On
Tour with Brian Voss
Motel 6 Classic - Las Vegas, NV
(Jan. 24 - 28, 2007 )
Here we go again, just another unproductive week. We bowled at Sunset
Station this week in Las Vegas, a really nice venue. Scores were medium
high on the Viper pattern, taking about a 220 average to make the
cut. I started out really bad, only 16 over for the first 7 games.
Most of the right handers started out playing just right of the 2nd
arrow, and the left handers were the same. The pattern was one of
the shorter ones, so I used Cheetahs and Chameleons. But, you are
about to hear a first from me. I actually drilled up a 15 lb. ball
for the second block. Yes, after all of these years of using 16, I
finally gave in to the trend and abandoned a little stubborness. There
are a lot of reasons for this. Frustration for the most part, but
thinking about it, it is easier on the body and hand for one, but
being able to create more ball speed has huge advantages. I can say
that this entire year, I have tripped only a handful of 2 pins. Most
of the time for me, using 16 pounds, those bad shots ended up being
2-8-10's. The players with good ball speed and using 15 pounds trip
so many 2 pins, and leave so many less 2-8-10's, I can't believe it
took me so long to finally give in. My second block, I didn't leave
any 2-8-10's on the light hits, and did trip one 2 pin. I ended up
shooting 170 over that block, not good enough to make the cut, but
good enough to get a little confidence in using 15 pounds. I don't
know if I will use 15 every week, but I will definitely use it more
often. I believe that the shots where players are going real straight,
16 pounds is better. But anything other than that strategy, the amount
of bad shots that don't end up as splits and actually get lucky strikes
will have huge benefits, so I'll continue to experiment with 15.
The left side played so much better again. Again. All anybody asks
as a professional is that you get a fair chance, each and every week.
Just a fair chance. In this day and age, that should be achievable,
or at least better than I've seen the last 4 weeks. Stay tuned, 8
weeks to go, and fighting as hard as I can. Actually, there's only
7 weeks of tournaments that award points, so the pressure mounts.
Not only for me, but for other players. Wish me luck.
BV
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