Ok I need to get this one off my chest....

Last night I start in practice find the line and ball that was working best.  First game start with blower 7-10 then 10 pin flagged..Ok my fault no harm there.  Throw a double then the fun begins...10 pin,9 pin, 10 pin, change to TFpearl 10 pin, change to RG Neptune 10 pin, go back to TF solid double in 10th then 10 pin.  Thats 6 10 pins a 9 pin and a blower 7-10 and did not miss that badly on any of them.  Ok game 2 using TF solid again.  4 bagger then 10 pin,  over reaction split switch to Neptune double, 7 pin, 10 pin, fishish in the 230's.  last game neptune over reacting leaving 4 splits after moving 10 boards left all thru the nose.  I wish I knew how to throw the rock well again.  Finish the night with 607 that was only 70 under average from last year.  after 5 weeks I am down 18 pins in one league and 25 in another.  I am starting to wonder if I have fially gone over the hill (age 42) and starting the downward slide.....
Thanks to BR for giving me a place to get this off my chest.  Most people I bowl with dont understand why I am so frustrated with my self right now.  I refuse to blame anything other than me for my poor bowling right now.

On Saturday nights, we have a really bad wet/dry shot, and it's in a house where the 10 pin likes to stand anyway.  I tried changing lines, changing balls, varying my speed, and I kept leaving ringing 10 pins the other night.  5 out of my first 7 pocket shots were ringing 10s, and that's with three totally different ways of getting to the pocket.  Finally I tried changing my release and used less axis rotation to get the ball to pick up sooner, threw the next six in a row.  (Of course, ignore the fact that I TOTALLY lost the pocket after this because I started to pull the ball left every single time, I was trying to throw it too hard and didn't get it fixed until last night!)

If you are leaving a ton of corner pins that you used to not leave, something has changed in your release.  It's probably something minor, but you probably picked up a bad habit somewhere along the way.  Pay close attention to how it feels coming off your hand and what it looks like rolling down the lane.

Thanks guys for the support.  I am going to work with a local coach this afternoon a little and make sure nothing has changed since last year that I am not seeing. Yes I did bowl this summer on a PBAX league as I have the last 3 summers.  I can usally make the adjustment back to THS after a couple of weeks.  As far as the release thing that is where I am going to focus the work this afternoon.  I am sure I am doing something diffrent just cant find it right now and dont want to go crazy making adjustments that are either wrong or incorrect or will make things worse.

Nope not new pins those come in January...I will admitt the pattern is playing diffrent then previous but I consider my self a good enough bowler to be able to make those adjustments.  Just in a big slump.  Worked for an hour this afternoon with the local coach and he says there is nothing major wrong.  He wants me try the basics of changing the entry angle a little.  Stuff i have been trying without success.  I did shoot one game after practice and shot a 235 so maybe with another practice before league tonight I can start to come out of this slump.

Your right Lane and I went back to practice again yesterday and after about 25 practice shots and tweaking my approach in steps 1 and 2 I shot at nice little 650 with a couple of missed 10 pins.  

Well last night I shoot 231 game 1 everything felt great and I thought I sould shoot a good 600 and be very happy.  Well then it happened again 182 182.  This time I at least knew it wasn't anyting I was doing wrong.  While I was bowling against some good bowlers and very respected in the area they agreed with me that the lanes were just fried.  No joke here all of us were throwing plastic spare balls in game 3 and they were hooking inside of 10 as soon as they got past the arrows.  We went to the managament after bowling and talked to the manager about the situation.  She finally admitted that they were short oiling lately because "of all the stops" they have been having.  After a little rant and rave from the group of us we explained to her that the cause of the stops is not the oil getting into the machines it is becasue of the fact that the pins need replaced, which is due to happen in Jan.  She agreed to talk to the mechanic and see what can be done about the condition.  We told her all she had to do was add a little more volume and about 2 feet in lenght.  This would not have any effect on oil getting on the pin decks or in the setters.  Just to add this is a manager that does not bowl at all.