2015 - 2016 Bowling Season

[EvilMonkey]

I understand. I'd just like to get myself up to semi-competent, haha.

We have a merged league where I bowl on Tuesdays. Some all men's teams, some all ladies teams and some mixed. Lowest average is 92. Like mentioned earlier, don't really have to be good, but it helps to be consistent. If your average is 115, and you pretty much bowl that most of the time, you are good. Besides, you know SOMETIMES you will bowl better (or worse), and if at the right times, really help your team. Just don't get with a bunch of tryhards.

 

[EvilMonkey]

Tuesday update, finally had a week that i didn't feel lost. last 5 or 6 weeks have just been bad. Can't adjust to save myself. Thankfully my team has been carrying me. (I returned the favor earlier in the year on a 4 week 640 tear) But last night i managed 172, 199 and 192, while still missing a few 10 pins. We are up to 4th overall, and 5th for this 'third' (I know weird scheduling in this one). Playoffs are each 'third' winner and then highest overall team NOT a winner of one of the thirds. Right now, that is US!

[StillMissOzzie]

Hey bowling dudes,

 

What would you say is the advantage in a personal ball versus the 'house balls' your local alley has for the public to use? Like, if you averaged 150 with house balls, and bought your own ball (and got accustomed to it, obviously), how much would you expect your average to improve?

 

I saw the other responses you got to this, so I thought I would add my $0.02:

It's hard to quantify an answer to your question as to how much you would improve, but I would say it is both a certainty and a necessity to get your own ball drilled. House balls generally suck because you can't get a good fit, you can't get the fit in a weight you would want, the coverstock is probably polyester, and most every house ball is drilled for a conventional grip. That's when your fingers go in to the 2nd knuckle. A conventional grip ball is thrown more like you are tossing a suitcase down the lane. A conventional grip is not conducive to learning how to throw a hook, which I believe is also vital to improvement. Balls that hook don't deflect nearly as much as straight balls, meaning you will carry more strikes both on good shots as well as not-as-good shots. Balls made out of polyester are largely out of favor these days, as they can't be made to hook as much. Many bowlers use a polyester ball for spare shooting only, where a LACK of hook is desired, especially when shooting at the hard corner pins (10 pin for a righty, 7 pin for a lefty)

You don't need to drop $250 into an aggressive new ball, but you can get something custom drilled in the weight you want, with a fingertip or semi-conventional grip for maybe half of that.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

SMO

 

[StillMissOzzie]

I talked to my pro shop guy and we decided to move up and get her a DV8 Diva which is a step or two above her current ball. We had to order it so it won't be in until Friday. In the meantime we also decided to get her current ball resurfaced. It was pretty slick.

I found it. Almost 3 years ago now, I got her a Hammer Jet Black Taboo, which was apparently all that and a bag of chips back then. I saw that it is retired now, so being the ball du jour doesn't carry a lot of weight. It also looked like it was drilled with some side weight, which would help it to hook more. That may be something to ask your pro shop about, particularly if she is learning how to throw a hook.

 

SMO

 

[StillMissOzzie]

And now, my own fabulous achievements last Wednesday. The scores are eerily similar to those of the prior week, except this time I have no reasons, no excuses, and no explanations. I had 166 234 194 for a 594 - feel free to scroll back and check out my scores for March 9. The first game, I was just awful. I had two splits, blew two easy spares, only one or two strikes, and just didn't feel like I had a clue until toward the end of the game. Game two, I found my shot, and I had a 5-bagger in there somewhere. The third game, that was running about average, but I got one split that ended up spoiling the deuce for me that game.

 

SMO

[EvilMonkey]

Perhaps I am back? 3 decent games on Tuesday and last night rolled a 202, 249 and 198. Only thing that sucked is the anchor bowler on the OTHER team didn't have a game under 240. I tried to keep up.

[Iwritecode]

I found it. Almost 3 years ago now, I got her a Hammer Jet Black Taboo, which was apparently all that and a bag of chips back then. I saw that it is retired now, so being the ball du jour doesn't carry a lot of weight. It also looked like it was drilled with some side weight, which would help it to hook more. That may be something to ask your pro shop about, particularly if she is learning how to throw a hook.

 

SMO

 

We picked her new ball up Friday night and she bowled with it in a tournament Saturday morning. 201, 189 & 171. She ended up with high game and high series for the girls. She's gonna catch up to me before lomg.

 

FWIW, it's a diva xoxo, not divine like a previously said.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Iwritecode

[StillMissOzzie]

We picked her new ball up Friday night and she bowled with it in a tournament Saturday morning. 201, 189 & 171. She ended up with high game and high series for the girls. She's gonna catch up to me before lomg.

 

FWIW, it's a diva xoxo, not divine like a previously said.

 

I'm not familiar with that ball, but those are great scores for using a brand new ball. I like to get a few dozen games in first before I use a new ball, to get an idea of how it rolls under different conditions. Keep it up!

 

SMO

 

[EvilMonkey]

We picked her new ball up Friday night and she bowled with it in a tournament Saturday morning. 201, 189 & 171. She ended up with high game and high series for the girls. She's gonna catch up to me before lomg.

 

FWIW, it's a diva xoxo, not divine like a previously said.

very nice.

[Iwritecode]

Well we went and fell out of first place by a game. We started the night tied but only won 3 games. The other team continues their roll and won 4. I'm don't think they've lost more than 2 or 3 games total the last 2 months. One more regular week and then the final week is a position round.

 

I had a decent night. 232, 224, 165. Every time my ball came back it was just dripping with oil and it actually seemed to get worse as the night went on. I started the first game with 6 in a row. Then I left a solid 10 pin and kinda fell off from there. Second game I struggled through first 5 frames but manged a couple more strikes and then struck out in the 10th to save my game.

 

The last game I just lost my line completely. My ball had almost no bite at all on the back end. I was standing a good 10 boards to the right of where I normally stand and throwing it pretty much straight. Of course that's the game the guy on the other team (160 average) decides to bowl a 202. That's hard to beat.

[Iwritecode]

On every league I've ever been on, the standings were cumulative through the entire season. You start at week 1, bowl until the end and whatever place you're in is where you end up. Apparently the league I'm currently on was run differently last season.

 

They split the season up into 2 halves. So at the mid-point there was a first half winner and all the standings were reset. Then before the end of the season, a second half winner was decided. The second to last week was used as a position round, then the first half winner faced off against the second half winner. Something like that. I'm not sure I understand it enough to explain it properly.

 

Anyway, at the start of the season we voted on it and decided to just go the "normal" way. Somebody last night was complaining about it because according to our schedule, next week was going to be a position round. Which wasn't right. They just forgot to change it.

 

Has anyone else heard of this or done things this way? It's seems like an overly complicated setup and what happens when the same team wins both halves? I like the way were are doing it much better. We get prize money at the end and the difference between finishing in first and last probably won't be all that much anyway.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Iwritecode

[EvilMonkey]

On every league I've ever been on, the standings were cumulative through the entire season. You start at week 1, bowl until the end and whatever place you're in is where you end up. Apparently the league I'm currently on was run differently last season.

 

They split the season up into 2 halves. So at the mid-point there was a first half winner and all the standings were reset. Then before the end of the season, a second half winner was decided. The second to last week was used as a position round, then the first half winner faced off against the second half winner. Something like that. I'm not sure I understand it enough to explain it properly.

 

Anyway, at the start of the season we voted on it and decided to just go the "normal" way. Somebody last night was complaining about it because according to our schedule, next week was going to be a position round. Which wasn't right. They just forgot to change it.

 

Has anyone else heard of this or done things this way? It's seems like an overly complicated setup and what happens when the same team wins both halves? I like the way were are doing it much better. We get prize money at the end and the difference between finishing in first and last probably won't be all that much anyway.

Yeah, I have been on leagues that split it into two halves. The one I am on now is even worse. Split into THIRDS. So the 4 team playoffs are the three winners of the thirds, and the team with the next highest overall wins for the year, that isn't one of the three winners. If someone wins 2 thirds, then the 2 highest non winners get in. Pretty stupid, but might work in my teams favor this year. haven;t won any thirds yet, but we are third overall, with the two teams in front of us having won the first 2 parts.

[StillMissOzzie]

On every league I've ever been on, the standings were cumulative through the entire season. You start at week 1, bowl until the end and whatever place you're in is where you end up. Apparently the league I'm currently on was run differently last season.

 

They split the season up into 2 halves. So at the mid-point there was a first half winner and all the standings were reset. Then before the end of the season, a second half winner was decided. The second to last week was used as a position round, then the first half winner faced off against the second half winner. Something like that. I'm not sure I understand it enough to explain it properly.

 

Anyway, at the start of the season we voted on it and decided to just go the "normal" way. Somebody last night was complaining about it because according to our schedule, next week was going to be a position round. Which wasn't right. They just forgot to change it.

 

Has anyone else heard of this or done things this way? It's seems like an overly complicated setup and what happens when the same team wins both halves? I like the way were are doing it much better. We get prize money at the end and the difference between finishing in first and last probably won't be all that much anyway.

What you just described is exactly what we've been doing all along. The first half ends with a position night, right around Christmas / New Years, depending on how many weeks you bowl and when you started. We bowl Wednesdays, and 2015 was the first time we didn't get bumped for the Christmas/New Year holidays since 2012. Then, everyone starts over at 0 - 0 and bowl another 16 - 17 weeks. The second-to-last night is another position night, the second half winner is declared, and the final night is the roll-off, the two first place teams go at it for the season championship. The non-contenders typically are bowling for sweeper money (pins over average on each pair, with prize money for the top three)

The rationale is that, if one team is running away with it, there is still another half to bowl with a fresh start. And having the same team win both halves has been pretty rare.

 

Lat Wednesday, I had a 247 192 215, for a 654 series. That's the best I have had in quite a while, maybe even the best in 2016 so far.

In the first game, in the first frame, I had a 6 - 7 split. Missed them both - a fine start. But then, I got a spare and then 6 strikes in a row. This time, I happily ended a string with another spare instead of an open frame. Then I punched out in the 10th.

Game two, it was as if I lost my mojo. I was still hitting the pocket, but I couldn't carry a 10-pin anymore. The bummer was that I missed two of them. IN A ROW! If I could have just made the spares, or even carried one or both, instead of open frames, cost me a solid deuce.

Game three was nothing too spectacular, but I missed one more 10-pin spare that game. Over all that night, I had 7 10-pins to shoot at and I only picked up four of them. I still had 20 strikes, so that helped make up for it.

 

Twenty strikes, 7 spares, and 4 opens - that split in the first, and those 3 10-pins. Could have been better, but better than I have done in a while now.

 

SMO

 

[Iwritecode]

Well I continue to have good weeks but my teammates have been struggling terribly the past month or so. I had 225, 196, 230 for a 651 series. The problem was that two of my teammates struggled to break 100 and one guy on the other team bowled 40+ pins over his average the first two games.

 

We only won one game, so now we are 4 games back in second place with next week being our last week. The best we can do is tie for first. I don't know if the guys that are currently in first were sandbagging the first half or what but they've been on a tear the past couple of months. They broke 1000 pins in a single game with just 4 guys last night. I'm not liking our chances next week.

 

Whatever. 1st place, 2nd place... It's not a big deal to me. In a couple of years I won't remember where we finished anyway. One more week then it's on to softball season for me.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Iwritecode

[StillMissOzzie]

As I mentioned a few months ago now, I won't just come here to post my great scores, or even just my good score. Now, I get to share some of my butt-ugly scores. Last Wednesday was a train wreck, and I tore 'em up with these sizzling games: 188, 157, and 181 for a 526 series. Yes, those are scratch, no handicap included.

I just flat out stunk. I never found a good line, and I probably couldn't hit it if I did. I had all of 7 strikes all night, when the week before, I did better than that in the first game alone. I had 5 splits, too. I made the easier ones - 2 @ 3-10 and a 5-6-10, but the other two were missed. I also know that I was missing badly because I had a lot more 6, 7, and 8 count spares to shoot at, whereas if I'm bowling well, it's almost always 8 or 9 counts.

I can't even complain that I was getting tapped. I only had 2 10-pin, and 1 7-pin, spares to shoot at - and I missed the 7 pin.

The only saving grace at all was I was picking up my non-split spares fairly well.

Overall stats for the night: 7 strikes, 19 spares, and 5 opens (2 splits and 3 blows)

To add insult to injury, one guy on the opposition had games of 257 and 269.

 

SMO

[Iwritecode]

My daughter bowled in a tournament Saturday. There were 12 teams from 8 different schools. Our school ended up bringing 3 teams. 4-person teams and they each bowled 6 games total.

 

She ended up with the 2nd highest game and series among the girls. She was only 6 pins away from having the high game and 18 pins from high series. Since they are only allowed to win one individual award, the other girl got the award for high series and she got the award for high game.

 

Her team took first place by over 200 pins and she was the team MVP. Averaged 167 over the 6 games.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Iwritecode

[StillMissOzzie]

My daughter bowled in a tournament Saturday. There were 12 teams from 8 different schools. Our school ended up bringing 3 teams. 4-person teams and they each bowled 6 games total.

 

She ended up with the 2nd highest game and series among the girls. She was only 6 pins away from having the high game and 18 pins from high series. Since they are only allowed to win one individual award, the other girl got the award for high series and she got the award for high game.

 

Her team took first place by over 200 pins and she was the team MVP. Averaged 167 over the 6 games.

 

Are we talking girls high school bowling tournament? What region are you in? My daughter bowled for Glenbard East 2011-2014.

She's not bowling at school now, but I miss the life watching her bowl.

 

SMO

 

[Iwritecode]

Are we talking girls high school bowling tournament? What region are you in? My daughter bowled for Glenbard East 2011-2014.

She's not bowling at school now, but I miss the life watching her bowl.

 

SMO

 

Middle school. 7th and 8th grade. HS bowling is done for the year so some of the HS bowlers help coach the younger kids.

 

We just finalized our plans for next weekend for the state tournament in Joliet. Apparently there's a little jealousy from other schools over our bowling program. Our girls have won the state tournament the last 3 years in a row. Somehow our HS athletic director missed the deadline to sign up for it this year and lady that runs our program was hearing about it from other people before she was notified of what was going on. Luckily the girls were still able to get in but they've played hell trying to get the boys in.

[Iwritecode]

So we finished up our Tuesday night league last night. We started the night in second by 4 games but we all came together on the night and actually won all 4. Sadly, the other team gets the tie-breaker because they have a higher total pinfall for the season.

 

I finished the season strong with a 221, 209 & 231. First game was clean. Started with 3 in a row and had no problems picking up my spares.

 

Second game I again started with 3 in a row, then opened up 3 frames in a row. 2 of them were easy single pin spares too. I got another spare in the 7th and then saved my game by getting 4 strikes in a row. Last ball of the 10th I tried switching balls and ended up with a 7 count.

 

The last game I don't remember the details but I think it was clean too. I kinda lost my line but was getting a lot of lucky pin action. Finished the 10th frame by picking up a 10 pin and ending on a strike. Good way to finish the season off. I ended up with a 196.9 average.

 

My wife already found an adult/youth summer league that she wants us to join with two of our kids. There is also a scholarship trio league that my daughter will be on with a couple of the girls from her school. So bowling has pretty much become a year-round sport for us.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Iwritecode

[EvilMonkey]

Middle school. 7th and 8th grade. HS bowling is done for the year so some of the HS bowlers help coach the younger kids.

 

We just finalized our plans for next weekend for the state tournament in Joliet. Apparently there's a little jealousy from other schools over our bowling program. Our girls have won the state tournament the last 3 years in a row. Somehow our HS athletic director missed the deadline to sign up for it this year and lady that runs our program was hearing about it from other people before she was notified of what was going on. Luckily the girls were still able to get in but they've played hell trying to get the boys in.

Will they be playing at Town & Country? LMK when, I will stop by and buy you a beer.

 

Hopefully they oil the lanes. The last 2 months have been like bowling on sandpaper. We bowled one of the ladies teams that came over from the merge, and we had to give them 180 pins in handicap. And to top it off, they all bowled over their average the first two games, meaning we got our butts kicked. We had to have all 5 of us over 200 in game 3 just to win by 30 pins. Yuch. However with 2 weeks left we are still in contention for playoffs.

[Iwritecode]

Will they be playing at Town & Country? LMK when, I will stop by and buy you a beer.

 

Hopefully they oil the lanes. The last 2 months have been like bowling on sandpaper. We bowled one of the ladies teams that came over from the merge, and we had to give them 180 pins in handicap. And to top it off, they all bowled over their average the first two games, meaning we got our butts kicked. We had to have all 5 of us over 200 in game 3 just to win by 30 pins. Yuch. However with 2 weeks left we are still in contention for playoffs.

 

We'll be there practicing a week from today. Tournament is Friday and Saturday.

[StillMissOzzie]

[costanza] I'm back, baby! [/costanza]

Much better bowling last Wednesday after the debacle of March 30. I had a 213, 247, and 196 for a 656 series. I didn't record any details this time, but for the night I had 19 strikes, 14 spares, and 1 open frame - a 7-pin!

 

Average back up to 202, with a few weeks left.

 

SMO

Edited April 10, 2016 by StillMissOzzie

[EvilMonkey]

599 series for my last Tuesday night that counts for anything. Got a strike in the 10th, then threw a pocket shot that left the 8-10 (!) to give me a 598. We already had the game won, so I went for it, managing to slide the 8 over actually in front of the 10, touching it, but no joy. lanes actually had a small amount of oil on them this week.

 

Code, these has been activity there all week, other tourneys or something going on. if you are going to be there tomorrow night, I will stop by and by you a beer. Message me what times you will be there.

[EvilMonkey]

Closed the Saturday league with a 633, but we still ended up losing to put us in 6th place for the year. We were down a bowler as one of ours was having back issues and couldn't make it, but she would have still needed to be 25+ pins over average for us to have taken the next place. As much as I like bowling, glad the season is over, its been a long one. One more night on Tuesday and done completely. Then, knee surgery!

[Iwritecode]

So there were 46 schools at the state competition with around 160 girls bowling. Our girls finished 5th overall and my daughter ended up 12th individually. She was in 9th going into the last game but just couldn't get the corner pins to go down. 7 more pins and she would've been top 10. She averaged 163 over 10 games. Her high game was 215.

 

Not bad considering none of them had been there before. The top girl averaged 204 over the 10 games.

 

Our teams have won the past 3 years straight but just couldn't pull off the 4-peat. The HS team is pretty good though. That all starts for us this fall. Until then we'll have a couple summer leagues to keep us busy.