Despite having brand new lanes this season, my home center has a high-friction surface and medium oil at best. I smoothed my Mastermind out to 3000 abralon, and it still reads way too early in that center; however, I did see some success with it at that surface at an ABT event. It's an old wood center, so they put a pretty high volume in the middle to keep things playable early. I was able to move in deep with the Mastermind and have a nice look.

I plan on taking the Mastermind with me to El Paso to be the first ball out of the bag during the team event. I haven't decided whether or not I'll keep it at 3000 or possibly bump it down to 2000. I'll be sure to report back after trying it out.

Initially, I went with my pin-down Mastermind and played 17-board. That lasted for one game.  I then switched to my pin-up Mastermind, moved right to 14-board, and played that area for the rest of the block. I was, like, among eight people out of more than 40 who bowled that night who finished over.

My mistake that night was not using enough surface.