So found a DISTINCT difference between the left end of the house and the right end. For some reason, the farther right you go in our house, the more conditioner you find on the lanes. . . and since I've been playing on the middle-to-right side of the house for the past year or so, I don't have anything set up for a lack of oil. Sigh.

So I started Friday with my oldest ball, and it was okay during practice. I was still WAY left in both feet and target, and while I was able to turn the corner and hit the pocket, it was touch and go with 4 splits in game 1. 162 - NOT happy. Right at the end, I put it away and pulled out my IQ Tour Pearl. I figured if I was gonna be that far left, I might as well do it with a ball that smelled good! LOL

Second game, I'm lined up close to the same, but my target is a bit farther right. I'm able to keep it in the pocket and am getting a ton of swishy strikes - which I'm fine with. Only a couple of corner pins, one of which I leave as my ball bounces off my leg (HATE it when I do that. . .) 221 and I'm happy. I take the dollar back I lost to my buddy. His high game 222 is still up so that quarter is in jeopardy.

Third game, harder. I have to project the ball way down the lane to keep it going right. Loft to just before the arrows works. Not sure why, don't really care. Get it there, and it's golden. I have room right (several times my F-in-law thought it was going to the channel, but nope, came back with a vengeance) - I take third game and high game with 230. He still beat me for total by 10 pins. . . sigh. LOL

613 scratch, and I think I'm getting comfortable making the adjustments on these dry lanes. Wish I had the scratch to get a dry-lanes ball, but for now I'll either re-drill one to get it weak, or flex my muscles. . . either way I'll make it work.

I was fourth high average - think I'll be third since he was really struggling. . .

Strange night last Wednesday- our league followed a big & little league with a few small kids bowling. I noticed that a couple of them shot series scores of 90 and 84, so I knew they were spraying plastic all over (and off) the place. I had a fairly decent look in practice, but a few frames in, the back ends got really tight, and even most of my stronger equipment was laboring. If I got it out past where I normally play in there, it would check up early, and if I got a pinch fast, or missed in by a board, I was barely getting it to the head pin. 186-212-212-610 with splits in the 10th of the first 2 games. Average is the lowest it's been in a THS league in years- 221.5 after 2 weeks. Only bright spot was that I kept a 600+ streak of 67 straight (2 winter leagues from 10/18 on through the first 2 weeks of summer) alive by punching out in the 10th of game 3.

Yesterday I finally met with my coach after a three month slump. Within just a few frames, he was able to determine why I'd become train wreck, and we corrected the problem by the end of the hour we spent together. I finished the day with a 266 and left with a lot of confidence I'd been missing for quite some time.

Tonight I shot 259, 192, 228 for 679. That's the best I've bowled since the end of February. I only missed the pocket once all night which resulted in a Greek Church. That and a whiffed 10 were my only opens.

Don't be stubborn. Call your coach when the wheels fall off.

Shot 106, 134, 124 for my first week of the adult-youth doubles league last evening/night. Nope, my winter book average is not misleading this time. I did catch some video of it which will make its debut in the video I was talking about! I have more time to work on it since yesterday was my last day of - my sophomore year? What is going on with all these months and years passing by? Anyhow, back on topic.

I remember there was one shot (and even if it was only one, it still made me feel much better) during one of the games - I can't remember which one - where I really felt like I hit my target and the ball made its way to the pocket. It was a high flush textbook pocket strike, something very rare for me. I just couldn't help but think, "Holy crap, that was a truly good shot! Now if only I could repeat that..." I think my carry is improving, but none of my other strikes were like that; I think they were all Brooklyns; one was a result of me missing inside by three boards (I actually paid attention to my targeting...) and I knew it was going to at least cross over, if not hook into the 4-7 or even the 7-pin.

I still need to work on my spare-shooting; I do think a few of the spares I shot could have been converted if I was using a spare ball, but mine's still undrilled. However, a lot of my unconverted or even whiffed spares were a result of a targeting issue, as I found out the hard way. I did the whole flattening out my release thing...nope, wasn't quite foolproof. I'm likely going to go to practice sessions on Sundays at a different center once every week or two this summer - at least I hope this will be what happens...

I was a model of consistency last night on the PBA 2013 Viper Pattern:

211-146-268-176 for an 801.

I threw my Reign of Power pretty much the entire night, second game I threw the Freak'n Frantic a few shots, 8th-10th of game four I switched to the IQ Tour Pearl.

Considering Viper is a pattern I am typical weak on (and I missed practice due to my car breaking down) I was more than happy with the 801. I would have loved finding something better in that second game but I just shot at too many 3-4 pin spares and it cost me.

So far in the PBAX League I have shot 815-801 so both series I was plus, both series I had a 14X in game two and a 26X shortly there after.

Next week we are on 2013 Chameleon so hopefully I can keep the strong start/finish going and simply improve my transition game score to really bump that series up. Be nice to put up a big set on a pattern I am typically very strong on but as of now I am the high average in the league, we are in first place so I just have to keep managing the games.

Nice bowling, Sk8. Viper is harder than it looks.

I was very excited to get started with my Summer PBA Experience league on Monday. We will be bowling 2 weeks each on Viper, Scorpion, Bear, Chameleon, Badger, and Wolf. I was disappointed we won't be bowling on Cheetah or Shark, but I love the thought of going from a 52-foot pattern (Badger) one week to a 32-foot pattern (Wolf) the next...yikes! The lane surface is Brunswick Pro Anvilane (harder synthetic) and they have the downlane markers I have been wanting to get some practice on.

At the end of the winter league, instead of updating equipment like I usually do, I purchased Blueprint software. With it, I have been able to test, refine, and in some cases, discard various ideas that I have had about drilling, layouts, arsenal strategy, targeting systems, lane play strategy, etc., some of which I have posted about here. There is a lot churning in my brain. More to come on that later.

First night on Viper yielded scores of 204, 189, 212, 213, for an 818 4-game series. I used my Ascent Pearl first two games, and then switched to the QZ2 Backdraft for the last two. I was pretty happy with the results since in the past I have always struggled on Viper. Below is the approximate line I was playing (courtesy of Blueprint).

Tonight's bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)

I would have felt better about my night if I didn't butcher my single pins (only made one of five), but I did manage two games over my average and got my +2.

Result: 182-196-171=549
Average (12 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 178
Next week's AVG+1 score: 526

Team eked out the first game, but lost the other two, the third game handily on the strength of the first honor score (a 290 game) I've ever had shot against me.

Humbled by Shark. Need to learn how to play a lot further left than I'm comfortable doing. Not sure how to practice that on a THS, can't get honest feedback. Best look was with Track 503C, some triples, a couple 190s. Viper up next week.

181+197+212=590 tonight for me. Should have been over 600 though as I missed 2 single pins. Also had to deal with transition tonight. Even though I was the only lefty on the pair the lanes started to change for me in the 2nd game and fortunately it was after I had an opening turkey which allowed me to get the 197. Last game I finally found the line to the pocket and managed to bowl just well enough to keep my average at 200.

Completely embarrassed on Beijing pattern last night. Going in I had the usual game plan for the mostly flat 35' pattern, play up 8 and out to 4 with solid speed and soft touch. That worked for about 4 frames and then since 6 of the other 7 were all crossing in that tight area, we all started to get over/under. I tried the minor adjustments and could not find a consistent line, mostly due to me being less than comfortable with more straight up play. I shot 160 and 170 the first two games due to trying just about every line with no luck. 3rd game I put up a pitiful 136 because of 5 splits, just couldn't control anything I put out out. Then the 4th game I tried to really take everything off the ball as if I was shooting 10s, break the wrist a bit and let the ball and lane do most of the work. Shot a 248 on the final game and saving a slight bit of face. Hopefully I can apply what I learned next week on the same pattern and post 190+ for the night.