*Warning* Novel sized question. I need some help though, I'd REALLY appreciate anyone willing to read through this and offer suggestions.
I used to have a nice clean shot when I started bowling, and as my accuracy improved, I in turn had a lot of confidence (which turned into elitist cockiness for a while), and was doing well wherever I bowled, whatever the condition. Enter the newest synthetic house in the city. It's now 6 years old, though I only started bowling there a couple years ago. Enter also, the beginning of the most frustrating time I've had with sports. I'm always above average in sports, never good enough to call myself good (though I was there for a while with bowling), but never the last person somebody would pick to have on their team by any stretch. This is the first time I've actually gotten worse at something though, and that's pretty maddening.
This house creates what I call "West Ridge Syndrome" (West Ridge Lanes, house name) in bowlers who are able to read all the small things that contribute to their shot. Here's the deal. The pattern is short to begin with, 36 feet, but they only oil to 23. The heads are pretty wet, but the mids are what kills everybody. Being that balls are now designed to rev up in the mids, that buff area REALLY messes things up. It's just about bone dry from 6-gutter, and pretty heavily oiled inside. So, can't play inside, can't play outside. The backends are flat too, but it's the loss of the ball's energy that I think contributes to most of the bad carry. You have to bounce it off the wall to get it to move hard enough to hit with any authority, and you have to project it REALLY well to get it to clear the mids in addition to having to throw it VERY cleanly.
Can't throw pearl stuff, because it's too touchy. Best luck is with polished solids, but they're often times too flat, and even polished particle is just way too much ball. Combine all that with the fact that EVERYONE plays the same track area because everyone has to. The fluffers all go straight down 8, same breakpoint (obviously, lol). The strokers are similar, but they have to give it a little room, so they're around 12 or 13 at the arrows to guess where? Yep, 8 at the breakpoint. Crankers? All over the place at the arrows, BUT what? Yes, 8 at the breakpoint.
Stuff hook/sets at this house, rarely will you find something that will turn over and move. Again, I'm guessing it's due to the ball's energy loss which is in turn due to picking up friction at 30 feet. 10 pins are VERY common at this house. I prefer to play a tighter line, such as 20-13, but can't. I used to project really well, and had about a 45-50 degree angle of rotation, and that doesn't work well here. The ball burns, burns, and burns some more and has nothing left when it gets to the pins, especially because of where I have to play for my "A" game. I don't get mixers very often, I hit the pocket, so it's either strike or flat leave.
Remedy? Come around the ball more. The problem with that is that it really wants to move earlier. So you have to keep it in the oil until it gets to 8 at 40 feet, but you also have to get it to start revving a little before it gets there so it actually turns over and hits hard, otherwise it's going to come in too late. Remedy? A little axis tilt, works pretty well, until the track starts burning, which doesn't take too long. Then enters West Ridge Syndrome. It's the unfortunate result that all these fairly major adjustments can have on someone who's not used to throwing anywhere near like that. If you don't hit up on it, it'll hit flat, so you try to hit it more. Inevitably, that slows your speed. The ball jumps. Next time, you dump it, and the results aren't pretty. Come more up the back of it to get it to go a little further? Worse, a guaranteed roll out, considering the axis tilt. Another dump. Makes projecting very hard, especially when you know that if you get it where it's supposed to theoretically come back, it'll hit flat. Remedy? Move your armswing away from your body a little. Nope, ball jumps again. By this time, you're NOT throwing the ball cleanly anymore. It's totally against everything you're used to doing, replaced by gripping it to hit up on it more, and your arm away from your body which creates a tendency to pull the ball. Remember, the outside is bone dry, get it there too quickly, bye bye.
This house, combined with my overly-aggressive subconcious control (auto-pilot's a little too smart for itself), has totally ruined my game. Nothing irritates me more than throwing a good shot and leaving a flat 10. Anywhere else, the ball would roll up. It's not the drilling, it's not the ball itself, it's very obviously the pattern at this one house. Move right, leave a 4, move left, leave a 10, hit the pocket, leave stuff you wouldn't believe. Michael Haugen Jr. came down to practice a couple years ago between the Wichita and KC stops, and he even commented on the tendency of the lanes to make the ball do something it wasn't supposed to. He was shooting 230-240 every game, but the 10's and 4's were irritating him a bit. His advice was to move right and throw harder, which worked for a while, but with my subconcious issues, it's hard to project when the wall of dry is now closer.
For those that actually read this novel, I need advice. I'm lost, and I've been lost for years now. I've practiced so much on these lanes that I know the characteristics of each pair, and can easily line someone else up. West Ridge Syndrome has affected my boss also, and we have two totally different styles. He's a control cranker, and I'm just short of a tweener. We throw the ball about the same speed, but he puts nearly twice as many revs on it as I do, and projects it better. Now we both have the same problems. Tilting the wrist, bailing out of the shot, and this forward roll/axis tilt thing, which neither of us used to have. We both used to have about a 45 degree angle of rotation and no axis tilt. Help, please.
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Hey, I am NOT Michael Jackson. I like little GIRLS, not little boys . .
Rock on kitty.
Edited on 5/6/2005 8:15 AM
