Last night was the first time in a long while I actually went to the centre to practice. The “other†men’s league was bowling and a small ladies league too. Heck most of them I knew in both leagues. It was kind of funny the looks that both I and my bowling buddy got when we walked in. We even had a few from the other league walk down and ask us what we were doing. We told them we were going to work on a few things.
Anyway, I only took my plastic ball and my benchmark ball. I placed a one inch piece of tape on my PAP so we could tell how I was releasing it. Then the laneman walked by and said “They might be dry.†Nope, far from it, there was a lot of carrydown and slick outsides. Something we don’t see much since we bowl on a THS.
I found out that by not even trying I am releasing at a 45 degree angle. That was a little surprising to me. I thought I “had†to turn the ball to get it that way. It felt like I was “behind†the ball but the tape showed a 45 degree initial release.
Then I told my buddy to see if I could do a 90 degree release. It too was easy and is something I use when I swing the ball. The best I could do on a zero degree release was about 10 degrees.
I was throwing my plastic ball hard at the single pins leaves and on one occasion I bounced out a 10 pin and it hit the sweeper arm. Then a few frames later I left the 7-10 spilt. I laughed and told my partner I was up for the challenge. I threw at the 10 pin again and it came right out onto the lane, hit the sweeper gate as it was coming down and ricocheted into the 7!!!!! That was the first time I’ve ever picked that up.
So all in all I had a great night of practice. We didn’t pay attention to the scores and we both left there “ready†for bowling tonight.
