On
Tour with Brian Voss
Keystone State Championship - Mechanicsburg,
PA (Dec. 7 - 11, 2005 )
Obviously, this has been my best week of the new season. I really
started to feel things come together in the Masters 4 weeks ago. I
was 11th in qualifying among 400+ bowlers, but didn't fare too well
in the matches. This week, I started out with a 299 (solid 10 on the
last ball), and pretty much coasted the rest of the way. All of the
practice is starting to pay off. The scores were a little lower than
most of the weeks. It look like the lane guys are making the players
pay for errant shots with a lot of splits. I started playing around
the 6th board with a strong Scorpion. I continued playing the same
zone for the next two games, but the shot disappeared, and I moved
inside, just left of the third arrow. I was using a Cheetah when I
played there. After another game, most of the good scores were around
the 5th arrow, so I moved into there with an Alien, and ended up leading
the squad. I typically drill balls strong, and adjust my release according
to a desired arc. The next block was similar, but I ended up qualifying
3rd. During match play, I was paired against Robert Smith, and he
was an arrow left of me, so I didn't have to make any major adjustments.
I continued to use the Scorpion, and averaged a little better than
250 for the 4-1 victory. My next match was against Patrick Healey,
and I was in the zone, shooting 4 250 games, and coasting to a 4-0
victory. I used the same Scorpion. The final match was against Tom
Baker. I started out with another 250, making it 7 consecutive games
in the 250's, still using the Scorpion I had used all day. It has
been a long time since I struck that much, and it really was a lot
of fun. Tom got on a roll the second game, and shot a convincing 279.
He was playing just left of me, and the decision for me was to continue
to stay right of him, theoretically enhancing his shot, or to jump
left of him. Most of the week, this proved to be a difficult part
of the lane to score, but I took a chance and moved left of him. I
became a little confused on how to play the lanes, not knowing that
the scoring pace would drop dramatically. We took the match to the
final and deciding 7th game as we both struggled, but he edged me
out in the final game. Looking back on what I should have done is
easy and also another lesson. Had I have known that the scoring pace
would dwindle, I would have taken a weaker ball, and moved further
right. I took a chance and tried to play left of him because of his
convincing 279 in the second game. I thought that if I stayed right
of him, his shot would have continued to get better, and mine would
have gotten worse. So much happens during a match in terms of how
the players break down the pattern. It is educated and calculated
decisions when determining how to play the lanes, but sometimes it
doesn't always work out. I will build on last week, and hopefully
things will continue to get better. Congrats to Tom though, being
the oldest player on tour, I know it was very special for him to get
through not only me, but also Norm Duke on the same day. See you all
hopefully next week in the winners circle.
BV
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