Stubbornness is a survival trait. It helps us grind through the rough spots in life. There are just some times when you have to put your favorite tool back in the box and use something else.Originally Posted by Hammer
Sometimes open frames don't ruin a game, what you think about them will....
None of us like open frames but the way you think or feel about them when they happen will ruin your game if you go into a negative mode of thinking. Tonight I started the second league game with a strike. Second frame an open. Oops! Don't matter. Frames 3, 4, 5 strikes. Frame 6 opened. Big deal. Frames 7, 8, 9 strikes. Alright! Frame 10 strike, strike and spare. Bowled a 232 because the opens didn't put me in a bad mental state. Sure, I could have gotten ticked off but I didn't because I thought instead that opens will happen but don't let them ruin a whole game. Just do the best you can in each frame and sometimes it works out like it did for me.
My first game was a 203. My third game was a 149. Ouch! The excuse I am using is I am 68 years old with a bone on bone left hip and osteoarthritis in both knees and right hip that isn't bad like the left one. Plus I could tell that my stamina in the third game was getting weak. What I just told you is true but the real reason is my line wore out and I didn't make the right adjustment to get strikes and easy spares. Plus for the third game I should have taken out my one piece of thumb tape because my thumb started to hang up. I took it out in the 8th frame and started with a strike with spares in the 9th and 10th frame. Sometimes I find myself being stubborn to make a change I know I should make. As you can see I paid the price. Sixteen pins short of a 600 series.
I don't let it get me down though because I have had quite a few series 600+ since I have been bowling. That's bowling baby. Don't let opens ruin your whole night. Sometimes you can still bowl a good score even with those nasty buggers in there.
Arsenal: Raw Hammer Orange/Black Hybrid 14lbs, Blue Hammer urethane 14lbs, Columbia 300 Lava Ball Plastic 14lbs, Highest scratch series 710 Bowling 38 years Never hit that 300 game. Highest game 276, had 11 strikes and one spare in the middle of that game.
Stubbornness is a survival trait. It helps us grind through the rough spots in life. There are just some times when you have to put your favorite tool back in the box and use something else.
John
I was thinking what I should have done in the third game was put my Raw Hammer Anger ball in the bag and went with my Blue Hammer ball. I was using it in our practice time and it was working pretty good on the conditions of both our lanes also. I stayed with the Anger ball because it was getting strikes easily in the first two games. So I could have done two things in the third game. I should have tried taking the thumb tape out when my thumb started to hang up or made a ball change and went with the Blue Hammer that was working good in practice with good arcing movement to the pocket. Sometimes the brain fights change. DARN BRAIN!
Arsenal: Raw Hammer Orange/Black Hybrid 14lbs, Blue Hammer urethane 14lbs, Columbia 300 Lava Ball Plastic 14lbs, Highest scratch series 710 Bowling 38 years Never hit that 300 game. Highest game 276, had 11 strikes and one spare in the middle of that game.
I'm not the kind of bowler to string together a ton of strikes. I normally can only get to string together 2-4 and then I either open, make spares, or get single strikes. Any open frame is bad for me since I can't string together my strikes, but it's normally when I get 3 or more that my game is low.
I'm in the same boat. I've seen high rev thumbless guys average in the 220s over 3 games even though they missed nearly every spare attempt. But if you have a strike rate closer to 30% or 20%...you can't afford even 1-2 open frames per game or you'll be bowling in the 140-170 range if not worse.
In Bag: (: .) Motiv Trident Odyssey; (: .) Hammer Scorpion Sting; (: .) Brunswick Endeavor; (: .) Radical Outer Limits Pearl; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 186; Lifetime Average = 171;
Ball Speed: 14.4mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 181
Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!
I couldn't agree more with that statement you can not let an open frame
or two get into your head in the first game or second game or your league
night or tournament is pretty much over.
I am a proud member of Bowlingboards.com bowling Forums
Right handed, ex-cranker now a power tweener approx. 350 - 400 RPM's PAP 4 1/2" over 1" up high league sanctioned game 300 high league sanctioned series 788
Bill
I was bummed out last night after a couple open frames...pretty much figured it was a disaster...then the game ended and I looked at the score and it was a 171...about 7 pins over my average in that house. Thats how bad open frames affect me...I was ready to throw in the towel thinking I was gonna bowl in the 120s/130s and it turns out it wasn't near that bad.
In Bag: (: .) Motiv Trident Odyssey; (: .) Hammer Scorpion Sting; (: .) Brunswick Endeavor; (: .) Radical Outer Limits Pearl; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 186; Lifetime Average = 171;
Ball Speed: 14.4mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 181
Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!
Sometimes on league night you have to be a grinder to bowl a decent game. You just have to fight the best you can with each frame on some nights. There are nights that any of us can have where your ball and lane conditions and your technique all match up well and you feel that night like you have your own personal groove in both alleys and you can bowl with your eyes closed and get a strike. So you either match up for conditions that night or you don't. The ones you don't match up you just have to go frame by frame and throw the best shot you can.
Arsenal: Raw Hammer Orange/Black Hybrid 14lbs, Blue Hammer urethane 14lbs, Columbia 300 Lava Ball Plastic 14lbs, Highest scratch series 710 Bowling 38 years Never hit that 300 game. Highest game 276, had 11 strikes and one spare in the middle of that game.
I don't let missed spares bother me any more. I have had some real good games with a couple open frames. You have to stay positive and don't get down on yourself. Steve
Some bowlers say that spares are over-rated. I think they are under-rated. A few weeks ago, in a league that allows open bowling for four hours before league starts, I got to bowl on a pair where twelve games had been bowled on the left lane, and none on the right. The right lane was like shooting fish in a barrel. I threw a grand total of two strikes on the left lane, but was able to salvage a decent set because I could pick up my spares and, more importantly, made sure that I left myself makeable spares. Personally, open frames really make me mad at myself, usually not because I missed the spares, but because I left myself a leave that was very difficult or, worse yet, unmakeable.
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