Author Topic: Thought I had my first 800 in the bag... (Read 2431 times)

JessN16 · « **on:** July 06, 2010, 02:53:15 PM »

...and then it became evident why 800 is still bowling's ultimate achievement because getting it ain't easy at all.

First two games were 255 and 288. Two 2-8s and a 3-6-10 in the first game, all made. Second game started ring 10, 10 in a row and then a pocket 7-10 in the fill.

So now I'm looking at needing 257 to ring up 800, and this is where it all went wrong.

Third game starts out strike, then another 2-8. I throw the ball exactly where I aimed with the right speed and turn -- same way I'd made the two in the first game -- and the ball hooked about 5 feet in front of where I expected it to and picked the 2 off. Now I've got to go sheet for the 800.

I'd been watching the other players on our pair and was thinking the lanes were about to make a big change, and on any other night I probably would have switched balls. But when you start off so well it's not easy to make that call on the fly. I struck the next two balls, though, but that may have not been the best thing for me because the next two shots were (1) burned up and hit flat, leaving the 10 -- and I missed it -- and (2) big kick left for a 4-7-10.

So I finally switched balls, and the next thing up is a pocket 7-10. Beautiful. Now I'm open four times in the first seven frames, and finished with a double, super washout (which I made) and a 9-count on the fill for 165. All of a sudden that 808 turned into a 708.

Props to my old Hybrid Dirty Bomb, though, which was the ball I used in the first two games and the start of the third. Should have switched to the Uranium HRG earlier. Nice to get out of this five-week rut I've been in, though, and the 288 is the highest game so far with any L1 equipment I have. I would never have guessed it would have been with a HDB, either. I hated that ball when I first got it until I started playing around with the surface, which tells you that you should NEVER call any ball a dud until you at least make some surface changes.

Jess

JessN16 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 07, 2010, 08:12:10 PM »

quote:
Plus 1 on the HDB.....it looks like a tues with the wrong surface prep but when you find the right prep it really shines.

I remember the first time I threw the ball in OOB surface, and my prevailing thought was, "You've got to be kidding me."

I'd never seen a ball hit as flat. I had struggled with the original Dirty Bomb, too, and figured this line just wasn't for me. Sort of in a last ditch effort, I sanded it at 500 and then added Storm ReactaShine just as a what-the-heck experiment.

It's still a little surprising that the ball doesn't handle oil better than it does. I'd say on anything above light-medium to medium, or especially on any long pattern, I can't use it. If you watch the graphics you can see the ball loping and fighting to get into a roll. But on short stuff, it's a tough ball and it smooths out a lot of breakpoint jumpiness. Next time I bowl on Cheetah, I'll use it.

Drill pattern, incidentally, is a copy of the "thumb leverage" pattern. Essentially that is pin over bridge for me with CG at 1:30 to the thumbhole. This ball was a 4-5 pin, which allowed me to get the CG that close to the thumb while keeping the pin over the bridge. Still, that's just around a 4.5 x 4 layout, not exactly weak. No weight hole.

Jess

Author Topic: Thought I had my first 800 in the bag... (Read 2431 times)

JessN16

Thought I had my first 800 in the bag...

JessN16

Re: Thought I had my first 800 in the bag...