MDE's Bowling Journal

After a 5 year hiatus, we are finally back in a league. Something more competitive than the previous happy hour leagues we were doing, our first sanctioned league. All I knew about this league is that we are playing on the burn. The arsenal I prepped is a Zen Master as my benchmark, Wolverine Dark Moss as a step down/burn, and a spare. I've only recently started to rebuild an arsenal and these two have been my first purchases for the current environment I play in.

Game 1: My practice shots were showing me that the Zen Master was too early for the condition of the lanes. The lanes had around 4 games played on them with the previous league on it, so the lanes were either in transition or into the burn. After a couple of shots, I figured I could also move in a bit with the Zen Master but I didn't want to move left so early, so I balled down into the Wolverine Dark Moss. It was clean through the fronts and still had a strong back end reaction, just had to adjust my feet and entry angle a bit with the ball change.

The first three frames you can see I was visibly nervous, haha. Three easy single pin spares. Thankfully I was able to clam down and pull it together and string up the next 7. The left lane was drier, I was about 1-2 boards more left on the left lane. The right lane I had to tighten up my angles. The tenth ended on the left and I missed target and had a washout. I was feeling pretty good, so I threw backup at it and ended up getting it! Ended on a good spare to bring momentum into the second.

Game 2: Started with the Wolverine Dark Moss and stuck with it. Really loving this ball. Almost a clean game! Nothing much to say about this one, I was playing the same line and saw no real transition from where we started. I missed a 10 pin (gg) in the sixth frame. Definitely showing me I need to practice my spares some more.

Game 3: Still with the Wolverine Dark Moss this game. I started out strong with a strike but the next frame was a pocket 7-10! The way the ball entered and went through the pins was a little soft. I wasn't sure what the adjustment was for the left lane, but I decided to make a move and fast, so I went with a 2/1 board adjustment and a little slower speed to give the ball enough time to come back. I ended up staying clean on the left throughout the rest of the game until the 10th. The right lane ended up being the trouble lane. Although I was able to strike, I felt like I was playing in a puddle of oil all of a sudden. I recognized this on the 3rd frame when I went light and left a seven pin. I moved only a board left and softened my speed VERY SLIGHTLY. I just didn't want to shoot past the break point. I left a wrap ten in the ninth with a really good shot.

A little about myself and bowling so far:

I've bowled for fun ever since I can remember, from birthday parties every year all the way to high school and college night hangouts. I started taking bowling seriously around late 2013 with a good friend because we both realized we were getting some decent scores when we went out bowling for fun. I did more research and eventually found Belmonte, which then inspired the switch to 2 handed (1 hand, no thumb previously).

We bowled league for the next 2 years and my average hovered around 180-200. During that time I got my (then) form down, targeting, revs, and speed up, but looking back my spare game, versatility, and consistency was all off. We both eventually stopped bowling (2016).

Fast forward to early 2022: I was brought back to bowling and by some stroke of luck, I fell back in love with the game. I began to start working on EVERYTHING. I started with getting everything consistent, from form (bent elbow or straight arm), targeting (at arrows, starting from breakpoint), approach (less drift, foot at the same spot at the line), balance at foul line, and of course spares.

Form was the most natural place for me to start. I tried the bent elbow and straight elbow styles. While the bent elbow style made more sense, I could never get a consistent release and was all over the place. Straight elbow was consistent for me, I was hitting my target more often than not so I stuck with it. Eventually I got to a point to where my skip step in my approach was timing right with my release and my mph went up by 2mph.

I've always targeted at the arrows but I hardly looked down lane at my breakpoint. For the sake of having more tools in my bag (versatility), I began learning how to also consistently aim down lane at the breakpoint. That way I could aim down lane if I ever needed to. This also helps me look at the break point during my approach and draw a line down to the arrows for visualization. I could never do this in the past, but now it's becoming almost automatic.

My approach is what I'm working on right now. In the past I had such a big drift (17-20 boards) to the left. There's nothing wrong with a drift that you can consistently reproduce, but my issue was if I ever wanted to play right, I would have to start way out to the right. Sometimes that's impossible if you're right up to the ball return on the left lane. So for the sake of versatility, I've begun to tighten up my drift. Right now it's at a mild 12-13 boards and I've just begun practicing this last week after our first league. So far so good, but it has affected my aim a bit. I know it doesn't seem like a huge difference, but this has allowed me to play as far right as I've ever needed to.

My spare game in the past was basically: anything on the left side of 5, use strike ball and hook. Anything on the right of 5, use plastic spare ball. My biggest issue (most 2 handers) was the 10 pin. I could never get that consistent. Coming back to the game, I exclusively switched to plastic for all spares for the sake of consistency across all patterns. I switched up my targeting system for my spares. I basically stand at a certain board for a certain pin, and aim at the 5th or 4th arrow. 5th arrow for right side spares, 4th for left side spares. Multi-pin spares other than 3/6/10 are still troubling sometimes with plastic, so I'm still experimenting on what works out for me with those.

I still have lots to work on. Currently I'm working on speed adjustments, breakpoint adjustments, knowing when to make an adjustment, playing with carry down, and creating a usable arsenal.

Right now I'm feeling at my most consistent and top form ever. I shot 686 on my first week of league back with almost clean games except for the jitters in g1 and splits (will explain in league post).

My goals for bowling right now are to have an amazing amount of fun, progressing further, getting competitive, bowling in vegas with my bowling friends, and 220 average.