I went bowling again with my brother today, and the title above is actually a bit of a misnomer, as I actually made quite a bit of progress from last time. I really only threw one first ball in the channel in the 2 games we rolled, and I was consistently in the 120s, posting a 121 first game and following that up with a 126.
I tried the line I used the last time at first, but was finding my ball was not making it to the pocket, so I fiddled around with my spot on the approach and the spot on the lane. I found that, for me, lining up around the 9th board on the approach, walking toward the middle arrow (my right foot points out at an angle after my heel fractures, and since my brother said that, subliminally, we aim with our feet, I had to walk toward the left in my delivery to compensate), and trying to roll it over the second arrow (the 10th board on the lane that I reference in this blog’s title). It worked well when I didn’t miss my spot, and I got a few more strikes. When I missed, it was usually to the right, and that ended up with me getting a few more washout leaves. I was more consistent in the second game, however, and in the last frame in that game, I actually hit a shot that might’ve left the 4-9 split, but another pin tripped the 9. Since I was now lining up more left on the approach, it was an easy matter to move right the customary 6 boards for the single 4 pin.
Unlike last time, I went first, so my mental game around the 10th frame focused on locking my brother out, something I did with a first-ball strike in the 10th frame of the first game. I also had a situation where I could strike on my fill ball in the 10th frame of the second game to lock him out, but left a single pin, meaning my brother had to take it off the sheet to tie…he’s no serious bowler, so he didn’t do it, though his first ball strike in that frame made things interesting.
Change of plan: The FanForce meet at Pinz fell through, so that means my hookup with the league bowler in the Mass. Imperial Syndicate will have to wait for another time. My best friend Ed did say he’d change plans to go to Westgate Lanes with me tomorrow, so I’ll blog about how that went when I come home.
The Tenth Board 