THE COACH'S EXPERIMENT



Red: Before

Black: After

You might have noticed The Coach experimenting with a different line to the pocket on Monday night. The past few weeks he was getting lots of splits resulting mostly from shots hitting high on the headpin. He was setting up far to the right on the approach and rolling over the first arrow which put his ball outside the oil.

After suffering with splits again in our first game this week, he tried moving to his left to get his ball in the oil and rolling over the second arrow at a slight left-to-right angle. Going through the oil helped the ball to skid longer before going into its roll and hooking. The change in the angle also helped to keep the ball from hooking past the pocket. The results were good with scores of 190 and 192 in the second and third games. Perhaps we can get out this weekend for some practice and further experimentation with The Coach's new approach.

PBA USES BLUE DYE TO ILLUSTRATE OIL ON ITS LANES

Did you watch the World Series of Bowling the past two weekends? We've seen some exciting matches and the PBA's latest innovation -- blue dye in the oil so the viewers can see where the oil is on the lane. Click the link below for a report from ThePostGame.com.



PBA Uses Blue Dye To Illustrate Oil On Its Lanes

Next Sunday's telecast of the PBA Chameleon Championship will be the third of four telecasts to feature the dyed oil. Tune into ESPN at 10:00 AM (PST).

PBA EXPERIENCE - EARL ANTHONY



Earl Anthony - 40'

We switch to the Earl Anthony pattern this week after two weeks on Shark. We bowled on it in last summer's Sport Challenge 23 but I was on vacation for those two weeks. I hoped to collect some useful tips and videos to post here as I did for the other patterns we've played but there's not much available for the Earl Anthony pattern. Thus, I'm in the same bind as last year when I posted this. However, I did find one useful tip from a former professional bowler here and the lane diagram to the left.

Diablo Valley Bowl had a communications mix-up Sunday morning as they dressed the lanes with Shark instead of Earl Anthony. I would have bowled on it anyway but I had a tournament in Pinole at noon so I left. Peter was there also and he stayed to bowl. Thankfully, Diablo got everything sorted out in time for the Sunday night practice session. I came back after the tournament, as did Peter, and we bowled six games. We had some struggles and our scores weren't very high but we still learned a few things from it. It probably didn't help that we were fatigued from bowling a lot of games earlier in the day.

PBA EXPERIENCE - WEEK 10 RESULTS

Blockheads: 7 - McEachrans: 13

We had a good debut on the Shark pattern. Olivia and I shot over our averages in three of the four games. Olivia topped her previous high game and high series. We also topped our previous high game and series as a team. On the surface, one would think we won most of the points. However, we won only 7 of the 20 points because Jim and Stephen McEachran bowled better.

Even though we came out on the losing end, bowling on a tough oil pattern against excellent opponents and earning seven points was a satisfying experience. Each game except for the second was in doubt until the tenth frame. We made the McEachrans work hard for their 13 points.

As a team, we received 56 pins in handicap. For the match points, Olivia was spotted 41 pins and I was spotted 15. The game and series scores including handicap were 378-389, 352-405, 380-415, 443-417 - 1553-1626. Olivia earned four match points and I earned one.

WEEK 10 01  02  03  04  SER  G  PINS   AVG  HG HSER 200 700 800
Olivia 121 143 144 198  606 24  3210 133.8 198  606   0   0   0
Mark   201 153 180 189  723 28  4846 173.1 218  771   6   4   0
Sharon                       4   598 149.5 185  598   0   0   0
Gary                        12  1671 139.3 165  586   0   0   0
Total  322 296 324 387 1329 68 10325 151.8 387 1329   6   4   0

THE THREE NEW PBA OIL PATTERNS

Three new patterns were introduced on the PBA's Geico Summer Swing. They are Badger, Bear, and Wolf. They weren't used in our PBA Experience league this year but they might be available by next year. Here is some information about them:

The Bowling Tree: Three New Oil Patterns to Debut in Milwaukee for the GEICO PBA Summer Swing.

Don't forget that the PBA King of the Swing (Summer Swing championship match) is on TV today from 4:00-6:00 PM.

'via Blog this'

PBA EXPERIENCE - SHARK

Shark - 43'

Many thanks to The Coach for filling in for me while I was out of town the past three weeks. I'll be back in time for week #10 when we shift to the Shark pattern for the next two weeks.

Shark is a 43' pattern (some sources list it as 44') with a moderate volume of oil. Jef Goodger at About.com shares these tips for playing Shark. Epic Bowling also has some helpful advice which you can read here. A common thread is that if you send your ball out wide on Shark, it's not coming back. It may well end up in the moat.

This You Tube video for Shark may be helpful:

I'll be at Diablo Valley Bowl Sunday morning to practice. Coach, you may be needed again so if you're not doing anything Sunday, come on out.

PBA EXPERIENCE - SCORPION

Scorpion - 41'

I'm sorry I didn't get this up in time for week #8. That was the first week our league bowled the Scorpion pattern. Week #9 will be the last. Scorpion is a 41' pattern with a heavy volume of oil. Jef Goodger at About.com offers this advice for playing Scorpion. Epic Bowling has some descriptions and tips which you can find here.

You Tube has this video for Scorpion:

PBA EXPERIENCE - WEEK 6 RESULTS

Blockheads: 13 - Team 6: 7

We had a few mix-ups on our path to the Viper pattern but in the end, it was a successful one. We were scheduled to bowl Mike Galli and Roxanna Horton, two outstanding bowlers. Mike has the highest average (207) among the men in our league while Roxanna has the highest average (183) among the women.

Mike and Roxanna had scheduling conflicts that required them to postpone our bowling Monday night. They arranged to have it post-bowled on Sunday, June 22nd. Olivia and I agreed to bowl with them on Sunday. Everything was sorted out. Except it didn't quite work out that way. It's actually June 24th that Roxanna will be unavailable and Mike missed the cut in the tournament he entered so both of them were able to bowl Monday night. They tried to reach us through Diablo Valley Bowl to inform us they would be bowling on our regular schedule but the messages never reached us.

I also had a change in plan. I have to leave for the airport earlier on Sunday than I previously planned so I too had to bowl Monday night. I contacted Olivia and she said she would be there to bowl with me Monday night. Then Olivia had a hitch in her plans so she couldn't make it. Thus, it we ended up with Mike, Roxanna, and I bowling Monday night. Olivia's average was used in her absence.

Now for the good news. I bowled extremely well in the first three games and we won 13 of the 20 points against very tough competition. It was my first experience with Viper and it didn't crush me the way Cheetah did. I had a few strikes early in the fourth game and a shot at an 800 series. But later in the game, four bad shots left me with washouts and I failed to convert any of them. Still, three good games out of four isn't bad. We're 33-7 in the last two weeks so we should be moving up in the standings.

WEEK 6  01  02  03  04  SER  G PINS   AVG  HG HSER 200 700 800
Olivia 131 131 131 131  524 12 1582 131.8 189  580   0   0   0
Mark   200 202 218 151  771 24 4123 171.8 218  771   5   3   0
Sharon                       4  598 149.5 185  598   0   0   0
Total  331 333 349 282 1295 40 6827 157.6 349 1315   5   3   0

We have one more week on Viper before we switch to another pattern. I think it's going to be Scorpion after Viper. I will be on the road the next three weeks so The Coach will be filling in for me. I highly recommend you read the notes and watch the video on the Viper pattern that I posted recently. They helped me a ton.

PBA EXPERIENCE - VIPER

Viper - 37'

In weeks #6 and #7 we'll be bowling on the Viper pattern. Actually, I will be bowling on it only in week #6. I'll miss weeks #7 through #9 while I'm on my summer road trip. But I digress. Viper is a 37' pattern with a moderate volume of oil. Jef Goodger at About.com offers this advice for playing Viper. Epic Bowling has some descriptions and tips which you can find here.

Here is a helpful video from You Tube:

PBA EXPERIENCE - WEEK 5 RESULTS

Blockheads: 20 - Vacant Team: 0

This was our last week on the Chameleon pattern and we drew the vacant team for it. Since we didn't have live opponents, we had to bowl within a certain range of our averages to earn a point.

Our team average was 296. Olivia didn't have 12 games on the books so she was still using her entering average of 133. My average was 163. We bowled pretty well, scoring our high series and high game (game #4) for the season. We easily cleared 296 in all four games and won all of the team points in addition to the individual match points.

WEEK 5 01   02  03  04  SER  G PINS   AVG  HG HSER 200 700 800

Olivia 123 125 143 189  580 12 1582 131.8 189  580   0   0   0
Mark   191 185 171 188  735 20 3352 167.6 204  735   2   2   0
Sharon                       4  598 149.5 185  598   0   0   0
Total  314 310 314 377 1315 36 5532 153.7 377 1315   2   2   0 

Next week we'll switch to the Viper pattern.

PBA EXPERIENCE - CHAMELEON

Chameleon - 39'

In weeks #4 and #5 we'll be bowling on the Chameleon pattern. Chameleon is a 39' pattern with a moderate volume of oil. Jef Goodger at About.com offers this advice for playing Chameleon while Epic Bowling offers more detail which you can find here.

For some video, here's an offering from You Tube:

GOING BACK TO DIABLO VALLEY BOWL

It's rare that we go for over a week without bowling at Diablo Valley Bowl but that's where we stand now. We last bowled there March 9th (except for The Coach who bowled there on the 11th). Since then, I have bowled on slightly heavier oil at Castro Village, Olivia and I have bowled on light oil at Bel Mateo, and Sharon has bowled twice at Stars (I don't know the conditions there). Of course, all of us bowled in the oil slick at Paddock Bowl yesterday.

The pattern on the right resembles the house shot at Diablo Valley Bowl.
I suspect we played the pattern on the left (or something like it) yesterday.

I highly recommend that we reacquaint ourselves with the conditions at Diablo before we start bowling games that count. A small number of warm-up shots during our shadow bowling tonight may not be enough to shake yesterday from our heads. It took a Herculean effort to hook the ball just a few boards in the CBT Doubles yesterday. If we don't readjust to Diablo's house shot, we'll be on the left side of the lane all night. I plan to arrive by 5:45 and I'll get a lane to roll some extra shots. I hope to see you there.