Roto Grip Hyper Cell Fused, Storm Sure Lock, Storm Drive, Roto Grip Winner Solid, Roto Grip Haywire, Storm Fever Pitch, Roto Grip Red ball spare.
Rev Rate 400. Speed 18 at heads, 16.5-17 at pins. Axis tilt 10, Axis Rotation 55. PAP 5 5/8 x 5/8 up
A rambling post, with that level of unnecessary complication is best left to people belonging to over-analyzers anonymous! lol
I tend to harshly judge cities based on their proximity to Juarez. Further away from Juarez = good. Closer...not good.
So having had a little time to recover from the US Open, thought I would post up what I learned. Some very little things, some things about my game and some things I have no control over.
1. With the US Open being my first "professional" level tournament, I learned what the double jump rule was. Was actually a lot easier to learn once we got going and it really does move the game along pretty quickly as long as people go when they are supposed to.
2. I learned that I prefer fresh oil to the burn squads. This was very evident in my scores as day 2 and 3 fell off a bit to fresh. Day 2 was the double burn and I just did not have the right equipment set up to combat the serious hooking we encountered on that squad. I tried my Storm Ride, and on a house shot that becomes dry it works great, but, is vastly different from the US Open pattern when it is toasty from 48-64 games on it from prior squads. The oil had moved or been removed from the center part of the lane and the heads were gone that we just had no where to go with our shots. I learned that I was just not comfortable going from extreme left with my shots. I can play 4th arrow but to play 5-6 arrow, was out of my comfort zone. This I will have to work on in the future. On the Xtra Frame live stream one night, Chris Barnes was on and mentioned that the A squad during our double burn was the most brutal conditions he had seen at this Open. First nights double burn the pattern held up somewhat, but for ours they players had gone inside so deep, so soon, that nothing was left.
3. I learned that I simply cannot compete with the pros and their ball company reps suggesting what they do each and every shot and which ball to use. They have any ball at their disposal and got them drilled up on site immediately after practice on Monday specifically for the pattern and what they were seeing their current equipment do. Also, with the amount of revs they put on the ball, it looked sometimes like they were playing on a house shot compared to my balls barely making moves.
4. I learned that on a Sport Shot, each and every spare should be shot using a spare ball and going straight at it. Kicked myself from staying in my "league" mentality with the first few left side spare attempts. I need to continue working on this as it is a definite gap in my game.
5. I learned that I need to not watch the scores and just bowl my frame. Take it one frame at a time. Several games I finished 9th and 10th frames poorly from over thinking what my scores would be.
6. I learned that my ball speed needs to be regulated depending on the pattern. I was a little too fast on the fresh and a little too slow on the burns.
7. I learned I just don't have the stamina to bowl 8 games a day consistently. By the 5th game of 3rd qualifying squad, my left thigh and knee were sore, I think this was also partly due to not sliding as well as I like.
8. I need to work on my mental game and not check out at the end. I think I did this on our 3rd qualifying round at the end and my scores certainly show that. The last squad I was averaging 185 through 4 games, last 4 games of the day I averaged 158.
9. I learned that I can play on the outside when I need to. On the fresh pattern, I started playing at 5 board and keeping the ball relatively straight and walking it into the pocket. This worked for a little bit and I kept making small moves inside to keep that line working. Then bumped up against where others had already been playing and that line went away.
10. I learned that you shouldn't register for a tournament without giving yourself more of a lead time to prepare for it. I had to scramble to get myself and my equipment ready for what I was about to do for the week. I had just switched my equipment over to Vise IT and didn't have a good feel for the thumb yet. Had to work out the thumb holes immediately after practice as my thumb was developing a blister.
Felt I was in a good position through 2 days at -303. Then just did not make the right adjustments or in hindsight have the right ball in my hands on the last day.
Overall, my experience was a great one. I had an awesome time watching and competing against some extremely good bowlers. Bowling in such a big tournament was and should be a bucket list item for any bowler(think I already said that in another post, I forget).
Well, nothing groundbreaking, but I did expose a couple gaps in my game that I can work on until the next time that I bowl in a bigger tournament.
Here are my game by game break downs. A lot to interpret from these I think. My straight spare shooting isn't all that polished off yet. That's another item to keep working on.
Day 1 - A Squad - Fresh
Day 2 - A Squad - Double Burn
Day 3 - A Squad - Single Burn
Overall stats:
First ball 8.57
Strike 36% Never got past a turkey.
Spares 65% 103/157
Single Pin 90% 54/60
Multi pin 50% 49/97
Splits 28% 7/25
All leaves 157, 25 splits.
10 pin 83%
6 pin 90%
4 pin 100%
6-10 88%
3 pin 100%
2 pin 100%
Was able to convert a few splits
3-6-7-10, 3-4-6-7-10 and a 3-4-6.
High Sanctioned Scratch Game - 300(12) Hi Sanctioned Scratch Series - 822(3)
2016/17 Book Average=221, 2017/18 Composite Average=223
Equipment in the bag - Storm Crux Prime, Storm Physix, Roto Grip Idol, Roto Grip Idol Pearl, Roto Grip Hyper Cell Fused, Storm Sure Lock, Storm Drive, Roto Grip Winner Solid, Roto Grip Haywire, Storm Fever Pitch, Roto Grip Red ball spare.
Rev Rate 400. Speed 18 at heads, 16.5-17 at pins. Axis tilt 10, Axis Rotation 55. PAP 5 5/8 x 5/8 up
Thanks for the summary of your experience, it provides some good insight to anyone attempting to play in a tournament.
I can't imagine how tough the shots are on the double burn, we never experience anything like that playing league (around here).
I can't see getting used to playing out way farther than I play for a 10 pin and trying to bend it back into the pocket !
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