I wanted to tie up the year(2007-2008) with some final thoughts and observations.

My average across the 5 PBA experience patterns was 188 for 92 games. I had hoped to average over 190, but a mid season slump put that goal out of reach. It often felt like I was on a roller coaster. Just because I did well on a pattern one week was no guarantee that I would do well on the same pattern the next week. In fact, no pattern ever played exactly the same to me, and they often played quite differently from week to week. I believe that the lane play and equipment choices of the other players on the pair had a big impact on how the lanes broke down. But mostly, my performance depended on my ability to execute on any given night. Unlike a typical house shot, if you are having a bad night on a PBA pattern, you can be certain that it will be reflected in your score.

Having said that, there were a number of bright spots for me.

I averaged over 190 on 4 of the 5 patterns:

-Chameleon: 194 (12 gms)
-Cheetah: 193 (24 gms)
-Viper: 191 (16 gms)
-Scorpion: 190 (16 gms)
-Shark: 179 (24 gms)

I had at least one 200+ average night on each of the 5 patterns.
I had 32 games over 200, including 10 games over 225.

Shark was definitely a weakness for me, but more frustrating was the fact that I had 20 games under 170! If each one of those games had been only 10 pins higher, I would have reached my goal of 190. Spare shooting was a factor, but more often than not, these games were the result of playing the wrong part of the lane for the pattern, or making a very poor equipment choice. For example, trying to play inside on Cheetah, or trying to play the gutter on Shark. For me, this often led to a slew of ugly washouts and designer splits as the oil carried down the lane. I saw a lot of 2-8-10s, 2-4-8-10s, and 1-2-4-6-10 combinations. Not to mention the ever popular 6-7-8-9-10.

Next next year, the top priority will be to limit the number of low games, while continuing to learn how to score better on the PBA Experience patterns.

The last time we bowled on the Chameleon pattern I was slumping badly, so my prior experience was not going to be much help. The tip sheet says tweeners like me often start between the 5th and the 12th boards, but the USBC video also says righties might also find success as deep as the fourth arrow. I started off trying to play around the first arrow, staying behind the ball as much as possible in an effort control the back end reaction. But this proved to be too difficult. There was absolutely no hold. A slight tug and the ball crossed over. Those of use who started around the first arrow gradually moved left and settled in somewhere between the first and second arrow.

One of my teammates seemed to get a workable reaction with the inside line by targeting the fourth arrow, and using the 10th board range finder as a breakpoint. But even that deep, there was no hold. If you pulled the shot from that angle, you had a good chance of missing the headpin to the left. Strangely, the oil never carried down the whole night, and a hold area never developed. It was important to maintain shoulder position throughout the shot, and not to grab the ball at the point of release. On the bright side, if you did pull the ball, you were probably going to go Brooklyn, avoiding a nasty split.

My primary targets for most of the first three games were the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th boards, making parallel moves to the left with my feet and target to keep the ball in play. I gave the ball just a bit of room to the right, and tried to stay firm. I shot 217 the first game, thanks to a couple of well placed Brooklyn strikes. In the second game I dropped to 162. The lanes were changing and I needed to do a better job of keeping up. By the middle of the third game, it was becoming more and more difficult to keep the ball off the headpin, so I made a big move left. Sliding 35 and targeting the fourth arrow, I opened up the shot considerably. I finished with games of 237 and 216.

As far as equipment goes, I used a Storm Thunderstruck with a 5 inch pin with the shine taken off to help smooth the reaction. This ball is weaker than most of my other equipment options, and that helped me to go straighter through the front part of the lane.

Two solid weeks in a row on two different patterns. I hope to keep it up as we take on the Chameleon again. It will be interesting to see if the condition reads similar or different next week.

My two sessions on the Shark pattern were as different as night and day, both in the way I played the lanes, and the results.

In the first week, my focus was on the middle of the lane. I tried numerous angles around the third arrow and deeper, trying to keep the breakpoint inside of the tenth board range finder down the lane. If I sound imprecise, it’s because I never found a predictable, repeatable reaction. When I made a mistake to the right, I was punished with a 2-8-10, a washout, or some variation of that. Other right handers were having success from the outside part of the lane, but I decided to be persistent in the hopes that the condition - or my execution - would improve with time. It never happened. I averaged in the low 160’s over th course of a very long night.

Going into the second Shark session, I decided I had nothing to lose by starting outside. Using my new Roto- Grip Cell, I tried to go straight up the third or fourth board. I highly recommend the Cell for the Shark pattern. The Cell handles the Shark’s long oil with ease, producing a strong controllable arc. The Cell does not burn up early, or quit on the back end. More importantly for me, the Cell gave me a little mistake area to right. I made it through the whole night without a single washout or 2-10 combination, rare for me on this pattern.  Thanks to Roto-Grip staffer Mike Sinek for recommending this ball.

Unlike the previous week, all of the bowlers on our pair started off playing between the first and second arrows. This started to break the lanes down in a favorable way for me. One opponent shot 250+ the first game with a Columbia Resurgence in that part of the lane. So I moved just left of the crowd and played into the reaction area created by all the traffic. I was able to make moves to left with my feet and my target for the rest of the night and stay in the pocket.   By the end of the night I was sliding at the 23rd board, targeting the 14th board at the arrows, with a break point around the 9th or 10th board.  I did not have an open frame my last three games, and averaged 212 for the night.

So it was the best of times and the worst of times on the Shark. So it goes in a PBA Experience League.

This was our second shot at the Viper pattern, which allows for multiple angles of attack depending on a bowler’s style and strategy. Before heading out, I went back and re-read my first Viper post for a quick reminder on what worked and what didn’t the first time around.

Like before, I started around the first arrow, and tried to come up the back of the ball in the hopes of producing a more predictable backend reaction. This time, I avoided the skid-flip equipment. Again, I stayed with the T-Road solid.

As the oil carried down I was able to compensate by going a bit more direct. When I began to see early hook, I moved my feet and target to the right rather than left. While this may seem counterintuitive, it seemed to be the answer. It worked very well the first two games as I went 246, 232. By the early part of the third game, I was sliding at the 9th board, and my look was evaporating. In game three, I dropped to 150 and concluded that I had worn out my welcome on the outside boards.

Rather than make an incremental move inside, I decided to move all the way to the 4th arrow. My hope was that the other righties had carved a reaction area in the track area that I could play to. It was good guess, and with the help of a couple of well placed brooklyns, I managed to shoot 211.

All in all, one of my best nights on a PBA pattern, even with a 150 game. Generally speaking, I had pretty good timing throughout the night, and that helped a lot.

I will try the same strategy this week as we continue on Viper.

We recently spent two consecutive weeks on the Cheetah and so I have some new thoughts and observations.

This time, I went "by the book" and played the outside part of the lane all night. The goal was to be persistent, and not be drawn toward the middle of the lane in the early going. With the pattern a short 35 feet, you can get early hook until the oil carries down the lane and the pattern stabilizes. Until that happens, there is a temptation to move in. I resisted that temptation and it seemed to keep me from getting into serious trouble. As the night wore on, the shot continued to improve on the outside part of the lane. At the same time, it got worse and worse toward the middle and the oil continued to carry down. It was washout-city for players trying to swing the ball between the first and third arrows.

As for ball reaction, I started with a Rotogrip Neptune, but that proved to be to hard for me to read and control. A lot of skid and a lot of flip. My Storm T-Road solid gave me a more predictable reaction. I brought this ball up to 4000 Abralon, which helped me to get the ball through the front part of the lane.

This time around, I was able to average in the low 190’s over 8 games on the Cheetah, even with a considerable number of 2-10 combinations. Not great, but not bad for me, considering the slump I have been in over the last few weeks.

Over the first 10 weeks of the PBA Experience League, I experienced the good and the bad. Now I am experiencing the ugly.

We took on the Chameleon pattern this week. I started out using a weak ball, settling in around the 8th or 9th board. The Lane Masters Hornet didn’t look very exciting but it kept me out trouble. I started off with a 204, but could not resist the urge to try and get a little more area. That was a big mistake. I tried switching to a stronger ball and got myself lost quickly. 138. Things did not improve significantly after that.

The last three weeks have been rough to say the least. I am out of whack mechanically and mentally. Plagued by poor timing and a bad armswing, I have been unable to repeat shots, or get into any kind of groove. I seem to have lost a lot of ball speed as well. Consequently, I’ve have not been able to adjust. The first 8 games on the Scorpion pattern, I averaged over 200. The second time on the Scorpion, I averaged about 170.

Unlike the house shot, the PBA patterns will expose your flaws, and tell you when you are making bad shots or playing the wrong part of the lane.

I am also in a slump mentally. Staying optimistic is a big part of being successful and I will need to change my mindset in order to get back on track.  I normally go through a downturn this time of year, but this year seems worse. I feel like every aspect of my game needs to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up.

On the other hand, I often snap out of these slumps just as quickly as I fall into them.

One of our league members had the ultimate PBA Experience this week! Joy Esterson won the Women’s Series event at the Lake County Indiana Classic, beating Liz Johnson in an exciting sudden death roll-off. Joy proved that she belongs out there on a weekly basis. Hopefully, the PBA will find a way to showcase the talents of Joy and other women pros on a larger scale.

Joy bowls in the Bud Scratch Trios PBA Experience League and competes often in Maryland and Virginia scratch tournaments. Teammates, friends and fellow pros could tell you more, but having bowled with Joy in league and in local scratch tournaments, I can say that she is a class act. She works works very hard on her physical game, and on making good equipment choices. As far as her mental game, she is one of the most focused bowlers I have ever seen. No matter the score, she never gives up, and that’s the highest compliment I can give any bowler.

Read more about Joy’s win at PBA.com.

Hopefully, yesterday’s exciting match will convince the PBA that women’s bowling is marketable. If the women’s series was expanded to a full tour, the PBA could continue to hold the women’s tournaments in parallel with the men’s events. But separate shows could be produced at the same tour stop, using the same production crews. A women’s tour would expand the total audience for bowling on TV, and potentially open the door to new sponsorship opportunities, especially if sold as a package. Dual events would give fans at the tour stop more bowling to watch, and might improve ticket sales. Of course, the PBA has yet to turn a profit. Until that happens, it may be difficult for the ownership to justify the risk of expanding the women’s tour. We will see.

I have been remiss in not writing about Joy’s success so far. But  Joy’s victory gives me a great reason to expand this blog into other bowling topics.

Way to go Joy!

It was another frustrating night for me on the Shark pattern, primarily because of my inability to make quality shots. The first two games I used an Epic Battle, hoping a strong ball with added surface would help me read the 44 foot pattern. I started off targeting the 8th board, and I concentrated on keeping my tempo on the mellow side. But it just didn’t work. When I tried to stroke the ball, it hooked early.  Afraid that the ball wouldn’t recover, I consistently pulled the ball.  When I tried to be more firm, or open up the shot just a tad, I overshot the break point and the ball did not make it back. I moved deeper and tried to play more direct, but had trouble getting the ball to finish.  What was called for was better shot making, but I was unable to get anything going or get in to any kind of rhythm.  I had no confidence in any move I made.

In the third game, at the suggestion of a teammate, I moved back to the right and tried to play between 5 and 10. The goal was to be more firm and and more direct, and stay behind the ball.  I think it was a good idea, but I made some bad guesses on where to target and that led to three quick splits as I fished for a look that just never came.

I finished the night using a Storm T-Road Solid, a ball that is less agressive overall, but usually provides alot more backend. On the Shark pattern though, there was not enough friction to get that ball in gear.

Although I don’t think equipment was the culprit for me, I could have used a ball that would more comfortably go through the usual stages of skid, hook and roll.  

It is definitely back to the drawing board for me on the Shark pattern. I will have a few weeks to come up with a strategy before we hit the Shark again.  Hopefully, I will do better next time around. I don’t think I can do any worse!

The first night on the Shark pattern was a disappointment for me. After 3 games, I had averaged 190 and had an opportunity to finish strong. Instead, I shot 147 in a game in the last game with three missed single pins.

My look was precarious at best all night. I tried during practice to find something around the third arrow or deeper, but just couldn’t make it work. There may have been a shot there, but I was not able to find it.

The outside line showed signs of promise, so I settled in outside the first arrow with an Epic Battle. This is an aggressive asymmetrical ball, with a pretty dull surface. I needed something to get into a roll right away. When I tried a ball with less surface, I was unable to get the ball to recover from the outside. My T-Road Solid (2000 abralon), a Storm ball that covers more total boards for me than anything in my bag, just didn’t have enough traction for me on the Shark pattern.

With the Battle, I could get to the pocket, but the ball hit weakly. I left a lot of weak 10s on good shots, and crossed over on the bad shots. I went 207, 165, 199 the first three games. In the middle of the third game, I started moving in. I was finally able to get some reaction out of my T-Road Solid, and found a shot between the second and third arrows.

Next week I will work on slowing down my tempo to give my ball a chance to read the pattern in other parts of the lane. I may also try a little less surface on the Battle in an effort to get a little more back end reaction and hit. 

The real problem on this outing was my attitude in the fourth game. I was thinking about a big game, rather than filling frames. After missing a ten pin in the second frame, I mentally checked out. I got angry. The more I pressed the worse it got. My concentration disappeared and I lost perspective.

When I left that night I turned on the Ravens game as they were getting trounced by the Steelers 38 to 7. Like the Ravens, I will need to put that game behind me.

It was hard to learn from the Scorpion pattern this time around because I never felt comfortable with my timing or release. For most of the night, my adjustments were made off of bad or questionable shots as I attempted to find some tempo and rhythm. So for this post I will keep my observations general.

I began the night committed to playing the outside line. I had some success in this part of the lane last week’s scorpion, but on this night my execution was poor from the get-go.  How hard can it be to just let it go? How hard can it be to just roll the ball, instead of chucking it toward the target? Apparently, pretty hard tonight.

With no success outside I felt I had nothing to lose by moving in. My fishing expedition eventually led me to the four arrow. My swing loosened up a bit, but my results remained inconsistent.  Meanwhile, our three right hand opponents had been carving out a shot for themselves between the second and third arrows. They had created some area and were stringing strikes. In the fourth game, I followed them back toward the middle of the lane. I wasn’t throwing it much better, but I finally had some margin for error and pulled out a 256 game to end the night. The last line I played was around the 15th board at the arrows out to a breakpoint around 10.

In hindsight, it’s apparent that the pattern was changing constantly because of the variety of lines being played and adjustments being made by the five right handed players on the pair. 

Lessons Learned:

-Keep an open mind to to the pattern playing differently than before.
-Don’t be afraid to move to different parts of the lane (this seems to be a recurring theme).
-Hang in there. A bad night can be made respectable with one good game.
-Thank God for Brooklyn strikes.