I got a chance to use my new Alpha Jackal on Saturday. Although I didn't intend to use it, I still put it in a bag and took it with me, "just in case". We were bowling a Club match at one, then heading to Travis AFB for the monthly No-Tap tournament which is usually on a flatter or sport pattern.
I bowl in a club(for lack of a better description) that is known in this area as "Match Club". As far as I know, it's only in No California, No Nevada and So Oregon with Oregon and Nevada having perhaps 5 clubs between the two states.
Saturday our club was bowling the club from EA Dublin Bowl. This house has a somewhat lower scoring shot traditionally and has the Brunswick Pro Anvil lanes, so the pattern generally plays longer than most other houses in this area. There is also a PBA league on Friday nights, and our match Saturday was on the same lanes that has the PBA league.
I started the day using the Forge Fire, which squirted 60 feet straight out the back. So I moved out, same thing, moved in, same thing. Changed ball speeds, still not even a wrinkle. Changed to a Venom Cobra with a 1500 surface and tried played a tighter line to the pocket, no dice there either. I honestly believe the house just put their regular house shot down on top of whatever was left of the PBA pattern from the night before. And it must have been Scorpion or something with similar length and volume.
Then I remembered I had the Alpha in the car, so grabbed it and man that thing is strong. It's probably not usable on a regular house shot for the average bowler. Maybe for someone very speed dominate, but even then it will be leaving a lot of flat 10 pins by the second game if they can hit the pocket. The Alpha give me a pretty good look and I finished with a couple of 200+ games after a 161 fiasco the first game.
We finished at Dublin and headed to Travis. The announced pattern was MBC Plaza, it didn't seem to be a sport pattern, but not really a house shot either. I would guess the length to be somewhere around 41/42 feet with a ratio for the right side to be 7 or 8 to one, so a bit walled up and playable. This tournament is held every 2nd Saturday at Travis Air Force base and has the following format; Two divisions, 170 and over and under 170. Bowl 3 games, cut the field in half, bowl 1 more game, cut the field in half again, then bowl one game for place money. It's a 9 pin no-tap, scratch, on a variety of patterns from somewhat easy to almost ridiculous. From month to month it can be anything, short, long, heavy oil, almost no oil etc.
I thought about starting with the Alpha, but in the same two ball bag, I had tossed the Tank Blitz when I was planning what to take. I have tried the Blitz a couple of times on the local house shots and was not impressed. I had plenty of shadow time, so I grabbed the Blitz to see what it would do. In short, it was the only ball I used all night. It read the pattern beautifully. One of those balls where I was asked by three different people about what was I throwing. I lead the field in the first round with an 817(this was a no tap) and the next closest to me was a 750 something. Second round, I had a 275 after a really bad shot in the 7th frame, but finished 2nd in the round. Money round I yanked the first shot through the face for a split, but picked it up, then had another yank for an open and finished with only 235 for 3rd place.
Other than the 5 or 6 times I got in the way during the 5 games I used it, the ball was awesome for the pattern/condition. My third game was a 300 with only two frames with a 9 count, the others were high flush "real" strikes. I did have a few 9 counts sprinkled in the mix in the other two, but would have shot a low to mid 700 for the first three games if it wasn't no tap(assuming I didn't miss the spares). I left a few ten pins, but also a 7, tripped the 4 a couple of times and even left a couple of 8's and a 9 pin.
In short, the Blitz changed my mind about it's usability. It will be going with me to more event's that are not house shots, that's for sure.
The Alpha? Maybe with a less aggressive surface or a long heavy sport shot, otherwise, I probably won't get a lot of use from it.
