New high series tonight!!! (my new thread to highlight the 'new' me....lol)

[Blacksox1]

Bowler of the month!

[boatman37]

Bowler of the month!

Thanks but still need to work on my spares. In the last 4 weeks my first ball average is 9.06 with 51% strikes but my single pin spares are only 69%. Multi pin spares are 73%. 12/19 (63%) on 7 pins in that time. Also 2 missed 8 pins and 1 missed 5 pin in that span. That's all of my single pin spares in that time. No excuse for missing the 5 and 8's and should have made at least 3 more of those 7's (would be 80% on 7's then). That is 6 more spares converted so an extra 70 or so pins. In 12 games that is about +6 to my average during that 12 games.

I threw a practice 7 in warmups and it was perfect. My first 2 in the game went wide and dropped into the gutter. My 3rd went slightly inside and barely missed. Made the 4th one.

But yeah, I have probably been the most over my average in the last 12 games than anyone else in my league. Just hope to continue and and improve those spares.

[boatman37]

Teammate just texted me. He has been struggling this year. Last year he finished at ~195 but this year he is at 180 right now. He has a 4 year old Roto Grip something or other. We bowled the PSO's team and he was talking to him. PSO used the Conspiracy Theory the other night and rolled a 300/823. Teammate just bought one.

[boatman37]

So for starters teammate got his new Conspiracy Theory tonight. Overall he had a rough night but think he started to understand the ball a little. He is about 12.2 MPH and he struggled with the ball rolling out due to the lower speeds. I had him move a little more into the oil and that helped but he struggled again in game 3. He had a 234 in game 2 but only about 150 and 170 the 1st and 3rd game.

So on to my game...tried the big hook in warmups but it went straight to the 4-7...lol. So tried the Conspiracy but didn't like the look so started with the Squatch and stuck with it till the end of game 3. Made a few minor adjustments and picked up speed to get it back to the pocket. Strikes were good tonight and spares were decent but still missed a few I shouldn't have. Missed a 7 pin barely to the inside and missed a 3-9. Missed 2 splits too. Towards the end of game 1 started hitting high so picked up a little speed to get back to the pocket. That was good until game 3 then started getting high again. Moved over a little but no luck so 8th frame of game 3 switched to BWG and got back to the pocket. Played up the 7-8 board all night. My goal was a 603 tonight but I hurt my back Saturday and it was a little sore but didn't affect me. A 603 would bump me over the 190 average mark. Ended with a 621. I wanted 3 200's again tonight but game 3 wasn't cooperating. After the 11th had 190 and needed a strike for an even 200. Left a pocket 7...ugh. So 199 in game 3. Started off with a 214 and 208.

13 of my last 16 games were over 200. In the last 5 weeks (15 games) I'm averaging 206.80. My average before this string was 177.00. Now it is 190.54. My worst series in the last 5 weeks is 602 (610, 602, 657, 612, and 621).

Biggest issue is the team is struggling. More than them struggling is our opponents having phenomenal nights against us. Last week we were over our average 2 of 3 games but the other team had killer games and we lost all 3. Tonight one of the guys on the other team had a 148 average but bowled 196, 165, and 131. Another had a 190 average and bowled a 634. Another had a 181 average and bowled a 609. Another had a 177 average and bowled a 592. Hard to beat that. Their team average was 897. Tonight they had 980, 929, and 932. Our average was 929 and we had 993 and lost, 1006 and won and 906 and lost. Just our luck this year.

So really believing I have my issues figured out here but still need some help with my spares. In the last 5 weeks I'm at 52% strikes and 70% spares (72% single pin). Average had I made all makeable spares would be 214.20 so have some work to do there. Luckily I have only left 3 splits in those 15 games. First ball average has been 9.17.

Tonight:

[J Anderson]

It seems like every so many years, I will be on a team that just seems to bring out the best in the opposition. Quite often it seems to happen if you won the previous season.

All you can control is how you throw the ball. There’s no defense in bowling. You can’t stop the other team from all shooting 300+ with handicap. Sooner or later you’ll run into a team that seems to get tapped every time they hit the pocket and can’t make a 10 pin to save their lives.

[boatman37]

So averages are down this year in our league with only a few doing better than last year. Oddly our PSO has high average at 234.20 but 2nd place is way down at 225.12. Last year high average was about 225 but there were about 5 bowlers from 220-225. The spread is larger this year. Right now those are the only 2 over 220. So I decided to see how I stack up this year compared to last. Last year I was 71st of 101 (70.20% of all bowlers in my league were ahead of me). This year so far I'm at 49 of 112 (43.75% better than me). That is with all bowlers with at least 1 game in. If you only take bowlers with at least 12 games in then I am 40th of 89 (44.94% so not much difference).

So compare year over year I moved up quite a bit compared to the rest of the league. We do have a couple of guys at 246 and 235 but they only have 3 and 6 games respectively.

Averages have been coming up the last few weeks so people are settling in and maybe figuring out what's been different this year.

[RobLV1]

Averages have been coming up the last few weeks so people are settling in and maybe figuring out what's been different this year.

It took until November?

[Timmyb]

It took until November?

I had two bad weeks at the beginning of league this year. Figured out what the lanes wanted, and went there. I've seen a number of the "good" guys struggle for some time this year, with all the P&M that comes with that. Change equipment. Change your line. Do something! Don't just sit back and assume your shot will come back. I set down a nearly new ball last year and went back to one that is 5 years old because that's what was needed. This year, I'm back to the newer ball, and 11 pins higher than my average last year. Too many guys are afraid to make a big move when their game just isn't working. Gotta get that out of your head!

[RobLV1]

So true! They changed the kind of oil that they use where I bowl. The shot is now in near the third arrow. It's amazing how many bowlers are still insisting on playing the second arrow. When it doesn't work, they change balls. When that doesn't work, they complain loudly and threaten to go bowl somewhere else!

[boatman37]

I wouldn't say it took until November, just that their averages are starting to get back to where they were so maybe a month or so ago they started bowling better. What a few have mentioned is that the line is very tight this year. If you miss wide it stays wide and you miss high it crosses over. I have been trying to find that line that gives me the most room for error instead of fighting it. My teammates are fighting it but they are bowlers that show up once a week and when they leave at the end of the night they don't think about bowling again until they walk in the following week. I have been trying to explain some of the issues but until this season I was lowest average on the team so I think they were reluctant to listen to me. Now I'm 2nd highest (of 5). They are the ones you mentioned that keep doing the same thing and hope the lanes come to them. The one left 3 10's in a row last week. I told him to move in to the oil or ball down. One of the top bowlers was standing beside me so I told him to explain to him why he was leaving 10's so I think he listened to him cause he fixed it. I still have a long ways to go but I've learned alot so hoping to start helping them.

But yeah Timmy, I have been using my Squatch to start the night then going to my oldest ball in my bag to finish up. In game 3 the Squatch starts leaving 7 pins (or back row pins in general) so I switch. The BWG retains more energy downlane and makes the turn a little later and has been perfect at the end of the night. The thing I need to work on is making that switch earlier. I have been holding out on changing balls hoping a little adjustment fixes it. After 3 or 4 frames of struggling I'll switch and the BWG is money the last few frames. The last 2 weeks I have used the BWG the last 4 frames and in those 8 frames I have 6 strikes so the switch works. Just that the 3 or 4 frames before the switch aren't as good. I have moved as much as 5 boards and still not any better so I 'give in' and change balls. So getting over that stubborness would probably get me an extra 20 or so pins that last game.