stevespo wrote:
Nord, with all due respect - and I'm trying to be helpful here - what you're describing sounds impossible. I appreciate what you are doing in terms of managing equipment and complimenting your own style, but I do have a question.
If the True Motion was not enough ball, then how was it crossing over on small (1/2 board) misses left? Where was the hold? The ball was clearly capable of hooking. Wouldn't those shots have behaved like all the rest if there was insufficient friction between the cover stock and the lanes?
We've all had weeks where we are scratching our heads trying to reconcile ball motion with what we think we are seeing. Sliding on 6/7 and crossing over on small misses left sounds like a 1:1 sport or a reverse block, but the other bowlers were not having problems. So, I am thinking the condition was ok.
Lately, I've been coming back to something Eric H said recently. If my reaction seems "weird", I look at the ball and count the oil rings. If I'm not seeing (at least) 5-6 rings, then I'm too far right, or the line I'm playing is too scorched. With less porous equipment I might see 12-15. If the ball is dry, I'm in the wrong place.
The other thing I think about is advice from a coach/pro who told me he expects to have 3 boards (at the arrows) of area to get to the pocket on a THS. I think 2 is probably more realistic, but if it feels tighter than that, you're in the wrong place (feet and/or target), wrong ball, or both.
Steve
I do not take offense and appreciate all the help I can get.
Let me clarify a bit.
When I arrived at the lanes there were tons of plastic house balls on the racks and kiddy ramps were on our lanes.
I did two practice games on the adjacent pair and it was a disaster.
Zero hook. I just hunted to try and find any grab, but there was none.
My pair had the same non-reaction for me.
Normally with the TM I can stand with right foot on 11 1/2 and roll easy up 7 and the ball will sweep in no problem.
But on these lanes nothing on the right side would hook.
The ball would just go straight and washout, or leave a 5-7 or 8-10 or 4-5-7 on pocket hits.
I could see the TM could not roll.
But I noticed that if I tried to make spares in the middle of the lane, throwing through the oil, that when the ball hit the middle back of the lane, it would grab really hard and miss the spare left.
This gave me the idea, which seemed absurd since the ball was not grabbing the lane in the normally drier areas, that maybe there was still some dry patch back there.
So I stood way right and went down and in up 10 board.
I had to keep the ball speed really slow, even for me.
But, if I hit the line flawlessly then the ball would float through the oil, never moving and then as soon as it got past the 2/3 mark it would start to grab and then roll and if it hit high flush it was a perfect packed strike.
But, if I missed even a 1/4 board right it would never hook at all, or if I threw even .30 mph faster it would not hook, or if I missed inside by only 1/2 board it would go Brooklyn.
This was what really happened.
I think it all was the result of a super weak coverstock that had become lane shined and the axis drill preventing the ball from flaring or having any dynamics.
Also I am certain the lanes were messed up and carried down by all the parties from earlier.
And having super low revs also made it bad.
The other bowlers were using very strong reactive gear and had much higher revs.
My partner around 300 rpms and the others even higher rev rates.
But, if they got the ball right, they would washout too and if they missed inside it would crossover too.
There were a lot of splits and washouts from all players, I was not the only one.
But my partner was able to go up second arrow like I was and his Code Red would hold the line and then just tuck in at the last second and blast the pins apart.
He was actually standing 5 boards further right than me!
In my opinion, my ball was far, far too weak and did not perform as it has on these lanes for the last month.
It was like bowling with a spare ball on a high volume house shot.
That is what I was faced with.
Now, if I had my Purple Hammer, or Widow, or Scorcher I would have had plenty of hook and likely be forced inside.
But the True Motion is not a lot of ball especially with an Axis drill.
It is actually weaker than my Grizz.
It is just not enough ball for a high volume house shot.
When I got home I cleaned it and dropped the grit down to 500.