Reno Doubles & NBS Championship
Hello again everyone,
     The following is the recap from the tournaments held in Reno this week.  We are here for another of the two in one tournament weeks that is starting to get more popular on tour.  We had the same thing in Taylor with the Ultimate Scoring Championship, and the Chameleon Championship.  It can work out good for a couple of reasons. One, you have one week of expenses, with two paychecks.  The other is that the PBA can save some production costs, and basically have two shows for the price of one.  One drawback that I can see is that there are some bowlers that naturally match up better in some centers more than others.  The same is true the other way in that some places are just hard to strike in no matter what you do.  This can have an effect on who bowls good, and bad.
     We bowled the first tournament on the Chameleon pattern with the women.  The pattern played a little tricky, and the scores were definitely lower in general.  I started out with a Maniac that I used in Baltimore, and thought I had a good look.  I didn’t start out too well, and had to switch right away.  The next ball in line for me was the Break S75, with the pin above my ring finger.  This seemed to help with getting the ball down lane, with good recovery.  I bowled a couple of pretty good games, and got back in contention.  However, the next few games, my look got as bad as it could.  I couldn’t get out of my own way.  The transition that I saw completely confused me as far as what strategy to try.  Pair to pair in the stadium is about as frustrating as you can get.  There seems to be some very big differences in topography, and it makes it hard to judge whether you threw it bad, or if the lane is just tilted
     I came out with a couple of different balls for the night block.  I started with a Black Break that had a little polish on it, and played farther right.  I started with a 268 game, and thought I was on my way.  However, the next few games had the same result going pair to pair.  I was really struggling to make good shots, and couldn’t get a read on where the ball was going to go.  I settled on an Nkryption Code and stayed really straight.  I was able to bowl some better games, but never got back in contention.
     We had a day off before the next tournament, and I had the chance to work with Mike Jasnau over at lane 81.  I haven’t been able to get on video in a while, and it was nice to be able to get some time in with him.  We worked a little on getting my ball into the swing a little sooner, creating a looser swing.  This will hopefully make my shots more consistent
     The next tournament featured the next of what’s been labeled the versatility swing, or one of the circus formats, depending on who you talk to.  We had the Cheetah for the first 7 games, and then the Shark for the next 7.  I was looking forward to this, since I have had some success with this format when Kegel did it in their foundation games.
     The first block saw the same hang outside of 5 that we saw in Buffalo, and the scoring pace was a little lower again.  I started with the same type of balls that I used in Buffalo, but didn’t have the same carry.  I felt like I was close, but trying to get the ball to do the right thing was still affecting my swing.  I made my share of bad shots, but was still just a few pins off the pace.
     When we returned, we bowled on the Shark, and I was hoping to have a similar look to what I had in Baltimore.  This was not even close.  It seemed to me that there was way less oil up front, and more down lane.  Every ball I tried, hooked as soon as it hit the lane, and then would bail on me when I tried more angle through the front.  This was certainly a case of getting matched up early, and using that to create carry.  This was the tightest my swing felt all year.  Bowling well on tour is not only making great shots, but getting the right ball in your hand to give you the look you need to strike.  They go hand in hand.  When you can predict where your break point is, your swing is as free as can be.  If you feel like you have to manufacture a shot, then you feel more like your bowling on the edge of a knife.  This was the situation for me this week, and I finished around 58th or so.  These were the worst two tournaments of my season so far, and part of it is due to never really feeling comfortable in this building.  It can definitely play on you during the week.
     Hopefully, next week will be better.  We’re in Medford, and the host center is unbelievable both with the look of the center, and the way we are treated while we are there.  I’ll have a couple of days to work on my swing, and we’ll see what that brings.

                                               Thanks,

                                             Steve


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900 Global/AMF  Sales Manager