I threw a bowling ball (well, my ball, anyway) for the first time in about a month or so the other day. I went to Town & Country Lanes to get some practice in before the Bowling & Golf Outing this Saturday.
I practiced shooting 10-pins and ball placement mostly. However, the lanes are obviously being flooded for the summer and it was difficult to practice my usual style. I threw in mostly from the gutter, i.e. the extreme Norm Duke!
Providing the alley puts an actual pattern down for the tournament, I'll probably be throwing my Red Alert, but who knows. I tend to need a different ball every time I bowl there.
As for the weather, I keep hoping that Saturday will be nice but the forecasts seem to worsen by the day. It went from being sunny last week to isolated thunder storms today. Hopefully things go smooth.
I had the day off today so instead of doing something constructive, I went bowling. I bowled three games at Town & Country Lanes; 225, 238, 202.
I practiced throwing my spares the way I'll need to throw them at the Open next week. It may hurt me in league tomorrow, but it will help me more in the long run.
Also, I realized that my mind is my worst enemy. I rarely feel pressure and usually bowl better under it, but my mind is a busy place. Thoughts rush through my head faster than a drunk on the Autobahn. This affects my consistency tremendously and will be my biggest hurdle when bowling in the Open.
I'll blog again in a day or two and let everyone know how league went with the unique practicing.
I was at Warren Lanes in New Jersey yesterday practicing on wood lanes. The oil condition was unique to say the least. The lanes were flooded with oil. They started breaking down, but between the other two bowlers on my lane, the oil just made its way around the lane.
I was throwing the Freak-A-Zoid (big surprise) since it hooks the most out of all my balls. I was throwing the ball very slow to get any type of hook on the back end.
Anyway, I can't remember my scores. I wrote them down, but misplaced the paper. I remember my first two games were over 200, and my second two games were way under 200.
I've noticed that a lot of alleys lately have simply been flooding their lanes for open bowling rather than laying down an actual pattern. This upsets me considering that between the two centers I've been practicing at, one use to host the PBA, and one currently does.
Perhaps the lanes are flooded only because it's summer (the off-season). But it would still be nice to get some practice on something closer to a league pattern.
This was an interesting session. To start things off, I hadn't bowled in about three weeks (taking a usual break after the end of league.) But to top things off, I had gone to the alley straight from the gym. I actually left the gym early because of some insane blisters on both of my feet, the bigger one being on my left (sliding foot.)
Things didn't go too bad, but I only got four games in before I said "screw it, my feet hurt."
In order, I bowled a 209, 205, 191, 209. I threw only my Freak-A-Zoid and my spare ball.
I'm actually happiest with the 191. I had four opens and no spares - just strikes. I finished out with six in a row. It's those types of comebacks that keep me in the game sometimes, and those strikes count the most.
I hope everyone else is enjoying the early-summer session, or having fun finishing out the winter leagues.
I used my PBA Tour Card for the first time today. It was great only paying $1 a game while everyone else had to pay the full $2.50, lol. When league ends in a couple weeks, I'll be using it on a weekly basis, maybe even a few times a week if I get a job soon. But here's my problem now...
Town & Country Lanes is the only alley in my area that is a classified as a PBA practice center. I love this place, but I always perform very well there (in both practice sessions and tournaments.) There isn't much of a challenge when I'm practice, so is bowling there going to improve me any?
Is bowling in a house I always perform above average in really going to help me at all? I guess we'll find out...
