Week 17 Pre-Bowl Recap

Game 1: 183
Game 2: 208
Game 3: 195
Series: 586
Week Avg: 195
Season Avg: 192

Summary

It was a real adventure getting to pre-bowl this week. I showed up at my usual time on Sunday, only to be turned away and told that they never let people pre-bowl for leagues on Sunday afternoons (a surprise to me since I have done this at least a handful of times over the last two seasons). He did say that I could come before 5PM or after 9PM during the week. I called Monday afternoon after work to see if they had a lane available for me to start around 4:30, but I was again declined as expected. When I asked if I could come before 5 on Wednesday, they told me no because high school matches are that afternoon. So my only option was to go bowl last night after 9PM.

I wasn't too sure how the lane conditions would be, but to my surprise it looked like these lanes were never bowled on after being oiled. The conditions were very similar to Thursday nights so I knew exactly how to approach my games, with the exception that the oil would not break down in the last game.

The first game started with a spare and a strike before leaving the 5-10 split and chopping the 5-pin. There wasn't as much room for error when hitting my mark and I would struggle with that all night. I picked up a spare in the fourth frame and then threw a double. I spared two more times and struck in the ninth before leaving the 4-7-9 split after a light hit. I picked up two and finished with a 183 game.

The next game started with a double and a spare. I left another split, the 2-5-7, but couldn't kick out the 7-pin. I shook it off to throw a four bagger before leaving yet another split, this time my first of two 3-10s, opening in the ninth frame. I spared in the tenth and finished the game with a 208.

The third game started with a strike followed by my second 3-10 split and once again I chopped the 3-pin. I doubled, spared, and struck again before sparing in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames. I struck and spared in the tenth to finish with a 195 game and a 586 series.

Lesson Learned

Last night I battled fatigue more than anything, as I'm not used to bowling so late in the evening. I was throwing the ball a bit slower and it took some time to compensate for that. Luckily, because I was throwing a bit slower, if I missed my mark to the left it would hook across the headpin resulting in about three Brooklyn strikes; however, if I missed right the ball would hang out by the gutter. Another problem I had to contend with was drifting on the right lane. During my approach I was walking toward the right gutter instead of straight to the foul line. As a result I was hitting my mark at a poor angle and missing the pocket to the left. I managed to fix that issue in the second half of the second game just by concentrating on my body position during my approach.

On a positive note, my only opens last night were splits; however, four of the five were small and should have been picked up. I was 4 for 4 shooting the 10-pin and 47% of my first balls were strikes. It was my first pretty average night in a while, I am usually either really above or below my average.  Considering the circumstances, I think I am alright with that and I look forward to getting back to action on the 29th. Average is nothing to be upset about, its an accurate representation of your skill level (I'll keep telling myself that).