Xmas Doubles at Ilson

Me n the bod bowled at sunny Ilson yesterday in a handicap doubles ran by Mr. Thrubbly.

We weren´t expecting what we did in our first block:-

Jo 237-280-276 793
Daz 257-244-256 757

1550!!! wow although we had no handicap so we still thought it could have been caught. Rob n Rodge played the same squad and shot 1498! shame ha ha ha we didn´t get caught in the end so we won ourselves a few quid. Good little competition though and fun was had.

Just to let people know Jo was throwing a Twisted Fury and I was throwing the Destruction.

Twisted Fury Destruction Review

Pin above right of bridge, mb 2-3 inch right of thumb.

Had this ball the same time as the Maxx and they work very well as a pair.

If you need a ball for med/dry med/wet the Destruction will cover all bases. It slides through the fronts really easily, even on the burn though a bit more pace could be a benefit on occasion.
It picks up nicely at the mid part but saves more than enough energy to generate massive area for pin carry. I´ve found with the Destruction the corner pins very rarely stand even with poorer shots, the lenghth and back-end are the major reason for this.

I have also had the chance to throw this on short and long, got to say the Destruction likes both.
Also loves house patterns and anything similar, another great addition for Brunswick.

Maxx Zone Review

Pin below slightly left of bridge.

The Maxx, is for me one of the best Brunswick balls I´ve thrown so far whilst being a staff player. There hasn´t been a time or lane I couldn´t use it. I´ve played on short, long, house, wood and plastic all of which scoring some big numbers. The ball really packs it´s punch on higher volumes of oil though, not rolling too early which can be a problem with some very dull balls. The Maxx still is very clean at the front then mid-lane reaction comes fairly quick but smoothly, then BOOM! It can be a problem......what you ask???

Getting bored of striking!

Joking aside, I can´t stress enough how much every bowler age, gender, size, rotation would love the Maxx, it truly is a great ball.

Smash Zone review

Had this layed out pin inch above left of bridge cg centre of palm.

This was a ball I coudn't wait to get my hands on, sometimes you just get a feeling and I wasn't disappointed. Not at all. The Smash simply glides through the fronts of even the dirtiest of heads and kicks off the back-end even with substantial energy loss. Stronger layouts would be advisable if you require an earlier reaction, particularly with the box finish but the bigger handed players will just need a lane!
Medium to med-dry will best suit the Smash, it would also feel at home on either wood or plastic lanes. With the nature of the balls surface the only thing to look out for is over reaction off the dry, but a small hand position adjustment does work.
The pins seem to scatter with ease on a regular basis, all in all another great addition to the Brunswick family.

Twisted Fury Solid review

This I had pin above bridge.

The main strength for me with the Solid is the smooth and effortless control it provides.
The box finish is quite dull which will help but there is never anything bizarre going to happen, early, mid or back part of the lane.
I must admit I expected to be crossing more boards with this one, but that's just not the case.
I think this could fit into any arsenal, not necessarily in the same place for everyone though?
It looks like it wants to be a particle by the reaction, readable and consistent. This I'm sure will be a reaction that is favoured by many bowlers, particularly those who veer away from jerky back-end equipment.
The Solid will come into it's own when there is a decent amount of juice and you haven't got from 3 to 12 to hit!! Flatter patterns require this balls all round control.

Don't miss out......

Swarm ball review

Pin below left of bridge.

This is probably the easiest review to date.
The Swarm is an absolute gem, it glides through the front of wood or plastic lane surfaces then gives you a little mid-lane glimpse of what is to come.......a very strong but predictable kick on the back, generally ending with another strike! If you get bored easily don't buy one but if you like striking then Brunswick have given you the must have for 2008.
Have used it in two wooden events and scored heavily at both, league at Ilkeston (plastic heads)
and full plastic, looks great on everything.
Bowled with it on short and long and was able to use on both patterns with a change of hand position.
To date I've had sets of 785, 796, 760 to name a few.

It's just a GREAT ball.

Ilson Practice

Just come back from Ilkeston bowl, been practicing on some short and long patterns thankyou to Thrubs! Had a good 2-3 hours.
Need to make a decision about equipment for Thailand so today was very helpful, have made my 8 ball arsenal though and they are as follows:-

Racing Zone
Strike Zone
Swarm
Dry Zone Solid
Ultra Zone
Copperhead
Classic Zone
Avalanche solid

Hopefully these will do the damage required to pick up some medals?

World Cup Qualifier

Yet another event on wood! Not ideal for the more modern of eqipment, tends to get tracked up in 12 seconds! anyway...........had my rant.

Played the 1st round on Sat. afternoon expexcting them to be pretty dry. Got more juice than I bargained for but all the same it didn't stay to damp on the fronts for long.
Struggled the first 2 games, they actually played trickier than I expected I tried to utilise an outside line knowing nobody else would be there, but this was too tight an area. Eventually after moving more to the middle of the lane out to the track I found a bit of consistency.
After shooting 190, 196, 201 I reeled off consistent pocket shots for 248, 207, 248, 207, 248.

Was fairly happy with the eventual block. (145 over).
All the way through the block I was throwing the Swarm and the Dry Zone solid with similar layouts (to be reviewed) but the Zone just giving me a bit more length when required.

The 2nd round on Sunday was a tail of 2 "three game" scores. Using the same balls but not executing as well as I did Saturday, I shot 521 for 3 of them and 737 for the other 3!! A bit of fishing around for better carry backfired, things have to be tried sometimes though.
I was still in a good position going into round 3 though.

Round 3 I stuck to playing for the pocket and keeping the ball in play rather than looking for big scores, this served me well as with the same equipment again I shot games of 216, 216, 230 and 213 giving me a grand total of 268 over from 18 games. Loving the Swarm and Dry Zone Solid!!

Into the robin starting in 6th place I decided in the 2nd game after a stinker of a 1st to try something else. I took out the Classic Zone which is very strong on the back but I knew I would have to be moving very deep and quickly because of the traffic on the heads. The classic allowed me to do this without having to overhook with my hand. I played quite well most of the robin, which was very tiring (19 games on Sunday) shooting a low games of 173, 187. The rest of them were over 200 with a high of 244 so quite consistent but not particularly heavy scoring.

With the robin finishing at 11 o'clock there were lots of tired bodies!! I finished the event in a respectable 5th ave.214 from 27 games.

Good luck to Nick in Mexico!!

Next stop Barcelona!

Euro 5's at Ipswich

Bowled in this event with my beloved Jo and 3 English ladies!! These being Jemma Smith, Nikki Harvey (wallbanger) and Lisa John.

The first squad we played was the singles (5 games). I started initially with the pearl Avalanche, reason being the lanes were quite dry and this was on wood so the ball read earlier than you would see on synthetic lanes. After making a couple of good shots without the desired outcome I decided to change to the Swarm and move my feet and target deeper to try and create more margin for error and improved carry. This worked immediately as I went off the sheet for 290 first game after changing in the 3rd frame!! 2nd game played and scored well again aside from a poor shot in the 9th finishing with 245. The next 3 games I couldn't string the 10's together as previously I had so only managed to plus 10 more pins, thus finishing the block 145 over. This eventually placed me in 10th for the event.

Lisa did us proud though by winning the ladies singles section!!

Onto the first 3 games of team. We played these on Saturday afternoon/early evening.
I was thankful for playing these games with girls as there was less traffic on the deeper part of the lane on my team, this benefitted me greatly. As a team we shot 167 over for the 3 games, I got 185 of them!!!!! (279, 259, 257) all of the set with the SWARM. Looks like a goody!

2nd 3 games of team I didn't bowl well and the lanes played quite a bit different for me and quite a few others, I started with a 135!!!!!!!!!!! then made a drastic move of line and ball and hand position, and so finished with 550 so could have been a lot worse! We came 9th in the team so a fair effort from all of us. Lisa was 2nd in the all-events, Jemma 3rd and Jo 4th. I came 9th in the mens so not too bad, ave.225.

Next event World Cup qulifier.

Swarm ball review coming soon!!

More crazy scores in league

Me and Frog played again last night with more stupid scores coming from it!!

Frog started with a modest 224.....not bad, then he had 300!! then followed it with 217 for a 741.

Not to be outdone for another week I started with 256 then 279 to go with Frogs 300 (4 pin) BUGGER! then I had....another 279 (another 4 pin) DOUBLE BUGGER!! Did manage 814 though, this was throwing the underated Ambush.

Bring on the doubles at Maldon!

League Match at Notts

I bowl this league with Frog, Debbie (his bod) and Jo (my bod).
Tonight it was Nick and me.
We started with a N-251
D-259
Then N-299
D-267
Then N-257
D-224
meaning Frog shot an 807 and I shot 750. Not bad with 3 opens between us!!

I was using the Sidewinder, reason being the house pattern at Notts tends to be fairly light oil and not too long about 39 feet, there also is quite a bit of friction on the backs. The Sidewinder calms that angle of entry down and gives great readable and consistent reaction. Still a great ball and everyone could benefit from a particle pearl.

Back match at Ilson

Played a league game yesterday only shot 558! Thats pretty poor you say but I did do it left handed due to a strain of my wrist at work on Friday. 186 ave. lefty, 229 righty!!
If only I could swap them round!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ball Reviews RACING ZONE/GREAT INFERNO

RACING ZONE

Had this one drilled pin above, right of bridge box finish.

Like this ball too, particularly on the long. The main strength is the back-end it gives you without having to create the rotation. Sure it can be hit by the stronger handed of us but this may cause too much angle? When it´s right though there won´t be a better carrying ball.
The pace of the bowler isn´t really an issue because of the polished finish but the surface can be changed anyway.
In short if you missed out on the Classic Zone don´t miss out on this, equally if you loved the Classic this is as good if not better.

GREAT INFERNO

This was drilled pin below bridge box finish.

This Inferno is very similar to the Total Inferno. If anything just wants to roll that little bit sooner. Requires a fair amount of oil on the fronts to obtain a good reaction without this you will see substantial roll-out. Probably a ball for most people who like to play a more inside shot as a rule, but the weaker handed will be able to use a more direct line. Slower players may need to touch the surface with a bit of polish, but the faster bowler will love the control of the mid-lane and back-end recovery.

Ball review AVALANCHES

AVALANCHE SOLID.

Had this ball layed out with pin in the palm and 0 degree, box finish.

Absolutely love this ball, have used it on a variety of patterns now. Short, long, house on plastic and plastic wood combo. It gives me fantastic control on all of them, an amount of this is obviously the layout but also the core plays a major part.
The big hitters will like the area you can create and the control off the dry boards, also the more straighter player will like the length it gives you without having to force through the fronts.
This should be a ball for everybody to add to their arsenal, it doesn´t require a specific pattern to give you very good results.

AVALANCHE PEARL.

Had this one drilled up with pin above the bridge box finish.

If you need a very mellow reactive this is the ball for you. Glides through the front and delays the mid-lane reaction also. Ideal for the outside and down the board bowler even if you don´t have much pace. Does dull down if need be to bring the move closer to you.
Could be a godsend for any player who regularly bowls on dry, and or wood.
It can be hit! but the reaction will still take place further down the lane than most calm reactives.

Scott Banks Trios

Always a good event this one, lots of teams and generally high scores.

As it turned out the pattern played like it should be high scoring but it didn´t really pan out that way for quite a few players. Personally it was a case of too much oil in the middle in relation to the early friction in the track, culminating in over-under reaction.

To combat this I had to throw the Avalanche solid with pin in the palm and the same layout on an Impulse Zone, this at least gave me some control off the dry and early enough roll if I missed inside.
The only problem with this is the carry, due to the nature of the early roll sometimes hitting quite flat.

My scores reflected this, through the whole event I only shot 4 sub 200 games (from 18).
From those 18 games I believe I was 230 over so could have been worse? In hindsight a bit more pace would have been useful but equally with the hand required.

Back to the practice lanes!!

League Night at Ilkeston

The fun never ends! Not only did I bowl with my brother for the first time in a league me missus has a 300! Although I did thrash her for the set! Shooting 780 to her 665!
I was using the red zone and she was throwing her newly drilled Ultra Zone.
Next stop Scott Banks!

Happy practising......go on the Robins!!

Hello everybody,

Another league night at sunny Ilson last night missed the pocket 4 times!!

Could only muster a 699 booooo how many people have done that?? Lots no doubt.