I thought I'd share my PBA league experience on the Cheetah pattern. I bowl every other week in the league. The league is putting down each pattern for 3 weeks. The last week we bowl on the pattern the league averages the best on. After league every week the top 5 series have a stepladder rolloff for points. High points for the year wins $250.

Where: Plaza Lanes, Des Moines Iowa
Lanes: Synthetic. I believe they're first generation AMF or Brunswick synthetic lanes so they're old but the house is known for good carry.

Pattern: Cheetah

Observations:
This shot plays out by the gutter. Your breakpoint should be somewhere out on the first 3 boards on the lane to start, regardless of if you're a cranker, tweener or stroker. It might be possible to move the breakpoint in to 5 or 6 board towards the end of a set based on what I saw others doing. My breakpoint was never inside of 4 board all night and I played a direct line not trying to cover a lot of boards. Since this pattern is short the backends were flying and you had to keep your ball speed up to keep it from overreacting. Throw hard and straight at spares otherwise the ball will move off target. The Cheetah changed fast, about every 5 frames for me. If you come up light on a shot move right, they've carried down. If you leave a 4-pin or split move left, they're starting to hook. Trust what the ball is doing on the lane and adjust accordingly, even if it wasn't a perfect shot.

Results:
231-188-214=633
I was the 5th high series and qualified for the stepladder and shot a 221 for an 856 4 game total for the night.
4 opens total, 2 missed 2-8's, 2 splits, one clean game. Since I missed the first week of bowling this is the only time I'll bowl on the Cheetah.

For those who like more details about the equipment used and lane play read on. If you don't care you can stop here. If you're a Midwest PBA player you might enjoy reading about Game 4 and who I was bowling - please please please just don't flip him too much crap. He might FRY and kill me! For the balls I mention below see my profile for the specs.

Game 1 - Threw my green pin Brunswick Zone Classic the entire game throwing my normal ball speed(mid-17's). The first 5 frames I stood at 14 and played 3 board out to 1 board at the break point around 35-37'. This worked great, the ball read the mid-lane and then layed off on the backend. Started 9/ X X 9/. In the 5th I left a 1-2-10 and covered it. The next frame I left a 2-8 and chopped the 2 off the 8. This is a very hard spare on this condition. Decided the lanes had already carried down so I moved 1 board right with my feet and played straight up 3 board. Threw the next 5 in a row and left another 2-8 in the 12th for a 231.

Game 2 - Threw the Zone Classic the entire game. Started with a turkey then left a 4-6-7 for an open. Moved my feet and line 1 board right, increased my ball speed and started playing straight up 2 board. Had a couple of strikes and spares heading into the 10th and a chance at a small 200. In the 10th I hit my mark but didn't throw the ball well. It came up light for a 2-8. Chopped the 2 pin off the 8 again with the ball running away from the 2 pin for a 188. Did I mention this spare is impossible on this condition?

Game 3 - Threw the Classic and left a really weak 10 pin. I moved my feet 2 boards left and my mark 1 board left playing striaght up 3 board - same line as frames 6-10 in game 1. Went high through the nose but got lucky and left a 10 pin. Switched to my Brunswick Power Groove. This ball hooks earlier than the Zone Classic but with less backend. I also increased the ball speed, and moved my line left - standing 18 playing 7 board to 4 at the break point. Went 10 pin, 4 bagger, split. Switched to my Roto Grip Sonic Boom playing the same line and went 4-pin, strike, 10-pin for 214 and a 633 series.

I managed to qualify 5th for the after league stepladder. At this point it's important that I mention this is a handicap league. 80% of 210 with a max of 32 pins. This comes into play later...

Game 4 - After a couple shots of practice I switched to my Storm Spit Fire, increased my ball speed and stood at 16 playing 4 board to 1 with the break point at 40'. This ball might have been a good choice towards the end of game 2 or beginning of game 3 but I thought it would have too much backend on this pattern. I was wrong. This was the only game I never had to move. My opponent is a friend who finished in the top 5 in points in the PBA Midwest region last year, was 4th in the USBC singles event at Corpus Christi last year and has a reginal title. Since this was my first week of league and I averaged 211 I got no handicap. I HAD TO GIVE A PBA REGIONAL CHAMPION 11 PINS OF HANDICAP FOR THIS MATCH, LOL. We had a good laugh about that. I had my work cut out for me to say the least... He started with 5 out of 6 and I went 10 pin, 10 pin, 4 pin, turkey. So I'm behind by 20-30 pins. He started stuggling with his shots going high but spared frames 7-9. I left a 3-10, covered it and doubled. I needed to punch the 10th and hope for the best. I threw a double and then threw it through the break point and left a 2-4-10 for a 221. He got up and the ball just went left leaving a 3-6-10. He missed the 3 pin and covered the 6-10 for an open and a 210 game + 11 handicap = 221. A TIE?! I flipped him some crap about needing all that handicap. We went to a sudden death 1 frame rolloff. He made the most of it and threw a great shot for a strike. I did what I wanted to but left a 10 pin to lose. That's why he's the pro and I'm not, he made the most of a second chance and I was just short. He went on to run the rest of the field and win.

Overall I had fun and it was a great experince. The next pattern I'll bowl on is the Chamelion in 2 weeks.

I hope you found this review helpful. For all those trying a PBA league this summer good luck, learn all you can and have fun.

Al

Edited on 5/4/2007 4:23 PM