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what do you think is harder to do?bowl a 300....hit a hole in one...
Comparing apples to aardvarks, but I'd definitely have to go with bowling a 300.No one is ever going to "accidentally" bowl a 300, whereas everyone knows a terrible golfer who's buried a hole in one before.
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Did you think the bowlers just said "TURN!" it the ball did it? :club:
No I just never knew there was more than one "way" to oil a lane. Always thought it was just a greasy dude with a mop and bucket....lol
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Bowling is a sport that so many people have serious misconceptions about. This is because so many people have gone out with their friends on a Friday night and shot a 120 with a house ball. They then have the belief of "oh I can shoot 120 with no practice....this game is cake". They don't realize the amount of preparation that goes in to becoming a competitive bowler. Yes, Hollywood, I believe that with 6 months of PURE dedication, you could probably be oh....upper 3%. That is because I'd say 95% of the population of bowlers will never put in 6 months of work in their whole LIFE. Then of course 2% of the population is just naturally good and doesn't need to practice to whoop up on everyone. The other 3% put in many many hours over many years to perfect their game, and you have no realistic shot at catching them in only 6 months.I, for instance, have put in SO many hrs over the last 4-5 years. I have practiced 60 games a week for the last 5 years now. I believe it is EASY to get a bowler up to a 180 average on a house shot....even 190-200. Anything else beyond that takes more time. This is because converting spares and covering splits become more important once you plateau off. For instance, my average was a 109 my 1st year, 2nd year jumped to 145, then 155 170 180 187 194 199 205 210 now 214. But all things aside, any competent bowler on a sport shot would wipe the floor with you, Hollywood. Put you on a house shot and it become a "who can strike and carry better" contest.Moving on though....College bowling is coming up soon. Our school is almost done with it's new bowling alley for our team (they love us). Looks like the trips we will be making this year will be: Wisconsin 2-3 times, St. Louis, Omaha, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, South Bend and possibly St. Louis one more time.And yes....Hambone makes me cringe.Rob Stone makes me cringe even more.

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Yay! So you think I could be upper 3% ! Woohoo! I think higher.Went out Sunday and bowled 220 245 213 ... that makes 6 games I've bowled in the past ...I really don't know how many years.I should preface this with the fact that I didn't just start bowling... I just thought about bowling again and was making a statement about how good I thought I could be if I really worked at it. Your statement about somebody wiping the floor with me was more of a "talking out yer arse" statement than mine was because you don't know me. I knew some people would get their feelings hurt about the statement but I still believe it's true.When I was 14.. I was touring the State and was more than top 3% for my age group. Then I stopped bowling when i was 16 and started again in college for a semester but it interfered with football and baseball so I quit. Aside from a few 'outing'... I really haven't bowled at all in MANY years.

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Comparing apples to aardvarks, but I'd definitely have to go with bowling a 300.No one is ever going to "accidentally" bowl a 300, whereas everyone knows a terrible golfer who's buried a hole in one before.
I don't know. It's easier to become good in bowling than good at golf. If I go to a local scratch tournament that has 45 entries, I'd say at least 3/4's of them have 300's easily, if not more. But if I played in a golf tournament, I am going to guess that maybe only a few people at most would have a hole in one in their career. I see your point that an ace is only 1 shot, whether it was all luck or skill. But in bowling a 300, you have to toss 12 consecutive strikes. I personally think getting a hole in one is tougher than shooting a 300 but only because I am a much better bowler than golfer. I've had 5 (i think) sanctioned 300's and have never come close to a hole in one.On to the bowling discussion and the oil patterns. If you really want to be a good bowler, practice your spares! If you can shoot straight at every spare and never miss a single pin spare, you will be ahead of the game in no time. The strikes will come, but you need to fill all the frames. I've had countless games where I miss 2 easy spares but have 8 strikes for a 230+. Yeah 230 is good and all, but not when you are throwing 25-30 pins away by being retarded. Let's say you bowl a league and have trouble making the 10 pin (far right corner pin). If you miss on average three 10 pins a night, that is 11 total pins each time you miss, for a total of 33 pins a night. If you are averaging 180, just making your 10 pins will raise your average to 190+. The pros are so good because they rarely miss spares and they almost never miss single pins.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Me and the 3 other founding members of the North Dakota State college team got together with one of our coaches to set up this year's schedule:-Oct 4-5 Wauwatosa, WI-Oct 11-12 Wichita, KS-Oct 18-19 Minneapolis, MN-Nov 8-9 Madison, WI-Nov 28-29 St Louis, MO-Dec 20-21 Las Vegas, NV-Dec 22-23 Las Vegas, NV-Jan 24-25 South Bend, IN-Feb 7-8 Fairview Heights, IL-Feb 20-21 Indianapolis, IN-Mar 12-13 Sectionals (Most likely either St Louis or Las Vegas, we are pushing for Vegas because 1. The sectional is much easier than St Louis and 2. It is the beginning of spring break for us, so we can turn the trip into Spring Break following sectionals)This year is such a positive already:-17 registered bowlers on this years roster (up from 11 registered and 8 active from last year) including our 1st two out of state recruits.-Two new coaches plus a financial manager (Up from my dad who was a "coach" aka financial manager/boss)-Brand new bowling alley built for us-Sponsorship from Hammer

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Me and the 3 other founding members of the North Dakota State college team got together with one of our coaches to set up this year's schedule:-Oct 4-5 Wauwatosa, WI-Oct 11-12 Wichita, KS-Oct 18-19 Minneapolis, MN-Nov 8-9 Madison, WI-Nov 28-29 St Louis, MO-Dec 20-21 Las Vegas, NV-Dec 22-23 Las Vegas, NV-Jan 24-25 South Bend, IN-Feb 7-8 Fairview Heights, IL-Feb 20-21 Indianapolis, IN-Mar 12-13 Sectionals (Most likely either St Louis or Las Vegas, we are pushing for Vegas because 1. The sectional is much easier than St Louis and 2. It is the beginning of spring break for us, so we can turn the trip into Spring Break following sectionals)This year is such a positive already:-17 registered bowlers on this years roster (up from 11 registered and 8 active from last year) including our 1st two out of state recruits.-Two new coaches plus a financial manager (Up from my dad who was a "coach" aka financial manager/boss)-Brand new bowling alley built for us-Sponsorship from Hammer
BOOYAAAA, that is awesome! Being at Morehead, we were so close to Ebonite so we got all their balls at cost. The girls team got freebies but they were always good. The guys team wasn't good til I got there -- and it wasn't because of me!Have fun in South Bend. It was a tough shot there from what I remember.
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BOOYAAAA, that is awesome! Being at Morehead, we were so close to Ebonite so we got all their balls at cost. The girls team got freebies but they were always good. The guys team wasn't good til I got there -- and it wasn't because of me!Have fun in South Bend. It was a tough shot there from what I remember.
My fav is Indy, where you have 3 different patterns (long medium and short) and you bowl 3 team games on each.
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  • 2 months later...

Bowling season back in action!!!Our city has 2 cakewalk houses (230-240 high averages in house) and one hard house (no one has ever averaged 210)I bowl at one easy and the hard house...Through 4 weeks I am averaging 211 at easy house and 221 at hard house?? WTF hahaShot 734 Tuesday night at the hard house which helps.Our 1st college bowling tourney is in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin in 2 weeks, which we are pumped about and looking good.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Guy in league tonight at the bowling alley I bowl Wednesdays at shot a state record tonight. 300-300-279=879 He slammed a 10-pin in 7th frame.Over at my Tuesday bowling alley, we shot 2nd best team game in history of state tonight, 1282. I went front 10, then high for a 3-6 and covered for a 288. Other scores were 289 257 204 244. I shot 746 to bump the average up a bit to 225.96 (record at our bowling alley is 214)College update: Our team made up of 3/4 rookies had a tough 1st tourney, but responded nicely for the 2nd. This upcoming weekend we drive to IL/IA boarder.

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Guy in league tonight at the bowling alley I bowl Wednesdays at shot a state record tonight. 300-300-279=879 He slammed a 10-pin in 7th frame.Over at my Tuesday bowling alley, we shot 2nd best team game in history of state tonight, 1282. I went front 10, then high for a 3-6 and covered for a 288. Other scores were 289 257 204 244. I shot 746 to bump the average up a bit to 225.96 (record at our bowling alley is 214)College update: Our team made up of 3/4 rookies had a tough 1st tourney, but responded nicely for the 2nd. This upcoming weekend we drive to IL/IA boarder.
I've had a shitty start to the season for some reason. I am at 215 in one house and like 205 in the easier house. I don't know what my problem is. My teammate is averaging 247 through 24 games with a white XS too, lol.
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I suck compared to everyone in this thread lol. I average 170 after my 586 tonight...Our team won all 4 too, which is nice.

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I've had a shitty start to the season for some reason. I am at 215 in one house and like 205 in the easier house. I don't know what my problem is. My teammate is averaging 247 through 24 games with a white XS too, lol.
BONE XS! CLASSIC. One of my good friends shot his only 800 with that ball.
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Just bought a gamebreaker and a black widow to complete my arsenalAction Max: Heavy hooking early flipping polishedTotal NV: Less hooking late flip polishedGamebreaker: Going to sand it down for early and heavy hookBlack Widow: Going to polish it up a bit for a late-snapping duller ball.OBV will lay out accordinglyMy redzone and fury basically died and they are just good house shot balls now.

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I just drilled up a couple of new balls. The pro shop I work for (part-time) gets all the new Brunswick stuff, so I just drilled up an Avalanche Slide. Threw it a couple of games last night, makes a nice abrupt direction change way down the lane, but I bowl on Pro Anvilane surfaces, so I had trouble getting back row pins to carry because I couldn't get it into a roll soon enough. Going to be a nice ball to have in the bag though. Also drilled up a Cell I got from a friend on Roto Grip staff, really liking it so far.

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I just drilled up a couple of new balls. The pro shop I work for (part-time) gets all the new Brunswick stuff, so I just drilled up an Avalanche Slide. Threw it a couple of games last night, makes a nice abrupt direction change way down the lane, but I bowl on Pro Anvilane surfaces, so I had trouble getting back row pins to carry because I couldn't get it into a roll soon enough. Going to be a nice ball to have in the bag though. Also drilled up a Cell I got from a friend on Roto Grip staff, really liking it so far.
Out of the 20someodd people I know that own the Cell, I only know one person that doesn't like it.And ProAnvil sucks.Brunswick FTW...but since most lanes are AMF, I'm starting to get more used to them.
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Finally bowled again this weekend. It has been about 6 months since I threw a ball. My buddy called me up and said he was bowling so I thought I might as well check it out.Bowled a 162 166 224. Not too bad, I couldn't hit a 10 pin for the life of me though. I think that was the main part of my game that was really lacking for practice. Once I got the lane wired, i was hitting the pocket pretty good.

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Out of the 20someodd people I know that own the Cell, I only know one person that doesn't like it.And ProAnvil sucks.Brunswick FTW...but since most lanes are AMF, I'm starting to get more used to them.
Now you 2 people like that.I don't know, I liked it when I first threw it, but I don't use it much anymore because it just doesn't roll great for me. My teammate on Mondays has a Cell and is up to 238...his brother is the one who throws the XS (I throw one often too, very strange,lol) and he is 244...30 games so far for us.
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Now you 2 people like that.I don't know, I liked it when I first threw it, but I don't use it much anymore because it just doesn't roll great for me. My teammate on Mondays has a Cell and is up to 238...his brother is the one who throws the XS (I throw one often too, very strange,lol) and he is 244...30 games so far for us.
So here is the raging debate in Fargo. We have 3 main houses here, Red River, West Acres and the Bowler.I bowl at the Bowler and West Acres this year, but all three houses last year. I am averaging 222 at the Bowler and I am trying to make the argument that this is more of an accomplishment than a 230 average at Red River. Last year 4 bowlers broke 230 at RR and no one has ever broken 215 at TB. One other bowler bowled at all 3 houses, and averaged 237 at RR, 229 at WA and 204 at TB. Do I have a valid argument?Also part 2: Obviously some houses are much, much easier than others. Those 2 guys in your post above that average 238 and 244...is that a true indicator of their skill? Do they bowl tournaments outside of that house? Do they bowl in any other leagues?Not trying to bash on the guys or question their skill, but it gets frustrating when I and my friends get looked down upon when we are proud of shooting a 700 at a hard house, when people are averaging 700 at an easy house. I just want to know if anyone else thinks of the difference between easy houses and harder houses exist and how much of a bias is there between bowlers from each respective house.
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So here is the raging debate in Fargo. We have 3 main houses here, Red River, West Acres and the Bowler.I bowl at the Bowler and West Acres this year, but all three houses last year. I am averaging 222 at the Bowler and I am trying to make the argument that this is more of an accomplishment than a 230 average at Red River. Last year 4 bowlers broke 230 at RR and no one has ever broken 215 at TB. One other bowler bowled at all 3 houses, and averaged 237 at RR, 229 at WA and 204 at TB. Do I have a valid argument?Also part 2: Obviously some houses are much, much easier than others. Those 2 guys in your post above that average 238 and 244...is that a true indicator of their skill? Do they bowl tournaments outside of that house? Do they bowl in any other leagues?Not trying to bash on the guys or question their skill, but it gets frustrating when I and my friends get looked down upon when we are proud of shooting a 700 at a hard house, when people are averaging 700 at an easy house. I just want to know if anyone else thinks of the difference between easy houses and harder houses exist and how much of a bias is there between bowlers from each respective house.
It is funny you bring up this topic. They bowl 3 games a week and the occasional scratch tournament, but basically they think bowling is a joke. We used to go to every tournament together and bowl pot games all the time...literally like 5 days a week. Now it is not a priority anymore. When they do bowl the occasional tournament it is usually on a house shot and they are a lock for top 5. If they both had the desire to take their game further, they could probably succeed, but they don't have enough interest to. They are only around 33 years old but would prefer the game back to the pre-resin days when their games actually had an advantage. Everyone knows the averages are inflated in this area, but it doesn't really matter when it has turned into recreation. We just try to win our league every year. The lefty is the one who is at 238...his game is unlike any lefty I've seen because he is basically a righty trapped in a lefty's body...he likes to hook it and is just as comfortable playing 6th arrow as he is 1st arrow. Him and his brother could be good if they wanted to, they just choose not to because it just isn't worth it. They make more money in their 9-5 than they ever could bowling.But if we had a "tough" house around here where 215 was a good number, they'd be the first to tell you that your score is better than their 240+.Edit: they have both been on winning teams at the World Team Challenge...remember those??
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It is funny you bring up this topic. They bowl 3 games a week and the occasional scratch tournament, but basically they think bowling is a joke. We used to go to every tournament together and bowl pot games all the time...literally like 5 days a week. Now it is not a priority anymore. When they do bowl the occasional tournament it is usually on a house shot and they are a lock for top 5. If they both had the desire to take their game further, they could probably succeed, but they don't have enough interest to. They are only around 33 years old but would prefer the game back to the pre-resin days when their games actually had an advantage. Everyone knows the averages are inflated in this area, but it doesn't really matter when it has turned into recreation. We just try to win our league every year. The lefty is the one who is at 238...his game is unlike any lefty I've seen because he is basically a righty trapped in a lefty's body...he likes to hook it and is just as comfortable playing 6th arrow as he is 1st arrow. Him and his brother could be good if they wanted to, they just choose not to because it just isn't worth it. They make more money in their 9-5 than they ever could bowling.But if we had a "tough" house around here where 215 was a good number, they'd be the first to tell you that your score is better than their 240+.Edit: they have both been on winning teams at the World Team Challenge...remember those??
I vaguely remember the WTC, but yeah, that is all I was really wondering.My post was pretty much just a ranting post. Pissed because ND and MN are both so ignorant to what is "good"
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  • 2 weeks later...

Tied my high game of 267 Wed., spared in the first, 8 in a row, then hit pocket a little light. 640 something on the night, so I'm really happy with the way I'm bowling right now.

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Anyone done night bowling with the glow in the dark pins?
Only when I'm out drinking at the bowling alley
Tied my high game of 267 Wed., spared in the first, 8 in a row, then hit pocket a little light. 640 something on the night, so I'm really happy with the way I'm bowling right now.
Nice! What type of ball?My Gamebreaker came in today...I had it drilled 4x4 off (for those who know what that means) so I have it hooking early and hooking a TON. LOVE its reaction...going to be a great ball for the 40'+ heavy patterns at college tourneys.At the last tourney (Warhawk in Madison) I was +20 through 2 games. I have all my equipment done with switch grips (which are simply amazing) and my switchgrip lock broke during a shot and my thumbhole popped out. Had to pull myself while I figured things out. Luckily I had my friend's thumbhole he used to throw my equipment, but it was drilled with an inverse pitch so I had to cut down the locks so I could put it in backwards...but that made my span 3/16" long and I had issues the rest of the tourney :-(Next tourney - Leatherneck Classic - Rock Island, IL Dec 6-7Then off to Vegas the week before Christmas for the best tourneys (for location and enjoyable tourney in general) in the country
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I was looking up PBA results today and was looking at the Ultimate Scoring Championship (bowled on a house shot)The scores were ridiculous, with top 2 people after 14 games (Parker Bohn III and Patrick Allen) averaging 259 and 260 respectively. 11 300'sI think this is awesome because now whenever some dumbass sees me shoot 700 on a house shot, then tells me "OMG you are awesome, I see people shooting 200 averages at the US Open, so you MUST be good enough to bowl on the PBA!!!" I can now tell them, well that is on a flat pattern, on a house shot...like what I just shot on, they average 260 on a good day, 230 on average. I now have more visual evidence why they are leagues above me...and I love it.

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