Well, after one cancelled flight and another that was terribly turbulent, I finally made it back from Reno. As such, I thought I would chime in to give my report on the conclusion of Project Two Hands, which wrapped officially wrapped up at the National Bowling Stadium this past Sunday and Monday.
First of all, as a first time visitor to Reno, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's not as polished or glitzy as Vegas, but I thought the main drag is more than satisfactory, and things are much, much cheaper. The scenery is also a lot more attractive. In Vegas, the buildings are cool to look at, but then you just have the sand and stone of the waste land. I found the snow-capped mountains around Reno to be much more scenic. But I digress, so let's get to the important part.
I bowled team event on lanes 49-50 at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 28. My plan, like that of most bowlers, was to start by trying to play up the boards around 6-7-8 and make slow moves in as the lanes dictated. I had a look from that area with my Onyx Vibe (pin under ring, cg kicked slightly right, dull 2000 abralon), but it wasn't ideal as any shot that missed a pinch in or was a touch slow absolutely exploded off the spot.
Because our teams didn't opt to all play that lanes as described, I quickly began trying to bump in further, targeting 12-13-14 with that same Onyx. Unfortunately, poor execution and abysmal spare shooting kept me from getting anything going. As such, at the end of two games, I was siting at a whopping 300 (145-155). Not exactly the start I was looking for.
However, during the last few frames of Game 2, I decided to try my Reign (Pin above ring, cg toward grip center, box finish) from the same line, and I liked what I saw. As such, I decided to start Game 3 from there. It was a good choice as I strung the front 6. I flagged a 10-pin in the 7th, but I managed to stay clean the rest of the way for 243, which gave me 543 for the set. A set in the 540s isn't anything to write home about, but given the 140-150 start, I was quite pleased at having at least gotten things back into the realm of the respectable.
The next day, we got to the stadium early to see how the group in front of us was playing lanes 7-8 for singles. We also paid attention to how 5-6 were being used for doubles. When we got there, 7-8 were in use, but there was nobody on 5-6. That meant that pair would only have had three games on it by the time we jumped there for singles. It wasn't an ideal proposition, but it was better than having to attack them when they were fresh like the group next to us was forced to do. In any event, we didn't see anything significant about the way 7-8 were being played. As such, my plan was to start the set using the Reign from the same area I had finished in during team. It was a bad choice.
The hook spot I could target during the final stages of team was not nearly as developed after only having had three games of singles thrown on it. As such, my shot was extremely touchy. If I got it wide, the ball labored to get back, and, just like the day before, if I missed in, it was through the face. In the ninth frame, I decided things just weren't going to work with that ball, so I pulled out my Storm Natural (Pin above and right of ring, cg toward midline, box finish), and I decided to play a small belly toward the 10th-board range finder. It was the right choice as I through a late double to salvage a 167. But more important than the score, I liked the look I had, so I decided to stay with it.
Just as the the switch to the Reign had been the right choice during team, the Natural was the right choice at that time during minors. I threw the front five and managed to work myself to another 243. Sadly, I couldn't keep the momentum going during Game 3 as loose shots and terrible spare shooting led to a 150 finish, which gave me 560 for the set.
I was disappointed by the awful finishing game, but I still believed in the look I had with the Natural, so I decided to stick with it for the start of singles. I was happy to find that the shot was there, and I took advantage of it during the next three games to shoot 200-230-207 for 637. So, that made 543 for team, 560 for doubles and 637 for singles, which works out to 1,740, an average of 193.33 for the nine games. As a frame of reference, last year, I shot 1,548 (172 avg.) at Cashman Center during the debut of Project Two Hands. So, in one year's time, I upped my Open Championships performance by 192 pins, and that's with a lot of pins still left out there due to poor spare shooting decisions/execution. Overall, I am very pleased.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns regarding my on- or off-lane experiences from Reno, please feel free to ask questions. Thanks for taking the time to read this rambling account!
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Bowling bad since 1979 with no end in sight
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