Nord House Shot report:
Tonight I bowled at Surf Bowl.
As I arrived and sat down to get my gear together the oil man came up to me.
He looked at me and said:
"Steve, you're not going to like this, we changed the oil pattern. Last week in the scratch league there were three 300 games bowled. The shot has simply been too easy. We have decided we need to make it harder. Here is what we did. We have increased the length of the pattern by an additional foot and we have increased the volume. This means that left and right of the second arrows will have more oil and not be as blocked. It seems to have worked, because the high rev players in the scratch league last night had much lower scores and had to work for it now. I am not sure what it will do for you and your league, you will have to let me know."
I then told him: "Up till now the shot you have put down here has actually been hard for me. It was very over/under for me. If I missed right the ball would overhook and if I missed inside it just wouldn't roll. I had a very small area of the lane to play in."
He replied: "I noticed that with myself as well. I throw a Pitch Black and I had to be pretty perfect with it. But last night in the scratch league I was able to roll right up 15 and it would hold and break to 17 1/2 and strike like crazy. Try this pattern and let me know what you think."
So I warmed up with 3 different balls, the Arsenal Angular Particle reactive, my True Motion Leverage at 2000 grit and my Purple Hammer also at 2000 grit.
I was working tonight on trying to get my left arm out with thumb down like MegaMav wanted and a longer pushaway, then letting the ball come down freely, which produced a higher backswing, and then letting the arm come forward freely, and then follow through higher and not cut it off at the bottom.
The reaction on the lanes was way, way differnt than before.
The lanes were playing like the sport shots I had bowled on before.
The balls were getting great length and then grabbing nicely once they left the pattern.
As at Parkway Bowl on Monday, the Purple had the best look.
I started the first game.
My line was down and in up second arrow.
My right foot on 11 1/2.
If I laid it down correctly the ball would float up 10 and then grab and roll hard, but not jump, or go high.
But holding my arm out like that was, as before, really affecting my balance and accuracy.
Normally I don't pull the ball left, but now I was really pulling it on almost every shot.
The arm being out like that was overbalancing me to the left and pulling me over.
I worked with it, trying to stay balanced for the whole first game, but accuracy was impacted and I closed with a 176 and a few opens.
But, on the good side, my pushway was longer, my backswing higher, my follow through longer and this did produce greater projection down the lane and much higher ball speed.
My speed was up 2 mph at the pins!
So not a total loss.
In game two I stopped putting the arm out and suddenly I had excellent balance and even better projection and ball speed.
I was now hitting my line perfectly and the Purple would get right up the board and turn smoothly and smash the pocket hard!
After 6 amazing frames I walked over to my doubles partner from Parkway who bowls in this league as well and told him, "It's too easy a pattern. I just have to hit my target and it is almost a strike every time. I have a board of miss room on either side of 10 and I can still strike most of the time."
This pattern was playing almost exactly like the flat patterns I bowled on before.
I could just lay the ball in there and it would stay straight and then roll up.
After the second game, the same held true in the third game.
This was a stroker's dream pattern.
The end result?
I bowled a new personal high series, a 648!
I had 17 total strikes and blew my Nord 300 away!
If I had not played with my arm out in the first game I might have had an even higher series.
I never had to move an inch with either my target or my feet.
The Purple never lost any hitting power.
My teammates also bowled out of their minds and we set new records for our league in all team categories.
Whatever they did to the pattern that hurt the high rev swingers, sure helped the low rev down and in players.
My doubles partner down on another pair bowled a 279!
I have never been more confident that I would be rewarded by a good shot.
I owe it to the help I have received here.
I got a bigger longer swing that has more ball speed and projects further and gets a better roll on the ball.
And, the most important part, it did not hurt me, it actually was much less effort than the knuckle curl.
Thank you all for your advice and help!
I think I am making progress finally.
I also learned, that at least for the down and in shot, a low flare ball that is gentle on the backend is the best kind of ball for me to use.
I did try my True Motion with high flare layout and even though it has a weaker coverstock than the Purple, it was more jumpy in the back.
Same was true of the Arsenal Angular, too much jump.
My Purple all night came back with only one oil stripe on it, it simply was not flaring.
And this seemed to be perfect for my up 10 shot.
Here is my score sheet from tonight:
2018-06-07_All Time High Series with Purple Hammer.jpg
And here is my Nord 300 counter and my high series ball:
High Series_17 Strikes.JPG
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