bluey

The next 2 weeks have produced 629 and 630 series, the lanes have played a little tighter and my game hasn't been completely on song either. Making some minor adjustments to the release.

Hi all, been a bit slack lately but l've got some time to fill in the goings on over the last few weeks. So Tuesday nights l no longer use urethane, the release required is different and effects my timing of the reactives. The week following on from the 676 series was an uneventful 624, however the week after, (28/4) we all went crazy, I bowled a 722 series, Darren a 740, and Steve a 743, our 4th bowler Jeff shot 563. The National TBA record is 2811, we shot 2768, a game ave of 230! The shot on the left was good, the ditch on the right was enormous, Steve had 10 boards to aim at, it was just a matter of carry.

Tuesday night and as you would expect after a Tourny, l bowled well, 100 pins better than last week, 212, 247, 217, 676 series.
Wednesday night was a little weird, l had at least 3 solid 8 pin leaves, 2 solid 9 pin leaves, 10 pins on anything lite in the pocket, and more ringing 7 pins than you could poke a stick at, and l used a different ball each game! 213, 213, 215, 641 series, a series that could so easily have been so much more, well that's bowling for ya. Well l'm yawning my head off so goodnight from me.

Monday morning and the confidence was up, l played the same line as the night before and finished 4th out of 24 with 62 over for 6. That put me into the 2nd stage of finals, top 14. Starting with 198, 196, 198, it could have gone either way, l had had an absolute **** load of 9s that could have carried but didn't. The next game was more of the same only by now l wasn't throwing the ball as well as what was needed, and open frames followed, 173, -35. A 213 in the 5th gave me a glimmer of making top 8 but starting the next game with a 4-6 combo put an end to it, at the end of 18 games qualifying and 12 games of finals l finished 13th, 197 ave for the entire 30 games. I was aiming for top 10 but the conditions were twice as hard as l had imagined and after my first attempt on Saturday,13th is very acceptable.

The Australian Open. Condition on the web site looks ok, wow, how hard was it? Damn hard! EVERY shot had to be Primo A1, perfect, any one that bowled would know what l mean, when l smashed the pocket l got good results, when l threw it a poofteenth to wide, l didn't carry. (or even really hit the pocket) When l dropped it short, l got 4-6 combinations. My first attempt on Saturday l threw 98 under for 6, yep, pretty crappy. Sunday l was sure of what l had to use, l just had to use it right. After 3 games l was 41 over and looking good, then l changed ends and threw 150! Well that ****ed it, 13 under after 6. My 3rd attempt saw me 14 over after 3, then back to back 4-6 splits in game 4, 189, and another 4-6 split late in game 5 for a 187 and l was 10 under. Well looks like the Desperado squad was getting another entrant, hangon a minute, game 6 and l've started with the first 5! A couple of spares, a few more strikes and a 248, +38 and in by the hair on my chinny chin chin, 1 PIN!!!!

Tuesday night l decided to work with the reactives for the first time due to the up coming AO. Bowled my worst series in months, 169, 199, 205. I polished up a few balls and what a mistake that was! Nothing carried the same and l struggled to play consitent shots, not the best start to the week.
Wednesday before AO was much better, 213, 233, 215, only a 661 series which is a little under ave but l played better shots and was a little stiff with the carry, hopefully they fall better on the weekend.

sorry wont be there on sunday zach has his first jumper and practice match for footy at 11.00.but guess i will see you the following weekend at the marathon?
cheers mac
ps would of been good to bowl had my highest series in league of the year of 721.

no tba dropped both east coast organisations and ctbam at the start of the year.i hear they had another training thing on sunday how did it go?whens the first rachuig trial?

ps its at frawleys bowl in sydney this year and it is a very nice looking bowl and they should look after the bowlers very well

anyone can bowl east coast and i am highly thinking about giving it a go this year all you have to do is pay thier membership but from what i hear it is a highly organised event and very enjoyable i will know at the end of the month if i am giving it a go?
cheers mac

Hi All, Tues night last week started a little slow, 208 and 181, soft hits and not stringing strikes together changed in the 3rd. 7 pins fell and a 269 was the result, a nice finish for the night.
Wednesday night and the dreaded 2nd game transition got me, 267, 206 and 248 in the last. Happy with a 721 series but l need to try something next week to over come the transition problem.
The Northern Cup at Keon Park was great. Steve got a lift with me and when l said that it will be a long day cause l plan on bowling in the final he gave me one of those "yeah sure, bull****" looks. Well after the first 2 games on 27 & 28 it was looking like he was right. I settled down for the next 6 and qualified 7th with a 189 ave, nothing special by any stretch but enough. My first block of 2 games and someone was looking after me, a 313 but l still beat my opponent by 80 odd pins! The next block against James (who got a bye in the first round) wasn't going to be so easy, with his ability to string many strikes it could've ended for me right there. Luck was on my side and he didn't find a consistent shot while on the other hand l was tripping out 6 pins on heavy hits. A 427 series for me and a 367 for James. The next round against Lee came down to the final 2 frames, to be honest l can't remember if he could have shut me out if he struck out the 10th or not but the results were 395 to 379. Two lefties in the final, Terry the little Jockey had made his way through the other side of the draw. I had to shift in a little during the first game and managed to get a slender lead. The second game l kept my head down, moved out wider and just concentrated on making good shots. By the 9th frame l realised l had won, l don't smile much while l bowl but l couldn't help it, 406 to 345, first ever Tournament win. Now l know it wasn't a big tourny but l'm still rapt. Thanks heaps to Steve for telling me to stay with the Hammer Hot Sauce against James, l was so close to changing balls, thanks.

Tuesday this week and another 658 series, 2 weeks in a row, 193, 233,232, go the Purple Hammer!
Wednesday night was wetter than last week so a few adjustments in the first game and l started with a 236. 2nd game l tried something different to over come the transition and it worked a treat, 259. The last game was more of the same, another 259, damn 7 pins! 754 series brings my ave up to a ridiculous 228, never would have thought that possible when l came back in July.
Well that's the last 2 weeks of my bowling stuff, hope you enjoyed the read, see ya, Paul.

hi ya how did you bowl last night did you continue your great form from the weekend?

very very nice congrats on the win

how did you go in the northern cup?

It is becoming apparent to me that the Tues night urethane night is bloody hard work, every shot needs to be so much cleaner off the hand. The scores are certainly acheivable though, this week l shot 217, 202, 244, not a huge series by any means but still around the 220+ ave. We got flogged by our opposition, we had to make up 302 pins in handicap! Not a chance!
Wednesday night this week was a huge improvement over last week, 1 whole pin! Yep, 246, 198, 225, 669 total, if only l could sort out the transition in the 2nd game l might start getting some more 700 series. This week l did have an unfortunate incident where the ball l was using returned to me with a chunk out of the side of my thumb slug, this caused my thumb to catch on release a little, so midway through the 2nd game l had to change.
Rachuig fitness test on Sun morning was interesting, Dagz and l drive in to the advertised venue to find no one there? Unfortunately neither of us received the updated info, so to say l was a little pissed off was an understatement. We ended up in the right place and completed the test which strangely had no level of requirement for anyone to acheive? Maybe there is a good reason for this but l'm not sure.
Keon Park had a practice day on the "Winding Road" pattern that will be used next weekend for the Northern Cup, needed to be accurate and firm with the follow through. Lots of backend which seemed to increase steadily per game, from 191 in the first game with the hot sauce, a 160? 180 odd and another 160 something in the fourth and it was looking like with 2 games to go (prepaid) there wasn't going to be any 200s. After using every ball l took with me for sometimes only 2 shots in a row, l decided to settle for an old Chance Zone Brunswick. 212, 231 and an extra game of around 210, l think l found what l was looking for. Hopefully it plays similar on the weekend and l can duplicate the shots from the last few games.
Darren picked up something with my spare delivery on Tues and after making a change l've been sparing like a bloody champ, sure l still miss a 7 pin here or there but on the whole, l'm much happier with these changes made. OK, that's enough from me so see ya later, Paul.

Well the no tap tourny was good, started with the Twisted fury solid and shot 300 straight off, then followed up with a 228, another 300 in the 3rd game, this time with the new Hammer hot sauce, and a 251 for the last, missing 2nd place by 2 pins and first place by 4. Well l got my money back and 2 10 free game vouchers was very worthwhile.
Tuesday Legends was interesting, the urethanes were skidding a lot so it took a little while to line up, l started wth a 190 but managed to finish strong with a 646 series for the night. Wednesday was more of the same, struggled to line up and shot 200 with the hot sauce, a 190 with the hot sauce and fury, then changed to the purple Hammer and threw the first 8, 6pin spare, XX and 7 pin for a 278! The conditions have definately played longer this week and a little patchy as well. The urethanes make me play better shots and they certainly carry ok most of the time, might sand the hot sauce and see if that settles it down a little. That's it for today, practice tonight at the factory on short pattern, should be interesting, Cheers, Paul.

So many people have visited me that l thought that l should give you something to read. So here is the latest news in my world, Darren and l wish to try out for Rachuig this year so we have had to join a TBA sanctioned league. Last year our wed night league was TBA but in an attempt to save money and lack of any input from TBA, the masses decided to go for the cheaper ctbam option, hence the need for Dagzy and me to join one of only two leagues in the whole centre that are TBA, Tuesday Legends. My goal in this league is to only use urethane, no reactives at all. I started well this week shooting 688 with my axis weighted burgandy Hammer. High ave in this league has been jostling between Lee Booth and Thorpey at around 225-230, I'm hoping to make this a three way tustle. Coming in from Wed night ave of 224 puts me in a good place but time will tell soon enough as to whether l can keep it up.
Got a new Hot Sauce Hammer on Wed and it looked good in practice 30 mins before league but when we changed lanes to start l'm sure the oiling machine ran out for the last pair. (which we were on) 223 with the venom to start with and the second game looked like an all spare game. Hit the pocket with the venom, hot sauce, 3d offset and couldn't carry all ten, especially 7 pins. Ninth frame and in comes the Burgandy Hammer, struck out 9th and 10th for a 192 and started the 3rd game with the first 8! 7 spare X solid 9 pin spare for a 267. I'm sure glad l took it along, it carried better than everything else.
Well the shoulder feels great, l'd say about 90% right, but as Dagzy says, "you're left handed, just close your eyes and piff it somewhere out wide" I tell him to **** off of course but he is one guy that l'm sure will still be **** stirring me from his coffin! Bloody right handers. Well that's all from me, Mon night no tap is the next thing on the agenda for the missus and l, hopefully l can punch another 300 for a 10 free game voucher, practice is costing me a fortune. See Ya, Paul.
PS. feel free to leave a message, even if it is just to say "hello" or bag left handers.

Hi Mac, l used the 15lb Venom, it's been sitting in the garage for a month and last week l thought what the hell, l might as well give it another go. The 279 was a better game, everything solid, a 9 pin in the 3rd frame and l was using the Venom on lane 1 and the old 3D Offset on lane 2. Second game lane 2 started going way to early and after a few frames l figured what to do for the 3rd game. Glad to get it on 1+2, l'll be the only plaque up there. See ya.

nice work a 300 that 800 wont be far away o would think what weight did you bowl it with and what ball?

Anyone want a room mate for Joondalup? I don't snore.