I'm really looking forward to this as a spectator. It'll be interesting to see how everyone attacks the pattern. Maybe I'll be brave enough to enter this next time it comes around mainly for the experience.

It's almost time to pack. All of my equipment is ready. I am planning to arrive early Monday, 2/18, check in at the hotel, and get to the bowling center in time for the afternoon practice session. I think I may bring my spinner after all, and let the practice session determine whether I need to make any surface adjustments. I will likely stay around to watch the 4:00pm Pro-Am, and get some photos. Tuesday morning, I will be back at 8:00am, ready to bowl. From that point forward, it will be all business on the lanes, doing my best to make the cut, and stay alive as long as possible. Off the lanes, I hope to take in all that I can of this once in a lifetime bowling experience.

Best of luck Joe. We'll all be routing for you to make the show. Have fun and enjoy the experience. Share some pictures and give us updates if you get a chance.

Thanks champ. The good news is that I am not in last place. But, after my amateur performance the first round, the show looks like a distant longshot. But it's okay, I am having a great time. There are too many pros to list that I have seen bowling right in front of me or on the lanes next to me. My games so far:

Game 1 - 157 - Welcome to the Masters!
Game 2 - 200 - Better, but still not feeling in the groove.
Game 3 - 155 - Raptor Talon was done, and would not make the turn. Missed a 3 pin on the left, then on the right, argh!
Game 4 - 180 - Switched to Ascent Pearl. In the pocket, but not carrying.
Game 5 - 179 - More of the same. Four splits/opens in a row trying to angle the ball to hit high flush.

I might never use rough sandpaper or Scotch-Brite on a ball again. In the practice session the day before, I found a good line with the Raptor Talon sanded 600/dull. Today, it clogged, became shiny, and lost its reaction, one shot at a time, enough to continue missing the pocket and/or carrying.

When I switched to the Ascent Pearl, all I was thinking was I wanted a ball in my hands to hit the pocket reliably, and it did, but the backends on this pattern were not strong enough for it to carry. I was playing a moderately tight line, 20 feet -> 10 target -> 8 breakpoint zone. My plan for tomorrow (fresh oil again), is to start with the Primal Impulse. It's a pearl, high RG, high Diff ball. It should be equally clean and straight through the heads, but give me a little more movement on the backend. Time to put on my game face, and show these pros what an average Joe can do, hehe.

Btw, it was great to meet VFF57 there. No lanes were available for us to bowl together, but maybe another time. Richie, I did not see your buddy, Ryan Yelle, but I did see his name on the board, and it looked like he did well the first day.

Yeah, I saw Ryan was #254 while B squad was in progress, Joe. Averaged something like 184.

Same here Joe. As I said to you earlier, I think you were rolling a good ball today and bowled well for the conditions. You weren't that far down from Norm Duke and Kelly Kulick. I seen some guys struggling out there with 120-130 games today. There's still a lot of games left. Btw, when you get some time maybe you can explain what you were saying about what the Pro's were saying about playing the lane front-back vs left-right. I thought I understood, but now I'm not sure....


Squad B had a lot of top pro's out there as well. We got a chance to sit right behind Pete Weber, Ryan Ciminelli, Sean Rash and quite a few others. Watching these guys roll a ball especially PDW in person, was both inspiring and humbling. The deep inside lane play, precision rotation and high revs can't be appreciated on TV. Makes me want to either practice more or just give up.

Are you sure it was the ball? The Raptor Talon has one of the most stupidly aggressive covers ever put on a ball. At 600, I can't imagine being able to stay on the same board for more than 2 shots, since that is just ripping the oil off the front end. Not to put any doubts in your mind, just a thought.

Do you happen to know if you were on an Xtra Frame pair? I only got to catch the b squad's qualifying today, and normally I wouldn't go back to watch qualifying blocks but seeing how you bowled could be cool.

Thanks, VFF, for your support. You are right. Scoring was tough, even for the pros. Several recognizable names finished under for the day. Still, I hope to do better tomorrow. One shot at a time.

What I meant about the pros playing the lanes front to back versus left to right has to do with where to find the friction. On most house shots, bowlers are able to find the friction on the outside. As long as the ball is heading inside to outside, the house shot bowler can count on the ball coming back towards the pocket. On flatter shots, like the pros are used to seeing, the only friction they can count on is at the end of the pattern. A miss outside and the ball might not make it back to the headpin. With more experience on flatter patterns, I believe the pros become adept at placing the ball more precisely down lane where it needs to be to hit the pocket and carry.

Have you tried a weaker ball, when the ball stops making the turn back? I have seen the head oil go away, leaving you with next to no side rotation past the arrows, making the ball go straight down lane. Lofting the ball farther down lane might also be the answer.

I am basing my assessment on how shiny the ball looked after wiping it with a towel, that oil rings were still coming back on the ball the fifth game, and the crud that came off the surface of the ball when I cleaned it after bowling. While I was bowling, I was thinking carrydown, but there were two other lefties bowling on my pair, one relatively straight, and the other a two-handed, high rev/speed power player, and both continued to have decent ball reaction.

In retrospect, I think the Raptor Talon has sufficent friction built into the cover that it would have worked better, more consistently, and without loss of reaction with a smoother surface. My bad, not the ball. I set it up to fail. Lesson learned.

Sorry, I don't know if I was on an Xtra Frame pair. I totally blocked out everything behind me while I was bowling.