Congrats to everyone getting ready and/or underway with summer leagues.

I've pulled out from the 2-person Sunday evening league at Falls Church(VA) Bowl America and gotten into a Sunday evening 4-person league at Burke (VA) Bowl America.

Looking forward to a great summer of bowling including tourneys.

We had our meeting last night for the PBAX League and I can stell this will be good. We got to bowl a bit on each pattern for practice afterwards so that was good. I think my best results will come on the Cheetah and either the Viper or Scorpion(maybe both).

When I got to what was said to be the Viper, my buddy said it didn't have the backend snap like it's supposed to. I was personally standing on 18 throwing 9 at the arrows pretty successfully. I can't be sure, but we were kind of thinking they got the Viper and Scorpion mixed up because my buddy said he saw people shooting the "Scorpion" from big enough angles and it was still hooking back like crazy. Also, the thing that convinces me that it was actually the Scorpion I had bowled on was that it reminded me of a tighter, straighter house shot which I had heard something like that about the pattern before.

Now to the struggles. The Shark and the Chameleon give me some fits, the Chameleon gives me more though. The Shark is just wet and you gotta be more direct or deep inside. My friend was paying up 7 and shot 215 the game we bowled on it. I was trying different lines from 15 at the arrows with 12-13 at the breakpoint to playing straight up 10. "Straighter is greater" seems to apply here since that's what worked for my friend and my carry percentage was greater doing it too. I think I bowled a 170 something that game. How do you guys play this pattern and how strong of balls do you use?

The Chameleon is a whole other ball game. I threw like 5 shots on that pattern, which probably isn't enough to get a good feel, but I never hit pocket, it was either high or brooklyn. I couldn't decide what type of line to play. I was throwing my Angular One at 4000 abralon and it just seemed to strong. I'm thinkin to start, I should use something polished and keep my breakpoint closer to the ditch. Any suggestions though?

If I can get the Chameleon down, I feel that I'll be capable of averaging 180 or more in this league. This should be fun though because the whole league is pretty much match play. Two games with one person(first week will be decided by entering averages, after that, probably match play record), then another two games with another person which will also be decided by record. The night will be worth 8 points with each game worth 1 and series worth 2.

After a 2-3 week lay off between leagues I started my one and only league tonight. It's a mixed league of about ~12 teams with many of the same faces which is why I go back. The meeting went quick and bowling went OK. We won 5 out of 7 points.

I started out without an open in my first game but no carry for a 194. The 2nd game had a split but finished 242, the last game was a 204. I can feel my timing is a bit off but I still managed a 213 average on the night and I covered all my 10 pins. Decent start to the Summer season, the shoulder feels good the wrist feels great. It's good to be back!!

Eastwest, if you don't have an established average you might not want to do too many tourneys, at least if they are handicap tournaments. You will probably be forced to use an average that is higher than your ability, and not get any handicap which can hurt your chances of finishing high. If you bowl scratch tournaments then its a different story.

First night for me in Summer league. I didn't bowl last week due to my cracked wrist. And, as the scheduling Gods would have it, my Wed team that I brought in, bowled against my Tues nite team from this house. We all know each other, so it proved for a good round of jabbing, hand slapping and an overall good competitive time.

first, game, I needed a turkey in the tenth to have a chance as anchor and my opponent needed to open. I got the first. He got a 6-7-10. I got the second. He picked up the split. We both stuck on the last ball, but we lost by 11. I had a 232.

The second game wasn't as close as my 219 was low for our team, and we won by 60.

The third game was close again. We had a slight lead in the 7th, then every bowler on their team struck out from the 8th on. We lost by 15. I had a 218.

We all seemed to poop out at the same time, bowlers and lanes. It was warm in the center, and all of us had some trouble. I opened the final 2 frames with a cherry of a 6-10, and missed a 10 to the left in the tenth for a 178. I rolled the identical spare ball twice in a row. We lost by 30 but won series for the 4-game set. So, 3 of 9 points.

I had 847 for 4 games.

Good start and a fun night.

Thanks for the tip 'Cal, I'll be sure to play these tourneys to my advantage when it makes sense. I have a lot to learn and am glad that the league will put me in touch with other more experienced bowlers than myself.

I get another crack at the Shark again tonight. I am a little undecided as to what ball to use and where to play. The lanes were freshly resurfaced on tuesday, so it should be intersting to say the least.

I guess I'll try my Roto- Grip SD-73 early, playing inside, but someone that I respect in the game (and a Pro) suggested trying a shinier ball, maybe a pearl reactive. I'll try both in warm ups, its gonna be an adventure I'm sure.

I don't know if anyone read my post since it was pretty long. I was wondering mostly how you guys attack the Chameleon and how successful you are. The center I'm bowling my PBAX league has wood lanes with a plastic overlay, which I'm sure means it will seems drier than it actually should be. I have not been able to find a working line out of the 5 or so shots I threw on it a couple of days ago, but that may be because of bad ball choice(Angular One at 4000 Abralon).

So, any tips?

You'll probably want your breakpoint somewhere between 5 and 10, so you're going to want to play a line that allows you to get there. Then it comes down to ball choice. Different centers play differently so it's really hard to tell you what to do. Ican say that I generally try to play straighter if possible. Sometimes the ball that allows you to do that doesn't read the lane well so you have to try something different. Regardless, the straighter you can start off playing, the better off you're going to be though. As the lane breaks down, then you can either change balls or move or or play with speed.

Summer League started tonight and though I was off a little from the final 3 weeks of Winter League I was still over 10 pins over average. I shot a 528 (197, 154, 177). Concentration fell off some in the 2nd game and towards the end of the 3rd I was pulling the ball bad.

Overall pretty decent for me but I know I can improve.