I'm going to steal CrownedPrince's idea, and rant about my PBAX experiences.  

This week was our 3rd and final week of Cheetah.  The first two weeks, and prior tournaments and such on this pattern, I found myself piping it right down the 5-6-7 area.  Gave me a good look.  At this house, playing there wasn't bad, it just wasn't terribly good either.  So I decided to give it a shot:  playing right up the ditch.  So I practiced a few up there, and felt a bit woozy playing so far near a cliff.  But after practice I decided to stick to my guns.  I then proceeded to throw the next 2 games worth of balls into the pocket.  I didn't carry them all, but after 2 games my lowest count was an 8.  I finished with a 183 and a 212.  Third game I kept in the same spot, but I was hitching the ball on the bottom instead of letting go:  probably turning my wrist too early.  I struggled to pump out a 150 on the nose.  Last year on Cheetah I averaged about a 160, this year around a 175.  So I'm definitely heading in the right direction.  Same happened to me on Chameleon, but it was more like 170 vs. 180.  Spares are so clutch on this stuff.

Has anybody noticed just how different the Cheetah really is?  Last year I could have hooked from anywhere as long as I hit the 5 board.  This year if I tried that, gutter ball it was.  So neat.
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The Cheetah was brutal in our PBA Experience league this year.  A few good games (one of the lefties tore it up since he throws it well already, but the pattern also really matches up to his game), but a whole lot of really bad games.  It was a very over/under pattern for us.  Get it out, it's not coming back.  Move in a couple boards at the breakpoint, through the beak.  Split the difference, you have ZERO predictability.  Miss just a hair on your speed and it's a split or washout.

I'm glad we're done with the Cheetah.  The longer patterns where I can play more direct and take some of the lane out of play are right in my wheelhouse.  I bowled well on the Scorpion.  Out of eight games, 6 of them were 190 or higher.  I had a 133 and a 155 thrown in there when I just got plain lost in the 2nd game transition each night and was fighting a thumb that doesn't feel right.  My switchgrip insert was defective (only had it for two weeks before it just randomly broke and fell out in the back of the lane!), so I had to use my looser insert with a ton of tape in it until my ball driller can punch me up a new one.  He was out of town for a conference last week.

Unfortunately, we're on the Shark this week.  I've always hated that pattern.  NO hold room left, very very little miss room right.  Tons and tons of 10 pins no matter what angle I play.  Ugh...

If anybody saw the Xtra Frame of the tour trials for the Chameleon round you would have heard, I think Mitch Beasley, talking about them playing the surface rather than playing the lane.

He came into a few tournaments thinking he was bowling on AMF HPL's, or Brunswick Pro Anvilane's and got it backwards.  Didn't have any of the right equipment.  Same pattern each time, needed completely different equipment to play the lanes how they wanted to be played.

The type and wear of the surface is almost more important than the pattern applied.  


*backswing
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*...Got the 5 out clean!

To prove I'm real 270-2931 http://members.bowl.com/FindAMember/memberView.aspx?mp=270&ms=2931&s=2005-2006

I can agree with you guys about the cheetah, I remember bowling this past winter on the cheetah and anything left of 6 was gone up 5 was ok, but the real shot for us was close to the 1 and 2 board, maybe the 3 board. Basically I found taking a weaker ball maybe with some surface playing a small swing from like 10-12 out to the 2 or 3 baord worked if you could get it there consistantly. Now with the shark, I could start out at 27 out to the 10 board or 9 depending on the lane I was on then move into like 30-31 out to 9 or 10 and crush the pocket. I was using a pro cg passion, with 800 grit sanded finish and let me tell you, it HOOKED. I could get it out to the 6 board and it would come back and strike.lol.. Something that I have learned about the shark, is the if you use a early rolling ball with surface, its going to be doa at the pocket, now if you take a ball with a little more of a length and backend with some surface, it will still read the middle some what and still have a good back end to carry the 10 pin. just my thoughts about this.
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last fall, I was able to play outside of the first arrow the entire set when the Cheetah was put down.. simply becasue only one other person (righty) in my league was able to consistently play out there.  It was my favorite pattern becasue being the only person outside (and moving pairs after each game), I never had to adjust... believe I averaged 195 over the course of the fall season on it.  That being said, I'm not convinced our lane machine is capable of putting out a "true" cheetah pattern.. so I had a little more recovery/miss room that I would expect from a real cheetah

S^2
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“You can be with the guy and in his ear 24 hours a day, but at the end of the day you can’t be there the whole time.”
- Another Gem from Emmitt Smith 5-6-08

I thought the Cheetah pattern was more difficult in our PBA experience league than  in regional competition.  The PBA league was on brand new Brunswick Pro Anvil lanes.  I experienced a lot of over/reaction.  The regional pattern played more consistently.  It is also influenced a great deal by the lane surface.  The regionals I have bowled in using Cheetah were either wood or had a Guardian overlay.
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