Summer league....phooooey

[boatman37]

So whose idea was this? Probably my worst night since returning in January. My first ball wasn't too bad all night but no carries at all. The format is 2 man teams and you bowl 2 games against one team then move to another pair and 2 more games against another team. My normal line is between the first and second arrow. I hit light, I hit high, and I hit the pocket and no matter what no strikes. I didn't get my first strike until the 6th frame in the 2nd game. And spares weren't much better. Moved inside 1/2 way through the 2nd game and threw 4 strikes in a row but that ended quickly.

Third game was on a new pair so tried my normal line and same thing so moved back inside. Bought this ball in February and tonight was the first time I have ever seen oil on it. I left quite a few 5 pins but covered them all and was 0/5 on 10 pins (I'm a lefty so no excuse). Just all around horrible. To top it off my app says I bowled a 182 my 2nd game but the scoreboard says 173 and my app looks accurate from what I remember so who knows.

Game 1: 135

Game 2: 173 (or 182)

Game 3: 136

Game 4: 157

[RobLV1]

As a Silver Level Coach, when I hear bowlers talk about their "normal line," I start to shake uncontrollably. Here's the deal; you don't tell the lane where you want to play, the lane tells you where it wants you to play. Not listening to the lane is like not listening to your wife... it can only get you in trouble!

[boatman37]

As a Silver Level Coach, when I hear bowlers talk about their "normal line," I start to shake uncontrollably. Here's the deal; you don't tell the lane where you want to play, the lane tells you where it wants you to play. Not listening to the lane is like not listening to your wife... it can only get you in trouble!

I say normal because 95% of the time that 'mark' works. I may adjust my feet a few boards but my mark is almost always the same. Maybe because I'm a lefty it doesn't change much but I have no problems trying a different line if that isn't working. Normally my mark is between 1st and 2nd arrow. Last night I moved to between 2nd and 3rd arrow and moved my feet about 4 boards right.

And yes, you are exactly right about the wife comment

[Amyers]

Bowling in one league in one alley it's pretty easy to start thinking of normal. things are different between houses, nights, seasons, and sometimes just in general. bowling in the summer is never the same as during the season. If your seeing more oil on the ball and less of a reaction you may want to add surface or get a more aggressive ball. I usually find less oil around here in the summer but things can be different.

[jaypeesmith]

Bowling in one league in one alley it's pretty easy to start thinking of normal. things are different between houses, nights, seasons, and sometimes just in general. bowling in the summer is never the same as during the season. If your seeing more oil on the ball and less of a reaction you may want to add surface or get a more aggressive ball. I usually find less oil around here in the summer but things can be different.

I learned this the hard way, yesterday. This past Saturday, I was at one house and doing quite well (for me, at least). However, yesterday, I played at a different center and it was a mess. Nothing wrong with either center or their lanes. The difference, clearly, is that I don't know how to adjust to the changes.

Tomorrow, I start a new league at yet another new place. So, I don't know what to expect. But, hell, I am going to have fun, whatever I do so, I'll chalk it all up to new experiences.

[JasonNJ]

Also Kegel has done a bunch of topography studies and they found lanes in the summer usually swell because of the higher heat and humidity. This mean your ball actually has to go uphill which makes it harder for the ball to get to the pocket.

[boatman37]

Bowling in one league in one alley it's pretty easy to start thinking of normal. things are different between houses, nights, seasons, and sometimes just in general. bowling in the summer is never the same as during the season. If your seeing more oil on the ball and less of a reaction you may want to add surface or get a more aggressive ball. I usually find less oil around here in the summer but things can be different.

yeah. same house but last week we had our year ed tourney and had to keep changing lanes. on 2, 4, and 6 the ball wouldn't react at all but on 1, 3, and 5 it was perfect. there is another lefty on my team that saw the same thing i did. last night i was the only lefty on our pairs but both lanes were similar. the ball reacted and hooked into the pocket i just couldn't get ant carries playing the outside. i was slightly light on quite a few of my shots but even then i usually get a least a few strikes. i didn't get my first strike until the 6th frame of game 2 and i was at or near the pocket about every ball. the inside was better to me. if i hit slightly high i was striking. we had to switch lanes after 2 games last night and my teammate rolled a 191 and 259 but after we switched lanes he rolled a 161 and 151. said he couldn't get any carries on the 2nd set we were on.

when i say 'normal line' think of it more as a benchmark. its where i start out in practice and 9/10 times its good so i just stay there.

so we will see how the summer goes. just seemed like the ball had to hit just perfect to get the carries last night. even playing inside like i did the ball was still reacting pretty good. i'm not gonna say i was bowling great because i definitely wasn't but i have probably never went 16 frames without a strike and they weren't terrible shots.

[RobLV1]

when i say 'normal line' think of it more as a benchmark. its where i start out in practice and 9/10 times its good so i just stay there.

So if you start there and it's good so you stay there, how do you know what to expect if you have to move (even though you're a lefty... God, I'm tired of hearing "I'm a lefty so I just play the same line"!)?

[Outerlimits]

Last weekend bowled a Benefit No-Tap Tournament for a Bowling alley waitress that was killed by a drunk driver that left 2 small children behind. The house had a great turn out and raised a lot of money for the family. The pair we were on, ended up with 3 left handed bowlers. 2 Crankers one throwing urethane and a tweener type. I don't think any of them ever bowled where they had another lefty on their lanes with them. When the lanes started to transition on their side, you would have thought the world just came to an end. That's all I heard.......whats happening, I never have to move.lol. I laughed and said welcome to our world. We had 7 righthanders rounding out the group of 10 on the pair.

[boatman37]

So if you start there and it's good so you stay there, how do you know what to expect if you have to move (even though you're a lefty... God, I'm tired of hearing "I'm a lefty so I just play the same line"!)?

Usually if I start having issues it's the bowler and not the lane conditions...lol. I make minor adjustments throughout the night. I might move my feet up to 3 or 4 boards and maybe move my mark by a couple of boards but rarely do I make the big move like last night by moving my mark 5 boards. To me that is a huge adjustment and a last resort. I can usually get it after a frame or two. Last night I moved in and my first ball was light. I moved 1 board left and threw 4 strikes in a row in the pocket. But then we had to change lanes and I couldn't get anything to work there. I tried both lines and no good.