Baker 2016-2017

[baker]

IMO, I think you might be trying too hard, hence the tension. Try being a little more relaxed and not over throw the ball.

I got out Saturday to do some work on spares and this really helped. Focused on being nice and relaxed with my swing and things started to come around.


Sunday was the first tournament of the year, 6 games qualifying on a 48ft pattern with a 5:1 ratio. One of my goals for the year was to make the cut at everyone of these monthly tournaments I entered. With my spare shooting being suspect I was a bit concerned. I also knew with the long pattern I would need to keep my angles closed down and not float it to the right, something I've been doing a fair amount of in league.

Game 1: 227 - I started with a Brunswick mastermind Einstein which is my strongest ball. I was playing 15 at the arrows to about 13 at the break point. I had plenty of hold and some miss room right, clean game and good start to the tournament. +27

Game 2: 279 - A ringing 10 pin cost me the 300, but this pair was very open, by far the easiest par for everyone all day. +106.

Game 3: 188 - I could not carry on the left lane to save my life. I made a stupid move right in the 10th to try and get my ball to finish better that resulted in a split and open. I should've stayed clean and taken my 200 game. +94

Game 4: 233 - I had a 279 game going into the 10th before I made a terrible shot, pulled it left and left the big 4. Missed opportunity, but it was a good recovery from the last game. +127

Game 5: 191 - This was the one game I seem to have every tournament where I completely forget how to bowl. Halfway through I switched to my mission unknown that gave me a good look, but just didn't have quite the right angle to kick out the 10. Missed two 10 pins and salvaged the game by striking out in the 9th and 10th. +118

Game 6: 191 - I kept trying to find a way to carry better and was fishing a bit. Honestly I thought I was well within the cut at this point and wanted to be ready for match play. Made my single pin spares and just kind of grinded out a 190 game. This was almost a huge mistake, I ended up being the cut and barely squeaked into match play as the 16th seed. +109



Match Play:
Game 1: Win 245 - 226. As the right lanes started to transition fast, the left side was just getting good. I was facing the number 7 seed who was a lefty and had a great look. I moved left and was playing 20 at the arrows to 15 at the break. I just wanted the ball to tip at the end and carried a lot of hits. I covered all my spares and he struggled to get the 7 pin out.

Game 2: Win 248-246. Faced another lefty who I had bowled with all day and I knew he had a lot of room and great carry. I didn't carry two 10 pins, but covered them. I struck in the 7th, 8th, and 9th to put some pressure on. His line was starting to burn up and he went high first ball in the 10th leaving a 6 pin and missed the spare. I got up in the 10th and struck on the first ball in the 10th and just needed 9 on the 2nd ball to win. I went a touch high and left a 4 pin to advance.

Game 3: Quarter finals win 195 - 192. I was against the number one seed, a righty. The pair we were on was extremely tight and we both struggled. I missed two makeable spares in the middle of the game, but was able to strike in the 8th and 9th to put some pressure on. In the end he just couldn't carry and left a couple splits. I opened in the 10th with a big 4 and covered 2 pins to win by one.

Game 4: Semi finals lost 222-247. Two splits killed me, I made a ball change in the 8th after the 2nd split to the motiv tag and struck out, but it was too little, too late. I should've made the change as soon as I started to see the lanes start to transition, but I thought I could just keep moving left. finished in 4th place.

Overall a good first tournament. I was pretty happy with my spare shooting for how terrible it had been going. It felt good to get out on a slightly tougher condition and have to make better shots. Anytime I can get to match play and start playing a little fallback shot I tend to do pretty well which was the case today. I just have to work on continuing to get more consistent and improving my spare game. I appreciate all the advice I've received on here the past few weeks.

[1VegasBowler]

Making spares on a Tough/Spot shot is always at a premium, and this is what will separate those who go far in a tournament and who don't.

When it comes to the transition and making a ball change, I think we all second guess ourselves with this. It ends up being a fine line with either being a little too soon and a little too late. Finding that perfect moment isn't as easy as one might think. lol

Still not a bad day though! Nicely done!

[baker]

Week 8

Mission Unknown

Game 1: 224 - Back to reality with my spare shooting, I missed a 4 pin and a 9 pin. I could tell my arm swing was not relaxed and I was trying to aim the ball and not just trusting it. This should've been a 250 game.

Game 2: 238 - Clean game, I was able to get myself to relax and trust it on my spare shots, but I could feel myself trying to control my swing on the strike shots as well. This was leading to pulling the ball down from the top and early timing.

Game 3: 191 - I missed two 4 pins. The lanes were transitioning fast, but if I convert those this is an easy 220 game. Left side spares have been more of an issue for me and it's still tough for me to relax the swing and just trust it.

Game 4: 223 - I really wanted this one, I made a big move left and felt like I could just bank it off the dry. Going into this game my mindset was anything under 250 was a failure. Started with front four then solid 9 pin followed by the next two strikes. I started to press and muscle my swing resulting in a terrible shot in the 10th for a split.

Total - 876 (653 for 3) - 219 avg
season avg: 229 (down 2 from last week)

I know it's a bit much to expect that I'll just have a nice relaxed swing after one day of practice and a good tournament, but I had high hopes for tonight, which probably didn't help. I need to work on some keys to ensure my swing is nice and relaxed on all my shots, including strike balls. The more I want to make the shot, the harder it is to relax and tonight I wanted every shot to be perfect. I need to stay in the moment and take everything one shot at a time. If I make half the single pins I missed I would've been right up there close to my 230 avg. I know what I need to work on before next week and it does feel good to be close.

[baker]

Week 9

Ball: Mission Unknown

Game 1: 256 - Clean game, started off with a couple flat 10 pins (almost missed one)

Game 2: 258 - Clean game, my swing started to loosen up and I was doing a good job of staying down at the line

Game 3: 257 - Missed my only single pin spare in the first frame. This killed my hopes of a 2nd 800.

Game 4: 202 - I missed the transition and tried to make a big move left with my feet. Hindsight I should moved more left with my breakpoint. A couple shots early in the game that I thought were good came in light which confused me a bit. I had similar issues during the 4th game after shooting my 800 a couple weeks ago.

Total - 973 (771 for 3) - 243 avg
season avg: 231 (+2 from last week)

I was able to get out and practice Sunday. I really focused on staying down at the line, I typically pop up at release and hit up on the ball. By staying down at the line my ball speed comes down and bit, but my ball much cleaner and smoother off the breakpoint with much improved accuracy. Only one missed single pin (although two others were very close). From a shot making perspective this was one of my best nights. I was able to have a loose swing and stay down at the line. The cleaner ball motion resulted in some interesting transition. I left a 2-8 and a 5-7 on shots that I thought were good, I knew there was a lot of friction outside so I moved three left with my feet and two right at the breakpoint. This worked for a few frames, but carry was iffy. I think the better move would've been a two and two left and just kept my angles straighter. Overall a good night.

[baker]

Week 10

Ball: Mission Unknown

Game 1: 224 - Did not thrown the ball well, only 25% of my first ball shots were on target.

Game 2: 210 - One split and I struggled to carry, again roughly 25% of shots were on target.

Game 3: 248 - Struggled to carry, about 60% of first shots were on target. Left lane was hooking a lot more than the right lane.

Game 4: 183 - Struggled to carry on the right lane and then had some bad shot making. About 30% of shots were on target, I opened in the 10th on a shot that was missed a bit slow and right.

Total - 865 (682 for 3) - 216 avg
season avg: 229 (-2 from last week)

On a positive note I was 100% on all single pin spares, but I did not throw the ball well. I need to work on straightening my arm swing and improving my targeting. At this point I feel I'm in a bit of a slump mentally. There are a few different little things I'm working on in my approach and I'm just not sure what the right direction is. Hopefully this weekend I can get out and practice to gain some clarity. Overall just not feeling like bowling lately, I think part of it is realizing just how inflated my 230 average is and I'm just not seeing improvements in my shot making. Might be time to go see a coach.

[baker]

Week 11

Ball: Mission Unknown games 1-3, Motiv Octane game 4

Game 1: 199 - I had been working on some stuff at home that I wanted to try. Approach and everything felt good with a good strong release, but I was pulling the ball badly. It may simply be that I need to change my alignment with the new swing path, I'm going to try and get out this weekend and play with it some more.

Game 2: 234 - Two missed single pins this game along with a lot of shots that struck purely because the shot is so easy. I threw the ball way worse than the score indicates. I was fishing with some swing changes to try and get back on target.

Game 3: 233 - Fishing turned to simply going back to my old form. Immediately started throwing the ball better and had better accuracy on spares, but didn't carry well. Release was not as powerful and I was back to missing right and slow as my normal miss.

Game 4: 248 - Finally decided to try something different game 4 after struggling the past few weeks. I went to the octane and moved my feet right and break point left to tighten up my angles and play more in the oil. I threw the ball fairly well, but this move and ball change gave me a lot more area. Shots missed right didn't over react and carried well, and shot pulled inside held pocket

Total - 914 (666 for 3) - 228 avg
season avg: 229 (no change from last week)

This week I at least had more fun, despite the slow start. I'm not sure if I should continue to try and refine a more powerful release with faster ball speed, or simply work on perfecting my current form. With the new changes my pulled shots were pretty consistent which leads me to believe it may be alignment related. I'll continue to play with it and see how it works out. I'll need to land on something soon as tournament season will be beginning shortly.

It was nice to make the correct ball change in game 4 and see the results pay off after weeks of struggling. It's a good reminder that I need to focus and watch for what the next move needs to be. Over all an average night, but it had a lot of good take aways.

[baker]

Week 12
Ball: Mission unknown

Game 1: 268 - Two ten pins early in the game. We were on one of the more forgiving pairs in the house. My shot making wasn't great, but I was in the right area and had miss room both left and right.

Game 2: 262 - A ten pin in the 3rd frame and a Greek church 2nd ball in the tenth. Not great shot making again but my misses right didn't over react and carried well.

Game 3: 236 - I made some minor changes to try and improve my accuracy. It worked decently well but my miss room right was fading and some shots started to jump high.

Game 4: 213 - The transition from game three to four has been an issue for me all season. I made the correct 2 and 2 move inside, but any ball I leaked right was going high and misses left would come in a bit behind the head pin and leave a ringing 10. Threw the ball ok, but just couldn't seem to trust myself.

Series: 979 (766 for 3) - 244.75 avg
Season average: 230 (+1 from last week)

Strike % - 71%
Spare % - 92%
Single pin - 100%

Overall a pretty good night. First two games I had a ton of room, but was really spraying the ball bad. I really had no idea why I was missing left or right, but the easy house shot took care if that.

At the start of the third game I tried some of the things I had been working on. On shots where my timing was early it was a guaranteed to miss right. If I trusted it and didn't try to pull down from the top I was accurate. This tells me my swing path is still a bit off and that my timing needs some fine tuning.

Spare shooting was pretty good with only one open. Compared to where I've been lately it was good to start and see improvement. Tournaments are starting up soon so I'll be getting some extra practice in.

[NewToBowling]

Wow, those are great games

[baker]

Thanks! I'm still looking for that elusive week where I both throw the ball well and score well. I've been working hard the past year to improve and get to that next level where I'm consistently making cuts and cashing in tournaments. A bit more work to go, but I'm slowly getting there.

[baker]

Week 14

Ball: motiv forza redline

Game 1: 184 - Two splits and a missed 10 pin. My crossover step was being too exaggerated and lead to inconsistent approach and launch angles. Misses right jumped high and left splits, misses left went too long and left weak 10's.

Game 2: 191 - Missed 3,6,9 and badly missed 7 pin with a split thrown in. Towards the end of the game I reduced the amount of boards I was drifting with my cross steps and moved my break point out to the 4 board and closer to me to get the ball started sooner and go through the pins correctly

Game 3: 233 - Missed 10 pin frame two, but I was now in the correct area to get my ball to start up and go through the pins correctly. I was moving left every other frame to keep up with the transition. Towards the end of the game a couple balls jumped high when I missed outside early.

Game 4: 158 - Never missed on the left lane and split every frame on the right lane. I was up against the ball return and was having trouble with my crossover step on the right lane leading to me throwing the ball right early and going high.

Total: 766 (608 for 3) - 191 Avg
Season avg: 227 (-3)

This league has been too easy where I've found the perfect match of line and ball that I've built bad habits. Misses right didn't over react and carried while misses left held pocket and still kicked out the 10 pin. I decided to use a ball that I knew I needed to be perfect to strike (I hate this ball) and left my spare ball at home to force myself to use a broken wrist to kill the ball. I've also decided to use more of a crossover step to help straighten my swing. Lots of changes to incorporate on league night, but I haven't had time to practice.

In terms of execution I felt pretty good with how I threw the ball towards the end of the night and I could feel everything coming together. You truly can't out bowl bad ball reaction, but it defiantly forced me to throw good shots and figure out how to get my ball to carry. I need to work on getting more consistent with my new approach and I'll be going back to my spare ball next week, but with the holidays I won't be able to get out and practice. Next week might be another rough week, but better for my game in the long run.