Well its august, the dog days of summer... Our PBA  league ended, I averaged 194, not to bad I guess.  A regional is coming up next weekend 16th & 17th in Milwaukee Oregon on the Chameleon pattern.  That has been my best pattern in the PBA league and in the regionals this year.

Another high spot upcoming is I have Ron Hoppe coming for a clinic.  This is very exciting and I am looking forward to see how things improve. 

Our local tournaments are upcoming for the CWO, the first one to be held in Pasco @ Go Bowl (tentatively).  I also plan on hosting a series of PBA X Tournaments.  These tournaments are for local bowlers who want that challenge & feel of  a Regional or National PBA event.   I like to think of them as a little sprint.  Format is 5 games of scratch bowling for qualifying. 1 in 3 advance.  Sport Bowling members pay $85 and non-sport members may upgrade or pay an additional $15.  Be sure to check out our website @ Sparetime Lanes - http://www.sparetime711.com/

Well I hope you all had a great summer... time to pull the gear out and tune up for the fall leagues.  Step up to the challenge and bowl a PBA Experience league.

Hope to hear or see from you soon.

To date my performance in PBA regionals has been less than spectacular. I bowled there a few years ago and well did not fare well. This tournament pattern was the Viper.

Friday practice session:

I bowled really well a few weeks ago in the PBA X league and took balls that I used in the Pasco regional as well. I hit the practice session and had a pretty decent look, the swing was nice & loose. I spent time with Steve (the Lane Dude), Chris Warren, & Ernie Schlegel during the practice session. I liked the reaction I was getting with the Agent (14lb), Roto Grip Mystic, T-Road Pearl and did not really roll anything else for the practice session. I didnt use my Pyro or Shift. I was not needed for the Pro-Am but stuck around and watched.

Saturday morning qualifying:

I chose my Pyro (scotch brite 800 - Gray pad) and had a nice look. Started the first game with a 226 & clean. Still using the Pyro I followed up with a 202 with 2 opens. 28 over after 2 and in 13th. I am pretty happy with spare shooting, the mental game was good (thanks Ernie), and the swing was very good. I figured scores would be going up the leader was 114 over after 2 and on my pair. Still using my Pyro in Game 3 a 197 (+25) ... 1 open, not plus but not a big hurt. Game 4 204 (+29) another clean game. I am dropping like a rock in the standings but do not feel like I am out of making the cut. Game 5 212 (+41) another clean game & still using my Pyro, made some great shots that did not carry. I am hoping to really get it going now still using my Pyro. Good start in Game 6.... a couple of strikes and spares, then 3 splits in a row 6,7,8 frames.... I grab my Agent and manage to salvage a 169 .... drop to +10 after 6 games.... OK mentally stay positive, I have bowled decent all day, very few opens and using the bowling math that Ernie taught me I have 6 plus games and only 1 minus game, my performance thus far has been very good and I am still feel like I can make the cut even though the cut is looking to be atleast 100 over.... Game 7 - 244 (+54) ... very nice look and got some good carry and an open frame (DOH!!!), there are a big group of guys that can go either way in making the cut, the number being around +120 after 7. One game to go... I could use a big one to finish off the day. Game 8 looked promising early but lack of carry ... I manage to shoot 192 with an open frame. The cut goes to +137. I am really happy with my bowling even though I failed to make the cut. Today's performance again gives me incentive to continue, I am planning on making the journey in August to Milwaukee OR.

July 4th.... man what a drive - 7 hours to Burley.  My son came with me and helped with the driving, we rolled in and dropped of equipement.  Found our hotel.... it was a dive, but they co-sponsored the regional.  The center was nice ... looks like an old grocery store converted nicely  into a  bowling center.  Very spacious surrondings with automatic scoring and some  Brunswick Anvil lanes synthetics.

PRACTICE SESSION - OMG... this is the Cheetah?  WoW... there is a lot of oil on the heads.  These played very different than our PBA X league.  My best look is with an Storm Agent (14lb - for added ball speed that I thought I would need) that I drilled up along with a new Storm T-Road Pearl.  The other equipment pretty much stayed in the bag. I spent some time with Chris Warren again..... the dude has a ton of knowledge and is a pretty good bowler.  8)

QUALIFYING - 176 (-24), 200 (-24), 176 (-48) .... oh my I will need much better scores, spare shooting is pretty good  just cannot get a good look to the pocket to throw strikes.... the swing is not good.... 175 (-73) after 4 games I am pretty much toast..... 140 (-133) .... lots of splits in this game. 216 (-117)... hey I showed up only 5 games late.... the swing is better.  215 (-102) .... 2 games in a row over duece... there will be dancing in the streets... LoL ..... Game 8 ... 169 (-133).... about the only good thing about my performance is that I was even for the last 3.  I never panicked but never got a good swing until later in the day.  I was not needed for the PRO-AM so I packed up the gear and headed back home.... DISAPPOINTED.... I spent a few hours looking back during the drive home... thats the easy part, well somedays you have it and others you don't.  Another sub-par performance.... in 4 regionals to date this season I have yet to be plus.... makes me wonder why I do this.

Weeks 7 & 8 of the PBA X are on the Cheetah.  I have been bowling pretty good and hope to add to the average the next few weeks.  The timing for this pattern is good as I have a PBA NW Regional coming up in Burley ID that will use the Cheetah pattern.

6/17 - I have been scoring well on this pattern using my old Storm Trauma.... and  my  Brunswick  Sidewinder and my new Storm Street Rod pearl.   In practice I  did not have a good look with the Trauma so I grabbed the Street Rod Pearl and bowled well ..  212, 211, 191 & 201 for a 815... added to the average and missed a few spares..... as a team we are on top for the time being.

6/24 - I hope to bowl as well as I did last week.  I practiced on the pattern using my Storm .  In practice I have a pretty good look.... using my Street Rod Pearl and but when the lights came on spare shooting went well thankfully because splits were plentiful.  183, 189, 192, & 194 for 758.  The main issue tonight was me the bowler and not the lanes ... grabbing the ball at the bottom of the swing to much.  As a team we bowled well and took a lot of points that helped extend our lead.  Not a bad night but I was expecting another 800.  The next 2 weeks we bowl on the Scorpion, I hope to rebound with more 800s.  With regionals coming up I am hoping to do well.

Well this summer is quickly coming to end. Its been a couple of weeks since I lasted posted.

We bowled on the Scorpion 7/1 & 7/8, and I have been in a little funk with my release.... for some reason I am grabbing the ball at the bottom of the swing. With a regional coming up I am not happy with the release, but as with most things it is just a phase, hopefully that passes by quickly.

STUNG!!!

7/1 - 198, 137, 190, and a 178 for 703 ..... by far my worst outing for the summer except the first week of bowling .... and a far cry from the scoring pace that I set in the PBA X tourney. Well hopefully things will be better in Burley ID this weekend for the NW PBA Regional.

BETTER!!!

7/8 - 177, 220, 204, 211 for 812 ... much better.... the first game was 170 a game of opens and/or splits in bad spots. The good news is that I not grabbing the ball at the bottom of the swing this week. This weekend is a NW PBA Regional in Seattle, I hope the good swing comes with me.

The next two weeks we are bowling on the 2008 Masters/ TOC pattern.