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Thread: Boomer's Summer Season

  1. #1
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    Default Boomer's Summer Season

    So - focusing back on bowling. Over the past few seasons I've been running our brackets which has been a huge distraction (especially since I've been gathering the scores by hand, running brackets by hand, etc.) and . . . well, it turns out that it's WORK. I come to bowling FROM work . . . not TO work. LOL Funny thing is - everyone told me, "good for you" even though they're bummed that no brackets.

    Plus I'm getting my equipment examined by a long-standing and very very well-regarded PSO - Joe at Bowlero Upland. Buddy, who was PSO at Arlington, which is my "home," changed me, shortened my span, etc. but made my thumb and wrist hurt like crazy. Joe wasn't impressed with things, he didn't like that my thumb didn't fit all the way in, etc. So he's changing things (again) and fixing things.

    Anyway - I thought this would be a good re-start to me tracking myself.


    Week 2 (I didn't bother tracking last week - wasn't great, total distraction of everything, blah blah blah)
    Game 1 - 169. Lots of splits. Getting used to the Zen Master, which has the new span. Don't feel like I can give it the beans, which I needed to. And for some reason my scorekeeper lost the game. Weird.
    Game 2 - 206 - switched to the Nova (old drilling). Clean until 8th frame when I missed a 9-pin (STUPID STUPID STUPID.
    Game 3 - 257 - spare, strike through 8, spare, strike then 8 for fill. Felt GOOD.

    632 series - felt good.


  2. #2
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    Felt even better this weekend - AMAZING how much fun you can have bowling when you don't have to run up and down the lanes like 5 times trying to get scores. You can just . . . bowl! Socializing becomes socializing.

    So, during practice I was all soft handed, slower ball speed, letting the ball just go . . . kinda finessing it. Was OK during practice but . . .

    Game 1 - pocket 7-10 to start. Meh. I was in and around the pocket but finessing it just wasn't carrying. 9th frame - move 4b right and start giving it some beans. 198
    Game 2 - giving it beans was the right choice. Nova plus beans = front 8. Left 10 (and whiffed . . . c'mon, first 10-pin miss in a month) then strike strike 10 for 266. Yeah - HAPPY
    Game 3 - let's continue. Don't step on my weenie. . . LOL Clean. Left makeable spares all through - only "open" was in the fill. 214.

    So - only two opens all evening, one was the pocket 7-10 and the other was a whiffed 10. Ok - I'm good with that. I didn't leave a lot of crap that was hard to pick up - THAT was an accomplishment! LOL


  3. #3
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    This week's theme - so close but . . .

    Game 1 - looking GOOD. Took me a few frames to get the reaction good with the Zen Master but after that was GOOD until the 10th . . . 4-10. BAH. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Threw it slow. Ended up 213
    Game 2 - two opens, one in first, one in 7th (whiffed on the FOUR - looked good until the ball YOINKED in front of it . . . ), otherwise I was there. Just have to keep the ballspeed up. 192.
    Game 3 - big 4 in 1, whiffed the 4 pin AGAIN in the 9th. Used the Nova for the third game - did good except for those two opens. 192 again.

    And the ladies on my team all struggled so we lost all four.


  4. #4
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    Lots o Pocket Shots

    Good evening last night. First game was a bit of a struggle - and my moves were actually the wrong way. Once I got sorted, it was on like Donkey Kong:

    Game 1 - using the Nova, I had a great look but . . . touchy. If I was a touch slow, it was through the nose. Through 4 it was 3 strikes, a 4-7-10 and a Greek Church. Moved a bit more, finished off with 3 strikes, a pocket 7-10 and 2 stone 9s. Hmmm
    Game 2 - moved RIGHT, instead of left, and the look was better. Left 5 ringing 10s and whiffed the 10th. Tried some fine tuning - forward and back for me. Meh. 205.
    Game 3 - moved another board right and ka-blam. Front 9, stone 9 on the 10th, then strike to finish at 279.

    Felt GOOD. Posted most shots. No real burning fingers. Wrist felt pretty good. Good night overall.


  5. #5
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    Another great week - continually improving. I felt good, balanced. Felt like I couldn't miss - mostly.

    Practice - NO announcement. We just noticed all the lanes come on then a rush to jump in. C'mon man! Plus our approaches still had damp spots (they mop our approaches just before league every night - usually they have enough time to completely dry out) - so I grabbed my old rag and quickly scrubbed my side clean while our friends scrubbed their side. OK, calm down.

    Found my typical line wasn't going to work - it was hot and the lanes were a bit hookier than normal so . . . appropriate adjustment. Plus my opponent still uses a 1970s era Black Beauty which pushes oil EVERYWHERE. Only viable strat with him is to stay well inside of him (he bowls straight down-and-in and leaves a big puddle. . .) so . . . move left both feet and eyes. Adjust - found my line.

    Game 1 - first two balls, I let them well right and while they finished, I wasn't comfortable with that for the long run because they would cross that Black Beauty's mess. OK. so pulled the next one, then just screwed up the 4th. C'mon Mike. . . OK, string 6 to finish with 240. Yeah - I'll take that.
    Game 2 - You could tell when I drifted right into the BB's mess. If I went out EARLY, it was OK; but if I got out there later, it was drift-city. OK, so let's keep it more inside if I could - 217.
    Game 3 - couldn't miss . . . except when I bounced the ball off my leg and straight into the channel. ROFL - had to laugh at it. OK, picked it up. Have a good chance at a 700 - just don't . . . 2-8. Dummy. Didn't finish the shot. My bad. Punch the last four for 236.

    693 - my highest series in quite a while. VERY happy with it.

    Since I stopped running brackets (which was becoming a job in itself - I go to bowl to escape work. . . not TO work) I've steadily increased my average, posted my shots more, enjoyed my time IMMENSELY more.


    Last edited by boomer; 04-25-2023 at 09:59 AM.

  6. #6
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    Nice night!
    Old guy with power (15.5-16; 325). Current arsenal--Storm Summit, RotoGrip Idol Helios, Storm Phaze III, Storm SureLock (retired), Storm IQ Tour Nano and Motiv Rebel tank (spare/dry). High sanctioned game - 300 (4). High sanctioned series - 856. A.V. 300-s - 8. Longest string - 25.
    2023/2024 YTD highs--High game-289; high series-739

  7. #7
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    Continuing on with hot streak.

    Lanes really seem forgiving, for the most part. Averages are way up for the top 20, although one of our top guys and most "boring" (LOL) bowlers had a REALLY hard time last night.

    Anyway - I was consistent and was able to strike very well.

    Game 1 - OK, bad start. 4-7-10. Meh. Got on track quickly - 247. Our opponents were way behind going in to the 10th. When I came up (anchor) I knew we had the point, but I had NO idea that they would hit 8 strikes in the 10th frame. EIGHT! We did win, but instead of about 100, we won by 4. Meh, whatever.

    Game 2 - pocket 7-10 to start. Came in flat - and did so again in the third frame. After that, made made adjustment to the right and ran it until the 10th when I left a 6-10 and then chopped the 10. Seriously? And the other team (last place in the league) ROLLED us by 140+. 203 and they took the point.

    Game 3 - I'm still on line, mostly. Have to make an adustment after a 3-4-7-10 (which I picked up) - shot 224. They again rolled us.

    Evidently they all had EPIC games - looking at their HDCP scores, the two low average bowlers shot 680+ (would be 660 if they shot their averages), their average bowler shot 700, and their 170 avg anchor shot 705 scratch or 850+ handicap. Frustrating. We went in 3rd, 2 points down from a tie for first. Not sure what we'll be after this. Took one point.


  8. #8
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    Blerg - one funny thing but mostly . . . hit and miss.

    A: I was SORE. My back and legs were just toast. Lot of stuff this weekend and I was not feeling very good but . . . let's see what we can do.
    B: they're messing with the pattern again. Today it was significantly longer, which threw off a few people, but those who knew how to adjust to it did so and scores were just as high for them. Evidently the center was concerned about how high averages were getting and how many 300s that have been seen. To me - if they're worried about that, flatten it, don't lengthen it. But - whatever. I found the pocket.

    Practice - noticed that the pattern was feeling long so dropped a ball straight down the middle with lots of rotation - it went LONG. Hmmm. . . ok, adjust and we're good. Keep the ball in front of me, move everything a bit left and have the hook point closer to the head pin. Good to go.
    Game 1 - Stand around for a bit waiting for them to get us going, tap 9, 4-10 but then get going. Big split in 5th, but I can blame that on my back. Just twinged while letting go. 174, but I'm not overly upset with it - I know where I was.

    OH funny thing - frame 6. I switched to my Zen Master which is snappier. I wanted it to get off the point harder, but I guessed WRONG on the first ball and grabbed TWO pins. TWO. LOL - the 6-9. If it had been a baby split, it would have gone right through - which, btw, I saw at LEAST two people do that night. Right between the 3-10. Interesting. I picked it up, anyway, and we had a lot of laughs about it!

    Game 2 - I'm on. Tap 9, strikes, pocket 7-10, get back on it, then don't finish my swing well in the 10th (only actual bad shot) and left 2-8-10. Stupid stupid stupid. Good game except for the bad finish frame. 209.
    Game 3 - I'm still on - getting good pocket hits, driving through, all good looks. Twinge back in 4th, left baby and whiff. Meh. Back going, another twinge in 7 and then 3-4-6-7-9-10 in 10th. Sigh. Glad it's over. 193.

    Considering my back, I'm happy with my bowling overall. I could easily have stayed home but I wanted to bowl.

    My ONLY beef is that we ran up against the biggest sandbaggers we have. SOOOO noticeable. Once they would sew up a game, they dumped balls. It was almost comical how blatant it was. Nothing going to happen - they're founders of the league, our league secretary (who really is a sweetie) but . . . it's so frustrating. We gave them 80 pins and they just jumped us. That's two weeks in a row.


  9. #9
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    So I THOUGHT I was struggling. . .

    Again, they're changing the pattern. Last week it was longer and wetter, but not a lot of people noticed. This week - people noticed. Quite a bit longer and quite a bit more oil. Chuckers did fine. Palmers loved it since they were finally able to get it way down the lane with no effort. Our top bowlers took a bit to adjust but since there's still friction WAY outside, we either went more direct or went way outside. I finished 698

    Game 1 - not comfortable. I didn't want to go direct but just didn't have any wall outside that I liked. At the 7th frame I hit a 3-4-6-7-10 (converted) and decided, heck with it. Right down 13 . . . MAYBE belly out to 11 but . . . just hit it. finished with 5 strikes for 212. We lost the point - and THEY got cocky. They started making little side comments to my three female teammates. . . bad idea! LOL

    Game 2 - still not comfortable with the straight shot but . . . it's working. Washout in second frame (let it out to about 8-9 and it just didn't recover) and then pulled it in the 10th and chopped out the 6-10 (whiffed the 6) - 221. My teammates caught fire, enough that their boosted game (why is it always against me???) wasn't enough. We took the point and got to within 25 for total.

    Game 3 - OK, resigned to it and getting comfortable. PLUS if I miss right, the other team was ALL down and in and they were starting to create some wall for me. . . Only one miss in the 3rd, left 4-7-10. Otherwise all strikes. 265. My teammates were still ON it. My wife got 5 in a row with her backup ball . . . while they said it was me that beat them, my teammates ALL kicked their arses. I was just the coup-de-grace. They fell apart in the 9th and 10th and it wasn't close after then 9th. We took the third game plus total so 3 points.

    698 - if I'd just not whiffed the 6 . . . ARGH! LOL


  10. #10
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    Nice series, even with the opens.

    While I like bowling anchor I have to say those games when it comes down to the tenth frame and you could throw two gutter balls and still win sure are nice.
    John

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