bowlin' bloggin'
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Link to: season 2010-2011 blog
2011-2012 Season Round-up:
The '11-'12 season wasn't good, but it wasn't too bad either. Just like last year ÒinconsistentÓ and Òups and downsÓ come to mind while looking back and in general i have a feeling that there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of stability and average score.
Did relatively well on the tuesdays, almost reached my 185 average target (got 184) and only had a few bad nights out there. Our team became league-champion, ended in first place in the individual rankings and snatched the trophy for both highest series (1002 over 5) and highest game (257).
The thursday-season was the big negative aspect and the reason i can't say i had a good bowling year. Scores terribly inconsistent and the bad nights outnumbered the good ones so my average didn't get any better than a lousy 173. Our team ended up in 4th place. Not happy at all with the way things went and, of course, my own game. Very restless indeed.
It was fun to be back at the National Competition, really like playing in different alleys and the fact this league is much more a sports-league than the regular ones at Krimpen. Did relatively ok with a 178 average, my teammates were unfortunately struggling all season and none of them even made a 170 average. We ended in 4th place and could have done a lot better, but things just go as they go. Pretty sure we will be back next season as most teammembers enjoyed it despite the poor scores. My 178 average got me a 4th place in the individual league-rankings, higher than expected.
Won the individual Club Championships at Krimpen for the second year in a row. Had a good first round in which i scored my highest game of the season, a 266 with the Cell.. one of the very few times the lane conditions at Krimpen really suited that ball. The finals were a real struggle and far from entertaining, but managed to keep the margin from the first round, even extended that lead with 2 pins and got the big ugly trophy again. What i like most on winning this tournament is the fact i'm allowed to play the ÒDay Of ChampionsÓ again in september.
Equipment-wise i've been experimenting and searching for Òthe oneÓ. Noticed that lane conditions become more oily and more challenging in general and the conditions at Krimpen are usually very tough for a mediocre stroker like me. Bought a Seismic Raging Bull to overcome that problem but chose the wrong drilling layout, so the Special Agent is still the most used ball in my bag. The Cell is a complementary piece for certain conditions and so is the Bull, which works great when the lanes are not too oily. In fact i like it so much that a second Bull is on it's way which will get a layout that should work better on long patterns. Plenty equipment to choose from next season as i also found a ball that i'm really looking forward to.. a 2nd hand with low mileage Columbia Alter Ego.
M got hooked to bowling aswell. She supported me a lot of times, recently got her own equipment and is (step by step) improving her game. Next season we might join a league together somewhere as i decided to abandon the tuesday-league at Krimpen. That decision was made after having a serious Òi need a new challengeÓ-feeling which became stronger and stronger during this season, i don't want to play two leagues at the same place anymore for a number of reasons. Lane conditions is certainly one of them, but also club culture, general atmosphere and the way the club interpretates the general rules of bowling out there. Besides that i simply can't stand time after time the same frikkin' music playlist anymore!
Tuesday, July 26, 2012.
Unexpected newcomer here and it's a pretty one. Travelled to the middle of nowhere to pick up a Lane#1 Buzzsaw XL, 14 lbs and a 2-ball Brunswick roller-bag with a price tag of just 20 Euro's for the two combined. The ball (a tame pearl) is a nice addition for drier conditions and the bag will be the new home for M's bowling stuff. Other news: the Day Of Champions will take place on september the 2nd at Dekker Zoetermeer.
Friday, June 15, 2012.
Another practise session with M but it lasted only a couple of frames. We decided to try out Papendrecht, a small 6-lane alley across the river from Dordrecht. First thing noticed: terribly low ceiling! Couldn't avoid any "ducking" motion on my approach and was happy to wear my wrist-support as i hit the edge of the ceiling pretty hard on the follow-through with my hand. Second thing noticed: hardly any oil out there. Balls started hooking as soon as they touched the lane and the oil crisis has probably been present for a while as the local house balls all were bone dry. They looked like they were sand-blasted even. Third thing noticed: ball damage. Balls came back with mysterious white-ish spots which looked like dirt or rubber at first. In fact they were burn/scrape-marks as if the balls hit a fast rotating part of the machine after every throw and if you touch such a mark with your finger you can feel it's clearly a dent, influencing the roundness of the ball. Some of them were (in my case) in the track-area and we both were quite pissed off about it. The owner of the place reacted indifferent (even tried to charge us for the 20 minutes of bowling) and we decided to leave and never come back. Three balls got hurt, M's Tornado and my Raging Bull and Special Agent.
The Blackout and the Alter Ego are now at Erik's pro-shop for filling and re-drilling, expected to pick them up again in the 2nd half of july.
Thursday, May 24, 2012.
Went to the alley in Dordrecht (16 lanes, Brunswick) with M for some practise games and also to get a feel of the place as it's one of the candidates to play a league next year. Haven't been there in a few years and now the entrance was in a different place and the old orange/brown desert theme has been transformed into a spacy kind of dark blue. The new entrance is cool as it is positioned behind the pinsetters of lane 1 and 2 and there's a window so you can see the machines in action. The oil pattern was a relatively short, around 37 foot, christmas-tree shaped with drier outsides and one of the first things i noticed was how easy the shot and the pin-carry were. Definately Raging Bull-territory and, altough only practise, got an average in the 190's with a 210 and a 233 along the road. Didn't bring a spare-ball but getting better on releasing the Bull without any hand and managed to take out corner-pins with that one. M had a difficult time and is still searching for the right way and a bit of consistency (and confidence) out there. Her approach looks good and well balanced, the difficulty seems to be aim and release. Thinking of having someone else to take a look at her game as i can't see what exactly is going wrong. We might give it another go next week.
Both the Alter Ego and the Blackout have arrived and both of them are in excellent shape! The new Alter Ego screams "i'm here!" when you look at it while the Blackout is subtle and gentle looking.. not black but a very deep dark blue. Can't wait to have them filled and re-drilled!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012.
Two new balls have arrived: 2nd hand Seismic Raging Bull and Raging Bull Charged, both seem to be in good shape altough the Charged has seen a abralon-pad that took the polish off. A Seismic Solaris Blackout should have been delivered along with the Bulls but it's not here yet.. hope it didn't go "missing in transit" for good. The 2nd Alter Ego went across the Atlantic, is now at customs and should be delivered soon. That will be the first one to get filled and redrilled..
Wednesday, May 9, 2012.
League finals at Krimpen, playing against the winners and 2nd place teams of the other leagues. Another night of poor bowling on the usual Krimpen-pattern. Was terribly off on spares in the first two games, did better in the other two but not enough to get a decent average. Two options were available, the first was playing the Special Agent on a tricky line around 9th board to go around most of the oil, the second option was to plow right through the mess with the Bull. Neither worked great, scavenged numerous single pin leaves while patiently trying to execute option one, switched to plowing with the Bull somewhere in the last game, got a bunch of strikes in the end and finished this season with a 195 score. Team came in 6th out of 8 and i'm happy this season is officially over.
Sunday,May 6, 2012.
The last round of the National Competition brought us to Leiden, a modern, bright and good looking alley (good sounding aswell) with 10 Brunswick lanes. Oil pattern was 40 THS, quite oily, outsides a touch drier and little difference in between the lanes. Not the easiest scoring place on the planet and precision was needed. Our team was in 4th place with 3rd within reach but that didn't happen as we were simply not good enough. Thijs and i did ok-ish, both Marcels were in trouble all day and so was i in the last game. We managed to beat the nr. 1 and nr. 2 teams but lost our matches against the others and our total score in the bonus-round was by far not good enough to snatch 3rd place. Lanes initially had a nice break in the back but carry down appeared quick. Was hoping for the lanes to dry out a bit more when the day got along but that didn't happen. A touch too much oil in general for the Bull, way too much oil on the back-ends for the Cell, best option was playing the Special Agent up around 10th board, straight up at first, pushing it slightly outwards later on. Had a 220 in the 4th game with some help of Lady Luck and a poor 150 in the last.. struggled against myself for half a game and ran out of luck in the second half. Got a 899 total, 179 average, not bad but could have been a lot more. Enjoyed playing out there altough the food afterwards was downright horrendous.. one of the worst in team history!
Thursday, May 3, 2012.
Went out for a practice session with M at the Atoll-alley. We didn't do very well but it was ment to be a learning experience. M quickly got back in the groove with the balanced 4-step approach but it took a while before she started to make use of the arrows as a targeting-point. In the last game she picked up a decent 143 score with a whole bunch of nice spares. I was fiddling around with the Bull and learned how to play it with less hand to adjust to dry conditions, also threw the Double Agent for a while which suits the dry lanes better, altough it hooks really early. Now i know how it runs i will change the surface and use it in the same place again to compare and see the results.
New equipment coming up: 15 lbs Seismic Raging Bull, Raging Bull Charged and Solaris Blackout, all 2nd hand with low mileage. Won the auction on all 3 of them and got them at a very fair price. The Alter Ego is up in the air aswell and i might go for it.. the ball is in good shape and have the feeling this is a unique opportunity to get another one.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012.
The last night on the tuesday-league, weird match against Team Elmon. We lost 4 out of 5 games, but the margin on the winning game was enough to take the points for the total score. First game got lost despite Thijs and me both scoring exactly 200, followed by a crappy one that we lost on only 2 pins. Then we repeated the trick of the first game in the 3rd, this time both having a 213 and a win on 129 pins, the 4th again got lost on two pins (and everyone had a laugh because i screwed up the last frame). The last one also got lost and in the final couple of frames Thijs and i tried hard to end up with the same total score aswell but we just missed it.. 927 for Thijs, 926 for me, both pleased with the result but both also having a feeling there was more in it. We played lanes 1 and 2, less oily and very playable with lively pin-action, altough lane 2 (of course) was kind of patchy and unpredictable in the back-end. Switched back and forth between the Bull and the Cell, playing straight up around 10th board, only had to adjust the speed when that line got a little drier. Both balls were quite powerful on impact, especially the Cell showed off it's unique brutal "kill'em with attitude" kind of pin-action.. sweet!
Sunday, April 29, 2012.
Insteresting stuff appeared on eBay in Germany, 2nd hand Seismic Raging Bull, Raging Bull Charged (the pearl version of the Bull) and a Solaris Blackout. Highly interested in the latter two but also placed a bid on the solid Bull.. my current one doesn't work in long and heavy oil but i love the way it rolls and carries on less heavy patterns so wouldn't mind having a second one with a stronger drill layout. Fingers crossed the price will stay within reasonable limits.. and of course, a day after bidding, another gem popped up: a 15 lbs Columbia Alter Ego with the exact same pin distance as my old one.. oowww!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012.
Found back some fun at Krimpen after last thursday's issues. Still the same long pattern with the lanes flooded in between the 10th boards from both sides, but figured out there was a way to avoid the worst and go around the oil by playing the Special Agent straight up, just outside 10th board at moderate speed. That worked ok on lane 6 and a bit less well on lane 5 but i stuck with it at it was the best solution. Going trough the oil from the outside in was tricky (massive splits on thick hits) and playing curves from the inside out was a no go. 10-2 victory over the Slow Starters, Yoc did well again with having a 902 series while i managed to get a 913 total (182 average) with a 210 score in the 4th. Unfortunately my first game was poor. M was there for a little extra support and were planning on regular practice sessions during the summer.
Thursday, April 19, 2012.
Weird and frustrating league night, the last one of this season on the thursday's double-league. We had to defend our third place against "The Family" who were in 4th and even could jump up to 2nd if we were able to win with big numbers. It didn't happen, we suffered a massive 12-0 defeat and came in 4th. No trophy for my teammate who is after trophies like a magpie. Didn't play well, in fact nobody did except for one of our opponents who gathered a 969 series. Really tough lanes yet again, the usual Krimpen-pattern with tons of oil spread across a wide part in the middle, very poor carry and hardly any pin action. The word "sluggish" came to mind while playing, the oil in the center part almost reached the headpin but the decks were bone dry for some reason. The Bull did nothing at all and was downgraded to a very expensive spare-ball. The Cell, played straight up just outside the 10th board, showed a violent and unpredictable move inwards on the very last few feet of the lane, but the same ball didn't do anything when played from the inside outwards. Best option was to play inner line curves with the Special Agent but that also led to inconsistent reactions.. sometimes it simply sailed straight on instead of taking a turn towards the pocket. Had two decent games on lane 3, got nowhere on lane 4 and ended with a poor 862 score, 172 average. Teammate Koos reached 840, Thijs was in the same boat as i was and only got an 822.
Somewhere halfway the 4th game i started thinking.. what the hell am i doing here? Why can i not cope with these lanes? Why do i keep trying? Bowling supposed to be fun, it's a hobby and should be a way to relax and get rid of frustrations instead of picking them up during a league-night. Yesterday proved that having fun in bowling is still possible, but at Krimpen frustration took the upper hand over the last two seasons. Based on that thought i instantly decided to ditch one of the two leagues i'm playing at Krimpen. The thursday is more competitive and only once every two weeks so the tuesday will be the one to leave behind, despite the facts i really like playing with Yoc and Thijs (who play the thursday aswell) and having a much better average on the tuesday-league.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012.
Played 4 games as backup player for team "No Game" at Keizershof, an alley better known as The Graveyard.. altough they went from wood to plastic lanes, the place didn't change a lot since i've seen it for the last time a couple of seasons ago. Eight lanes in the basement of a restaurant, no windows, low ceiling, hot as hell and great fun to play there once in a while. Started off quite well with a 215, took out a 6-7 split in the 2nd, but scores went downhill after the 2nd game and missed 5 single pins in the last game to end with a poor 146.. aargh! Oil pattern: pretty short, low volume and snappy back-ends that caused a kind of "double action".. a ball that already started taking the corner took an extra jump to the left on the last part on the lane.. quite tricky, hence the 5 missed single pins as the oil at some point simply vanished and even my spare ball became jumpy on the back-ends. Used the Bull for most of the time, wide long curves with serious speed.. adding some altitude when the lanes were so dry that it was time to skip the first part of the lane all together. 706 total, 176 average and only Roger managed to do better. Really enjoyed this one.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012.
Didn't play at Krimpen, but my teammates Yoc and Thijs managed to get a 12-0 win over The Bloopers, with massive scores.. a 950 total for Thijs and an impressive 965 for Yoc who really deserved a good night after suffering most of the season. Her series contained a 222 and 250 game. Our rivals Elmon only got 4 points and, 2 weeks before the end of season, we secured the tuesday-title at Krimpen.
Thursday, April 5, 2012, part 2.
What a difference an alley makes.. back at Krimpen for the thursday double-league led to another night of suffering and my average even dropped below 175 now. Durning warm-up i already had a feel this wasn't going to be easy.. the Bull did nothing, the Cell did nothing, the Special Agent only moved a few boards at a very late stage despite keeping the speed low and releasing it with as much revs as possible. These are the lane conditions i really don't like and my spare shooting wasn't good enough to avoid another disaster.. 801 total and another poor 160 average. Had two medeocre games and three seriously shitty ones. Thankfully my teammate Koos did better (892 total) and due to an incomplete opponent we managed to get a 12-0 win. It seemed the higher the lane number, the better the lane conditions. Lane 2 was a bit more lively (but with very little room for error), according to Thijs lane 3 was difficult and patchy while 4 was quite ok.. and Roger, shooting a massive 1022 series, happily reported that 5 and 6 were fine.. dry-ish even. Hmmm.
Thursday, April 5, 2012, part 1.
Did some practice bowling with M at the Atoll alley near the Feyenoord Stadium. M made a lot of progress today and is a quick student.. after only a few games she's now capable of a steady 4-step approach and got a lot better at targeting, timing and ball release. She didn't get a lot of strikes yet but was easily shooting a whole bunch of spares in the last game. I had some fun with coaching her a bit and fiddling around with the Bull and the Cell, mainly experimenting with wrist positions on the moment of release. The oil pattern was fresh, rather short (around 37 foot) and low in volume. M also noticed the difference between today and last sunday.. not bad for a newbee! The Bull did well, better than expected on these medium-dry lanes. Played it straight up for a short while but then switched to long wide curves and could easily swing it 7 or 8 boards outwards, getting a nice strong turn into the pocket. The Cell was very jumpy on the transition from oil to dry, hard to control and useless on this pattern. We both had a good time out there!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012.
217+202+171+227+191=1002... finally hit the 1000-mark and it's quite a relieve. Oil machine maintainance took place earlier this week and the result was still a long pattern with sharp and tricky back-ends but wayyyyy less overall oil volume. Back-ends were not patchy, there was hardly any carry-down and there were several options/lines available to get to the pocket. Hope they can keep the lanes up to these standards for a while as even the maintainance-guy admitted the lanes were horrific in the last few weeks. Tried straight up and inner line curves during warm-up and decided to go straight up over 10th board with the Bull. Initially gently and fluent, later on (when the line got dryer) with a little more speed and power, starting on 12th board and pushing it outwards to 8th. The Bull performed really well in these circumstances. Got a whole bunch of pretty strikes and noticed it has a specific sound on impact.. loud and powerful. Could have had a bigger score but threw a few off-balls every now and then and missed a bunch of spares, mainly due to getting used to throw spares with a wrist support. 6-6 draw against Team Elmon, our biggest rivals for the title, keeping our lead margin of 31 points. We won the first two games but suffered a heavy loss in the 3rd as one of our opponents shot a 245 game. My teammate Yoc was in trouble all night, couldn't get a grip on her own game despite trying really hard.. wasn't able to drag her out but the 1002 came at a very welcome moment. Also got back in the lead on the best series ranking again.. Thijs is up for a challenge next week but with lanes like these it's certainly possible to get more.
Last sunday's easter-tournament with M was fun, despite ending up in last place.. we were both doing not very well, i wasn't very focussed and for M it was a learning experience with her new ball. She's happy with the grip and weight (13 lbs) and were planning to go bowling on a more regular base so she can get the hang of it.. or even addicted ;-)
Tuesday, March 27, 2012.
Five games of restless bowling on inconsistent and patchy lanes resulted in poor scores and scavenging a lot of spares.. yet again strikes were rare. Had serious problems with focussing and motion timing in the first two games, after that my bowling improved somewhat (which cheered me up) but it was still far from perfect. Playing lane 1 and 2, starting on 2. Lanes were oily for sure (the usual long Krimpen-pattern) but thankfully not flooded like they were on march 13. Today's difficulty was mainly in the transition from oil to dry.. difficult but ok-ish on lane 1, very patchy and unpredictable (weird even) on lane 2. Tried several options on both lanes and was forced to keep switching lines all night.. from gently and as fluent as possible with the Bull to shoveling the Cell straight into the pocket with some agression and high speed. Scored a weak 835 total, 167 average. Teammate Thijs did slightly better (880 total) but was also depending on his spare-shooting tonight. We got away with an 8-4 victory over The Slow Starters.. they actually started well but collapsed after the 3rd game. Positive notes: A: used a wrist-support for the first time in 10 years or so and it gives me some more revs and a bit stronger release. Also my wrist feels better now as it hurted after bowling every time for the last couple of weeks. B: had fun tonight despite the crappy scores.
Coming up: a small just for fun easter-tournament next sunday with M and her new ball (2nd hand Ebonite Tornado) will be drilled to match her hand next saturday.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012.
Well, tonight the disaster did happen as i simply wasn't able to adjust to the lane conditions. Adjusting has it's limits for sure and my teammate Yoc was in the same boat. The pattern: a huge amount of oil in between the 10th board from the left to the 10th board from the right with a lenght of at least 43 feet, maybe even longer. Tons of carry down in the center part of the lane, poor carry and weird deflections on impact. There was a breakpoint if you played straight up in between 5th and 10th board, but playing that line wasn't easy either as the transition from oil to dry was really close to the pins.. hardly enough time for a ball to cover so many boards to the pocket and the steep angle on impact was almost a guarantee for corner pin leftovers. Was able to play this line with the Special Agent on lane 4 and got some strikes on thin pocket hits while throwing the ball at a very modest speed. On lane 3 it worked less well as the back-end was quite patchy and unpredictable in it's reaction. The Bull is definately bound for a re-drill and maybe even a re-surface as it didn't show any life at all. Had one decent game in the 4th (194) but the others were really poor. 792 total, 158 average.. oh lordy, give me a break.. around 39 feet or so would be nice.
Thursday, March 8, 2012.
Mixed feelings. Doubts even. A touch of grumpyness aswell. Did very well on the spares, otherwise this night might have been another disaster. Now i got away with a 938 total and a 187 average which isn't so bad, but still the after-taste in my mouth is a bit sour. Yuck.
6-6 draw against the P-team, from being 6-0 down after 3 games. We lost the first despite a 193 and a 198 score. The 2nd and 3rd were decent aswell but our opponent outperformed us, with a little help from their handicap-points and a little more help from Lady Luck. Frustrating while amusing at the same time, we managed to keep our heads up and dragged the remaining points towards us. Lanes were the usual long pattern with a flood in the middle and quite snappy back-ends.. yet again had a hard time adjusting to those conditions. The Bull worked ok-ish but wasn't very powerful on impact this time and left tons of single-pins all over the place. The Special Agent was too eager on the back-ends while playing straight up and seemed pretty dead on impact while playing curves from the inside out. Playing straight up from the outside the Cell reacted totally unpredictable in the transition out of the oil into the dry and trying that one on curves from the inside out also led to nothing. Had a 213 with the Special Agent in the 2nd game, completely lost the plot in the 4th (158) and switched back to square 1 with the Bull, hoping for another decent game in the 5th.. only to get a massive split in the closing frame after patiently picking up spare after spare after spare.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012.
Back at Krimpen for the regular double-league, playing against the all-plastic new guys again, lane 1 and 2, starting on 1. Lane 1 was really oily yet again, long pattern with hardly any break due to severe carry-down, lane 2 was a puzzle and actually a nice challenge this time.. also a lot of oil but a bit more alive on the back-ends. Playable, but very difficult and it took us a long while to figure out the best solution. Learned a lot tonight.
First game was a decent one with the Bull, 211. Felt at ease and was fluent and balanced in my motions, it helped that i already spent a lot of energy at work before bowling. Then a switch to lane 2, searching for clues and a lot of tech talking between me and my teammate Thijs in an attempt to help each other out. We were both steady with the spares but strikes were rare. Bull straight up over 2nd arrow: didn't work, it turned early and lost energy on it's way, leaving a lot of corner pins. Cell straight up over 2nd: wowwww.. scary.. it went straight for a long time, followed by a really agressive sharp turn into the pocket, too much angle on impact and also leaving a lot of corner pins. Bull from the 5th board, pushing it a little inwards: worked, but tricky.. two strikes followed by a huge split in the last frame. 169 score, Thijs ended up with a 155 but luckily we still won the game. Back on lane 1 for the 3rd game: still a lot of oil, but the back-end action was just enough for Thijs to get a 219.. most of the strikes came from really thick hits, but it worked somehow. Meanwhile i was off on my moves during that game and only had a 172. Lane 2, game 4: Still no show for the Bull straight up over 2nd, so decided to switch to inner line curves with the Special Agent and finally found something, even had a surprising amount of room for error playing this line. Had no luck though, actually got screwed on a couple of good hits, 184 score. Thijs got a 180 and we lost the game.. opponents did 140 and 173 with both having a massive amount of handicap. Last game back on lane 1, the back-ends dried out a little and the situation became ideal for the Bull, got a 237 with a bunch of really pretty strikes and now finally figured out what the best way is to play this ball when it comes to revs and wrist position.
Pretty happy with a 973 total, 194 average and the overall experience. On top of that our biggest rivals suffered a massive 10-2 defeat so we extended our lead once again to 33 points.. we're getting close to the league win now.
Sunday, February 26, 2012.
National Competition, 5th round. Went to the (far) east of the country to play in a place called Zetten.. ugly 1970's alley with 8 AMF lanes, hot and humid, poor acoustics (muffled and "spongy"), partly because they use solid plastic pins out there. Positive facts: some daylight through the windows and really good food afterwards. Weird place, weird matches and the Bull lost it's new look for sure as, apart from the oil, it picked up a lot of dirt and rubber during today. Oil pattern was 40 foot with a heavy volume and they used a really watery kind of thin oil for that.. the backends were fresh for only a couple of frames, then everything started moving.. severe carry-down indeed and difficult swampy conditions for most of the day.
My teammates took care of the first game, decided to stay out and used the warm up lane to get my moves under control, meanwhile figuring out how to deal with this pattern. Decided to stick with the Bull and to play it from the 10th board up, pushing it slightly inwards into the pocket.. the ball didn't move a lot but it carried quite ok, which was the biggest problem. In the mean time the first game got lost with a very poor 449 total against a very poor 458 total. Scored a 202 with the Bull in the 2nd game and secured a win, 474 against 453. Teammate Marcel L was in deep trouble with a 122 in the first and a 106 in the second, so he bailed out for the next two games. The 3rd got us another win with poor scores, 469 against 446 and we noticed the entire league was struggling out there with the swampy lane conditions and poor carry. Had my share of trouble (no strikes and being off on spares) in the 4th and that one went lost with a really poor 439 total against a 477. The good thing was that the back-ends started to become a little dryer again and the pinfall a bit more lively, so decided to switch to the Cell and got a welcome 224 in the 5th game. Marcel L got back on the team after a two game break, re-born and motivated as hell to do better which resulted in a 211 in the 5th and a 220 in the last game. The 5th became a wipe-out with a 579 for us against only a 422 from the opponents, the 6th (bonus) game gave us 5 points as our 583 was outperformed by the home-team having a 593.
After today's matches: mixed feelings, we had some fun, gathered 14 points and did ok today but we realized that could have been 20 points and a stronger grip on 3rd place. Bummer, but quickly forgotten while having a great meal and the news that our team had the highest pinfall and a large steak in the 200's.. only 7 200's were thrown in the entire league and we got 4 of them. Still have my doubts on the Bull though.. i'm thinking of a re-drill in a different layout already and also noticed the span is a few millimeters shorter than on my other equipment.. maybe that's why it feels less comfy and why it's so difficult to give it the right amount of revs. Played 5 games, gathered a 923 total, 184 average.
Thursday, February 23, 2012.
Made two wrong decisions today, the first one was to leave the Special Agent at home, the second was to go bowling in the first place. Spent all day in bed with a pinching headache, but really wanted to play so i went. The first 3 games were a nightmare, couldn't focus at all and was off on everything. After that both headache and bowling somewhat improved, but not enough to get a real grip on the situation. The situation was: playing on horrendously oily lanes, struggling with both the Bull and the Cell, a really noisy group of kids on the leftover lanes and yet again the same frikkin' music playlist we've been listening to all season. Sometimes i hate that place. 818 total, 163 average, a heavy 10-2 loss against The Family and a very dissappointing night indeed.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012.
First night out for the Raging Bull. We're not friends yet, but the first impression isn't bad at all. When it goes down the lane it looks kind of sluggish, then it takes the corner really smooth and gently but as soon as that reaction starts, it doesn't stop anymore and it hits the pins with a surprising amount of energy. Kind of a unique motion, more like a sniper than a raging bull charging at the pins. Three other things that stood out: first, probably due to colour and pattern, it's a very easy ball to "read" and by looking at how it goes down the lane you know what you're doing wrong right away. Second: it seems easy with this one to make small adjustments in hand position and speed, athough it needs some time to start reacting. Overspeeding is a no-go on oily lanes. Third: it reacted consistently and predictable, which is good for confidence in what you're doing.
Tonight the lanes were pretty much why i bought the Bull in the first place.. a long and quite heavy pattern, more oil in the middle but the outsides were slick aswell. Didn't dare to play curves from the inside out so kept playing straight up around 10th board all night and only had to make small adjustments when the line became drier. 10-2 victory over The Pinballs, could have been 12 points but i missed a crucial 10-pin in the last frame of game 4. For the rest both my teammate Yoc and i did well, Yoc got a 209 in the first game and a 876 total, i had a 226 in the 2nd and a 214 in the 3rd with a 993 total this time, 198 average. It felt easy to get that score actually and i'm confident that the 1000-barrier will be breached one day. The Bull is interesting indeed and i wonder how it will perform when the outsides of the lanes are a bit less oily.
Thursday, February 16, 2012.
The Bull is drilled and ended up with the same layout as the Alter Ego, pin under ring, cg kicked out to the right, balance hole to make it legal. Hope it will show a similar reaction as the Alter Ego, strong arching, medium lenght and a smooth transition somewhere in between release and impact. Went to Erik D for drilling and will be back to have another ball drilled in a few weeks, this time a 2nd hand 13 lbs Ebonite Tornado for M.
Also: a guy offered me 75 Euro's to buy my Passion, Nitro R/2 and Golden Angle but he doesn't have the intention to play bowling with them. Instead he is taking part in a plan to do a weird sience experiment and build a Newton's tick-tock ball rig with bowling balls. Did sell him the Passion and the Nitro for 50 with a big smile, but couldn't deal with the idea of a classic Golden Angle being trashed.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012.
Match against our biggest rivals, lanes 3 and 4, starting on 4. Only a little difference in between the lanes but the overall conditions were far from easy. Yet again a long pattern with a lot of oil in the middle, the outsides were more playable this time. Balls were happily curving into the pocket but struggled to really finish with authority due to the flood in the middle. The carry down that appeared while playing made the pins and lanes feel even more dead than they already were. It led to poor carry indeed and everyone had a share. Without doing too well we managed to win 10-2 and extended our lead to a massive 25 points. Played a lot better than last week altough it was far from perfect, still approach issues every now and then. Got a 221 in the second game as lady luck suddenly chose my side.. started the game with five strikes in a row, but 4 of them were flukes. Used the Special Agent on tight inner line curves for most of the night, made a switch to the Cell straight up over 2nd arrow in the last game as it reacted more lively on the back-end. Got a 921 total, 184 average and that's ok given the circumstances.
The Raging Bull arrived and will be drilled next thursday.
Thursday, February 9, 2012.
Last tuesday was poor, tonight was absolutely horrendous. Another five games of fighting my own physical moves and got quite fed up with it to be honest. The lanes were not forgiving either, fresh but very difficult pattern, long oil distance, a flood in the middle. There was a way to score by playing straight up around 10th board, but precision and a little luck were needed to get anywhere. Not for me this time, scrambled together two 190's on lane 1 but suffered all night on lane 2, being off on everything and without any luck on the occasional good ones. Switching to playing curves from the inside out was no option as the flood in the middle was severe and wider than usual. Bowling went Boeing with a 777 total.. brrr. Teammate Koos did ok with a 936 and he deserves the credits for dragging a 6-6 draw out of the battle against my tuesday-teammates.
Ordered a 14 lbs Seismic Raging Bull Solid from a dealer in Germany, curious how this ball will perform in Krimpen as it is designed to cope with heavy oil and carry down. Still in doubt on the drilling, either pin-down like the old Alter Ego or a drilling (pin up and out, cg a little out) similar to the layout of the Cell.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012.
Forgot to ask the mechanic on which lane he started the oiling process, but my guess is that he did them from 1 to 8 this time, with his usual second run on 1. The result was that lane 1 was really oily and lane 2 patchy and very unpredictable. My bowling was not good enough to adapt to the lanes, fighting myself instead of them and our opponent. Teammate Thijs was doing a little better, was certainly more consistent but also had a hard time tonight. 8-4 win over the Slow Starters, being lucky that they were not good either. Tried several options on lane 2 without finding a clue, played inner line curves on lane 1 with the Special Agent and got a 210 in the 4th game. 860 series total and a poor 172 average. Thijs got a 890, tonight's highest was a 908.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012.
Similar lane conditions as last thursday with the pattern being a bit more broken down as we play a 2nd shift league. However the current conditions are very playable indeed and maybe even too easy. About 38 foot of oil in a kind of Christmas-tree pattern with drier outsides and a quite lively pinfall. It led to more changes on the leaderboards, Thijs took over my top rank in highest series while i managed to get the top spot in highest game. Also the team game score and team total score will probably stay on top of the rankings for the rest of this season.
Match against a team of new guys throwing plastic. They get better by the week, but despite that we were starting every game on -79 pins due to their handicap score. First game: my teammate Thijs was steady as a clock right from the start and got a 221, i was restless in my approach and swimming around a bit, but got away with it by having a 193 score.. 414 total and we won the game only on 24 pins as our opponents were doing quite well. Thijs kept going, 207, while i was in serious trouble in the 2nd game due to a deep energy dip. Ended up with only a 147 but managed to force a spare and a strike in the closing frame, snatching the win on only 2 pins. Third game: switched to inner line curves with the Special Agent and started off with 3 lucky strikes in a row, just what i needed to get back into the groove. Thijs was still really on top of it until a single pin miss halfway, while i picked up a spare in that frame. After that: both of us having 4 strikes in a row.. 232 for Thijs, 257 for me, a massive 489 game total and our opponents were quite impressed. Game 4 was another decent one with a 181 for Thijs and a 203 for me, but yet again our opponents did well and we needed to produce strikes in the closing frame for another win on 2 pins.. it felt like theft actually. In the last game we both got in trouble as our lines became seriously dry and we had to find an alternative. This time Thijs ran into an energy dip and scored a 159 as he couldn't find a new line. I switched back to the Cell halfway through the game, started playing long wide curves from the inside out, got some really pretty hits and a 194. Again the opponents had the chance to beat us but, unexperienced in dealing with pressure, gave it away. Total scores: 998 for Thijs, another 994 for me, a big smile on our face and we're sure the 1000 mark is easily within reach if the lanes stay like this for a while.. let's hope so.
Thursday, January 26, 2012.
Normal double-league at Krimpen. Lanes had a nice fresh pattern, were not too oily, felt really "alive" today and that resulted in high games and series all over the place. Started off with a 227 in the 1st game, then my teammate Koos had a 240 in the 2nd, Roger came up with a 255 in the 3rd and his brother Thijs managed to beat him with a 257 in the 4th game. Series: 1013 to Roger (with a 150 in the 1st), 994 for me, 988 for Cees, 973 for Thijs (with two crappy games in the 150's) and a still very decent 954 for Koos. I think the local mechanic will have a smile on his face tomorrow. Played well all night, only missed a few spares and got quite consistant scores with the already mentioned 227 in the 1st and a 209 in the 3rd. Used the Cell in those two games on lane 3, the Hammer on the oilier lane 4 and also the Hammer in the last game back on lane 3 as the Cell didn't cut through the carry-down that had developed around that time. With a 198 average tonight i'm very pleased as i worked a lot of hours before bowling.
Sunday, January 22, 2012.
Weird final of the club championships at Krimpen this year, was in there along with 5 other players and we were all struggling with the lane conditions, ourselves or a combination of both. Lanes were a lot oilier than last tuesday with severe carry down or, in the case of lane 1, no break at all. Very inconsistent scores all over the place. Started off with a poor 161 (my body wasn't up for bowling yet) and lost 90 pins to Roger, but in the 2nd game it was his turn to be in trouble so i got 80 pins back from him right away. After that i decided to keep away from looking at the other scores and try to hang in there. Scored 161, 223, 160, 213, 164, 214 and ended up with a 1137 total over 6 games. Roger had 1135 and we both did way better that anyone else. Had a lot of margin still from the first round, didn't expect to keep the entire margin, but in the end i did and won the title for the 2nd year in a row. Bowling was not near as exciting as last year though. Used a mixed bag of equipment and tried several different lines. In general the Cell didn't cut the (oily) cake today and did best with the Hammer, playing it straight up over 2nd at slow speed and not too much hand, allowing the ball to do the job.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012.
Club Championships at Krimpen, first round. Given the ups and downs of the last few weeks i would have been perfectly happy with an average somewhere in the 180's.. ended up with a lot more. Noticed during warm up that the lanes were pretty lively and the Special Agent felt heavy, decided to switch to the Cell and noticed how well it matched up with the lane conditions if i threw it with lots of revs at a relatively high speed. Was a little off in the first two games but did ok with the spares. Scored a 179 and 183 and most other players were in that region too. Switched to lane 6 for the 3rd game, got some strikes on various hits (pocket, brooklyn, fluke) in the first couple of frames but then the strikes got better as the game went along, until i suddenly realized i had 9 of them in a row. Got a little nervous, threw a slightly thick hit that left me a 4-9 split so i ended up with a 266. Happy with that for sure, but i also realise i missed an opportunity there. Lane 7 was significantly drier and had to re-focus again, but got a few strikes in the end to reach a 177. After that a 204 on lane 8 and a 216 on the much oilier lane 1, was able to make the right adjustments on time and there was just enough break on the back end to keep the Cell turning inwards. 1225 total, 204 average, way above expectations, definately playing the finals next sunday. In 2nd place so far is my thursday-teammate Koos who also did a great job as he got a 193 average.
Sunday, January 15, 2012.
National Competition, round 4. Oosterhout is totally overdressed with all kind of fairytale gimmicks, fake statues and useless decoration stuff.. camp! The fireplace however was real (nice!) and so was the oil on the lanes.. lots of it. Pattern was long and flat, a bit Krimpen-ish and on some lanes it even looked like there was more oil on the ousides than in the middle part. The difference with Krimpen was that the pinfall was more lively and more honest aswell, good hits (either pocket or brooklyn) indeed became strikes. Left the Hammer at home after last thursday and opted for the Cell as an additional 14 lbs for emergencies. The Special Agent did ok on most lanes as long as you kept it straight up over or just inside 2nd arrow with low speed and lots of revs. Pushing it outwards and playing curve was an absolute no-go. Used the Cell a few times in the closing frames to force some strikes and release some tension, both physically and mentally and it worked well. Have to admit that i like shoveling the Cell straight into the brooklyn-side at high speed and revs. We won 3 games, lost 2 and became third in the bonus round, gathering 13 points in total. Not bad as our scores were below par today. Played 5 games, had a 883 total, 176 average and really enjoyed bowling today.
Thursday, January 12, 2012.
Had high hopes after last tuesday but found out quickly it wouldn't happen tonight. In fact it became a struggle, 5 games of very restless bowling on very difficult lanes. Didn't have the precision, focus, flow and lady luck wasn't there either. Threw a few good balls every now and then but had to switch lines every 4 or 5 frames to avoid my own carry down. Lane 1 was terribly oily right from the start, lane 2 was totally different, could even play outer line curves at first, but got worse with every ball. The fact we were up against "all plastic" opponents didn't help either. 832 series total, 166 average and most other players were in the same boat.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012.
Match against Team Eldon, our biggest rivals, resulting in a 10-2 victory with a loss on only 1 pin in the last game.. we did ok in that one but their finish was really strong. We're in the lead on a large margin now, 21 points. Lanes 5 and 6 with quite a difference in between them, 5 initially had a drier backend but reacted unpredictable and that became worse as carry down appeared soon after the start of the league. Lane 6 was way more oily, especially on the outsides, and the carry down was already there. Both lanes were playable if you were able to adjust the lines and keep the speed under control. Played straight up around 2nd arrow on lane 6 with the Special Agent, did the same in the first game on lane 5 but was forced to switch to the Hammer as it reacted a less "jumpy" on the transition part of the lane. It seems that as the Hammer gets older, it starts to react a bit smoother with less hook and a more controllable move inwards, and i'm happy with that. Played well tonight, didn't miss any single-pin spares and only had 6 open frames in 5 games, all on splits. Felt at ease, focussed, in control of my moves and was able to make small adjustments on release and speed. 982 total, 196 average with a 203, 200 and a 204 in the 1st, 2nd and 4th game. Teammate Thijs was terribly off on the spares in the first game but did ok in the other games with a 893 total score this time. Also our rivals are a fun team to play against.. great sense of humor among them!
Equipment-wise: bought an old AMF Golden Angle as i would like to add a true classic to my arsenal, but with 15,8 lbs it's too heavy for me and i'm planning to sell it or trade it for a lighter one. Unfortunately as i was curious on how this 1980's classic (high-end at the time) would react on modern conditions and the ball i bought is in a really good condition. Right now i'm in touch with someone in the US on buying a new Seismic Raging Bull Solid, i think it will be the perfect replacement for the Alter Ego that i still dearly miss on the current lane conditions at Krimpen. Finally also bought a 2nd hand low mileage Ebonite Tornado for M, it will get a conventional grip. The black rubber AMF Strikeline she already has is too old and worn to have it re-drilled from fingertip to conventional.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012.
No meat, no fish. Medeocre scores due to a lack of precision, mostly on spares. 879 total, 175 average and all game scores were somewhere in that area. We had an 8-4 victory while our biggest rivals suffered an 8-4 defeat, so we got a stronger lead over them. Oil-wise the lanes were back to the usual (and not my favourite) 41 foot long and flat pattern and there was quite some carry down. Lane 2 had a bit more bite in the back-end but the difference was small. Switched back and forth between playing 2nd arrow stroke and inner line curve, mostly with the Special Agent and at modest speed. Sometimes the decision to switch lines was made too late and i was betting on the wrong horse a couple of times. Teammate Thijs was doing well in the first 3 games, got a 236 in the 3rd, but ran into trouble in the remaining games as he didn't feel too well physically.
Thursday, December 1, 2011.
8-4 victory over Yoc and Thijs. The first game could go either way and it went theirs, needed a double strike in the 10th frame and only got 1. Our third game was just not good enough, had a poor 150 score as i missed a few spares on baby splits in the first couple of frames. Played quite well in the other games, got a 932 total, 186 avergage, a 200 in the 2nd game and a 214 in the 4th. Tonights star (by far!) however was my teammate.. 961 total, 192 average with a 233 in the 4th game. Still our team is in 3rd place, but the gap got smaller as the top 2 teams both suffered a defeat.
The lanes were similar to last tuesday night, not the fresh pattern i hoped for as there were a lot of recreational players before the league started. Used the Hammer on lane 6, playing outer line mild curves (pushing it just a few boards outward) around second arrow. The other lane was different and more difficult to deal with, inner line curves and going deep with the Special Agent didn't feel comfy so in the end i decided to play outer line curves on lane 5 aswell and take the leftovers for granted. Tried the Double Agent during warm up but it was useless as it got into it's rolling motion way to early. Enjoyed this bowling night, very welcome after another poor day at work.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011.
Well, it's december 1 actually, 00.15 hours. Was about to go to bed and my thursday teammate Koos just text messaged me: "Hey! Are you ready for bowling tonight??" This guy is always very motivated and i'm happy being in a team with him!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011.
The local mechanic took the change in the oiling sequence a step further. Instead of cleaning and oiling the lanes in the same run, he now will be cleaning all of them first and then oil them in a second run, working from lane 8 to 1 on both runs. Also the pattern has changed from 41ft and quite flat to 39,5 with less volume and drier outsides. The difference was amazing, altough Krimpen will never be easy going, regardless the oil pattern. Bowling tonight on the new pattern felt like going back in time a couple of seasons.. the heydays of the Alter Ego and sometimes i still miss that ball.
8-4 victory over a stubborn opponent. Could have been a loss as we had narrow margin wins in two games, also our win in the first game on +103 proved to be crucial to get the points for the total score. The new pattern was fun to play at but difficult to adjust to, especially on making spares. Both Thijs and i got a massive amount of single pins to deal with and i missed a whole bunch of them, all pin 4 or pin 10. Still dealing with timing issues on my approach and had difficulties with being fluent today anyway. 899 total, almost 180 average and a little dissappointed as it could have been a lot more. Thijs got a 929 series and was more consistent, i had a 202 in the first game and a 205 in the 4th, but the other 3 were quite poor. Went from playing straight up with the Hammer to inner line curves with the Special Agent and even tried outer line big curves in the last game.. first time in ages i could swing it that far outward!
Sunday, November 27, 2011.
Played a small local "9-pin no tap" tournament at Krimpen with M. Used it as a kind of training session and brought the Cell and the Quake instead of the usual stuff. The Cell was a little tricky in it's reaction, it's possible to play it from the inside out instead of straight up (never tried that before with the Cell) but you need a lot of precision to get anywhere. Got great carry on light hits but the carry on thick ones was really poor.. big splits for sure. Switched to the Quake, played it straight up over second and got 7 strikes in a row right away, all real ones on solid pocket hits. This ball plows through the oil really well and starts to turn really early. Got another 5 real strikes in a row in the last game, was pleasantly surprised and it might very well be that this ball will see some more action at Krimpen. M did quite ok with her old AMF and she's very aware of her physical moves while playing bowling.. that helps a lot to get better at it. Start off with throwing fingertip-grip right away might be too much though. Both of us enjoyed bowling today. I'm also happy with my new Brunswick 3 ball-tote.. birthday present from M. Sweet!
Thursday, November 17, 2011.
There was a difference between lanes 1 and 2 and lane 1 was (as usual) easier to deal with, but the difference was only minor this time and within reasonable limits. Both lanes were difficult and quite a challenge. Again a long flat pattern with very snappy backends but they were also lively and a bit more forgiving on being a little off. Lost 8-4 against The Family where we could have won 8-4, but i ran into trouble in the 4th game and so did my teammate in the 5th. My bowling is still not at it's best, but i know what i'm doing wrong and was again able to feel in control of my moves. 914 total, 182 average with a 202 in the 3rd and a 203 in the 5th. Played straight up around 2nd arrow, switched back and forth between the Hammer and the Special Agent, but it felt like walking on a thin rope with both of them.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011.
Back again at Krimpen for another round in the tuesday double-league. Lanes 1 and 2, starting on 2 and yet again the first game was horrendous. Tried hard but couldn't find any usable line out there and ended up with another low score of 131. The positive note was that during the first game my moves slowly got better and i was able to control and fine-tune my release for the first time in a long while. Started the second game with 5 strikes in a row, got some more later on and scored a nice 244. After that it was back to swimming around on lane 2, but being back in control of my moves helped a lot to minimize the damage, 176. The last 2 games were both decent with a 191 and a 205. Used the Hammer all night, playing straight up around 2nd arrow. Only used the Special Agent in the last few frames of tonight's match.. we needed to force a few strikes in a row to win the game and, with a little luck, indeed it saved us 2 points. Series total was 947, 189 average. Quite happy, despite the first game and being outplayed by another guy who scored a 246 game and 948 total.
Afterwards i talked to the local mechanic about the lanes, as playing on lane nr. 2 is always a hassle.. it was like that last sunday and today it was even worse. The house has 8 lanes, both tuesday-leagues only use 1 to 6. The mechanic admitted the oil machine needs some time to warm up and therefore he always does a second clean and oil run on lane 1(which is always fine) after doing the other lanes. He responded positively on my request to start at lane 8 and move the other way around as an experiment for a few weeks. Curious to the results and i hope it will eliminate the inconsistent conditions on lane 2.
Sunday, November 13, 2011.
National League, third day. This round took place at our home alley Krimpen but playing at home is no guarantee for having an advantage. In fact the afternoon was pretty dissappointing, we only won the 1st and the 5th game and thankfully were able to snatch 5 points in the bonus game. That last game was the only one with a decent 541 total, the scores of the other games were poor. Marcel D was the only player who got close to his normal level, the others were struggling all day. Lanes were the usual.. difficult, stubborn and unforgiving, with quite a difference in between them. This league we play the so called "American System" with using two lanes in each game and change lanes after every frame, but it was hard to tune in on them. Personally in most games i found a decent line on one lane and was swimming around on the other, without going anywhere. Tried several options with both the Hammer and the Special Agent, got fed up with the whole thing and used the Quake in the last game in an attempt to "feel free" again.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011.
Tonight's 177 average (888 series) was quite a relieve after last thursday's nightmare. Payed a lot of extra attention to lining up and taking the first step. 8-4 victory over the 2nd place team and we're now in the lead with a margin of 15 points. Lanes 5 and 6, the usual pattern, not much room for error and some difference in between the lanes, lane 5 was more broken up and unpredictable. Used the Special Agent on 5 and the Hammer on 6 for most of the night. Played quite steady with occasional off-balls every now and then. Teammate Thijs managed to get a 902 with consistent scores, but got a whole bunch of small splits to deal with after either thin or thick hits. I was a little unlucky in taking on the big ones.
Thursday, November 3, 2011.
Bowling can be one big massive pain in the buisiness-end sometimes. Haven't been playing this bad in a while. Altough i already didn't expect much after the work-day i had, i was really not amused with having a 744 series after 5 games of struggling and being totally off on pretty much everything. Started with a terrible 118 and improved only slightly after that. Serious timing and focussing issues, probably too tired to bowl in the first place. The tricky lanes didn't help either. It was possible to get a decent score, but again you had to be spot on with everything to find some strikes out there. Think i maybe threw 3 or 4 decent balls the entire night. Tuesday teammate Thijs was in the same boat with a 788 series, but some others got a few nice scores. We had a 9-3 victory thanks to my teammate Koos who did well in the first 3 games and, with his ever present positive attitude, tried to drag me out of the misery all night.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011.
Back at Krimpen for the tuesday double-league. A night of fighting for every pin and scavenging a lot of spares. Difficult lanes indeed, kind of "dead" altough the usual carry down wasn't there this time. For having a strike everything had to be exactly right.. ballspeed, revs, aim, lenght, angle of impact. Light hits resulted often in small splits on the left side (4-5-7 and such), thick hits were almost a guarantee for massive splits or at least the 4 or 6 pin if you were ok on the revs. Lucky breaks were extremely rare. Played straight up over 2nd arrow with a low ball speed for most of the night, inner line curves didn't work at all, swinging it more outwards was a no-go due to the amount of oil. Used the Special Agent, switched to the Hammer for the last game as it gave a bit more angle on impact. We had a 10-2 victory, our opponents were absolutely nowhere on these conditions. Had another 916 series, 183 average, again being the only player in the 900's. Not bad, but far from satisfying.. and why the hell do they play the same music playlist week after week after week after week after week..
Sunday, October 23, 2011.
National League, group 5A, second league day. We haven't been competing in the Nationals for the last two seasons and we were off in the first round due to an uneven number of teams (7) competing in our group. The system is: 6 league days, with 6 teams playing 5 games Round Robin, followed by 1 game bonus round in which the team with the highest pinfall gets the most points with a maximum of 6. For a win in a Round Robin game you get 3 points. It's a scratch league played with a 3 men team and we usually go out with 4 players. This second day took place in Tilburg, at the same alley as the Day Of Champions earlier this season. The lanes: approx a 40-foot pattern, not too oily and not as difficult as during the last visit here. Some carry down appearing during the 2nd game, backends drying out again later on. Many small tech issues with pinspotters and scoring-computers being off, even had an argument with the referee about a pinspotter that picked up a few leftovers and put them back on the deck wayyy out of position.
Didn't play the first game in which my teammates had a decent 562 total but suffered an unlucky defeat on 6 pins only.. welcome back to the Nationals. Marcel L had a 230 in that game. Also the second game went lost, 521 against 559 from a team that was simply better.. we didn't get enough strikes. After that a terrible game with a 455 total and my shitty 157 being the highest of the team. Of course we lost that one, but the margin was surprisingly small. Game 4 and finally the first win with a 485 total, dragged the points towards us by having a 210 with a bunch of strikes in a row. The difference with our opponent was only 12 pins. 5th game was another victory with a decent 526 over a 501, all players in the 170's. Got hungry, lost my concentration a bit and decided to stay out for the last game, in which my teammates scored an excellent 619 (218 for Marcel D, 215 for Thijs) and grabbed the max 6 points. Ended with 12 points in total and in 5th place. The gap with the leading teams is quite big, but we think were not the weakest team out there and there are chances to improve. Bowling-wise i used the same method as last thursday at Krimpen, playing 2nd arrow stroke with the Double Agent for two games, followed by a switch to the Special Agent and inner line curve-balls for the other two. Had a 182 average over 4 games. Really enjoyed being back in the National Competition and we all agreed on that.
Thursday, October 20, 2011.
Interesting night, a long one due to a number of tech breakdowns.. we weren't even halfway our 5-game match when all others were already finished. In the end we got a 10-2 victory over the nr. 1 team and that was a welcome one to keep the competition alive.. the top 4 (were are on 4 now) are within 6 points of each other. Bowling was a matter of patience and attitude today, but i have to admit our opponents had very little luck in their pinfall aswell. Lanes were the usual thursday conditions, long with quite sharp break point and a little carry-down appearing after about two games. Had a go with the Double Agent during warm up and kept using it for the first two games, it felt comfy and worked quite well playing it straight up just inside 2nd arrow. Switched to the Special and inner line curves to get a bit more hitting power at the time the pattern started to break down a bit. My bowling still felt a little off every now and then, but got away with it and was quite happy with a 936 total, 187 average and a 211 in the 4th game.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011.
Squeezed a lot of oil out of the Passion and the Double Agent by using the oven-trick.. it's a no-go according to every bowling-forum to do so, but my hot-air oven is capable of keeping the balls at a constant temperature of max 40C and i did the warming up and cooling down very slowly and gently. Baked them for about an hour, wiped and rotated them every 10 minutes, used agressive cleaner after the last shift. Their surfaces feel really tacky again and i'm looking forward to another try-out with both of them.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011.
Had a headache all day but decided to go bowling, just to get away from work-related stress. Didn't expect a lot from this night anyway and it turned out to be a night with ups and downs. Difficult lanes, long pattern with carry down that got worse as our opponents were a team of new guys playing with plastic balls right through the (already oily) middle. Needed the first game to get into the groove after being on holiday for a few weeks and a heavy dose of painkillers an hour before the start of the game. The second game on lane 2 was a different story, couldn't find a line and there was hardly any break at all on the back-end.. really hate those conditions and it was shooting spares all the way to get a 164 score. Lane 1 was more lively and found a line playing straight up around second arrow at very modest speed to give the ball (Special Agent again) a chance to do something. Scored a 197, planned for another decent one but the back-end on the other lane was so greasy that even the Special Agent couldn't plow through the mess. Being off with the spares and out of luck led to a shitty 122, followed by a 202 in the last game to recover somewhat. Ups and downs indeed. Teammate Thijs was doing well, playing a tight line on the inside, but ran into carry-down issues in the last two games aswell. Despite that he still got a 967 series while i ended up with 834, 166 average only, but we won, had a good time and my headache is gone.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011.
What a difference a night makes. After last thursday the plan was to keep it simple today and try to get a 180 average. First game still off on timing and approach, but kept my body straight up and during the night slowly my balance came back and so the precision in movement and release. Lane conditions similar to last thursday altough the pattern was a bit broken down due to earlier league play. Lane 5 had more carry down but was also more predictable than lane 6. Started out playing straight up over 2nd arrow, switched to inner line curves over 3rd in the beginning of the third game, while my teammate Thijs (using a Storm Reign Supreme with a lot more lenght) did exactly the opposite. 12-0 win over my thursday teammate's team. Scores were 162, 222, 201, 162, 236, making a 981 total, 196 average and that's a lot more than expected on beforehand.
Thursday, September 22, 2011.
Every season there are a couple of nights that you're bowling is completely off and tonight was one of those nights. Kept all five games struggling with timing issues in my approach (very restless and way too fast) which resulted in shots going all over the place. Was somehow able to minimize the damage in most games but couldn't avoid a horrible 114 in the 2nd. 836 total score, 167 average. On top of that we lost 12-0 where we could have snatched 4 points at least. Bummer. On a positive note: The lanes were quite good, long pattern, but nice dry backends and clean decks for a change. In those conditions the Cell worked really well, was able to repeat the high revs release, but that worked best in combintion with high ballspeeds. Also my teammate Koos did well and kept his cool despite opponent bully-talk. Really unfortunate i had such an off-night.
Sunday, September 18, 2011.
Did a few practice games with M at the new Atoll bowling near the Feyenoord-stadium. Was pleasantly surprised with the lanes as this alley is only used for recreational bowling. Fairly long pattern with a lot of carry down and pins sliding all over the place, but there was a pattern for sure and it made me curious to these lanes when they are fresh. Took out the Cell and the Double Agent for some testing and learned a lot again. Scored a 216 with the Double in the first game, switched to the Cell, started making adjustments to my hand position on release and at some point found a way to play it with a serious amount of revs. Hope i can reproduce that again later altough i'm not sure if i can pull that off with a 15 lbs ball aswell. M was happy trying her AMF for the first time and felt quite at ease with the fingertip grip. We both had a good time out there.
Friday, September 16, 2011.
Just read the news that CB died on september 8. Sad news and sincerely hope he will rest in peace.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011.
The tuesday at Krimpen is changed into a double league aswell for this season but already it's clear that the thursday-league is much more competitive. Lanes 1 and 2 both oily as hell. Pretty much the same long pattern as last thursday, but far from fresh and more volume in the middle this time. Very difficult and got quite grumpy about it in the first game, realising it's going to be a long and hard season if it stays this way. Tried the Double Agent for a few frames but it didn't stand a chance on these amounts of oil, only the Special Agent showed some hook and energy on impact. Scores were so-so all night long, had to switch lines after every 4 frames or so to avoid my own carry down. After 4 games the Special Agent felt so oily that i was forced to use the Hammer in the last game. 886 total, 177 average and that took a lot of patience and energy.
Thursday, September 8, 2011.
First night of the thursday double-league at Krimpen. Long and quite a flat pattern. Outsides pretty oily but the usual flood in the middle wasn't there this time. Tricky conditions as the breakpoint was rather sharp and only a few feet away from the pins. Again the first game was a nightmare for the same reason as last sunday.. couldn't get into the groove with my moves and had a 139 as a result this time. After that a decent 182 game on the other lane, straight up over 2nd with the Hammer worked ok but noticed there wasn't a lot of room for error in aim and speed. Back on lane 3 the 3rd game was a constant search for a usable line, tried out several options with no result.. got unpredictable reactions off the break-point with both the Hammer and the Special Agent. The Special did really well on the other lane, was able to play my favourite long curve-balls over the inner lines and got a solid 225. The last game was again on lane 3, decided to move five boards left and keep the Special in the oil until the very last moment.. then a sharp left turn and a smash into the pocket. Got some great hits that way, scored a 213 and wondered why i didn't come up with that two games earlier. 8-4 win, 916 total, 183 average and was the only player to get into the 900's. Need to work on that first game though.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011.
Did a few practice games with Yoc at Krimpen. Again the lanes were soaked but the pin action was a bit more lively. On purpose i brought the Passion and the Hammer, along with the Avenger again for spares. The Passion didn't do much and is a bit too heavy, thinking of selling it again before it ruins my elbow. Got back some confidence in the Hammer tonight. Yoc (with a Hammer Swagga, same weight block) and i played the same line, shoveling it from the outside into the pocket, paving the road for each other. As soon as there was just a little hook, my Hammer delivered a whole bunch of really good strikes, while Yoc's Swagga became more snappy and harder to control. Interesting indeed and looking forward to the first league night.
Monday, September 5, 2011.
Played the "Day Of Champions" tournament in Tilburg yesterday, got nowhere near the finals but learned a lot and had a good time. For the tournament they used the Kegel "Abbey Road" 40 foot challenge-pattern. The alley was hot and so humid that during warm up and the first game the balls came back really damp en wet after each throw. Very fast transitioning lanes indeed. Damp en wet during warm up and the first game, with pins sliding like crazy. Half way the first game carry down already started developing and it was hard for strokers like me to find some usable lines. Crankers just used the outer lines and were doing ok. Backends started drying out again during the third game and what was left for the rest of the games was a decent and fresh looking 40 foot pattern with several options and nice dry back ends.
Unfortunately my bowling was way off during warm up and the first game, was struggling with the lenght and speed of my approach, couldn't deal with the carry down and had a shitty 137 score. Used both the Hammer and the Special Agent but as soon as the carry down appeared the Hammer became useless once again. Second game was somewhat better but still so-so and decided (nothing to loose anymore) to switch to the Passion in the 3rd. The Passion is acting totally different from what i expected from this ball. Instead of a massive hook it's quite a gently arcing ball that rolls really easily and, if aimed correctly, slams into the pins with a lot of force. It felt like throwing my dad's old Thunderbolt and on impact it sounds like a bucket filled with bricks. Had a decent game though and noticed the back ends were drying out, so switched back to the Special Agent. Quickly found a line into the pocket playing straight up just outside second arrow and scored a 245. After that was a switch to a pair of lanes on the other side of the alley with significantly drier and more snappy back ends. Moved five boards inward, started playing inner line long curves with the Special Agent and felt really comfortable. Had two more decent games, ending up with a 1115 total and a 185 average. Could have been a lot more but i don't feel bad about it at all.
Friday, September 2, 2011.
The weapons for sunday will be: Special Agent, Hammer, Avenger, Passion, White Dot. Opted for the Passion above the Cell out of curiosity, but that means i'm screwed if they lay down a really short pattern.
Thursday, September 1, 2011.
All the new equipment arrived in the last two days, M is happy with her old AMF and, altough fingertip drilled, it fits her hand better than expected. Same story with the Passion which might just need new finger inserts and a layer of tape in the thumb-hole. The Quake got drilled today and decided to buy a Columbia White Dot, quite an ugly one but it was the only one around the shop with the desired weight of 14,5 lbs. Went to Erik D for the drilling job as CeeBee's shop is closed (and won't re-open) due to CB's illness.
Did some bowling with Thijs after the annual club members meeting, tried out the 3 newcomers but the lanes were soaked and not very representative.. hope things will improve next week. The Quake indeed had the tendency to go smooth and early, the Passion didn't do much at all (ehh.. huh?) and the White Dot was actually scary.. got so used to have some hook with the Avenger that it feels hard to adept to straight lines for the right hand side leftovers. Not sure what to take with me to Tilburg next sunday, the only certain one is the Special Agent.
May the force be with you CeeBee!
Monday, August 29, 2011.
Snatched 3 balls from a local eBay-ish site. The first one is a brand new and undrilled purple Columbia Quake, a solid reactive with a symmetrical core, made around 1996. So old that there's hardly any information about this one out on the web. It will probably be drilled pin down as i need something that will hook smooth and early. The second is a used Storm Paradigm Passion and pronouncing the name takes longer than getting it down the lane. Anyway, it's from the same era as the Special Agent that i really like. This one should perform well in heavy oil conditions and it will be drilled as most of my others, pin up and slightly off to the right. Hope it's more versatile and less sensitive to ball speed and lane conditions than the Hammer. The third is a true classic.. late 1970's solid rubber AMF Strikeline in black, 13 lbs and my girlfriend's name is already engraved in it.
Monday, August 8, 2011.
An e-mail from the Dutch Bowling Federation revealed our poule/pool for the upcoming National Competition-season. The group contains teams from all over the place, with our home base Krimpen roughly in the middle. Leiden ZW, Scheveningen, Schiedam W, Krimpen, Tilburg, Oosterhout and, last but not least, Zetten.. that's somewhere in the far east. Back on the road indeed!
Saturday, August 6, 2011.
Was after a second hand 15 lbs Dark Star (by Roto Grip) but the thing cracked right before the previous owner was packing it. Bummer, as i got curious about that one.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011.
Got in the mood for bowling after being mentally exhausted from work last week, also with idea of the "Day Of Champions" tournament coming up early september. Went over to Chandra Schiedam with Thijs and we took it out on the pins for a while. Lane 14 playable but not easy, fairly long (40 foot approx) pattern with significantly more oil (and longer) in the middle. Balls did arc willingly into the pocket but struggled to really "get in there" due to the amount of oil in the center part. Played both the Hammer and the Storm. The Hammer needed precision and worked best on a stroker-style line just outside 2nd arrow, at moderate speed. The Storm performed better midlane, left more room for error and worked best when playing long wide curves from the inside out in between 2nd and 3rd arrow, causing a better angle into the pocket and a more energetic impact into the pins. Saw many ringing 10's with both however and missed a whole bunch of them. After a tech breakdown we moved to lane 16 which was a different story.. short pattern, pretty dry back ends and quite a challenge to even make it into the pocket.. the Cell got some unexpected action out there and worked ok-ish, but at that point my consistancy was gone already. Had great fun tonight.