I sign up on another board as well do just copy+pasting the long intro


Hows it going everyone, My names Rick Hammond. Everyone refers to me as Tex, because i seem to have a southern accent though ive never resided other wheres except NH. Well my bowling experience is pretty small you could say compared to the majority of you here. I guess you could say its a past time from me and my grandfather back when he was around growing up from when i was 10-16.. We use to do marathon bowls together, and shoot out 15-30 games a day. I was never really any good he would walk all over me with 220-270 area. Id be about half of the shooting between 130-190. Fast forward from a good memory to today. Well im 25 a left hander if that matters, reside in Raymond NH and currently bowl in tribute to him. Up until june, I never bowled with a hook and always threw a plastic ball. This spring was my first league i ever joined, & though i only averaged a solid 155. Thanks to my teammmates (teams of 4) we took the league and tied first. Felt good as it was my first competing league and good starting point.. Well now its on to the switch, the house owner hooked me up with a couple balls and am in the process of learning more about approach, following through, reactions, hooks, understanding oil patterns, and everything else built into the equation. So thats what has brought me to the community i am now apart of. I hope to learn alot from you guys, and any other communities i come across. My goals this year are pretty much consistency, and finding a solid local coach to guide me and help perfect my worse areas as the winter goes on. Obviously its not an overnight thing, and not easy. But i would like to get out of the 157 average and at least push my way up to 200+.. Its a reasonable goal to have for winter.Well i look forward to meeting, greeting, and learning from all of you and what you have to offer.Thanks for letting me introduce myself,Tex

Welcome aboard. Sounds like you and I have a lot in common. My grandpa was a lifelong league bowler, and when I was a kid, I'd go bowl with him on Sundays just to spend some time with him. He always wore his 300 ring, and I always wanted one just like it. After he passed away, I stopped bowling, but took it up again two years ago. My first year I averaged 159, but with a lot of practice, determination to succeed, and a lot of help from the very good people of this forum, I have improved quite a bit. In fact, just a week ago today I shot my first 300 game, and have a ring of my own on the way.

You'll find all the help you could ever ask for here. Lots of very knowledgeable folks, lots of enthusiasm, and even a few top notch coaches that will help you along.

Welcome aboard, and enjoy your stay.

Damn other then your improvement part of the story, sounds like identical stories. Appreciate the welcome and glad to see similarities already with people.

Hi Tex...a few fellow New Englanders on this board, including yours truly and our webmaster. I'm wondering if you got out for Steve Hardy's High Hopes Weekend this past weekend.

Also, if you'd like, I run the virtual (mail-o-graphic, as defined in USBC Rule 100l) league here and we could certainly use the subs, so please check the FAQ at http://www.bowlingfans.com/league/faq/ for more info and the link to the sign-up form. If you don't get on a team in the fall, we run two leagues each bowling season, so I'll consider you signed up for the winter session.

Definitely didnt miss the finals match with anthony pepe taking the win on sunday.. It was a great event, there was about 16k+ raised for High Hopes through the event..
It was nice seeing a lefty take the event. Learnt alot in a day observing them.

Glad to see we got some local New Englanders other then me.. Makes it a little more like home haha,
Thank you for the welcomeboss.

Welcome to the forum, Tex. A while back, I bowled a tournament in NJ that Anthony Pepe eventually won. He generates a lot of revs and finishes with an open hand...very smooth, very confident...a pleasure to watch bowling.