It's Good to be Shallow?

Lanes 15 and 16?  REALLY?  The end pair?  Are you kidding me?  Of all the starting pairs, I drew the end pair! 

Pla Mor lanes in Coldwater, Ohio is a 16 wood lane center.  While the lanes are immaculate, after years of use, lane topography issues are bound to occur.  In this particular center the last pair plays nothing like the rest of the center.  While that is frustrating and a unique hurdle in a tournament, it is particularly difficult when it is your starting pair.  Essentially, you get 15 minutes of practice prior to the tournament beginning and, for me; it was going to be on a pair that would tell me nothing about the tournament pattern.

On the starting pair I had an excellent look with my strongest Raptor.  The ball was set to 1000 grit by hand with a 55 x 4 x 45 and a P2 hole.  This ball has been too early and strong for any pattern it has encountered.  However, for the ultra tight end pair, it was ideal.  My first game score as a solid 215 playing 8 to 5.

However, even with a substantial move on my first shot in the second game, I went Broooklyn on lane one.  UNBELIEVEABLE!!!  Thank goodness I got some pins on the last pair, because it looks like I am going to need them.  The danger on these patterns comes with changing zones.  When you move your feet and ball path more than one or two boards you encounter an entirely new aspect of the pattern.  This pair forced me to jump two zones and ten boards to the middle of the lane.  The result was the best 211 game I have EVER thrown. 

Game three was more of the same.  My ball wanted to read early and lay off down lane.  Instead of thinking critically and changing balls I just told myself that the pattern was hard and made spares for a 180 game.  This was, ultimately, a terrible decision.   

No matter what you are bowling on, if you throw a shot 70% or better, it should get 9 or at least leave a makeable 8 count.  The point on a sport shot is not to throw a ton of strikes.  LEAVE MAKEABLE SPARES!!! The difference between a good bowler and a great bowler is the ability to leave makeable spares on difficult patterns.

I was not following this rule during games two and three and my coach, Jeff Anderson, called me on it.   As always, he told me to shell down, simplify, and figure out how to play shallow angles.  Look at the best players on tour; the guys who knock them down year after year.  What do they have in common?  They play shallow angles almost all of the time. 

As a result, I took out a pin up Sigma Tour with a 1000 grit surface and went back to the exact zone that I played on the first pair.  At least I knew that this was a playable zone of the lane.  It turned out that this was the right move.  While I did not knock them down at a scorching pace, every game was over 190 for the final 5 games.  I averaged 210 for the final five and led the squad. 

Though it was a grind, I was happy to know that I would be bowling on Sunday.  Bowling on Sundays is an absolute blast.