Shotgun3131

Hi All,

I have been bowling for about 17 years. Bowled on the High school team, took a few years off in college then picked it up big again.

The league I do is a 5 man handicap league Tuesdays with some dam good bowlers in it. Through the first 9 games this year my avg. is sitting around 215. Booked out at 204 for last season.

I went down to 15lb. because I got good deals on stuff.

Throw mainly:

Ebonite Striking Motion (good for first game only pretty much)
Hammer Hot Sauce Pearl
Ebonite The One Pearl
Roto-Grip Cell
random plastic spare ball.

The best ball I have owned was the Storm X-Factor. Had a 300 with that ball 6 years ago. Haven't had one since though.

J-STEELE

Wow, this is cool how everyone can enjoy bowling. Its pretty fun either if you are serious or not. Quick question, eveyone that bowls in leagues or what not are you guys part of the USBC? I know I'm a member through the league I bowl with but just wondering if there are other groups out there too?

PEACE!

subinf

I used to bowl quite a bit. In high school I'd play every friday after class. Stopped in college. In law school we had a league and it was a nice break from everything else. I wasn't very good (180 avg) but I never had my own ball so I think that might have kept things a little lower.

Rounder

All sanctioned leagues are part of the USBC. You get your membership card and the monthly magazine in the mail.

www.bowl.com gives info on it.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

I just got back from bowling tonight. I did well, but under average.

227, 212, 196 for a 635 set. It's good, but I'm averaging 225 in that league, so I was under average for the night by 40 pins. The lanes were dry as FUCK. I kept moving left each frame it felt like. My team is no longer undefeated

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

Those are still pretty solid numbers

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^Agreed! I'm pretty happy. I was throwing the ball wonderfully, but the lanes were crazy tonight. I had one open in the first game, two in the 2nd game, and one in the last game. All splits

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

Nothing you can do about shitty lanes

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^True. I tried at least. Hopefully next week I'll be back up to par

jupitersolo

^^ What lanes do you throw at?

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

I somehow lost my ball.. When me and my buddies were going every week or so, we would get absolutely wasted when we went. I think I left it in the parking lot or something.

iTimmy

Dry lanes I can adjust to within reason, it's inconsistent lanes that drive me bat shit crazy. Lots of uneven carry down, heavy oil patches, physical lane anomalies, stuff like that are just terrible and make it damn near impossible to be put up good scores. I am not all about putting up a high score, I enjoy playing a difficult pattern, the first time I played on a fresh Shark pattern I rolled a 140! But there is nothing you can do about poor lane conditions, except grin and bear it.

Speaking of scores, one of the things one of my mentors has told me is to forget the score when practicing, focus on areas that are a weakness to you, continue to work that weakness away. I was originally a tweener, but due to a few accidents my hand has experienced in the past it's much easier for me to roll consistently as a stroker so I spent a number of weeks just nailing the technique, but then I was having problems with my follow through or trying to over torque the ball on release. I rolled some HUGE stinkers when practicing like this, but my style got much better and when I'm comfortable and adjusted to the new method I can roll more consistent games with greater ease, i.e. stringing more strikes and subsequently putting up bigger scores.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Sorry if I sounded like I was bitching about the lanes, I didn't want to make it sound that way, I was just comparing them to how they had been the 3 weeks before.

And I never worry about the score when practicing. It's all about focusing on my form and how I release the ball. I'm very inconsistent when it comes to releasing the ball the same everytime. For some reason I tend to tug the ball more in practice than in league, so I try to work on that. Also I can pick up a ten pin with no problem but I can't get shit in the left corner to save my life. I'll miss 4 pins and 7 pins out of the ass.

iTimmy

We're all aloud to bitch about poor lane conditions, whatever they may be

What I've found, works the best for picking up single pin spares or small multi-pin(read, not splits) spares is to use either a plastic ball drilled for your hand(which is ideal) or a very unaggressive urethane ball and roll it right over the thumb hole straight at them. By switching to this technique I noticed a large increase in the percentage of picking up spares. It's easy to tell when your doing it right because the ball makes a very funny and distinct noise when rolling it over the thumbhole. It also makes the side of the lane you're throwing at irrelevant, including the oil pattern, just line up and boom straight at the pin. It takes a little practice to get used to it, but after a few games of playing like that you should easily increase your single pin pick-ups to the 90%+ range. Some of my bowling friends made fun of me at first, now most of the serious bowlers I bowl with are doing exactly what I do the rest are still struggling with 10's and 7's.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^I never thought about doing that, great thinking man

Sadly I don't have a plastic ball. I use my strike ball for my spares, which some people think is weird, but I have no problem with it and I feel more confident. When I throw at 10 pins, I straighten out my wrist and push it diagonally across. With 7 pins, it usually depends on the lane conditions, but I shoot straight at it. Unfortunantly I tend not to put enough on the ball, and I miss right. Not by much, but I still miss it.

J-STEELE

Yeah I'm without a plastic ball for my spares too. I just have my strike ball and just adjust for whatever pins are left, but what sux is a little bit of wrist action and the ball is going to hook. hahaha, I hate it especially when you are tired and you have to hit that 10 pin. Like CLtotheTL32 I just gotta keep that wrist straight and push out. I would love to invest in another ball but I'm so used to my strike ball that I don't want to mess my rhythm up even tho' I'm sure having the plastic ball will benifit tremendously. I don't have time to practice during the week so I'll have to stick to my strike ball for now.

BTW, are you guys right handed bowlers or left handed bowlers? I'm a righty...

PEACE!

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Hey man sorry I'm just now getting back to your question. I'm bowling at Buffaloe Lanes Cary.

A lot of people don't get why I don't have a plastic ball and I don't really know. I guess I like knowing that there is some room for error when throwing my strike ball on spares. If I throw it out too far right on a 10 pin, it's going to start to come back and get it rather than going straight in the gut. I'm accurate, but not THAT accurate. I like having some room for mistakes.

iTimmy

Believe it or not, once you get used to throwing a plastic ball straight it is VERY easy, like every aspect of this sport, all it takes is practice. Honestly, there is no wrong way, it depends what you are comfortable with and what you can consistently replicate. Look at the to pro's they all have very unique styles and systems that work for them and no two are the same.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^I may have to look into it, but I'll probably end up doing it between seasons. I don't want to give up points by trying to get used to a new ball. I hate missing single pins already, I don't want to miss any more than I have to. Are you just throwing a White Dot or what?

And you are right. Watching bowling on TV is crazy nowadays. Everybody's form is so different. Compare it to bowling 25 years ago, when everyone is pretty much uniform, it's amazing.

jupitersolo

No prob, I thought it might have been the place my dad use to bowl at, he worked there for about a yr a while back. Was a really nice place, the owner took great care of the place.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Oh really? Where did he work/bowl at? Anywhere near Raleigh?

iTimmy

I have a MoRich plastic ball, they just came out a few months ago, they are fairly inexpensive and I am very pleased with my other MoRich balls so I figured I mind as well keep it in the family. I really want to pick up a Frenzy, their brand new urethane ball, apparently the core is even better then their proven EZ Rev core that all of their other premium balls have. Good equipment that you are confident in is key, if you have doubts you'll end up mind fucking shots, if you have poor equipment you run a high risk of leaving a lot of 10's(or 7's if you are a lefty). I have a friend who is a great consistent bowler, WAY better then me, the only reason I keep up with as much as I do is my balls(no joke!) he throws a Brunswick Power Groove, has good rotation, good speed but leaves a LOT of 10's and his game suffers, he can't figure out why he is constantly leaving the 10's I am confident a premium ball would give him what he's looking for.

I won't get into my over analysis of the pro's but the differences are huge. I can't for the life of me figure out how Walter Ray does what he does!

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^I've never heard of MoRich balls whatsoever. I may have to check into it

I'm a righty and I usually leave more 7 pins than anything else. I come in just a tad high and leave one. In 3 games, I'll probably leave three 10 pins and five 4 or 7 pins. Either I'll tug it just a tad or throw it a little slower, causing it to break early and drill the head pin. Sadly, even though I'm a righty, I can pick up a 10 pin any day. I wish I could say the same about 7's.

How often do you practice? I only bowl once a week and it's not helping my consistency

iTimmy

If you are picking up tens by flattening it out, throw the exact same ball at a 7(obviously aiming the other direction, throw it this way \ instead of this / way), remove the lane oil from the equation. Unless you have a difficult multi-pin spare or funny split I always try to throw spares as straight as possible, relying on hook is a dangerous game with highly unpredictable center of the lane conditions.

I like to go bowling twice a week, Mondays is a great practice day for me, the local alley has unlimited bowling for $9 so it's hard to beat. On Monday's depending on what I am trying to practice I will bowl between 7-15 games. Tuesdays a group of my friends have been heading out for a few years now, we rotate alleys a bit. This week my hand is a little jacked up from too much computer usage(work related) so I didn't go Monday. I'm not really that great of a bowler, I've only seriously been bowling for 6 months, I never really took time to understand the finer aspects of the game, I would previously just go to have a good time. I see myself progressing at a very fast rate and if I continue I'm bound to become quite good and the sport is becoming more fun too. Being some what of a neophyte I work tirelessly to soak up as much information as I can and hone my technique so it is easy to replicate while producing solid results. Up to a month ago I used a 4 step approach, now I can comfortably bowl with either 4 or 5 step which gives me far greater control of my ball speed.

I messed up my ankle in 01 and I can no longer do high impact sports, tennis, basketball, baseball, etc... so bowling is a great way for me to keep competitive and building a new skill - I'm astonished how I've gotten into lately.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

I try doing that, but I usually don't get it over there far enough, so I blow right by it on the right side.

Dang only 6 months and you are this knowledgeable about bowling? That's awesome! I started like 10 years ago haha. I think starting when you are older is a lot easier though. When I started, I had to use 8 pound balls and shit. That didn't help me figure lane conditions or any of that stuff out using house equipment.

I wish I could practice that much. I have the time, but my bowling alley doesn't have any specials like that. I get half off because I am a league bowler, but that's about it. When I worked there, I got free bowling whenever I wanted as long as there wasn't a waiting list for lanes.

The bowling alley you bowl at, are the lanes wood or synthetic?

Rounder

I have league tuesdays and thursdays and practice sundays for $2.50 a game (special deal).

Games are expensive around here.

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

The bowling alley on campus is $1.50/game every day

Rounder

http://trackbowling.com/products/pro...tail/rising_se

Just bought this.

Drilling it up saturday, practicing sunday.

iTimmy

Knowledge is one thing, applying that knowledge is yet another I am getting a lot better and all of studying is probably the biggest factor. I'm still not always in the 200's which upsets me, the only encouraging note about that is it's the spares that are robing me. For example, a few weeks ago I rolled something like a 154 with out picking up a single spare that game, good strike percentage, I just couldn't get my spare game in check.

The lanes I bowl at most often are wood but they have a synthetic "clear bra" on them for the first 20 feet, apparently this was pretty common 20+ years ago, at least in this area because half the lanes are like that up here.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

I'm the same way with my spare game. Either I make every single spare and don't strike for shit, or I strike out of my ass and miss stupid spares.

Last night I shot 234, 199, and 279 for a 712 set. First game was clean, second game I left the 6-7 in the 5th frame and also left the 5 out of the 2-4-5-8 "The Bucket" on the first ball of the 10th frame, and then last game I went front 9 and on my 10th ball, I missed 3 boards left and stoned a 10 pin Last night was the 3rd time in this league that I've gone front 9 and left a 10 pin on the 10th ball. So damn frustrating.

League Standing Sheet after last night:

http://www.buffaloelanes.com/Cary%20...n_Comfort.html


Here's my season so far:
Week 1 - 703
Week 2 - 706
Week 3 - 640 something
Week 4 - 660 something
Week 5 - 712

After last night I'm averaging 224.80. Solid

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

I am about to head to the lanes now

I don't have my ball anymore so I am just going to grab a random house ball and use it. It should be fun though, I haven't been in a long time.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

That's a special deal?

It's $3.20 a game here and league bowlers get 1/2 off.

My 2nd reactive ball was a Track Hex and I still have it to this day. I absolutely love that ball and I probably won't ever get rid of it even though I haven't used it in 4 years.

Street Spirit

It prepares you for the future.



I know my friend did archery, bowling, and curling (among other sports) in HS, but I'm pretty sure those were school teams and not a credit class.

iTimmy

Nice games

I saw these and thought I'd show you the link, Elite plastic balls, drilled to your spec. for $29.99 and there are a number of colors
http://www.bowlersparadise.com/shop/balls/elite/

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Thank you

Damn those are cheap. I better not show my girlfriend that page...she will want me to get the pink one haha

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Well tonight's bowling was frustating as hell but overall above average.

215, 269, 204.....698

One open in the first game, damn 7 pin. Clean second game. One open in the third game...came in heavy the first ball leaving the 3-6-10. Second ball I threw it too far left and chopped the 3-6 off of it.

Lanes were great the first two games but they broke down much faster than usual. I moved a total of 7 boards left tonight. Way more than usual.

iTimmy

Adjustments are probably the hardest part to learn well, what makes it even tougher is finding out what the house pattern is often like pulling teeth. It's as though it's a secret receipt they don't want to share, when I just want to start figuring out how and what indicators require moving. I often make most of my adjustment with ball speed, which is probably a mistake, but it's hard when you often don't know what you're up against to begin with.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

^I actually start with ball speed as well. I'm not sure if that's the right way to do it, but it's the easiest to make. I actually kept the ball speed the same all three 3 games and just moved my feet. I eventually moved my mark to the 5 board as well.

The last game the oil broke down like hell and I couldn't get a strike to save my life. I left 3 flush ass 8-pins. I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but these shots were fucking gorgeous, and I would leave those one after another it felt like.

Shoofin

I started doing that as well, but with my strike ball. I don't go straight at it because my ball will still hook very slightly even if I threw the ball prefectly straight. If I'm trying to pick up the 10 pin, I release the ball with a very slight angle and drop it somewhere between the 2-3 arrow marker (from right). I use a 14lb Spongebob "Vis-A-Ball" that my wife gave me years ago for my birthday as a spare ball, but i've been better at picking up spares with my strike ball, so I pretty much lug it with me but it stays in my bag.

I use a Brunswick "Avalanche" Pearl 14lb ball right now, been using it for about a year and a half so far. LINK



Had a 14lb Storm "Supercharge" before that but switched because I broke down the inside of the holes and my hands were getting calloused from using it. Few shops said deal with it or get a new ball because it was unrepairable


My average has been consistently about 170-175, but I recently started going to a different bowling alley because I got tired of playing with the same people. I'm slowly getting adjusted to the new lanes, the new faces and of course my new team mates. This league is also a LOT more competitive than I'm used to. After 3 weeks my team started with a 165 average for each of us (3 player/3 games per night), once we got to week 4, my team average changed a lot, one of my players reflects a 202 average, the other 192 and me, 159. I was having a little difficulty adjusting the first few weeks but I'm slowly creeping back up to where I am, hopefully to be a better bowler by the time the season is up. This league is also co-ed (the other one I was with for 5+ years was men's only), there's nothing like bowling against a super hottie and get schooled because she just bowled a 247 (happened 2 weeks ago )

Last week I bowled 192-167-193. We played the first place team (we lost the 1st place position sometime in the last few weeks). We use 90% handicaps as well, and point scoring is 2 points per game and 1 point for the wood. The team we played each had averages in the 215-225 area. We lost the first game by about 80 pins, won the second one by about 30 and won the third one by 47 pins. We took the 2 games but missed the wood by 3 pins . We're 2 points behind the 1st place team now.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

@ Spongebob spare ball. I would use it if my girlfriend gave it to me. Shit...it's a free ball

And it sounds like you are improving nicely! You sound like me, very inconsistent. Your games fluctuated +/- 60 pins last week, same as me. I have the problem with throwing it the same way every single time. My form/stance doesn't change whatsoever, but I tend to come out of the ball different every time resulting in the ball to respond differently and me missing my mark usually to the left.

My girlfriend is an avid bowler as well and she swears by that Avalanche Pearl like you have. She also has a Twisted Fury that she loves to death as well. All of my equipment is 5+ years old, but if it gets the job done, why get rid of it? I don't want to switch up equipment in the middle of the season unless I want my average to drop and not help the team out at all.

Do you have your league standings online? Here's mine:

http://www.buffaloelanes.com/Cary%20...n_Comfort.html