Tuesday night in my mixed league, the lanes were anything but typical. The center I bowl in never strips the back ends so there is always massive carrydown there, and they usually flood the middle and oil it long. Lately though , the past 2 months or so the part of the lane that I prefer to play(as a lefty) has been really dry. Earlier in the year I could stand asywhere from the 2nd dot on the left to the first dot, and aim the ball anywhere from the 1st arrow to between the 1 - 2nd arrow on the left with my more aggressive equipment and hit the pocket pretty good(my Roto grip MTX, or my Visionary Midnight scorcher(polished up) ) . The past 2 months that area has been really dry, so that my agressive equipment, and even my medium stuff has been too much to allow me to play that part of the lane they way I prefer. I don't swing the ball, I am a down and in type player, and don't generate enough natural recovery with my style to play deep, or to swing the ball, so for the past couple of months I have been somewhat "stuck" on the dry edge of the lane with my green blue centaur  with fairly good results....but nothing could have prepared me for this past tuesday night.........

 With 3 weeks to go in our fall season they really did a job on the lanes when they oiled them....I felt like I was bowling in one of my tough reverse block tournament patterns, only without the cleanbackends since this place never strips. The middle was much much drier than normal, and there was an out of bounds area on the first few boards of the lane. My green blue wasn't effective bewteen the edge and the 1st arrow as I have been doing because when I missed left , no recovery. I guess I could have tried moving a little bit more inside with that ball , but didnt think of that until after the set was over. I ended up using my tournament ball--luckily I bought it with me that night just in case--an amb particle drilled agressive and played straight up the out of bounds area. Didn't bowl great, but I did end up in the 570's for the series so I guess I made the best of it.

 For everyone that keeps asking for a tougher league shot..be careful what you wish for

Brad