It's been a while since I've been on here. My scores have been up and down because of a knee problem, that I'm awaiting a test for, hopefully I'll be able to get surgery soon, and begin recovery proper.

I bowled in the Irish Open last weekend, struggled with knee issues a little, and disappointed to miss the first cut... by 4 pins no less, how irritating :)

In some ways, I'd rather have missed the cut by 50 pins rather than 4... but I didn't shame myself, just never really had the big games. Too many single pin misses, although I was delivering the ball pretty well, just struggling for carry.

Anyway, bowling in my student league last night I managed to break my 300 duck. I rolled a series of 214, 300, 180. My first 300... after 14 years or so of bowling (although we can probably ignore the first four of those where I had horrifically fitted balls (using the word fitted loosely) not to mention the 2-3 year break I took from bowling whilst living in London. But still, I'm happy as happy can be right now, such a nervy last shot. They were all in the pocket, a couple heavy (the last one incredibly so, I thought I was leaving a 4-9 for sure) and a light swisher, but all delivered well, and such a good feeling to get that 12th strike, despite the wobbling arms and legs throughout the preparation and delivery :P

Every shot was in the pocket, and delivered well. Obviously I went to pieces a little in the last game, plus there was a bit of transition, muddying the breakpoint, the combination meant I suffered a little and only made 694, but I still don't care :)

Well, I started game 1 with my BTP, and if I'm honest it was probably a little too angular, but hey, you're only young once right?

9 /      X       9 /       9 -       9 /       X        X       9 /       7 2         S7 / 9
20     40       59        68       88      117     137    154     163          182            

Started off with 2 10 pins, no real problem there. Then my 2 pin issue re-appeared as I missed a long way right of one. Then left a 7 pin, had considerably more success with this, although that's probably due to increased concetration for the second shot after missing the earlier one. A timely double followed by another 10 pin. Next came a really bad shot to leave the 1-2-10 washout. I easily took the 1-2 but didn't have quite enough angle as the 1 went around the 10. First shot in the tenth was even worse than before, struggling to get a consistent turn at the breakpoint with my BTP, leaving the 2-4-10, bowled the perfect ball at it to clean it up. Finally left a 9 pin with a ball that pushed through the pocket a little hard, it was at this point that I thought something that started a little earlier would benefit me, moving to my Jolt. 

Moved a little further outside, to 20-11 for the next game...

X      X       X       X       X       9 /        X        X       X        X X 9
30   60     90     119    139     159      189     219   249      278

This was a pleasing game for me, every shot except the last one in the pocket, and that didn't miss by much, because of transition. The 10 pin in the middle was from a release I didn't quite get hold of, and the 2 pin at the end was a result of the ball getting caught in lane oil and not recovering with enough power (I'd been bowling with four others on my lane, all with houseballs, so the backend got a little squirty towards the end of game 2. Overall, I'm happy with this though, as I made good shots, hit my mark and got the results I deserved. If I'd have bowled like this on harder lanes, I think the result would have been the same, as I didn't use much of the area that was available at all.

We were moved to a different lane just into the beginning of the third game because of long breakdowns on the lane we were on. The lane we moved to was pretty much on a par with the one we'd come from as we can see:

X       X        X         X         9 /        S8 1        7 /         X          7 -         X 7 -
30     60     89       109       127       136        156       173       180         197

A good four bagger to start with although left a sticky 10 pin in the 5th where I didn't quite complete the shot. Then came my first serious lane conditioner issue, where I slid right through the breakpoint and left a 4-5 split, not quite getting the angles right I hit too much of the 4 pin and opened. Next ball, same ball, almost the same result, leaving the 2-4-8. I managed to miss this by a country mile. I decided to change ball here, back to the BTP, to get a little more movement a bit later. a good strike first up followed by missing the headpin by a long way and then repeating for the spare attempt.

Overall happy. The first and last game should have been higher, especially the first one where I could have switched to the jolt sooner. the last game had a couple of foolish opens, but that's life isn't it? 

Over this series I hit the pocket 79 % of the time with 70 % pocket strikes. Spare percentage wasn't great but my single pin was closer than it's been in a while to where I want it, being just shy of 90 %. Still not a high strike percentage overall, reflecting the carry issues in the first game with the wrong ball being used.

All I need to do is replicate all this next week, at the open... Easy!