I rolled the ball like crap, i was really tugging it at the bottom of the swing.

For me Team was my best look, i started @ 8 trying to hit 5-6 @the break point and if i didn't hit it at the bottom of the swing i had great reaction with a Blue Warlock @ 600. I never got deeper than 12 @ the arrows and trying to hit 8 @ the second range marker. If my ball was just outside the range marker i was good to go. But if i hit that range marker it was split city for me.
In team i had 6 opens, 3 splits in the first game for a sweet 162, clean 223 my second game and 3 splits for a 162 in game 3. I was on a roll in the second game when i tripped the 4 pin on a 4 bagger and made a small adjustment and lost my look. I tried to stay ahead of the transition that just wasn't there. Letting up on my speed really killed me.

Singles/Doubles- I tried to get into the BJ 2 days in a row and was unable, not really a walk in tourney...
I talked with Bill at the Motiv Booth and we talked about the balls i brought and he thought i had it all covered.
What i found out on the lanes was i didn't have a ball that had any pop on the back end that had any length. My Blue warlock was reading the pattern to early and i had 10 pin issues. Mutant cell @ 4000 had no pop on the back end and i was leaving 7 pins. Nexxus @ 2000 was the same as the Warlock, burning up before it would get to the pocket. And my Motiv Ascent Pearl would get down the lane but had no recovery. The farther right i got the less reaction i saw. I am sure it was me powering the ball. But i felt if i had a little stronger pearl in my hands i would have had a better reaction.

I Missed a total of 1 single pin spare it was a 4 pin that i lost concentration and missed it right. I throw straight at all my spares but i tried to hook it at a 4 pin once. I left more splits than i care to talk about.

If i had to do it all over again i would have bought that dam IQTP my wife was giving me crap about. And i am sure i would shoot better if i had another chance as the shot is playable if you can take some hand out of the ball.

Good luck all and hope you roll the ball better than i did. Already looking forward to next year.

Gambling was gambling. Played 3 dollar BJ @ Cal Neva for 6 hours and made a couple hundred dollars, wife hit for 1500 on a penny machine so all in all it was a good 4 days.

Thanks for the info. I'm sitting in the airport waiting to fly out. Only taking three balls with me. Hammer Arson Low Flare, Track 300T and a Roto Grip Grenade.

I never have high hopes but maybe something will work.

300t may be good for minors
low flare should be great for either
grenade might be a good ball to start with in team

Good luck Greazygeo, just relax and have fun...

Thanks. I am happy if I shoot over 500 and have a game over 200. See what happens shortly!

Bowled the BJ on doubles and singles shot. And your description of "something not having enough pop on the backend" with length was exactly what i saw. Im hoping to get a stronger pearl than my fireroad when i go to bowl the open in june.

thanks for the review

Well I am in the airport again waiting to head home. It was quite an adventure to say the least. Stopped by the Track booth and talked to the guy there a bit. Ended up getting an 811 C/T drilled pin up and mass bias kicked out.

Tried the Arson Low Flare first. Worked great in practice then just not enough back end. Went to the 811 and stayed with that. Never had a great look but it was ok. Shot a 510. Pretty happy with that.

Doubles lets just say the first game was ok. Started with the Arson and looked good for practice then about 7 frames. Then it wouldnt make a strong enough move. Game 2 was a disaster / fishing expedition!  Not sure what happened but the shot was gone for me and my partner.  Tried everything and had 7 opens. Game three finally went to the 811 and had an ok look. Shot 464.

Singles went much better. Went to the 300T and went back outside and shot 551 with a 213 last game that was clean. Really happy with that.

Overall the single dbls pattern was very difficult. Shooting spares were much harder.  We were on the pair nect to the walkway and the open championship lighted sign reflected on the right lane. That is kinda a drag. 

It was fun and frustrating. I'm not a good enough bowler to hit a one board area. Maybe someday.....and I only had 11 splits compared to 22 last year!  Always next year.

Sometimes it just boils down to experience.  The more you get, the more you learn for following years.  The main difference this year is that in previous years, I could use what I learned in team event and coordinate a game plan for minors.  This year; not so much.  My first instinct is to use something strong in team and play where I think I have the best look.  Then in minors, play the same basic area on the lane but use a much weaker ball.  But we will see when I get there which wont be until first week of May.

I hear a lot of people saying "the ball wouldn't make the corner" or "didn't have any pop on the backend". Was it because of carrydown? Was the ball just too strong and it was burning up? Or was the ball just too weak in general? I find it hard to believe that with the amount of friction there is at the stadium, and the fresh back-ends that balls won't make the corner. Just wondering what people were thinking about the reasons why they were seeing this. Thanks.

Chances are on the 41 foot team even, with the new oil that plays tighter than the norm we are used to, it may play like a 43 foot pattern.  Chances are the balls are not strong enough on the backend because you are almost forced into using something with surface which makes the backend reaction pretty mild; not causing enough entry angle. 

Just picked up Ebonite champion so this might give me a better inside look for doubles/singles. I go in June so we will see.

Definitely interested in how the Champion rolls for you. Are you going to leave that at OOB finish?

BL.