07.18.08
My Costly Bowling History…
I started playing bowling actively in 2003. Prior to that, i have been playing for 5-6 times in my life. If i m not mistaken, once in BKGC, twice in Kuching, once in Stuttgart he he, and i can’t recall the other. My definition of active player is when u play once or twice a week. If u play more than 3 times a week, then u are a regular or professional player. And your score must be above 170. Forget about score for now. Let continue with the rest of the story.
It has been five years now since one my colleagues has gathered a group and plan a proper schedule for us. All of us except one is a beginner. Some of us bought a plastic ball for a start and the other including me use a ‘house ball’. I never thought of buying a bowling shoe. Just rent it from the bowling alley.
We trained at Mines Wonder Bowl because the rate per game is reasonable, and a T-shirt and game discount for member. Booking is much easier after our group is made known to the management of the alley. Its only last for about a year due to the distance from office and home for most of us. But i still visit it from time to time for another year.
By that time we already looking into “cheaper” place like Mutiara Jln Ipoh and a closer place to the office like Bangsar Shopping Centre (now closed maybe because of us have stop playing there). I used to play in Pertama, testing a bowling lane of Pyramid, Summit, OU, Shah Alam, Mid Valley, The Curve, Flamingo, Selayang, Bangi, Alamanda, UO3, KLGCC, etc. Then Seremban Parade, Angsana JB, BJ Penang, Kuantan Parade, Kota Bharu, Kuching and KK.
In Bangsar we found one of the cheapest bowling ball shop compare to other places. With a package, we can get a bag and a pair of shoe. I bought one 12 lbs hook reactive Zone bowling ball (RM250.00) and a cheaper Dexter shoe (RM160.00) and a free bowling bag. Standard size bowling ball used in competition weighted between 10 to 15 lbs. Its too heavy for u maybe. I used to carry two 15 lbs for quite sometimes.
I got interested in ‘hook’ bowling style after starting up with ’straight’ bowling which i really regretted changing it until now. When i play a straight using house ball, my average has reach 120-130 and it is an achievement for beginner. But moving to hook reduced me to a beginner again for a very long time. My average drop to below 100 and it took me many years to recover before reaching 150 average.
Early last year (2007), i decided to play straight again. After several months of trying and inconsistently touching 200, on 8 April 2007 i made up my mind to play a ’spinner’. After wasting so many year just to look good when playing, now my game have reach a new height in just less than a year. I can regularly score an average of over 160 but it is still not good enough to compete in the men’s open category. You need an above 180 average for that.
My second bowling ball was a Columbia 300 14 lbs hook ball priced RM500.00. At the same time, i sold my Zone for RM150.00. I have been using the ball for less than a year while finding a suitable one instead of finding a suitable playing technique. I sold the Columbia 300 for RM250.00 and then bought one Brunswick 15 lbs for RM650.00 together with a Columbia 300 15 lbs blue dot ’spare’ ball (RM300+).
For your info, i already sold the Brunswick for RM250.00. In 2006, i bought a Columbia 300 14 lbs hook ball again for RM500.00 together with Columbia 300 13 lbs white dot ’spare’ ball for RM150.00 in which i think i did make a mistake. First ball and ’spare’ ball must be of the same weight and same fingered.
I also bought a hook glove for RM150.00 and then sold it for RM100.00 because it is not suitable for my hand grip.
I almost giving up bowling after so much money spend but never achieved my target.
When i changed my mind in 2007 to start playing a straight ball, i used the white dot 13 lbs ball for a while. Then i bought a Columbia 300 11 lbs for RM150.00 an started playing a ’spinner’. At the same time a new Dexter shoe for RM400.00.
That’s the only time when i saw some improvement in my game. In about a year, my game average improved gradually from 130 to 160.
At the moment, my game score target have changed from 170 to 200. I’ll be happy to score two 170+ in three games or one 190+ in three games. And i did 180+ average in a league last month.
Now, i really enjoy bowling. And you know what happened then - i sold my Columbia 300 11 lbs ball for RM50.00 and bought a new Ebonite Total NV 11 lbs ’spinner’. Its really get me going.
If you are interested, please email me. I still have with me a Columbia 300 14 lbs hook (RM250.00), Blue dot 15 lbs (RM150.00) and White dot 13 lbs (RM100.00). Its a good bargain. You have seen the original price, isn’t it.
And before you started playing, please ask somebody about the basic technique. Your can play a simple game without using too much power but still score high. I already have 2 apprentice playing a simple straight game but can score 200. What else do you want? Don’t try to act like a pro on the other lane. It can be dangerous and can cause injury.
Bowling is not about power or luck, its about hitting the right target (the pocket).
There are more about bowling i.e. lane condition, oiling, reading the line, dot and arrow, pin action, strike/spare/open/split, connection, turkey, perfect score (300), block etc. And the competition i.e. ten pins, 9 pins tap, 8 pins tap, 1-3-9, Masters, League, Masters Qualifying (MQ), handicap, Graded bowlers, etc.
So far, i have tried 8 pins tap, 9 pins tap, 1-6-9, Masters and League. I hope to get a top ten finished in any of an open competition in the future. Wish me luck…
An excerpt from my Friendster Blog - June 25, 2008.
