The Tenth Board

I had decided against getting the oil bled out of my ball, but I did stop in the pro shop to greet Ray, who was just back from vacation. He was getting swamped with orders for new balls and other services, but he did get a chance to look at the copy of my league log that I printed out for him, as well a copy of the printout of my first anniversary post later (which I told him he could look at at his leisure). He did fill me in on something he’s going to be running in the future, but I won’t post about it until he has the paperwork done for it.

I did get a couple of games of warm-ups in, and the lane, which I knew had the tournament shot on it, was playing tighter than even I expected, ending up with me standing left of the 20 board and trying to go between the second and third arrows. I thought I had gotten lined up at the end of the second game, so I was still fairly confident as I checked in. I did have to make the adjustment on my entering average, and when I saw the scorecard, I was notified I had 22 pins/game handicap.

I made the acquaintance of last month’s winner, Phil Hall, in the pro shop, and learned that he had a major head injury in his motorcycle accident. I learned that he operated a pro shop before his accident, and as he was watching me bowl my warm-ups, he had a look at my ball, giving the opinion that my span was too short. He gave me an offer to drill a new ball when I wanted one, but I’ve been doing so well with the ball Ray & company drilled that I don’t feel that I want to “change horses mid-stream”.

The fact that I had to play a tighter line meant there was no margin for error, and it was a struggle to break 150 during the series, especially in the second game, where I could only manage a 130, my worst game in months. Most of the time, I was coming in high, leaving a lot of splits, but those times I missed my target right, it would not break back to the pocket, so it was, indeed, much different than the house shot I’ve been used to on Wednesday nights. In an attempt to find a line I could play, I later moved outside to right of the 20 board and tried to take a more direct line to the pins, and though I had a double in the last game, that wasn’t working well, either. I ended up w/ a 150-130-153=433+66=499. I was glad I decided not to get in either the high game and series side pools or the brackets (where you’re randomly placed in a bracket with 7 other bowlers in your squad and advance based on how well you do in each game), the latter for which my performance meant I would’ve been a major donor.

The cut score turned out to be 658, about where I was expecting it, but I hung around for a bit after bowling. I told Sherm Cowan, the tournament director, after I bowled that I would chalk this up as a learning experience, and that I hoped to do better next time, also noting that I’ll have to save up for a ball better suited to heavy oil. I’ll post the usual recap of this tournament when Sherm updates the tournament’s web site with the results.

I am looking at the prospect of bowling in tomorrow’s “People’s Tournament” at Westgate Lanes tomorrow with optimism, as it comes at a time when I’ve been bowling the best I ever have. The shot is going to be different, but not one I haven’t seen before…they put down the oil pattern used in the Coke Classic League, which I have bowled on in my winter practices, for all of the tournaments at Westgate Lanes also. In fact, I was averaging slightly higher for more games on the Coke Classic shot than I did on the house shot in that time, and keep in mind that those games also included my earlier practices when I was doing stuff like getting my timing back. Considering my recent improvement on the house shot, I think I can do well on the tournament shot now, as well.

To assess my chances, I looked at the cut score for the last two People’s Tournaments at Westgate Lanes, and it was in the 650-660 range both times. If I’m forced to use my current average (198 ) rather than the average I put on the entry form (the 194 of two weeks ago), and I’ll have to show Sherm Cowan the standings sheet from my league to bear this out, I will be getting 21 pins/game handicap (handicap is 80% of 225). Keeping in mind the recent cut scores, this means that if I have a series somewhere around 600 scratch, and I think I’m currently very capable of having that kind of series, I will either make the cut to 32 for match play, or be right on the bubble.

I am entered in the 12:30 PM (second) squad tomorrow, but the plan will be to arrive very early. The pro shop will also be reopening from vacation at 10 in the morning, so the plan includes having the oil bled out of my ball (which will take about an hour, from past experience), wait about a half an hour for the ball to cool, then try to get a game or two in on a lane with the tournament shot (which may be dicey because they’ll have the tournament and also the Sunday rent-a-lane special going on). I hope to take my noon medication before ordering lunch, then check in for the second squad while waiting for lunch. Hopefully, I’ll have time to eat before reporting to my assigned lane pair. The benefit of waiting for the oil to bleed out of my ball is that I’ll have an opportunity to talk to Ray and bring him up to speed on how well I’ve been doing in the Wednesday Summer Mixed League, which I’ve been waiting to do since he went on vacation.

Everyone wish me well!

EDIT: I’ve been advised against having the oil bled out of my ball right before the tournament by one of my BowlingFans.com friends. I’m tending to agree with her (she runs a pro shop in northern California), as I’ve been very happy with the way my ball’s been reacting on the house shot recently, so maybe my ball doesn’t need to have that done yet.