Really need to work on my spares

[boatman37]

Went out today and practiced a little. 4 games total. First 2 were just practicing corner pins with the occasional 8 and 9 pin. Did pretty good and started getting fairly consistent. Used the 15 board (at the arrows) for every shot and just adjusted my feet. Had about a 12 board adjustment from 7 pin to 10 pin. Game 3 tried a few one step drills but it felt really awkward like I was going to fall on my face...lol. Tried that a few times then tried a new first ball approach. Stood with right toe on 19 and targeted the 7 board at the arrows. I did try others going more cross alley but the ball wouldn't come back. I was hitting the pocket from the 10 and 15 boards too but the 15 board isn't a line I would play unless I had to. It's very straight on for me, almost a straight ball. If I try to get it outside from the 15 it stays out there. Not enough revs to bring it back. Maybe more surface but I was using the Squatch and the BWG (both pearls). So in the end I had my right toe on 19 and targeting the 7. My left toe was on 15 and I had my right foot forward at the start (usually I stand square). With my right foot forward my hips and shoulders were cocked to the outside. Not 100% certain I was walking in a straight line but I was setting the ball down around the 9 board maybe. I would get out to about the 7 then right back to the pocket. I normally stand right toe on 15 and target the 7. With this I get a more direct line. Today standing more right my speed was slower and it was letting the ball come back. Nice pin action and good carry. By the 4th game my back was sore so I stopped. I started missing those spares I had been making earlier though. Didn't care about scores but had about a 56, 125, 190 and 145. I was more concerned with consistency and making spares. We will see how Tuesday goes.

[boatman37]

Man. Went from good to bad to awful and back to good all in one night. Warmups I was on fire. Every strike ball was a pocket strike. Threw one at the 7 pin and perfect. Even converted the spare off of it. Game 1 could not get carry. Also hit light the first few frames. Twice left the 1-3-6-7 and missed them both. Game 2 nothing worked. Tried 10 board, 6-7 board, and even the 15 board. Tried the Squatch and the BWG. When I did hit the pocket left a 7-10, a 4-6-7-10, and a few 7's. Just couldn't get anything to work. Game 3 used the Squatch and played out around the 6-7 board with the pinky tucked. Bingo! Only flaw in game 3 was a 4-6-7-10 pocket leave (maybe slightly high but not much). Used my spare ball (Rhino) and aimed at the 7. Got the 4, 7, and 10. The 10 bounced off the side wall and touched the 6 but it didn't fall. I also converted the 6-8-10 in game 2. Very hard for a lefty.
7 pins were good tonight. Left more than I usually do but covered all but 1. And counting the 7-10 and the 4-6-7-10 I was 6/7 on 7 pins. If you take out game 2 I was very good on my spare shooting. 9 opens on the night and 6 of those were in game 2.

We had 5 Squatches on our pair tonight (1 was a solid). 4 lefties tonight too. Just wish I wouldn't have struggled so bad in game 2.

One thing to add...well 2 things. When I went to practice last week I tried keeping my left foot slightly back which turned my hips and shoulders out but it worked well that day. Not sure if that was my problem tonight but game 3 I went back to my old stance. Also, noticed a few times tonight and noticed it the last few weeks something I get more lift up the back of the ball. Not sure if I'm getting more under it or just lifting harder but I can feel the difference. Game 3 I tried hard not to do that so I could be consistent

[boatman37]

So going to focus on my mental game and a 600 is my goal tonight. Calling my shot here. Will update later to see how much I beat it by.

[boatman37]

BOOM! 610!
So after 55 weeks of bowling in the fall league and carrying a 180 average I only have 4 600's. And summer league is 4 games series and in 23 weeks I have 3 800's. Tells me I'm pretty consistent?
So anyway, we won 2/3 tonight. Talked to a a few guys tonight saying everyone is struggling and is about 10 pins lower than they usually are. Talked to one at the end of the night that is a 225 bowler that is averaging 205 this year and said he might quit. Said they approaches are so sticky he can't get a good release. He had an S9 on and said the 10 is too slick. Our highest average bowler so far this year is 218. Last year we had about 5 guys over 220. Anyway, this guy said he polished his Squatch pearl cause the lanes have been so dry. Said he bowled a 771 the other night with it and tonight had a 734. Said it works perfect now.

So on to my game. Said I was going in with a positive attitude and would not get down. Started with the Squatch and all was going well. Kept my slide foot slightly ahead at my start to open my hips and shoulders. Did that all night. Started targeting the 8-10 board and worked well. Only open in game 1 was a missed 7. Left the pinky untucked until the end of game 1. Game 2 started with a 5 bagger then the transition hit. Struggled there but didn't give up. Started moving inside but couldn't get any consistency. Kept missing either light or heavy. Threw about 3 or 4 frames at the 13-15 board. Near the end of game 2 moved back out to the 7-8 board and was hitting the pocket but leaving corner pins and an 8 pin. Switched to the BWG and stayed outside and hit good and got carry. Game 3 was my toughest but I converted all but 1 spare.
3/5 on 7 pins which is better than usual but still not good enough. And 2nd week in a row that I left more 7's than usual. Left a 2-4-7 and whiffed on that one. Just missed my mark by a mile and dropped it in the gutter. Also missed a 2-4. Ball came in a little higher than I wanted and just missed the 4 pin. But no splits tonight after a bunch last week.

So had high series for my team tonight (yeah my teammates struggled). They had a 607, 576, 518, and 506. So average is up to 180 now. Last year I finished this league at 179.76 but I finished this past summer league at 188.66 so I'm still down but confident I can get into the 190's.

Something I was thinking about today. Back in my previous bowling career we had paper and pencil. I always sat at the scorekeeper table and kept score or at least sat in the seat closest to the approach and watched every ball thrown. My mind was focused on bowling from start to finish. Now we don't have those seats so I go back and sit and socialize. I am not as focused as I was back then. Tried to keep my mind more into it tonight.

[J Daisy]

BOOM! 610!
So after 55 weeks of bowling in the fall league and carrying a 180 average I only have 4 600's. And summer league is 4 games series and in 23 weeks I have 3 800's. Tells me I'm pretty consistent?
So anyway, we won 2/3 tonight. Talked to a a few guys tonight saying everyone is struggling and is about 10 pins lower than they usually are. Talked to one at the end of the night that is a 225 bowler that is averaging 205 this year and said he might quit. Said they approaches are so sticky he can't get a good release. He had an S9 on and said the 10 is too slick. Our highest average bowler so far this year is 218. Last year we had about 5 guys over 220. Anyway, this guy said he polished his Squatch pearl cause the lanes have been so dry. Said he bowled a 771 the other night with it and tonight had a 734. Said it works perfect now.

So on to my game. Said I was going in with a positive attitude and would not get down. Started with the Squatch and all was going well. Kept my slide foot slightly ahead at my start to open my hips and shoulders. Did that all night. Started targeting the 8-10 board and worked well. Only open in game 1 was a missed 7. Left the pinky untucked until the end of game 1. Game 2 started with a 5 bagger then the transition hit. Struggled there but didn't give up. Started moving inside but couldn't get any consistency. Kept missing either light or heavy. Threw about 3 or 4 frames at the 13-15 board. Near the end of game 2 moved back out to the 7-8 board and was hitting the pocket but leaving corner pins and an 8 pin. Switched to the BWG and stayed outside and hit good and got carry. Game 3 was my toughest but I converted all but 1 spare.
3/5 on 7 pins which is better than usual but still not good enough. And 2nd week in a row that I left more 7's than usual. Left a 2-4-7 and whiffed on that one. Just missed my mark by a mile and dropped it in the gutter. Also missed a 2-4. Ball came in a little higher than I wanted and just missed the 4 pin. But no splits tonight after a bunch last week.

So had high series for my team tonight (yeah my teammates struggled). They had a 607, 576, 518, and 506. So average is up to 180 now. Last year I finished this league at 179.76 but I finished this past summer league at 188.66 so I'm still down but confident I can get into the 190's.

Something I was thinking about today. Back in my previous bowling career we had paper and pencil. I always sat at the scorekeeper table and kept score or at least sat in the seat closest to the approach and watched every ball thrown. My mind was focused on bowling from start to finish. Now we don't have those seats so I go back and sit and socialize. I am not as focused as I was back then. Tried to keep my mind more into it tonight.

Nice score! I only bowled with manual scorekeeping on paper once, but apparently there are still some places set up like that. Mostly bars and firehouses with 4-6 lanes. If it helps you to bowl that way, maybe it's worth looking into. Some of them even have leagues, or so I hear.

[boatman37]

BOOM!!! Another 600! And 2 weeks in a row I'm high series on our team. At the end of the night I heard somebody say everyone struggled tonight except our PSO (no idea what he rolled). Wasn't looking good for a 600 but pulled through at the end. Lanes were extremely dry. I saw the transition but struggled to figure out what to do with it. Our whole team was struggling with corner pins all night. I started with the Squatch pearl and did decent till about the 5th frame of game 1 then started coming in light. Seems when it starts drying up on me my ball starts hitting light. I moved in a little but no luck. Changed balls, tucked pinky, picked up speed. Nothing helped. Tucking my pinky helped about 2 frames then started leaving 7s again. Tried the BWG and the Conspiracy. Knew the Conspiracy was the wrong way to go being my most aggressive ball but nothing else worked. Tried it more inside but still left 7's. Finally near the end of game 3 I moved in to the 11-12 board back to the Squatch and threw a 4 bagger and finished up by tugging the 12th frame for a 225. Needed a 223 for a 600.

Left 7 7 pins tonight. And covered all 7! 100% on 7 pins. I don't think I have ever left 7 7's in one night before and pretty sure I have never covered 7 in a night. Those were the only single pins I left all night. Twice tonight I chopped the 5-8 so that sucked.

So knew what I was seeing but it took me awhile to fix it. I lack confidence playing inside the 10 board cause I'm very erratic inside for whatever reason but tonight I was hitting it good. That helps my confidence for next time. I saw middle of game 1 a nice pocket 7. Teammate said I got screwed. I said nope...ball rolled out. I could see it. Usually tucking the pinky and picking up speed fixes that but not tonight. I really considered going to my Rhino as my strike ball (that ball goes almost perfectly straight). When I was targeting the 11-12 board I was using the Squatch with my pinky tucked. Ball had a smooth shallow arc right to the pocket. Wasn't as pretty as those sharp angular shots I'm used to but it worked. Be curious to see how others did tonight but scores haven't been posted yet. I was high man on my team and 2nd high between us and our opponents (to a 607). Bad part was we lost 2 of 3. Went 2-5 tonight. First game we lost by 150. 2nd game we won by 40 and 3rd we lost by about 30. My teammates really struggled bad. They had 467, 509, 535, 562, and my 602. The 562 has a 195 average and the other 3 are all about 180 averages.

So feeling better now. 2 600's in a row. First time I have done that since I came back almost 2 years ago and only my 5th one in that 2 years. My spares got me there tonight. Usually I miss at least 2 or 3 of those 7 pins so that's about 25-35 pins right there. Just hope I can keep it up but it is encouraging that I'm seeing what is happening. Now just need to start adapting to it sooner.

Average is up to 183.25 after 24 games this season....OH...and game 3 was clean!

[boatman37]

Best series ever tonight!. Gonna start a new thread for my progress