Well to be very honest I stunk up the joint. My first event was the team at 2;30 in the afternoon on the just ran fresh lanes, on the high end, 57-58. In practice, ya get ten minutes, I tried 3 or 4 different shots and none worked. I tried up 9-10, and the ball went straight, I tried to swing the 3d arrow and one would hook and would miss the head pin, I went in to 23 and tried to slow hook the ball and that was over/under also. I finally opted for between the 3rd and 4th arrow just trying to hit the pocket. I took 3 balls, 2 Au79s and a Thing, I ended up using a Au79 drilled 1 1/2 x 4 1/2 for control. My team games were 174-169-182.
I missed 2 spares, a ten pin in the ditch, and a 4-7 to the right, in the 3 games I had 6 splits. Anything that went right stayed to the right, and if I let up on the speed the slightest pinch the ball went right in the nose. That was one of the toughest shots I've seen in a long time.
In singles/doubles we bowled senond shift, 21-24, so I didn't have to face the fresh again. There was a very small area that I found around 20 to about 14 that I could get the ball to hit the pocket. Games were better, but carry was terrible, in doubles I had 220-189-211 for 620,..still had a few splits and carry wasn't to good, and anything to the right of what little track there was,..was out of bounds. In singles more of the same, 201-206 and a stellar 171 with 2 greek churches in the last 2 frames. In hind-sight I would have liked to have taken some mid-lane arcing balls with a good dull surface. A Vendetta Pearl Particle or regular Vendetta Particle, a Black Vendetta with dullish finish, or a Thing/Anomaly with a weaker drilling and a dull surface. The balls I took were to skid/flippy and way too strong on the backs to give me a constant break point. My bad in ball selections.
Believe it or not, I broke exactlly even in the brackets,...I took a bath in the team brackets, and actually won back what I donated in the singles and doubles...My partner and I did manage to shoot 1266 in doubles which will probably cash,...he was a young boomer that played 25 the whole time and shot about 1340,..with a couple of big games. Sorry i ain't got that shot in my game,..but he made it work pretty well. In summary I think there's a couple things that make for scoring at Nationals,...having the right ball that will read the lane and not over react,...I think the lower end scores better for righties and that's another story,..and following good bowlers is a big plus, as they can create an area for you to play....I had a lot of fun, and learned a bunch. JIM
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