PBA Xperience-Farmingdale Lanes
Bowling fans...welcome to another installment to "As the Lefty Worm Turns", with your host: Mr. Thomas Scherrer...take it away, Tommy.
Well, well, well....thank you very much Mr. Announcer Guy (whomever wrote that opening), this is another installment of the PBA Experience at Farmingdale Lanes. Today, we are going to review the nature of the arguably the PBA's most challenging animal pattern: the Chameleon pattern.
Why is it challenging you ask? Two important reasons, I believe, make this pattern the most challenging pattern out there not know as a 'major' pattern. First, the length of the pattern. It now stands at 40 feet, which as we all know is pretty much a mid range pattern in terms of distance, however the words '40 feet' and 'flat ratio' always screams out a US Open-type condition, and naturally a lower scoring pace. They PBA though counteracts this by laying out the Chameleon in strips, which do give the pattern an area to play on the lane, therefore enhancing scoring pace. This is where the second reason comes into play...you have to find said area and not guess wrong. If you guess correctly, you can shoot some high scores at the start and once the lanes go through their Game 2-3 transition (which always seems to happen on this pattern) the scoring pace usually goes medium-high as opposed to medium-low. If you guess wrong from the start, then you are pretty much handing over points the entire night.
This week's Chameleon pattern at F-dale yielded higher scores from inside the track area, making the usually pristine outside angle seen there rather touchy. Not that the players couldn't play out there, it is just the carry was too iffy from out so at least the track area and in seemed to be the desired place for scoring. OK, 'nuff jibber-jabber...FOOL! Get to the night's action.
Bowlers: Myself, Chris Paroly, Mike Perrone, and Adam Chase-all righties. Pair next to me had Joe Costanzo, last year's league champion, as the only other lefty in the top 8 bowlers.
Ball of choice: You think...inside 10, Thomas? You aren't gunna play inside that and chances are you are going to use some surface to give you mistake room if you miss left from in, right? Right? Stunningly and amazingly....wrong. I elected to warm up with the Columbia 300 Scout Hi-Flare, pin in the ring finger. A stable enough drilling to get a read on the lanes, but I had a thought creep into my head since I practiced Sunday about how the lanes were playing. Every shot from inside the track area on the left provided a better reaction on the lanes but it was too much reaction, often duck hooking high into the pocket. Bringing the Scout was merely a case of me taking a weak shiny ball playing inside the track area to create hold for a stronger ball to create more area. What I discovered is that the Scout was not only reading the lanes great but was hitting hard. After practice ended, I went with a gut instinct and used the Scout to start with.
Game 1: 233. Clean game for me. Laydown point was around 18, crossing the arrows around 12-13 and trying to nail the good ole' ProAnvilane rangefinder at 45 feet, which would be the 10 board. Safe to say, it worked out great to get the first game win and get some early ground on my opponents. Chris and Mike both played around first arrow shooting 191 and 189 respectively. They did not throw bad shots, the merely had less than stellar carrying. Adam struggled to a 162.
Game 2: 172. What happened you say? I happened...a lost game to where I missed two 7 pins as my carry started to wane. It should be noted that this was more mental error by me. I usually change hand positions with the bowling ball for spares instead of going to a polyester spare ball for spares. On the first weak 7, I weakened up with the Scout throwing it directly at the 7 pin. I did miss a little right but I did not think the ball would suddenly elect to dart right at the last second missing the pin. It was a surprise to say the least. In that game, I also left a 4-7 and used the Scout again and it did the same thing, darting right at the end. Thankfully for me, the 4 pin was there to provide a wider target and the spare conversion. On the second weak 7, I did make a slight angle move to pivot my left hip more to the left side of the pin figuring it would be the correct adjustment. Wrong again, sir. In caveman speak, ball did thing same time miss pin right. It only cost me one point in the game as Paroly fired a 226 and Chase shot a rather scary 269 game. Perrone shot 187 as he was clearly just hanging in with a real spotty ball reaction, but he got one point and I got nothing.
Game 3 (changing pairs): 174. Had the left lane....could not locate the right lane with a compass and Magellan's crew. I remind you, Mr. Costanzo was on the pair before me playing very direct up the lanes to some degree of success, but he too was suffering from some suspect carry playing out. I had the left lane with the Scout, but the right lane with the Scout did this for me to start: 2-4-7-8, converted; missed pocket 1-3-6-9, chopped the 1-3-9 leaving an open. I go with a ball change to the Power Swing trying to do what Costanzo was doing hoping it would at least keep me close. The 5th frame was a solid shot, but along came that late snap that created the iffy carry and I left a 6-8 pocket split and another open frame. I tried to move a little in off that shot in the 7th frame, and it wasn't even close going high and the 4-7 spare, for which (you guessed it) using the Power Swing, I actually had the ball fade downlane and chop the 7 pin clean off the 4, my third consecutive open frame on the right lane. I did get one point out of the game as Chase shot 165, Perrone found his ball reaction moving a little further left and shooting 205, and Paroly shot 185, still dancing on the verge of either have a big game look or a big game meltdown.
For 3 games, this is how the total wood was matching up: Paroly was at 602, Chase was 596, Perrone was 581, and I was 579. I needed to find a good game somewhere and I knew the only place that was happening was inside...
Game 4: 211. Back to the Scout on the right lane. I had the left lane nailed down and when you have confidence in one lane, you go on autopilot and adjust accordingly. When you don't on the other lane, you have to gamble and trust your ability that it can work. Instead of straightening out my trajectory on the right lane, I decided to wheel it (for me) with the Scout, standing around 30, targeting 23 on the lane and 17 at the arrows, looping it outside the rangefinder. While the ball wasn't striking it was close: back to back solid 8's and a weak 7 pin. The left lane was still dead solid, leaving only a swisher 10 on that lane for two games. Meanwhile, Perrone is on fire: front 4 to start. Paroly is hanging tough, and Chase was well...lost again. I needed to string some strikes. Suddenly, Perrone stops striking and in the 8th opens, Paroly is starting to self destruct on the lanes (his ball is never moving downlane leaving washouts abound), and I slowly creep into the total wood talk. In the 9th frame, I struck to put myself in position to win and when Perrone opened again in the 9th, the game was mine to win but I had to go to the right lane in which I had one strike on for two games and find a double for not only the game win but the total wood win as well. The first shot in the 10 got wide but I knew i caught some fingers in it and I got the light mixer strike and gave an Ana Ivanovic-style fistpump for finishing work (sadly guys, I look nothing like her so don't get your hopes up about this becoming commonplace). That got the duke for the win in the 4th game, now get the second one for the total wood over Perrone, who shot 195 for the last game. The second shot was absolutely perfect, blowing all 10 off the rack for an 8 point finish, and 12 for the night. I only shot 790 for the evening (my spare game was brutal tonight, cost me 840-850), but on this tricky pattern, you take that and hope that your fellow bowlers are having similar issues on the lanes that evening.
Overall, 12 points was more than anyone else took and I trusted my instincts as a player to get the clutch double on the right lane. It gave me the lead overall in the league with 52 points, and my average for 16 games is a respectable 203, despite having some rather below average spare shooting. My overall lane setup this year has been very good, for which I am proud of but still needs work in the match play format. One more odd note on the night: rare is it in the world where you are using your weakest ball for your strike ball and your strongest ball for your spares, however the Chameleon can do strange things to you as a bowler. In any event, this was a positive night for me in that I found my hook game for which I might need as I travel to Vegas for the USBC Championships. Of course, it will be blogged on...in the meantime, I gotta find a sub for next week's Viper pattern.
To Vegas we go...baby. Remember, that you strike for show, but you spare for dough, and some weeks, your spare is a 'no', while your strike is a 'go', like it was for me this past week.
Namaste...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
"Bowling Blind"-The PBA Experience
PBA Xperience-Farmingdale Lanes
Back to business...back to a quick understanding of why sometimes, at 25 years old, I am not a professional bowler, but merely a nice player locally. Last week, I performed smartly and consistently on the Cheetah pattern shooting an 846 on my way to a sweep of the night's weekly 17 points. This week's effort??? Simply a case of a bowler still learning how to become better and also smarter.
This week's pattern: Scorpion, 42 feet long, usually requiring a direct line in the track area to start then migrating inward on the lane.
Opponents: Chris Paroly and Adam Chase-righthanders-and Frankie Calca, lefthander. Two righties, two lefties.
Practice: Sunday afternoon, I tried to warm up and evaluate the nature of how the pattern would play and it played tight downlane. When you get to Thursday, your initial ball reaction to the pattern might be a little bit different due to the cleaning of the lanes, or the humidity in the bowling center so you must go in with an open mind and use the 10 minutes of practice to come up with a game plan and ball path. During practice, the backends SNAPPED alarmingly so meaning that despite the pattern, there would be a little more backend reaction on the lanes than what I encountered Sunday. It also was noticeable that there was some aided recovery room wide of target as well which is a green light special for most players.
Ball of choice: C300 Power Swing, standard layout, pin under, GC out but with a little more sanded finish (the same surface I used Sunday to some success).
Game 1: 196. Talk about a waste of great bowling. Front five to start, have the look on the lanes to win that game easily and then the 6th frame came along, leaving the Big 4 split and then only getting one pin (keep this in mind). 8th frame: move right, get softer and leave a 3 pin. You figure a gimme spare...whiff it because I tried to hook it getting another read on the lane, meanwhile Chris Paroly is rolling off a string of 8 strikes in a row to shoot right past me. 10 frame: absolute horrible shot leaving a 4-5 split, then missing it. Lost the high game, then watch Frankie double in the tenth to beat me by 3 pins. Front five got me one single point.
Game 2: 244. Front 6 this time and did not waste it but with one bad break comes the defeat of this game as well. It should be noted that i am laying it down around 10 and getting back from as far right as 3 on the left side of the lane so I had area but carry is always the critical ordeal on the lanes. The tenth frame comes a-callin' and up comes a pocket 6-8 split. Not a great shot but with the lanes holding up well, it was a surprise, much like the Big 4 was. On my conversion attempt, I miss both pins instead of getting one. Why was this important? This time, Adam was hot on my tail, needing a double and 7 for the win. I get one, he must go double, 9 for the 3 point win. Adam steps up like the talented young player he is and get the double, then on his fill gets...you guessed it, 7 to win with a 245 and a snide, 'thanks for getting nothing' remark as he walked by.
Game 3: 189. Not much to say about the game except it was the smartest game I bowled and it was the lowest game I bowled for the whole night. Keep in mind that we are moving pairs and both Frank and I were chasing Darren Andretta. Darren elected to take a Storm Virtual Gravity and sand it down to a 1000 to really blow up the track area on the left side of the lane. While Frankie and I did not get a lot of the early hook, we got Darren's carrydown and thus, lost our area on the lane. Chase shot 193 for the 3 points, while I got 2 just keeping it close and avoiding mistakes, which were plenty: a missed 3-9 spare, 4-6-10 split, and washout in the game leading to 3 opens yet enough tinkering to strike enough in the game to hold off Paroly by 1 pin.
Game 4: 190. Went to a C300 Perfect Rival, shined to a 1000 to try and generate some more kick downlane, which did work but my carry was not very good at all that game. Ring 7, solid 8, shaker 10, plaque 7 but I was in the pocket so my objective was to just clean the game and hope that the lanes didn't give up a 220 game on the right. It was evident that Frankie had lost his look entirely on this pair shooting only 163 and 158. Adam shot 176 with a lot of pulled shots and mistakes. The last game was up Chris and I to get for 3...to say the least, Chris had the look. While my carry was bad, he rattled off 4 in a row to open up a big lead in the middle of the game but then the nerves set it for him: 2-4-8-10 in the 8th and a washout in the 10th gave me the chance to steal the point with a mark in the 10th. My response...cut one short and leave a 2-7 baby split. Not the easiest spare in the world, but certainly convertable. Naturally, I pull that one as well and chop the 2 pin off to lose by 4 pins. So to review, I gave away 1, potentially 2 points in the first game, 1 in the second, and 1 in the last game. I also ended up losing to Chris 39 pins in total wood giving him 13 for the night, and 10 for me. It also put Chris in the overall lead in the league with 41 points to my 40 going into next week.
Overall, just a mentally poor performance by myself giving points away with small mistakes on the lanes. It is a part of growing up as a player and 819 most nights is a solid night, however when you feel like you have an 880+ ball reaction and fall well short of that number, you feel like you let it go for one night. The beauty is that I am getting very comfortable being more aggressive on the lanes with decision making and for not bowling well in two of the 3 weeks to start the summer, being one point out of the league lead is to be considered a small blessing.
A quick word about Chris Paroly: he will not excite you like Adam Chase does talent wise, nor does he have Darren's bag of tricks as a bowler (you can say the same for myself and Frankie as well, as we do not have what most would call tools), nor is he as smooth as Joe Costanzo on the lanes but he is a tough bowler, smart on the lanes, keeps the ball close to the pocket, and understands ball motion. He has a funky style of game but he repeats and understands the scoring pace of most pairs which allows him to stay close in every game. He shot 858 for the 4 games and has averaged 216 so far for the first 12 games this summer, while I have averaged 205. Most people may not like his game but like his philosophy...he is a force to be reckoned with this summer.
Next week: Time to tackle the ever confusing Chameleon pattern. Until next week folks in the Long Island area...stay dry because Damn, this weather is a pain in the ass to look at! But don't forget that you must learn from my lessons and you can strike for show...but you spare for dough.
Namaste...
Back to business...back to a quick understanding of why sometimes, at 25 years old, I am not a professional bowler, but merely a nice player locally. Last week, I performed smartly and consistently on the Cheetah pattern shooting an 846 on my way to a sweep of the night's weekly 17 points. This week's effort??? Simply a case of a bowler still learning how to become better and also smarter.
This week's pattern: Scorpion, 42 feet long, usually requiring a direct line in the track area to start then migrating inward on the lane.
Opponents: Chris Paroly and Adam Chase-righthanders-and Frankie Calca, lefthander. Two righties, two lefties.
Practice: Sunday afternoon, I tried to warm up and evaluate the nature of how the pattern would play and it played tight downlane. When you get to Thursday, your initial ball reaction to the pattern might be a little bit different due to the cleaning of the lanes, or the humidity in the bowling center so you must go in with an open mind and use the 10 minutes of practice to come up with a game plan and ball path. During practice, the backends SNAPPED alarmingly so meaning that despite the pattern, there would be a little more backend reaction on the lanes than what I encountered Sunday. It also was noticeable that there was some aided recovery room wide of target as well which is a green light special for most players.
Ball of choice: C300 Power Swing, standard layout, pin under, GC out but with a little more sanded finish (the same surface I used Sunday to some success).
Game 1: 196. Talk about a waste of great bowling. Front five to start, have the look on the lanes to win that game easily and then the 6th frame came along, leaving the Big 4 split and then only getting one pin (keep this in mind). 8th frame: move right, get softer and leave a 3 pin. You figure a gimme spare...whiff it because I tried to hook it getting another read on the lane, meanwhile Chris Paroly is rolling off a string of 8 strikes in a row to shoot right past me. 10 frame: absolute horrible shot leaving a 4-5 split, then missing it. Lost the high game, then watch Frankie double in the tenth to beat me by 3 pins. Front five got me one single point.
Game 2: 244. Front 6 this time and did not waste it but with one bad break comes the defeat of this game as well. It should be noted that i am laying it down around 10 and getting back from as far right as 3 on the left side of the lane so I had area but carry is always the critical ordeal on the lanes. The tenth frame comes a-callin' and up comes a pocket 6-8 split. Not a great shot but with the lanes holding up well, it was a surprise, much like the Big 4 was. On my conversion attempt, I miss both pins instead of getting one. Why was this important? This time, Adam was hot on my tail, needing a double and 7 for the win. I get one, he must go double, 9 for the 3 point win. Adam steps up like the talented young player he is and get the double, then on his fill gets...you guessed it, 7 to win with a 245 and a snide, 'thanks for getting nothing' remark as he walked by.
Game 3: 189. Not much to say about the game except it was the smartest game I bowled and it was the lowest game I bowled for the whole night. Keep in mind that we are moving pairs and both Frank and I were chasing Darren Andretta. Darren elected to take a Storm Virtual Gravity and sand it down to a 1000 to really blow up the track area on the left side of the lane. While Frankie and I did not get a lot of the early hook, we got Darren's carrydown and thus, lost our area on the lane. Chase shot 193 for the 3 points, while I got 2 just keeping it close and avoiding mistakes, which were plenty: a missed 3-9 spare, 4-6-10 split, and washout in the game leading to 3 opens yet enough tinkering to strike enough in the game to hold off Paroly by 1 pin.
Game 4: 190. Went to a C300 Perfect Rival, shined to a 1000 to try and generate some more kick downlane, which did work but my carry was not very good at all that game. Ring 7, solid 8, shaker 10, plaque 7 but I was in the pocket so my objective was to just clean the game and hope that the lanes didn't give up a 220 game on the right. It was evident that Frankie had lost his look entirely on this pair shooting only 163 and 158. Adam shot 176 with a lot of pulled shots and mistakes. The last game was up Chris and I to get for 3...to say the least, Chris had the look. While my carry was bad, he rattled off 4 in a row to open up a big lead in the middle of the game but then the nerves set it for him: 2-4-8-10 in the 8th and a washout in the 10th gave me the chance to steal the point with a mark in the 10th. My response...cut one short and leave a 2-7 baby split. Not the easiest spare in the world, but certainly convertable. Naturally, I pull that one as well and chop the 2 pin off to lose by 4 pins. So to review, I gave away 1, potentially 2 points in the first game, 1 in the second, and 1 in the last game. I also ended up losing to Chris 39 pins in total wood giving him 13 for the night, and 10 for me. It also put Chris in the overall lead in the league with 41 points to my 40 going into next week.
Overall, just a mentally poor performance by myself giving points away with small mistakes on the lanes. It is a part of growing up as a player and 819 most nights is a solid night, however when you feel like you have an 880+ ball reaction and fall well short of that number, you feel like you let it go for one night. The beauty is that I am getting very comfortable being more aggressive on the lanes with decision making and for not bowling well in two of the 3 weeks to start the summer, being one point out of the league lead is to be considered a small blessing.
A quick word about Chris Paroly: he will not excite you like Adam Chase does talent wise, nor does he have Darren's bag of tricks as a bowler (you can say the same for myself and Frankie as well, as we do not have what most would call tools), nor is he as smooth as Joe Costanzo on the lanes but he is a tough bowler, smart on the lanes, keeps the ball close to the pocket, and understands ball motion. He has a funky style of game but he repeats and understands the scoring pace of most pairs which allows him to stay close in every game. He shot 858 for the 4 games and has averaged 216 so far for the first 12 games this summer, while I have averaged 205. Most people may not like his game but like his philosophy...he is a force to be reckoned with this summer.
Next week: Time to tackle the ever confusing Chameleon pattern. Until next week folks in the Long Island area...stay dry because Damn, this weather is a pain in the ass to look at! But don't forget that you must learn from my lessons and you can strike for show...but you spare for dough.
Namaste...
Saturday, June 13, 2009
"Bowling Blind"-The PBA Experience
PBA Xperience-Farmingdale Lanes
I'm bacccccckkkkk....
Yes folks, fellow readers, you thought you had me on summer vacation but I have returned with a notion: a notion to all the bowlers across this great nation (for which I think if 20 people know this blog exists is good enough) to summarize my weekly outings on the PBA Experience at Farmingdale Lanes.
Quick summary on the league: Thursday night, 4 games (two games on one pair, two on the pair to the right), 4 bowlers on each pair, bowling match play against one another, winner in each game gets 3 points, second gets two, third is one point, and last gets zero. For total wood, the format goes 5, 3, 1, 0 to truly reward the overall best bowler for the night in the group. Makes every shot very important as well as getting as many pins as you can. It also makes for interesting dynamic from pair to pair as well. Being left handed, it sometimes is irrelevant because there are fewer lefties or no lefties on your pair and on the pair to the right of you so you have the lanes to yourself. That can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what is transpiring out on the lanes and what pattern it is.
This past week's pattern: Cheetah. As we all know, this pattern brings out the big numbers due it short length and friction zone outside first arrow, maximizing angle from the outside part of the lane and producing wide open pocket strikes. The pros call it 'bumper bowling', the rest of us mere mortals call it, 'the tough pattern on the experience'. Often too many times, I hear a lot of people say that the Cheetah plays nothing like it does when they watch it on TV when they bowl on it. The tricky subject is always what they expect to happen.
Most league bowlers assume that just because there is friction to the right and left, that they an whip it to the gutter and revel in it rebounding back to the pocket for strikes all night. The assumption is wrong based on what I feel are two visual mistakes by most players. First off, we all see the length of the pattern (36 feet) and tell ourselves, 'okay, we gotta throw it hard and fast to the gutter'. A fine theory but what happens if you are hooking it and miss in? Overreaction occurs and your ball goes runaway brook or misses the head pin running away. The natural adjustment is to just throw it further right to the gutter. The only problem with that if you get it to the spot too early, it could either hook too hard or go in the gutter or even worse, never hook at all off it and you are stuck with 2-8-10 all night. The only other visual I can infer is what bowlers throw. Most people go under the assumption that they need a ball that hooks later downlane to combat what is early friction in the heads. Again, this is another big visual misread I feel. The front part of the lane is heavily oiled on most Cheetah patterns and you do need to get the ball started earlier to make the ball roll sooner on the oil, but also mellow out all the backend reaction downlane to make it a smooth look.
The most important thing I feel that is important on the Cheetah is to actually carry down the oil a bit to the right of where I want to play (me being left handed of course) then in the last few shots, get lined up. Ok, enough chit-chat, let's get into scoring.
201-235-208-202=846
Bowling ball used: Columbia 300 U-Turn Pearl/Particle, 1.5 pin, leverage drilling , pin below the fingers. Allows the ball to roll soon and mellow out the backend reaction downlane. The trick of all this though for me was touch. I had a hand position right up the back, fingers spread wide to enable me to get more end-over-end roll to start.
In practice, I took the U-Turn and played around second arrow with little belly at all-just trying to get a feel for the ball path and how much they are hooking, which to say was a LOT!!! About 7 minutes into practice throwing it up 10 my ball went solid 8 and I smiled. I had carried some oil down to where it was time to move left and get on the gutter. And when I mean gutter, I mean the 1-2-3 board and yes I had that kind of room. I also did not have that kind of carry to put up big numbers, but 9, spares at Farmingdale can win most games and sneak in a 3 bagger somewhere to get it over 200 which I did for a solid 201 game. My lone mistake was pulling in the 8th frame leaving a split, but strike, 9, spare, 8 was enough for the win. Game two played great for me shooting 235 with the 10th being an experiment shot resulting in an open. The reason: I had two lefties to follow on the next pair in Darren Andretta and Frank Montgoris and Frank was further right with his laydown point so it was worth getting a few shots before I bowled from a little further right just in case the gutter wasn't there. I also had game two wrapped up early so it was worth a test run which went like this...runaway brook for a 5 pin, then whiffed the 5 pin. Yeah, in wasn't there yet...oh well.
In the second block of games it was evident that the gutter had kinda been beat up by Darren but considering the scoring pace on the right, 200 was needed to win. Nothing too over the top and I figured I could get that out of myself. The last two games were 208 and 202 both wins, and a clean 17 point sweep for the night. I was upset that I flagged a 2 pin (to the right amazingly) and also failed to cover a 2-4-7-8 in the 3rd and 4th game respectively. In retrospect, I probably needed to move a little right and go to a ball with some more angularity downlane in my shiny Wrath High Flush or a Perfect Rival. Had I needed a 220-240 game, that might have been the move to make but it was not necessary in winning all 4 games using the U-Turn which is always a good night to use just one ball. The harsh scoring pace showed in my group: I shot 846 but no one else in my group shot 800...or even 700 for the 4 games. Tony Cipriano was the second high man with 664 and his method of attack was pretty similar to mine. The other two righties (Steve Schnieder and Christ Liotta) fell into the hook trap that kills a lot of amateurs on the Cheetah pattern and when they make the move, they have not set up the lanes well enough to get away with their bad shots. It indirectly killed Tony's look after the first game and he failed to shoot above 190 after the first game.
Overall, it was a good night for me bowling wise (car-wise...not so much) but I know that only two weeks in, the bowlers are still trying to figure out the lanes and the better bowlers are still not bowling against each other every game at this point, but there are a lot of good bowlers in this league and I hope to keep bowling well.
For now, my readers, enjoy your summer and for all kids who watched Luis Castillo drop the potential game ending pop up Friday night...TWO HANDS!!! And for all kids who watched Mark Texieria not take the play for granted and ran it out...RUN IT OUT!!! Enjoy bowling and remember folks: "Strike for show, Spare for dough!"
Namaste...
Next Week: the Scorpion
I'm bacccccckkkkk....
Yes folks, fellow readers, you thought you had me on summer vacation but I have returned with a notion: a notion to all the bowlers across this great nation (for which I think if 20 people know this blog exists is good enough) to summarize my weekly outings on the PBA Experience at Farmingdale Lanes.
Quick summary on the league: Thursday night, 4 games (two games on one pair, two on the pair to the right), 4 bowlers on each pair, bowling match play against one another, winner in each game gets 3 points, second gets two, third is one point, and last gets zero. For total wood, the format goes 5, 3, 1, 0 to truly reward the overall best bowler for the night in the group. Makes every shot very important as well as getting as many pins as you can. It also makes for interesting dynamic from pair to pair as well. Being left handed, it sometimes is irrelevant because there are fewer lefties or no lefties on your pair and on the pair to the right of you so you have the lanes to yourself. That can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what is transpiring out on the lanes and what pattern it is.
This past week's pattern: Cheetah. As we all know, this pattern brings out the big numbers due it short length and friction zone outside first arrow, maximizing angle from the outside part of the lane and producing wide open pocket strikes. The pros call it 'bumper bowling', the rest of us mere mortals call it, 'the tough pattern on the experience'. Often too many times, I hear a lot of people say that the Cheetah plays nothing like it does when they watch it on TV when they bowl on it. The tricky subject is always what they expect to happen.
Most league bowlers assume that just because there is friction to the right and left, that they an whip it to the gutter and revel in it rebounding back to the pocket for strikes all night. The assumption is wrong based on what I feel are two visual mistakes by most players. First off, we all see the length of the pattern (36 feet) and tell ourselves, 'okay, we gotta throw it hard and fast to the gutter'. A fine theory but what happens if you are hooking it and miss in? Overreaction occurs and your ball goes runaway brook or misses the head pin running away. The natural adjustment is to just throw it further right to the gutter. The only problem with that if you get it to the spot too early, it could either hook too hard or go in the gutter or even worse, never hook at all off it and you are stuck with 2-8-10 all night. The only other visual I can infer is what bowlers throw. Most people go under the assumption that they need a ball that hooks later downlane to combat what is early friction in the heads. Again, this is another big visual misread I feel. The front part of the lane is heavily oiled on most Cheetah patterns and you do need to get the ball started earlier to make the ball roll sooner on the oil, but also mellow out all the backend reaction downlane to make it a smooth look.
The most important thing I feel that is important on the Cheetah is to actually carry down the oil a bit to the right of where I want to play (me being left handed of course) then in the last few shots, get lined up. Ok, enough chit-chat, let's get into scoring.
201-235-208-202=846
Bowling ball used: Columbia 300 U-Turn Pearl/Particle, 1.5 pin, leverage drilling , pin below the fingers. Allows the ball to roll soon and mellow out the backend reaction downlane. The trick of all this though for me was touch. I had a hand position right up the back, fingers spread wide to enable me to get more end-over-end roll to start.
In practice, I took the U-Turn and played around second arrow with little belly at all-just trying to get a feel for the ball path and how much they are hooking, which to say was a LOT!!! About 7 minutes into practice throwing it up 10 my ball went solid 8 and I smiled. I had carried some oil down to where it was time to move left and get on the gutter. And when I mean gutter, I mean the 1-2-3 board and yes I had that kind of room. I also did not have that kind of carry to put up big numbers, but 9, spares at Farmingdale can win most games and sneak in a 3 bagger somewhere to get it over 200 which I did for a solid 201 game. My lone mistake was pulling in the 8th frame leaving a split, but strike, 9, spare, 8 was enough for the win. Game two played great for me shooting 235 with the 10th being an experiment shot resulting in an open. The reason: I had two lefties to follow on the next pair in Darren Andretta and Frank Montgoris and Frank was further right with his laydown point so it was worth getting a few shots before I bowled from a little further right just in case the gutter wasn't there. I also had game two wrapped up early so it was worth a test run which went like this...runaway brook for a 5 pin, then whiffed the 5 pin. Yeah, in wasn't there yet...oh well.
In the second block of games it was evident that the gutter had kinda been beat up by Darren but considering the scoring pace on the right, 200 was needed to win. Nothing too over the top and I figured I could get that out of myself. The last two games were 208 and 202 both wins, and a clean 17 point sweep for the night. I was upset that I flagged a 2 pin (to the right amazingly) and also failed to cover a 2-4-7-8 in the 3rd and 4th game respectively. In retrospect, I probably needed to move a little right and go to a ball with some more angularity downlane in my shiny Wrath High Flush or a Perfect Rival. Had I needed a 220-240 game, that might have been the move to make but it was not necessary in winning all 4 games using the U-Turn which is always a good night to use just one ball. The harsh scoring pace showed in my group: I shot 846 but no one else in my group shot 800...or even 700 for the 4 games. Tony Cipriano was the second high man with 664 and his method of attack was pretty similar to mine. The other two righties (Steve Schnieder and Christ Liotta) fell into the hook trap that kills a lot of amateurs on the Cheetah pattern and when they make the move, they have not set up the lanes well enough to get away with their bad shots. It indirectly killed Tony's look after the first game and he failed to shoot above 190 after the first game.
Overall, it was a good night for me bowling wise (car-wise...not so much) but I know that only two weeks in, the bowlers are still trying to figure out the lanes and the better bowlers are still not bowling against each other every game at this point, but there are a lot of good bowlers in this league and I hope to keep bowling well.
For now, my readers, enjoy your summer and for all kids who watched Luis Castillo drop the potential game ending pop up Friday night...TWO HANDS!!! And for all kids who watched Mark Texieria not take the play for granted and ran it out...RUN IT OUT!!! Enjoy bowling and remember folks: "Strike for show, Spare for dough!"
Namaste...
Next Week: the Scorpion
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