Because of a bad right knee I had to use a no approach bowling style. I bowled like that all last season and the beginning of this season. I bowl on two leagues. Well today I wanted to try and see if I can bowl with a normal approach. I did several dry runs without a ball to see if my right sliding knee would be okay with it. It was okay. When practice started and I grabbed my ball I made the approach with a little apprehension not knowing if I will be okay. I felt fine after the first shot. Now I had some confidence to keep doing it. The only problem was the length of time I went without an approach. The only balls I had was my Columbia plastic ball and my Columbia yellow dot ball. Because I was throwing at 13.5mph the two balls acted totally different from when I only had a speed of 6.5 to 9.0mph. The first two games were me trying to figure out where to stand to hit the pocket and to pick up spares. The plastic ball would go dead straight and the yellow dot hooked maybe 4 or 5 boards.

The third game was much easier because I was lined up and hitting the pocket. Because of the faster speed I was getting good pin carry even on shots that weren't that great. Game one was a 143 which isn't great and game two was a 130. Now for game 3 I was lined up good for strikes and spare pickup. Game 3 was a 205. I started out with two strikes in a row and had a couple more strikes and the rest spares. I had no open frames. I can't figure out how my knee got better because it was bone on bone on the outside of my right knee which is my sliding leg being a lefty. I thought that maybe after the game I wouldn't be able to walk. So far after bowling today it feels fine so far.

I'll tell you folks that I was happy as a clam when I bowled that great third game using a normal approach after not doing it for so long. Seeing that I have a faster speed I am dusting off my Blue Hammer urethane ball and hitting some practice this Wednesday to see what kind of action the Blue hammer will have for me. So now I'll have a three ball arsenal the plastic the Columbia yellow dot and the urethane Blue Hammer. I am hoping that my right knee stays in shape so I can bowl normal again and get the higher games like I used to before knee trouble. I looking forward to practice Wednesday. I'm back in the saddle again.