Despite feeling a bit drained from the weekend, I hit the practice lanes today in the hopes that a good session could energize me for the rest of the week. I largely succeeded: I overcame a slow start in the first game to get a game in the 190s, and everything came together in the last game, where I left 2 shots out right (one of which led to my only open of the game, when I peeled the 2 off the 2-4-8), but was throwing the ball well otherwise to score a 211. Other than first ball work with the Hy-Road, I experimented with going back to using my strike ball for my left-side spares, and I was finding myself more consistent making them on that side. I may end up using my plastic ball for only my 6 and 10 pins (or any other leave where I have to hit the 6 pin full, even if it isn’t there, such as with the baby split).

Practice work today continued focusing on playing an inside line with the Hy-Road on the house shot, and I was having some success in the beginning, as I saved a 212 first game after whiffing on a 10 pin to start. The rest of the session wasn’t that consistent, however. Screwing around at the end of practice, I went back to the line I had been playing with my High Voltage, and learned that line may not necessarily be out of play. We’ll see what works on Wednesday; I usually do well against our opponents of that night, so hopefully I’ll have some good news to report out of that. 🙂

Today’s practice was spent becoming more familiar with my new Hy-Road, but I wasn’t really happy with the shots I was making, especially early on, so, having only $2 left on one of my gift cards after paying for my usual three games, I decided to waste the $2 on an extra practice game. It paid off, as I was more consistent throwing the ball, and, though I didn’t have much carry for most of it, I did rattle off a turkey starting in the 8th frame to get the game to 200 after a missed spare in the first frame. Knowing a line that has a chance to work, then, I can now think about using the Hy-Road in league for the first time on Wednesday night.

My practice today focused on axis rotation, meaning how you manipulate ball reaction based on which finger swings through the ball in the release. I tried index finger, middle finger, and ring finger types of rotation, and found that I got the best results on the house pattern using the middle finger type of axis rotation, which puts some side rotation on the ball (index finger rotation increases the side rotation, ring finger gives the ball more forward roll). This was also something I found useful when picking up spares, as I can kill the hook to a large extent using the ring finger type rotation. I didn’t really care much for scores today, but I did have 2 games over 210 (including a 222 first game) before I made a lot of bad shots in the last game.

I hadn’t had a full practice in a while, so I decided to brave the rainy weather today and get some in. The conclusion I came to in the aftermath is that my ball needs the usual maintenance, and the timing is good for it, as I should have a fresh ball Wednesday night to attempt to dry up the heads on the right-handed thumbless bowlers on the opposing team (it might not work because I can’t get help from my teammates, who are all using older equipment, but whatever). The pro shop visit required should take place tomorrow.

For the first time in a while, I had a very good day in a regular practice session, as I had a 673 series, which was highlighted by a 253 first game in which I had the front 6. I’m stinging myself for not being a better spare shooter today, though, as a missed 9 pin and a couple of missed “buckets” (the 2-4-5-8 leave for right-handers) prevented me from bowling my first 700 series, albeit unofficially. Bev printed out the score sheets for me, but I didn’t take them, as the series didn’t beat anything. I did tell the control desk people to show the sheet to Ray when he comes in tonight, however.

There was a moment of levity in the practice, too: I can no longer laugh at Chris Barnes leaving the “sour apple” (the 5-7-10 split) on a pocket hit, a la the World Tenpin Masters, as I’ve now left the split on a pocket hit myself. Oh well, at least I can laugh at myself for leaving it now! 😆

Today’s practice was somewhat disappointing, as in the first game, I had 3 misses on spares that would be considered makeable, and had a rash of splits in the second game, but when I became mindful of my wrist position at the top of my backswing in the last game, I righted myself to shoot a 210 with the only open frame coming on a split. I had been getting good ball reaction in previous sessions since rejuvenating my ball, but the lane appeared tighter today, and I was playing closer to the 20 board in my stance near the end.

I was just getting no backend reaction during my practice session today, and I had to go slow and outside in order to have any chance at getting a strike. I’m thinking now that it might be time to take the ball back to the pro shop for the usual oil removal, which will probably happen tomorrow. On the bright side, I got progressively better at picking up my spares as the session went on, so that was probably the highlight.

I didn’t make much progress on my spare game in practice today, but I did get something else accomplished: I finally learned how to slow down effectively, and, in my last game, I reeled off 7 strikes in a row, and would’ve had the last 8 if not for a solid 10 pin, for a 236, my best practice game in weeks.

I went back to practice as normal today, but there’s reason to worry about my game, as I couldn’t deal with the lane transition as effectively as I would like. What’s been happening (and you may have noticed it in my league posts on BowlSK) is that my first shots will scream on the back end, making me move inside to around the 20 board on the approach, but then it will progress to a point where the lanes don’t hook at all, forcing me to either move back outside, slow down, or both. My middle game was near my average, but had a number of shots where I missed the pocket in the third game, so I only had games in the 130s and 140s bookending the middle game.

I’m going to the pro shop shortly, so I will be talking to Ray about it. I’ll be posting about that later.

I returned to practice today, and it was a rather strange one, with a couple of splits per game ruining rather decent games. That wasn’t the half of it, however…in the second game, I was shooting at a 7-10 split and got the 10 to bounce out of the pit, but in the wrong direction: it came back toward me and ended up settling in the right gutter not far down the lane from where the oil pattern ended. Other than leaving splits, the practice was decent, making more spares than what I normally make.

I’d consider today’s practice productive, even though I didn’t score that well. In my first ball work, I was focusing on maintaining my balance at the foul line (something I tried to do on second ball, as well). I’m also starting to get my left side spares figured out, as I only missed the 2-4-5 once in three or four tries. I also left the 2-5-7 split a couple of times and made it the second time.

Today, I had a practice where I thought I was making good shots, but not getting rewarded for them in the form of pin carry. I must’ve left 3 ringing 10s, a stone 7, a few high 4s, and a couple of solid splits, as well, a 4-9 and an 8-10. I only had one double in the practice, and that came in the second game on a couple of “bucket buster” light hits. Oh well, can’t win ’em all.

I was horrible in practice today. I concentrated on practicing playing deeper inside (standing about 23-25 and trying 10-12 at the arrows). Problem was, if I angled into the dry, either the ball wouldn’t make it or hit very light (I swear my ball doesn’t cross more than 3 or 4 boards on the back end if I play inside), and if I played straighter, it would go through the nose. I had maybe one shot I could feel good about today. Mechanical problems (the lane I originally took had trouble picking up the 7 pin if I left it, so I got moved to the other lane on the pair) were also rather distracting. All in all, a practice I’d like to forget soon.

I devoted the best part of practice today to lane play, particularly keeping in mind a few pointers “CoachJim” gave me last night about developing a sense of the lane’s break point (the point where the ball begins its move into the pocket). The first game was easy, as I played the lane as I normally begin to play it, and I had a clean 200 (the clean game being saved at one point by a conversion of the 5-7 split). I began using the pointers when I determined I had to move, and though my scores didn’t necessarily show it (due to bad shots, not enough carry, and missed spares), I thought I was beginning to develop that sense of the break point, as at the end of the practice, I flushed my first two balls in the 10th frame on shots standing on the 18 board before I missed my last shot right and slid past the break point. I will continue to keep the pointers in mind in my next practices.

Today’s practice might be one I’d like to forget. I was on a lane that was supposed to have the house shot on it, but there was no “wall” at all, with very little back-end reaction. I moved as far outside as I thought I could comfortably play, and worked on slowing down, but even then, my shots were either missing outside or just barely hitting the pocket light. I mentioned this to Junior, and he thought it strange, as there were some good scores Saturday morning for the junior leagues, which also use the house shot. He surmised that there might have been something wrong with the lane machine, and, with my suggestion, he said he would ask Rob to check the machine out.

After taking a couple of weeks off from practice (first week to recover from my busy birthday weekend, and the second because of the Labor Day holiday), I hit the practice lanes again today. Since I knew the Coke Classic League would start their bowling for the season tonight, I had to ask Bev (who has returned to full-time duty) which lanes had the house shot and to make sure she knew to give me a lane with the house shot. Bev also informed me that the half-price Monday rate went up to $2/game, so my gift cards are going to be used up a bit quicker.

I just wanted a light-hearted practice, so I was shooting every game for score, and ended up with a game in the 180s, a game in the 190s, and a 205 last game. I got plenty of work on my single 10 pin, as I was leaving a bunch of weak 10s, and made all but one of them, so at least there was progress on that front. I mentioned the plethora of weak 10s to Bobby Hamilton, who was putting down the Coke Classic shot on their lanes, and he told me that, to him, the new pins (just put in for the start of the fall/winter season) seemed heavier than the old set, so scores are going to be relatively low until the pins are broken in. I also brought in a printout of my Wednesday night series as entered on BowlSK to show everyone my “new toy online” (Thanks cg! 😀 ).

After skipping practice last Monday, it was back on the practice lanes today. However, with a crazy week coming up with my league’s position round on Wednesday night, my birthday on Friday, and a wedding in the family Saturday, I decided to just keep the practice light, shooting all three games for score in an effort to work on my total game. My first two were in the 180s and 190s range, but everything came together for the last game, shooting a 233 in which I only had a 6-7-10 split for an open, opening with a double, and stringing 5 in a row from the 5th through the 9th. I had a couple of nice shots to end the game, but wasn’t rewarded for them, tapping an 8 pin and leaving a 7 on the fill of the spare. Oh well, can’t win them all…hehehehe!

There was some good and bad to take out of today’s practice. I had some nice shots in my first game mechanics work, but missed a couple of 4 pins, which held my “score” down to the 190s. I was really struggling in my corner pin work, as I threw at least three attempts at the 10 in the gutter, and missing the 10 carried over into my game for score, as I left 2 10s in the game, a weak one and a ringing one, making only the ringing one. There was also a weird attempt at the 2-4-5 where I thought I had a shot that made the spare, but it only took out the 2 and the 5. I could’ve still saved a game in the 190s with a double in the 10th, but my shot in the 11th frame missed badly right, and I was left with a picket-fence type leave, which I made for a 186.

One more league night, then the tournament Sunday (assuming Sherm gets my entry this week).