As I did last year, I’m dedicating a post to breaking down my league performance with the help of the BowlSK reports. First, the first-ball numbers (numbers before the pipe | character reflect last year’s performance):
Strike percentage: 44.8% | 46.4%
Pocket shots: 73.1% | 78.2%
Carry percentage: 58.8% (475/808) | 58.6% (529/903)
Double rate: 43.3% (208/480) | 49.1% (250/509)
Average first-ball count: 8.9 | 8.9
Average first-ball non-strike count: 8.0 | 7.9
I continue to improve on finding the pocket, though my carry rate was slightly down from last year. However, when I had a strike working, I almost kept the string going as often as not. As the following second-ball numbers will show, this was what kept me afloat:
Overall spare percentage: 57.1% (332/581) | 51.4% (303/589)
Single-pin spare percentage: 73.5% (200/272) | 70.9% (183/258)
Multi-pin spare percentage: 56.3% (120/213) | 56.1% (110/196)
Makeable (non-split) percentage: 66.0% (320/485) | 64.5% (293/454)
Split conversion percentage: 12.5% (12/96) | 7.4% (10/135)
Washout conversion percentage: 6.5% (2/31) | 26.1% (6/23)
Percentage on single 10 pin: 68.6% (70/102) | 63.6% (68/107)
Percentage on single 7 pin: 56.4% (22/39) | 71.4% (20/28)
My overall numbers show I had more spare opportunites, but made fewer of them, and my single-pin rate went down a few percentage points, but I was shooting at single pins fewer times. I did leave many more splits, though, and converted them at a lesser rate, so this may have had a lot to do with why my overall numbers were down. I made 2 fewer of my single 10 pins in 5 more opportunities, but there was a stretch in the middle of the season where I was missing them as often as I made them; I did feel I made some improvement late in the season. Two parts of my spare game showed improvement over last year: I made the 7 pin a lot more often on a percentage basis when I had it, and got out of trouble more often on my washouts (though that latter number may fluctuate wildly from season to season).
After I get everything I want to save up for, I intend to go for lessons more often, and that will probably be when I can work on my spare game more. It’ll still be a matter of getting practice in, which may not always be easy.
The Tenth Board 