Week 3 Pre-Bowl Recap

Game 1: 196
Game 2: 179
Game 3: 197
Series: 572
Week Avg: 190
Season Avg: 187

In anticipation of my surgery on Friday, September 14th, I took to the lanes on September 4th to pre-bowl for week 3 along with my wife who had the unenviable duty of taking care of me during my recovery.

We were set up on the opposite side of the center that our league bowls on and were on the pair next to the wall and ball lockers, so it wasn't the most comfortable of lanes to bowl on.  To make matters worse, practice showed that the lanes had not been oiled that morning which forced me to throw a more sharply hooking angle into the pocket than usual. As we began the first game we noticed that the right lane wasn't registering our scores. Upon complaining to the worker they moved us one set of lanes over. I'm usually not a fan of moving mid-game, but this turned out to be a great move.

The new pair of lanes were freshly oiled and played similarly to the lane conditions we see on league nights.  I was able to capitalize on the two spares and strike I threw on the original pair and stayed clean through the first game for a 196.

I started with a strike in the second game before missing a 7-pin in the second frame. I rebounded with a double, but then followed that up with a light pocket hit split and then a chopped eight count open. I made a 6-7 split to get back on my game, but opened on another 7-pin for my last ball in the tenth frame to finish with a 179.

The third game started just as the second finished, with another missed 7-pin. I finally made the decision to pull my plastic out for any further attempts at the 7-pin and convert my final three attempts at that spare for the day. I stayed clean after the first frame, but was unable to string more than two strikes together the entire day. I finished the last game with a 197 and a 572 series.

I was throwing the ball pretty well, but recognizing two small changes a little later than I should have kept me from a couple 200 games and probably a 600 series. In the second game I was dropping my shoulder a little bit and missing my mark left, which resulted in a few ugly leaves. The other adjustment was to use my plastic when shooting at the 4- and 7-pins. My strike ball was grabbing early on the left side of the lane and it was easier to throw straight at the pins than try to find a line specific for those pins.

I've got one more week of scores banked during my recovery and then I hope to be back in action. Stay tuned.