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Good advice, thanks. For me personally my mental game is a work in progress and staying relaxed has been a struggle at times. I definitely get to anxious especially when the scoring pace is high, going into "OMG, I gotta string strikes" mode which usually leads to pulling shots, missing my target, etc. I do believe that bowling over the summer has helped me with this however because there's less pressure and it's more laid back.
Tonight I subbed in a league at a Brunswick Zone where I'll be bowling in the fall. Shot a disappointing 576 a few weeks ago and felt like the lanes were too dry. I hoped to redeem myself tonight and did with 266,215,237 for 718. Still, a bit disappointed because I felt a much higher set was attainable. Game 1 I had the front 7, then just got a little too much of it at the bottom in frame 8 leading to a 4-6 split, then struck out. I was really locked in and felt like that should have been a 300.
Game 2 I have a chance to go off the sheet for 248 and in the 10th I leave a ringing 7 pin. Whiffed it. 3rd game I had one shot that I got a little soft with and left a 6,8 split. Did end up with a six-pack to end it but despite a solid night those 3 frames stick out at me. Replace them all with 9/ and I'm over 750. If they're all strikes that gets me 800. I'm not going to be locked in like this every time so I feel like I didn't take full advantage when the lanes were this good to me.
On the other hand I came back from the disappointing 576 a few weeks back and threw the ball a lot better and felt more comfortable moving into the oil and swinging it out a bit (when I tried this before it resulted in a lot of flat 7s). So have to take the good with the bad and probably can't beat myself up over a few mistakes because I'm not practicing 100 games per week and doing this for a living or trying to turn pro any time soon, so not every shot is going to be perfect. Especially now when I am in the process of altering my game to get a little more rotation.
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High Game: 300 (5)
High Series: 803