Senior Masters Day 1

Frustrating day - I felt like I had an +80 look and ended up at -23. I just couldn't get a good feel for the shape of the reaction. In the end, I was trying to go too soft on speed and I was trying to allow the ball to get a little too far left at the break point. My initial look with the Victory Road seems to be great, but I really didn't make good shots the first game, and ended up shooting 181 on an easy 220 pair. I went fishing the second game and shot 161. After putting myself in that hole, I bumped down to a Tropical Heat and shot 216 with a couple of really good shots in the 10th. I was hoping to stay with this ball after making the turn, but the ball wanted to stand up the wrong way. I went looking for another reaction, but the Virtual Energy was a little too early in the mid-lane and lost too much energy. The first shot struck but the next shot was a 3-6-7, so I went to the Dagger, which got down the lane very well. I doubled but then made a bad shot and left the greek church for 183. The last game I tried to stay with the Dagger but I had enough push that it was a little weak. I went back to the Victory Road, but I didn't get the ball as far to the right (about 9-10 at the break rather than about 6) and stayed a little firmer, made good shots and ended up with 236.

Now I move on to 2 blocks of fresh, so I'm planning to take the lesson from this block and try to keep the ball at 8-10 at the break instead of 6-7 on the fresh. I still want to try to play a little right (about 12-16) with something medium and not more than about 2000 surface so that I can get the ball to push enough to store energy.

USBC Masters Days 1 & 2

Got off to a good start at the Senior Masters. Shot +37 day 1 and +25 for day 2. Playing the edge of the OB with Brunswick Wild Card drilled 25 x 3 3/4 x 70. I wanted to let the ball burn up energy and not create too much change of direction at the back end. This worked well both days as I used a One drilled 15 x 3 7/8 x 70 and a 60 x 4 1/2 x 70 Mission the first day, as well as an old RXS drilled pin ring with about a 45 deg. This combination of balls allowed me to stay outside 12 and play the part of the lane that played a little tighter, which gave me a more consistent look the first two days.

Now for the mental part. After 2 weeks of getting beat up on the lanes after I let another player get into my head (and my confidence), and having no chance at the Senior U.S. Open (there were 0 left-handers in the top 24), the lefties have a good look this week. I have finally been able to just bowl and not worry about my swing or release or how far plus or minus I am. I have stayed patient, taken each shot, each pair as it comes and I've made the adjustments, bowled my best, and moved on. The 180 games have not bothered me - I've done my best and taken the result. I would like to stay in this frame of mind, now that I have it back. Work on your game in practice - when it's time to score: JUST BOWL.

PBA Sr Tour Columbus

The scores today were HIGH!!! I started 279-257, but then the transition got me, and I didn't shoot ANYTHING for the next 5, then finished with 267. This still leaves me 60 out of the finals, but I got some help from Mo yesterday and today, and we set my equipment up for tomorrow (when in doubt, sand it more and drill a bigger weight hole).

I started with the MoRich Mania, which was unbelievable at the beginning of the block, and I probably should have gone to my Mutant Cell in games 3-5 when the lanes got a little tighter, then on to the C-System 3.5 at the end of the block. I did go to the 3.5 the last 2 games and shot 215-267, but game 7 should have been 230-240 if I had been more focused.

Tomorrow the game plan is to start with the Mutant, then go to the Mania when the tighten up, then drop back down to the 3.5, probably after I make the turn or the next game after. I think I can get about +350 tomorrow, which would get me to +575 or so, which should be enough to make match play.

Masters - Day 2

The second day I started with a game plan to play the lanes straighter, as most of the lefties had more success doing that on day 1. In practice I had trouble finding a look going straight that I was comfortable with until I tried my pin-ring Clash, which reacted beautifully to the pattern. I used this ball the entire block. Once I made the turn down, I had even better reaction and shot 214-258 in games 3&4. This left me right at the cut score, but the last pair was much tighter and I couldn't get the ball to roll up properly. On a pace to shoot 190 clean and not make the cut, I gambled a little and squared my line up a little more. On the left lane in the 8th frame this worked, but the ball released too soon on the right lane and I left a 4-6-10. I ended up +40 and 23 pins off the cut score, but I was very happy with my tactical play and my physical play in this block. Sometimes you make a lane move decision and it's not the right one, but I'd rather do that then not make the move and "what if" myself afterwards.

Masters - Day 1

The Masters is a sprint and a grind. It's a sprint in that you only have 5 games each day to position yourself to make the cut. It's a grind in that you have to be patient and keep filling frames and keep yourself in the tournament. I did that today for the first 3 games, but didn't react enough when the mid-lane got tighter in game 4, costing me 3 consecutive opens. I should have made an arrow move left after the first washout, but instead tried to make a 2-2 left move, which didn't help my reaction at all.

Tomorrow I'll be bowling on the late squad, after 5 games have been bowled on it. As quickly as the right-handers moved into 20-25 on the fresh squad, I'll need to move left to stay off their burn in the front of the lane a little bit. This was also the most successful strategy used by the left-handers today, and falls into my comfort zone, anyway. So, I'll move left, firm up my ball speed, and try to stay on my toes to get the best reactions.

RMSBT

Today was a great day at RMSBT @ King Pin in Colorado Springs. Sometimes when you modify the house shot (in this case, 4' longer), it actually makes them easier. We had a pretty good shootout today, with a cut of +152 to cash for 6. I was at +334 for the first 6 with a 299 game, all with the pin up Magic Action. The ball just gave me a great carry reaction and complimented the length of the shot very well.

In the finals I had to change to the Clash to get the ball down the lane and take advantage of the early friction just outside the oil line. This was Ron Hosler's idea, so I owe him big time for the suggestion! It worked well as I shot 215 to win my first match, then 257 to win over Shawn Christensen. It meant a lot to win over such a great player and a class act.

Thanks to Carol Doan and her staff for another great job of hosting this event. Also, thanks to Ebonite for their support.

PBA Super Regional

Good day at the PBA Super Regional today. This Regional was hosted right before the PBA Tour stop here in Wichita, KS this week, so we had a full field of 160 for the tournament, with about 40 exempt players. We also bowled in two centers (Northrock and Thunderbird) on two different patterns (Masters and TOC).

On the Masters pattern at Northrock, I started playing out, but didn't have as good a look as I did in the practice session, so I moved back to where I usually play the Masters - a small bank swing just outside 15. As long as I got my hand around the ball just a bit, then stayed firm with my hand, I had a pretty good reaction. I just followed that reaction in, ending up around 18 swinging to about 12 on the hooking lanes. I got to +69 for the first 6.

In the second block, I started playing out, but then went into the mid-track area the second game to try to take advantage of following Patrick Allen on the second pair. However, I didn't have that good a look on the second pair, and so went back out for the rest of the block (around 6). I used my Evolve to smooth out the reaction, and shot 278 in game 4. Sometimes you just need to use something that picks up the lane a little sooner and bleeds off a little to blend the pattern out and get a more predictable reaction.

On the last pair, I was +163 with one to go, and the number was +109. I had to make the turn to 1-2, and lane 1 was hooking a lot more than the previous 2 pairs. I had to make a quick 8-3 move in after2 splits, then move right a little less on the right lane to play "defense". I wanted to make sure I either struck or left a 7-pin, so I could close frames and make sure I got into the cash. This strategy worked, as I saved 178 the last game to end up at +141.

Tomorrow is another day - cash round...