Monday Night Practice - 738 Series

Wow, What happened? I was concentrating on getting the ball off my hand good. That really helps me. When i release it right, and i dont have all that forward roll on it, it allows me to miss my mark a bit and it will still recover.  Anyway, the lanes were messing up so a ten pin that shouldve stayed up got knocked over by the machine so in acutallity i shouldve had a series that was 10 - 20 pins less. 

first game was a 235, second was a 266, and third game was a 237. That 266 game, i had the front 8 and i was feeling the pressure too. So, on the 9th i got up and decided to think about throwing the ball slower because i knew i would be a little pumped. Well, I came in high. SIGH

Im pretty happy over all though.

Friday Night League - 669 Series

Again I started off bad. Releasing the ball like an idiot. My first game was a 190. The bad part about that is I had marked all the way till the tenth, then opened. I missed the 6-9-10 like a dumbass for a 190. After that game though, i realized there was something wrong with my release. So I decided to focus of gettting the ball off my hand much cleaner. 

My second game was a 256. I had no idea it was that good either. I even opened on one frame. I threw 2 strikes in the 10th and then came in high and left the 4 pin. When i walked back everyone was telling me good job, then i looked at my score. 256... wow. I had no clue. And that double i threw in the 10th meant we took high handicap game too with 1175.

My third game was a 223. Again, i had a stupid open, but overall i was throwing the ball much better. It was actually driving though the pocket much harder than normal. I guess i just really need to focus on releasing that ball properly because when i do it rewards me with ten pin party in the pit. 

I am most likely gonna buy another ultra zone and have it drilled diferently. I really like the ball. I like the coverstock much more than the VG's cover stock. My current Ultra is drilled to roll early so i think ill get another one and get it drilled to go longer. 

Friday Night League - 604 Series

Just squeeked into the 6's on this series. I dont remember my scores, but I remember what i did wrong. The first 2 games i was throwing the ball way to hard. For some reason i had it in my head that I had to throw it mega hard. On the third game, i slowed it down and shot 231. I cant beleive i didnt do that the first 2 games. oh well

I gave the VG to Aric to throw and see if he liked it. He threw it his 2nd in 3rd game. He got 240 something the second game and a damn 279 the last game. SIGH. Guess its going to work for him.

Monday Night Practice

Well, this was the final chance for the Virtual Gravity. And yes, it failed. I have noticed that the VG completely dies if there is any kind of carry down on the lane. It wouldnt move at all. well, it moved a bit but not enough for me to be happy with it. I am probably just going to sell it, it had a good run, but its over now. 

So i grabbed the ultra zone. The thing about this ball, its it starts hooking so early i have to throw it hard. My first game i shot 256. 

The second game i totally lost focus and shot 189 with an open in the 10th frame. This game i had 2 opens right off the bat too, they were splits because i was tired of throwing it hard. My pin action does seem crazy when i throw it harder though, so it cant be a bad thing. 

Last game was 194. I was tired....

All in all, i really like the ultra zone.

Friday Night League - 654 Series

I knew we were on 1 and 2, and with the current slump i am in, I was expecting another wonderful 500 series. I had some time before league so i went and got my new ball drilled. I decided to go with a layout that was for "early roll with strong back end". I got it drilled at holiday, it just feels like they have the angle of the thumb better or something. Anyway, you should see the weight hol he put in the ball, you could put a gallon of water in it. 

So we got to our lanes for practice, and I decided to throw the ultra zone to see what it would do. Holy crap, I couldnt keep it on the right side. i threw 3 balls and put it away and grabbed the VG.

first game - 177

Sigh, i dont remember much of the game except that i couldnt find the right adjustment on lane 2. I had no trouble on 1. I ended on lane 2, and I marked in the 10th frame, so i decided to throw the ultra since i couldnt do any harm.  I ended up putting the VG away and kept the ultra out.

Second game - 229

So i was just throwing the ultra as hard as i could and man was it coming back. WTF? i wanted it to be a less hooking ball, but thats not going to happen. And it almost seemed like as long as i threw it as hard as possible, it would hit pocket. 

Third game - 248

Ultra zone baby. thats all i have to say.

Larry shot a 668, so even though he will be ahead of me in average, hes not out of reach. I am going to give the VG one more chance. I got a 4000 grit abralon pad to try to return it to its factory finish. It has failed me twice. 

New Ball - Brunswick Ultra Zone

So a few brunswick balls were on bigtime sale at bowlingball.com. I had the choice between a twisted fury, twisted fury solid, smash zone, and a swarm for $89, or the ultra zone for $69. I really really wanted to get one of the twisted furys but michael brought a good point up. Do you ever seen anyone throwing a twisted fury? Nope. I think i saw someone once with a twisted fury destruction sitting in the bag, but not throwing it. Storm really seems to be dominating the market right now. 

Since i have always been a brunswick fan, i didnt mind getting a ball for almost half off. I bowled in a tournament a couple of months ago at ten pins and I saw David Hoffer there. I used to bowl with him in Ruidoso about 10 years ago. He is also a brunswick fan, and he is the one that gave me the Danger Zone HPH that i still have. He was talking up the ultra zone that he had bought. So based on what michael said, and what hoffer said, i ordered the ultra.

It will be here today, an I am debating on if i should get it drilled and throw it for league or wait and practice with it first. I have time tomorrow to get it drilled before league, but the race for high average is SOO tight and I cant afford to be bowling with something i am not comfortable with. Not to mention, we are on 1 and 2 tomorrow.

So i think i will get it drilled saturday and throw it sunday. 

Monday Night Practice

Decided to give the VG one last shot at redemption before i threw it in the dumpster. I guess its good that i didnt. I am thinking I was just getting a good read on the lanes. 

WOW. what happened right? I figured out some issues that i was having with timing and with my release. And i found the line immediatley. 

The best part of this practice session is the number of open frames i had. 2!! they were stupid ones too, i missed them with my spare ball. I forgot to mention that I am on a 15 for 15 ten pin pick up streak from the tournamnet and this practice. I am no longer scared when i see the 10 pin standing there. 

Another interesting thing about this practice is the number of splits i left. NONE. usually thats the majority of my opens. Even though swinging it out to the 1 board looks cool, it doesnt score well because when i do that I am guaranteed a split. 

There were a couple times when i would throw the VG just like every other ball but it would come in harder. Oh well, I think i will just keep it after i get the ultra zone I ordered and use it if the lanes are super slick.

Sunday Scratch Tournament

Even though i have been in a slump lately, I decided to enter the monthly scratch tournament. There were only 12 scratch bowlers taht showed up this time so i thought my odds were actually gonna be pretty good. 

I started the tournament with my virtual gravity. I had some new confidence in it after saturdays practice. Came out shooting a 194. not bad, i could do better. Then the ball just got weird. The next game i left 2 pocket 7 - 10 splits. That was discouraging. So discouragin i shot a 155. SIGH. So I put the VG up and got out the danger zone (ol faithful).

SO the first ball with the zone, i threw in the gutter. haha i picked up the spare though. Then i struck to the 10th frame where i opened like an idiot for a 234. 

After that i shot a 207, 203 and a 200. If only i had started with the zone.

Saturday Practice

After my beating on friday, I decided to soak my ball in hot water mixed with simple green. Surprisingly a lot of crap came out of the ball. Didnt really change things though, but i managed on shooting sorta decent. I just dont know what to do.....

I was playing a very tight line near the gutter though. I really like shooting that. Not only does it look cool, i think i get the best carry that way. I really think playing that line helps my accuracy too because if you miss right playing that line, it really hurts your score. 

Friday night league - 591 series

Yep, i am on the verge of giving up. I just dont know what my problem is. I know that i am throwing it harder but i just cant seem to slow it down. Plus, my virtual gravity has seems to have lost its consistency. Sometimes it will hook, sometimes it will go long. Heres the thing about it though, I have polished it and resurfaced it so many times who knows what is going on with the cover. I ordered a new ball, an ultra zone. Mostly because it was on sale but also because i always rely on "ol faithful", my danger zone hph. Figured i would try another zone. 

I think my first game was a 179. Yeah.

Second was 194 - better but still crappy

third i finally got something going and shot 218. 

Larry and I are tied for average now going into next week with a 207.8. SIGH

2009 USBC Open Championships - Cashman Center, LasVegas, NV

So i made another trip to vegas to bowl again. This time, even thought the oil pattern was going to be much less challenging, I was looking for redemtion. Thats not what i got :(

We stayed at the Monte Carlo this time instead of the freak show circus circus. That place is starting to get pretty dumpy. The monte was nice, but I wasnt to impressed. We were just in vegas a month and a half prior, so it felt like yesterday when we rolled into town. After we got checked in, we went straight to Fat Tuesdays :)

My first day of bowling was the team event with a team i never met. I got there early to see what shot the guys were playing. They were shooting on the burned up shot, and they were mostly playing down and in. Made me think that it was going to be super slick. Went to the back and got my balls weighed and inspected, then met my team. Then we did a march out, my second march out in cashman center. They had just oiled the lanes too

After a couple of practice throws it was pretty obvious that the lanes were not slick at all. I was playing my normal 12/13 to 4 and hooking back into the pocket. I opened up with a 214. i felt pretty good about that. My teamates were really impressed with the reaction i was getting out of my ball for my style of throwing. One guy even said "lot of forward roll on your ball huh?". I never really thought that I had forward roll.

Anyway, I sucked it up the next 2 games and got a 557 series. I remember my last game was a 156 only because i struck out in the 10th. And the reason i struck out in the 10th is because i made a drastice move(5 left with feet/ 3 left with mark). Had i done that a lot sooner, i probably couldve scored higher. Why i still refuse to move when i dont carry is beyond me.

So the second day i had to bowl at 7am. That sucked, i dont do anything good at 7am. We got another fresh shot which was weird. My first game was a 234. That felt great and I had high hopes for a good series. then in the 3rd frame i threw a gutter ball onmy first ball. Then, i guttered the second ball. Out of no where. I dont think i have ever done that. Somehow, i managed a 189 out of that game. I dont remember my third game but it wasnt good, and i got a 581 series.

Then the next set, we moved lanes to where a bunch of straight ball people were throwing. I couldnt figure out the shot at all. I ended up throwning the track hitting the 17 out about the 4. This is the first time i have experienced the "skid flip" ball. It looks really cool going down there, but was so hard to control. i had a 534 series...

Didnt get remption, but i did bowl ok for 2 games. ha.

Friday Night League - 629 Series

So this blog is a little late because I didnt really have time till today. We bowled the old men on Friday, so there was a TON of crap talking going on. I actually like bowling those old guys though, its pretty fun to mess with them about their lack of revs or speed of the ball.

I started off pretty strong, had a strike, then a spare that i missed my mark by 2 boards right, then struck to the 10th. I got up for the 10th frame thinking about how i needed to close the frame out. I missed my mark bad and left a split. SIGH. Opened in the 10th for a 245. 

Thats ok i was thinking, i was throwing it well. Second game i had the front 5, then what do i do? I come in high and leave the 4 ten. Miss it. Come in slightly high and leave the 10, miss it. Then hit pocket and leave the 7 - 10. I went from the front 5 to a 189. 

Last game i just couldnt carry anything. 195. 

Got my usual 6 opens. 4 of those were splits though, not that it makes it any better. I picked up one split but i cant remember which one. 18 strikes. 13 of those were in the first 15 frames. I just dont understand what my problem is. Its all mental i think. And i dont adjust quick enough to keep my scores high.