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! 

Well, having bowled the last two nights, three game series on each on two of the easiest patterns in the world, I've worked out why i haven't been bowling well of late. 

My plan was to try and hold my finishing position better than I have been, and avoiding the tendency to "step-off" the shot. For the most part, that went pretty well last night and the night before, however, my knee problem is playing up, which suggests to me that I've been favouring the knee by stepping off the shot. It seems that if I hold my position well, then I can make a good shot, if I step to the right after delivering the ball, then I miss my mark left or right. 

I managed a 597 at AMF Nottingham, subbing for a friend of mine who was short a player. I'm only going to be an occasional bowler in that league, as it's a 2 hour round trip for 3 games of bowling, not ideal, but nice every now and again as it'll help me develop a better competitive mindset for bowling at Nottingham, important for next February. So, the tale of the tape....

Game one, I had a good practice, started off with my BTP from 22 (feet) out over 13 (boards) out to about sixth. I made some decent shots in this game, and had a little rough luck. My BTP was leaping off the breakpoint there was so much dry, possibly a little too much for this ball, as it tends to be long and angular, with a little arc because of the particle but not much.

9 /     9 -     9 /      X       9 F      9 /      X        X       S8 1         X X 9
19      28      48      67      76       96     124    143     152         181

10 pin in the first, missed a two pin in the second frame, I've really been having issues with pins on that side lately, mainly due to a lack of focus, and recent changes really, although the two pin is more the former than the latter, as I picked off a 2 pin in the third frame. 5th frame and I crept over the line by about half an inch, despite trying to lift my toes off the floor, especially annoying as I hit the pin... Next shot picked up another hard 10 doubled going into the foundation frame... Then I suddenly got a bag of bite from nowhere, and managed to leave a 9-10 split, the 9 pin was a little off spot, but not enough to make it significantly easier. I managed to take the 9 pin but too much to get the 10 too. Managed to double in the 10th, before checking with my captain that he was happy we were going to win the point and switching to my Jolt for the last shot. Slid the Jolt from 20-11 and left a 4 pin off a heavy hit, however, I was happier with the reaction.

X     S8 1        9 /       X        S8 /       9 /       X         X         X         6 / 6
19    28          48      68        87         107     137    163      183        199

Moved another board with my feet for the start of the next game and looked to have a nice shape to the pocket carrying well for the first shot. Next up lost the ball a little, and it hit the pocket but with no power, 7-10... I threw off the 10 pin, and moved back to my original line for the next shot. Which proceeded to leave a 9 pin... After remembering the foul in the first game, I moved back a little and knocked it off. Went back to 21-11 and carried nicely. Made a parallel move for the next shot and managed to leave a 4-7 off a slightly high hit. On another day the four would have tripped, but those are the breaks. I managed to pick it up though, salvaging what could have been an ugly mid game open. Decided to stay with 22-12 for the time being, and focus on making better shots, left a soft 10 and had no problems with the spare. Moved a little more, searching for a better angle, to 23-12 and got a good flush hit. At around this point, I noticed that the rack on the left lane was a little dodgy, on not very close inspection, I realised that the 8 and 9 pins were about 3/4" off spot, which might have had something to do with some of the carry issues. I moved my mark at the boards to 13, and filled the turkey going into the 10th. Next up I bowled a shot which was not wanting to mix words, shocking. Too little pace took the ball high on the headpin, leaving a 3-6-9-10 spared up, and then managed to make an horrific shot on the last ball to leave a 1-2-4-8, the only two shots in the game where I missed the pocket... Should have been over, but for the last two shots really, which were, at least, aberrant.

Third game, we'd managed to win the first two fairly comfortably, despite giving up about 65 pins before my handicap had been calculated, but the opposition started really well, marks all over the place:

9 /      X         9 /        X        X        X        9 /        X         9 -        X X X
20     40        60        90      119     139     159       178      187       217

10 pin first up, then a nine pin on the dreaded lane 39... not entirely surprised I left that pin, with a ball that went through the pocket too hard. At this point I started bowling a different line on the bad rack 23-13 as opposed to 22-12, which gave good results with a turkey. Then left a solid 10 on 39 again, not quite enough turn round the corner. Following this on lane 40 another strike, I was feeling pretty good on the right lane, well lined up as long as I could keep executing well. I sent the ball out on 39 and it never quite recovered, and I ended up lucky with just a 2 pin left. I think disappointment about the ball made me lose focus, and you can see what happened... I managed to forget it quickly though as the game situation was very tight with us behind by about 20 going into the 10th frame, I got up needing a turkey to keep the pressure on them and give our anchor a chance to bring it home. I was really happy with the way I bowled those three shots, gathering myself well and executing really nice shots, just concentrating on good foul line position. Alas, our anchor left a 4-7-10 split on his first shot and their guy had a strike in the 10th, which clinched it for them (especially as it turned out I ended up with 1 handicap).

Overall I'm happy with my performance from Monday. Admittedly the lanes were easy, but I still felt like I was repeating shots well, when I managed to be stable at the line.

My pocket percentage was excellent, 83 % over the three games and I think this was the main factor behind the good scoring, I was always in and around the pocket, leaving mostly makeable spares. Single pin percentage was too low, those darned 2 pins! Focus is the key for those in future. My pocket strike percentage was about the same as it has been recently, once I can get myself hitting the pocket as consistently as this, then that will come up too.

The one downside, is that my knee is aching a little after the last couple of days... not ideal. I've got commitments with bowling until early February, as I said, so I'll assess then, and see how things are. Hopefully what little bowling I'll be doing will help as I'll be making sure I stay on the shot and work the muscles that have gotten lazy. 

Well, the title says it all... After doing ok during the student league last week and feeling pretty good after practice on Friday, I had the county trials on Sunday.

Success isn't exactly the word I'd use... I averaged a hint under 178 over 6 games, and never really looked like getting anymore. When I looked at the stats afterwards, they weren't that bad, spares and strike percentages were ok, the only anomaly was the pocket percentage, which was lower than I'd like (around 50 %). When I made the pocket I had good carry, with a 64 % pocket strike percentage my problem appears to be that I can't make the pocket consistently. 

The first game I bowled on Sunday was a 128... Not so hot. However, the score doesn't tell the whole story:

9 -   X     S6 2    X     S6 3     X      5 2       8 /      6 3       X -  6
9    27     35      54     63      80     87        103     112      128

I didn't have a good practice, struggled to find a line, so never go thte chance to shoot at cross lane spares, and missed a four pin first up, from now, I think my first two shots will be at the 7 and 10 pin... Then on the left lane I left the big four, a 2-4-8-10, a 1-2-4-6-10 washout. In hindsight it was partly my fault, I didn't have a line so had to guess at one for the first shot, using what little knowledge I had, my ball went a little heavy and left a four pin. After that I made the decision to move (on both lanes) it turns out that it was a good decision on the right lane, not so much on the left, where I probably should have stayed put. Every shot in this game on the left lane was different (on purpose) I just couldn't get the ball to the pocket. 

I got back on track with the next game, which was a little more steady:

X     9 /    7 /     X     7 /     X      S8 1       7 2        X       X 8 /
20    37    57    77    97    116     125       134      162     182

With this pair, I had a little more consistent reaction on both lanes, and just struggled to make good shots in the early part of the game, luckily my spare game came to the rescue (at least now I was leaving makeable stuff) right up until I screwed the release a little, and sent the ball wide with not much on it, came back like a jelly and left the 7-10 (I also did that last night, more later) picked one pin out, and then sent the ball wider on the next shot leaving a 1-5-9. The conversion, or attempted conversion managed to pick out the 1 and 9 pin, I was disappointed, but then, I didn't hit the pocket on the first shot, there's no reason why I should hit it on the second one. Two good strikes and a mark, to bring my score up near respectability, not high enough to recover that first game but a solid score given the poor shotmaking.

Then onto my high game of the day:

X      X      X      S7 -      3 /      6 /      X       X       9 /       X 8 /
30    57    74     81       91       117    146    166    186      206

A good start to this game, with a pretty solid turkey, the third shot I got a little relaxed and didn't get the release as well as I might have and was left with a 2-8-10, near impossible for a right-hander who can't back the ball up. Next frame I made a better shot, but sent the ball a little wide, and got the ball caught in the OOB, sending it skating into the 6-9-10, I managed to refocus and make the shot I should have first time, to convert it. Next shot, again, a little lazy on the release this time, brought the ball into the pocket without enough power, leaving the bucket. I'm pretty happy with the line I have for the bucket and am usually pretty confident of converting it. I need to look at how I bowl at the 2-8 in the near future, I usually go with the line I have for the bucket, but I have much less margin of error without the pins either side.
Another double in the is game set me up well going into the ninth, however, another light hit left a 2 pin, which I knocked out, still a little frustrated as I felt I'd bowled, technically, ok this game and could have had a 220-230 easily, which would have helped to fix some of the earlier damage.

The fourth game got I was struggling for carry and spraying the ball a little:

X      X      7 /      9 -      9 /       9 /      S6 3       9 /     6 /     9 / X
27    47     66      75      94        110     119       135     154    174

Not a bad result considering how poor the game was. A good first strike followed by a particularly rancid out of pocket strike. Left the 2-4-5 in the third, and I used my line for the bucket, picking it off without any drama. Left a 4 pin, and promptly stepped up to miss it. For some reason, I was having issues with pins on that side, and I have more generally of late, I've recently changed my line slightly for it, and I think my body is remembering the old body shape and movement and not adjusting for the new position. It's easily fixable, just need to focus extra on those spares. Then managed to leave a 7 pin, then a 3 pin picking both off fine (as it happens, when I missed the four pin, I went straight through where the 7 would have been, at least I knew I could get the ball there). Made a bit of a gamble next shot, as the black widow wasn't carrying very well, and was a little jumpy off the breakpoint, I decided on a mellower reaction, in my Big time pearl. This is probably my favourite ball, it's versatile and can swing on light-medium, or straighten on med-heavy. It also gives me a really nice shape, as I prefer an arcing ball, and the particle gives this ball enough arc through the breakpoint whilst still retaining enough power to move the pins around. Unfortunately, the line I picked wasn't quite right, and the ounce of luck that you need when making a change like that didn't go my way leaving a big split, the 3-6-7-10. I wasn't far from getting it, probably around half an inch at the pindeck. I finished out the game converting a 7 pin, a 1-2-4-10 washout, and a ten pin. On the last shot I changed ball to the impulse zone, to try and get the ball started a little earlier, not relying on so much hook from the breakpoint (my impulse zone is ultra smooth and a little more hook than the BTP) I managed a good pocket strike.

After spotting that the earlier read of the impulse zone seemed to work well, but that the state of the backends was leading to over/under, I made the conscious decision to get out the Jolt, and straighten up. My Jolt is the newest ball I have, but I've found to be extremely versatile. It's got a 2" pin-PAP designed to get it started very early, and it gives me a nice hookset on tight lanes, and a nice arc on the more open lanes, with not too much hook giving lots of control:

X      9 /       X       9 /      9 /        X        9 /       X        X        7 / X
20    40       60      79       99       119     139     166     186      206

I think this smooth reaction really helped me, keeping me in the pocket for 8 out of 10 frames, but alwats leaving something makeable. A clean game too, that doesn't happen often enough for me really... Good strikes were intermixed with a 10 pin and two 7 pins. Another 10 pin in the 7th, and I was beginning to think that I was going to have one of those games... A double in the 8th and 9th managed to push my score up to 200, but a poor shot first up in the 10th left me the 2-4-5, easily converted, but again pushing a possible 220+ game which would have improved my lot. 

The final game, had to be something pretty special if I was to qualify for the county team (I don't know that I haven't at this stage, but it's not looking likely)

9 /     X      9 /      9 /       8 /       X        9 /        9 /       7 1        7 -
20    40      59      77       91       117      136       153      161       168

The two opens at the end killed the game stone dead really I made a ball change in the 8th frame which seemed ok at first sight, with a good pocket hit leaving a 10 pin. Up until then, I was in and out of the pocket all game, always near it, but not getting any drive through the pins (partly me, partly the lanes) leaving two 10 pins, a 3 pin and a 3-6 and a 2 pin, all converted comfortably. At this point I made the choice t change balls, sparing out the game wasn't going to be enough, in fact, if I was going to change it probably should have been earlier but while I was fishing around the pocket with the Jolt I always felt like I was in with a chance. I changed to the BTP in frame 8 and left a 10 pin picked off cleanly, then I must have nipped out to the shops, as I left the 2-4-5 and picked off the 5 pin then left the 3-6-10 and tugged the ball a mile inside to miss everything, although at that stage I knew I hadn't done enough and it was just the end of a long frustrating day.

Looking back on the numbers, I don't feel like they really reflected how I bowled and how I felt on the day. The strike percentage was a little lower than I'd have wanted (I usually aim to hit more than 50 % if I'm bowling well it's past 60 %) but it's concomitant with the general low-scoring feel of the lanes, with spotty carry. My temper was good, I had one outburst, when I hit my ankle at the end of the first game but beyond that, I was better. I also had a little more faith in my own execution, although I still maintained enough honesty to know when I had bowled a bad one.

One of the things I was trying to focus on was maintaining my finish position at the foul line. My knee has been a bit sore of late again, which isn't ideal, and gives me a little discomfort when I'm bowling. I'm hoping it'll recede over time. After videoing my last practice on Friday, I started to pick out that the main reason why my ball goes offline and doesn't react correctly (about 60 % of my errant shots) is lack of stability in my finishing position, I tend to deliver the ball and then "step-off the shot" which I think is robbing me of ball power and also influences the direction as my shoulders and body turn as I step away. This is partly a laziness thing, but also a little related to my knee I think, I need to find some kind of strengthening for my thigh muscles, we'll see how the yoga goes. The remaining 40 % is attributed to slow speed. This is because I'm not quite used to the footwork that Nick has got me doing. I'm still very conscious of where my feet are during my approach, which is not where I want to be. I'm sure it'll get more comfortable in time, just patience and practice required.

I've been bowling in my university league the last couple of weeks, and been doing ok. I started lousy the first week with a 450 something, but the lanes were completely fried. I eventually found a line standing 20 going out to about 6 with my white dot... Spares were fun...

Then, last week, I had my white dot and black u dot with me. I had a couple of other balls, which I'm doing a comparison of at the moment. After something in the back took a chunk out of my white dot, I decided to play with the equipment I cared least about.I managed a 155 first game with some experimentation. After switching to the U-dot, I started the next game with 4-5 in a row, and felt pretty good. Ended up with a 244 game, and rounded out with a 20x game for a 60x series.

Last week, same story, with the white and u dots, but had a few problems carrying and left some silly opens. Now I look back on it, I actually had no issues carrying really, with 50 % strikes, I just couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo when it came to spares with those at only 50 % too...

And then last night, same ball, same line, similar result, 209-219-190. It took me 15 frames to make a spare. Luckily I could strike pretty well up til then or my scores would really have suffered. Generally over the night my striking was pretty good, in the last game I wasn't stringing so well, and was fishing a little to find a good line to play. I was in and around the pocket all night, coming up a little short on occasion when I backed off the speed a little (lifting the backswing too high...)

I had a thought about spares after last night and difficulties I had at the weekend. My spare ball hooks a lot. This isn't necessarily a massive issue, except that it's not the backend where it hooks. My white dot, on the last two conditions I've played on (I'm ignoring the ridiculous practice session earlier this week, with almost no oil in the heads right of 15th at all) the white dot has started to hook in the mid-lane and then continued in the back end. On the plus side, I was playing around on Monday with my release to make the spare ball go straighter and had good success with that, however, I'm going to polish my white dot tomorrow evening, ahead of practice on Friday. Last time I polished my white dot, it went uber straight, so I'm hoping for the same again. Friday's practice will be handy to acclimate myself to it again, ahead of the county trials this Sunday.

I'm hoping I can make a slightly better showing this Sunday than I have of late, I just need to relax my body and focus my mind. The last tournament I did, was much better focussed I was just struggling with decision making. At the moment I don't have enough faith in my technique, and so when the ball does something different I first question my technique rather than looking for changes to the lane. Granted, it sometimes is me, but I think that often I'm over-exaggerating the effect my feel of the delivery and it's effect on the ball roll. On Sunday, I'm going to try and trust myself a little more, and react quicker. I don't think I'm as bad as I think I am, if that makes any level of sense, and this Sunday I will try and move things forward.

My temper has been better of later, apart from having a little tantrumette on Monday with the shoddiness of the lanes. I think my biggest problem is that I always plan my practice sessions, and I really wanted to practice spares. If I turn up and the lanes are that far gone, it makes spares almost meaningless and frustrates me. Once I've let out a little anger, I'm fine, and I can re-adjust my plans and get something out of the session, and also gives me something I can use in the future when this happens again.
My Monday practice I finished up going for score and ended up with a 237 bowling a deep inside line with my classic zone. I will learn to control this temper of mine, and then I'll be in business....