This week’s report comes to you from what is quite possibly the most beautiful bowling center on Tour. Lava Lanes is one of the favorite stops of most of the guys out here. Rick Donnelly and his staff go way out of their way to make us feel welcome and take care of us throughout the entire week. It’s no wonder why everybody is anxious to come here every year.

Tuesday, January 9th

I got on the road around 8:00 am and finally put Reno in my rear view mirror. That was one long week. The route to Medford was pretty much two-lanes all the way through winding mountains. The weather was pretty good luckily and I made it without incident. I arrived in Medford around 12:30 and went straight to the bowl. I unloaded my equipment and went in to grab some lunch before practice. You will notice a theme this week with most of my meals being at the bowling center. Not only is Lava Lanes a tremendous bowling center, but Donnelly’s is a top-notch restaurant. I had a little lunch, then changed clothes for some practice time. I spent some time practicing with the great Marshall Holman. It was great to spend some time with Marshall since we only get to see him once a year. I’ve always been a huge historian of the sport and I’ve been a fan of his since I was a kid, so it was an honor to get to practice with him. Around 2:30 or so, I did an on-air radio interview with a show called “GoBowling Show” ( visit them at www.gobowlingshow.com ). It was a great interview with some guys that really know what they are talking about. I really enjoyed it and I was pleasantly surprised when Steve Hoskins joined us in the interview. I hadn’t seen or talked to Steve in a few years and it was great to talk to him again. Steve was one of the guys that got “screwed” by the new system and I have felt bad for him ever since. Anyway, after the interview I headed back down to practice some more. I bowled for about 2 ½ - 3 hours and Schlem and I decided to drill a few balls for this week. I have a T-Road that I’ve been using every week and the cover was starting to get beat up, as well as my original Thunderstruck Pearl. We also decided to drill an additional Thunderstruck Pearl to give me another option off of the one that I’ve already got. Now that my physical game is getting a little more solid, I can start to work on ball reaction a little more and that might mean drilling more balls than I’m used to. After practice I checked into the hotel, unloaded my truck and headed out to get my laundry done. After 11 days between traveling and Reno, I’d accumulated quite a bit of laundry, so I found the closest coin-op and spent a few hours doing that. Once that was finished, I came back to the room and spent what seemed like forever typing last week’s report.

Wednesday, January 10th

I went to the bowl and watched most of the TQR.  Matt Frieberg just absolutely whacked em !!! It was fun to watch and I’m happy for the kid. I actually started working with Matt back in Buffalo and I’ve been keeping tabs on him and working with him from time to time since. Matt had a habit of cutting his swing off very short and he’s been making steady progress ever since. He made it out of the TQR in Long Island and led this week. After the TQR, Schlem and I grabbed lunch in the restaurant, then I headed back to the hotel to change clothes for practice. I forgot that I had drilled 3 balls, so I headed back to install grips and clean everything up. I grabbed a bunch of equipment and headed down to practice. I struggled for a while until we finally broke out the abralon pads on the new stuff we drilled. With the box finishes, the balls were going dead sideways downlane. We hit the balls with 1000 grit and that did the trick. By the time I was done I had 6 or 7 decent options for qualifying, including : (2) T-Roads, (2) T-Struck Pearls, T-Struck Solid and a Spitfire. We decided to drill another T-Road with a different layout, just to give me another option from out. The pattern could play in or out, depending on how guys play the lanes. Some guys started around 25 and some guys started around 5. I’m actually hoping that more guys play out, making the pattern hold up longer. After practice I moved some equipment around, taking some balls back out to the truck. I traded my 6:00 pm pro-am with Matt Frieberg, taking his 12:00 Saturday pro-am ( since I’m already bowling the Calcutta / Pro-Am Saturday night ). Once I had everything moved around, I headed back to the hotel to chill out for the night. It’s been a long time since I just relaxed and did nothing for the night, so that’s what I did.

Thursday, January 11 -- Round of 64 Block 1

I got to the bowl fairly early to get some ball work done, grab some breakfast and haul all of my stuff out to my starting pair. My cross this week was Del Ballard Jr, Michael Haugen Jr and Chris Warren. That gave me 3 different styles to watch to line up off of if necessary. During practice I played the lanes similar to practice and decided to start with a T-Road Pearl, standing around 28 and going through round 14-15 at the arrows. The backends seemed a little crisper than yesterday and I was concerned how that would affect things. As it turned out, it was bad for me !

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx - 26                 174
Game 1 (  ) – 3-6-10 in the 1st, 7-pin in the 4th, 3-6-10 in the 5th, 1-2-10 in the 6th, blower 7-10 in the 8th, 2-pin in the 9th and another washout in the 10th. I created way to much over-under from the get go. The ball that I chose to start with was to “long and left”. The T-Road either went sideways or never hooked at all.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx - 52                 174
Game 2 (   ) – Missed a 10-pin in the 2nd, another blower 7-10 in the 3rd, 10-pin in the 4th, 4-pin in the 7th, 2-10 in the 8th and a 4-pin in the 11th.  For some reason I decided to stay with the T-Road for this game. My thinking was that Game 1 was all me and not ball selection. This game was better than what the score indicated, but that didn’t do me much good.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx - 27                 225
Game 3 (   ) – 10-pin in the 1st, 10-pin in the 4th, 3-6-9-10 ( chopped ) in the 6th, and a 2-8 in the 7th. Again I decided to start with the T-Road. My angles were still way too steep, but I was trying to force it into working for some reason. I’d finally had enough and went to an Agent in the 8th frame. Good ball change, huh ?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 17                 244
Game 4 (   ) – 4-10 in the 3rd, solid 7 in the 6th. I know what you’re thinking…T-Road again ? How stupid do you think I am ( don’t answer that, please !!! ). Stayed with the Agent and started to see the lane open up a bit now. The 4-10 made me move another 2-1 left and things really started to come together.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 32                 216
Game 5 (   ) – 6-9-10 in the 3rd ( missed ), 2-5-7 in the 4th ( spare ), 2 pin in the 5th and a washout in the 6th ( spare ). This game was a perfect example of an unnecessary move. I made bad shot in the 3rd and adjusted out of my zone off of it, even changing to a T-Struck Pearl. After missing the pocket the next 3 shots, I moved back to where I was and bailed out the game.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 58                 226
Game 6 (   ) – Ring 10 in the 6th, 4-9 in the 8th, 2-8 in the 10th. I could write a book on how to turn 250 into 220 in 1 easy step. Just catch one a little strong and leave a 4-9 !
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 126 42nd                  267
Game 7 (   ) – Blower 7 in the 4th, ring 10 in the 5th. I really needed this game to get myself in the hunt. As it turned out this game was the key to the week. We caught a great break by getting a very blended pair to finish with. I had some mistake room both directions and the result was a big finish. I finished the block at 1526 ( +126 ) and the 32nd place number after the first 7 games was +156. Considering the fact that I was in last after 3 games, I was pretty happy. Schlem decided to drill me a Paradigm for the night block. We drilled the pin and the rad out, trying to give me something a little smoother on the fresh. After that we headed to the Olive Garden for lunch ( god love the soup and salad lunch special !!! )

Thursday, January 11 -- Round of 64 Block 2

I took a look at the Paradigm for the night block, but the Agent that I used earlier still looked better. The lower RG core allowed me to be a little cleaner at the bottom, knowing the ball would still pick up the midlane. I started the night block exactly in the same spot as the morning round, only with an Agent instead of a T-Road.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 150                 224
Game 1 (  ) – Ring 10 in the 1st, solid 7 in the 7th, ring 10 in the 8th, blower 7 in the 9th, another ring 10 in the 10th. Not a bad start, but I sure would’ve liked a few breaks at the end. The cut number had been going up 20+ per game all day, so 220’s weren’t going to cut it.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 184                 234
Game 2 (   ) – Ring 10 in the 1st, 3-6-10 in the 7th, ring 10 in the 8th, solid 9 in the 9th and another ring 10 in the 10th. Much like the first game, I couldn’t finish strong. The 3-6-10 was a horrible shot, but the 3 shots after that were probably better than the 5-bagger !
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 188                 204
Game 3 (   ) – Bad shot in the 2nd resulted in a brooklyn 5-pin, ring 10s in the 3rd, 4th and 9th, another bad shot for a 2-5 in the 9th ( chopped ). Just a poorly bowled game here. My mechanics were sloppy and I chopped another spare.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 266                 278
Game 4 (   ) – After a 2-8-10 in the 1st, I bumped back right a little bit and took off. This pair had some high scores on it the previous game and they continued for us. This was by far the best pair that we had hit and it was just what I needed. This game finally put me inside the top 32 number.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 269                 203
Game 5 (   ) – 4-9 in the 3rd, 7-pin in the 5th, flat 10 in the 6th, flat 10 in the 8th, 4-7-10 in the 9th. My ball reaction started to go away during this game. The midlane was starting to hook and my Agent was starting to burn up and stop a little. I caught the one in the 9th ( after a few flat 10’s ) and paid dearly for it.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 285                 216
Game 6 (   ) – All I left this game was 10-pins ( every way possible ). Again, I stayed with my Agent, even though I knew I should change balls. The problem is knowing what ball to go to.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xx-xx + 330                 245
Game 7 (   ) – 2-8 in the 3rd, 3-6 in the 4th and a solid 9 in the 8th. I was the number ( 32nd place ) with one game to go. The way things had been lately, the number could go just about anywhere. After back to back shots that missed the pocket, I grabbed a T-Road Pearl and proceeded to throw 7 out of the last 8. It was a good gamble, because if I hadn’t changed balls I would have been dead in the water. I was able to jump left a little with the T-Road and open the lane up in the backends. It’s a good thing I did, because the number jumped a bunch the last game again, and I snuck in at 31st this week. I finished the night block at 1604 ( +204 ) which put me at 3130 ( +330 ) for qualifying. The cut number ended up being Chief at +228, so as it turned out I needed all of them in the 10th. WHEW !!!

Friday, January 12 -- Round of 32 -- Opponent:  Billy O'Neill

I didn’t keep game by game notes during my matches today, mainly because I was having some issues ( or what I thought were issues…..turned out to be user error ) with my palm pilot with the Frames program. I decided to just focus on the match itself and worry about my report later. I pretty much started where I left off last night, same ball….same part of the lane. I was bowling Bill O’Neill and I knew I would have my hands full, mainly since he qualified 200 pins ahead of me and had a great look during qualifying. Since I hadn’t won a match all year, I wasn’t really expecting much, other than to just give it all I had.

Game 1 (  ) – Great game !!! After I flagged a 4-pin to start, I rebounded to finish strong striking out to force the tie. I won the rolloff 10-8.
Game 2 (   ) – We both hit the pocket on every shot this game, I just happened to strike more.
Game 3 (   ) – I finished first to shut Bill out to take a 3-0 lead.
Game 4 (   ) – My look started to go away during this game and Bill’s kept getting better. I started with a 2-10 and a blower 7-10, then never quite recovered.
Game 5 (   ) – Another game that I never quite got matched up.  It was a case of high / light for the whole game. Bill picked up another win to cut my lead to 3-2.
Game 6 (   ) – After a 2-4-8-10 start, I switched to a T-Road Pearl and moved left. I backed the speed down and slow-hooked the lane a little more, trying to create more angle downlane. The move paid off for me, I got lined up and started making better shots while Bill struggled with carry ( leaving a 7-10 in the 9th ). This gave me my first match win of the season. Jeff's Match Play Record Against Billy O'Neill After the Round of 32, Schlem and I went into the restaurant to grab some lunch. Since there wasn’t a very long break between rounds, I decided to stay at the bowl and just relax.

Friday, January 12 -- Round of 16 -- Opponent:  Chris Barnes

My Round of 16 opponent was Chris Barnes. Chris disposed of Marv Sargent in the Round of 32 pretty easily, shooting 588 for his last 2 games. He played out for most of the match, and I knew that if he had that against me I’d be in trouble. During our practice, I noticed that the left lane didn’t hook very much at all. I started with the same Agent in the same part of the lane, hoping to just outstrike him. Chris, in my opinion, is the best bowler in the world and I knew that it was going to take everything I had to beat him.

Game 1 (  ) – After a bucket in the 2nd, I got pretty comfortable striking on 8 of the last 10 shots. Chris had a hard time getting the ball to read on the left lane
Game 2 (   ) – Other than the 4-9 in the 4th, this was a pretty solid game. Again, Chris struggled on the left lane and I took a 2-0 lead.
Game 3 (   ) – I really don’t know what else to say about this game, other than I flat out choked !!! Chris finished first, forcing me to get a double and 9 pins to win. I got the first 2 hits, then got slow and left a Greek Church. I was pretty devastated after the shot, but during the “recap” break I re-grouped and told myself to keep my head up ( I still had a 2-1 Lead ).
Game 4 (   ) – Chris’ reaction started to really go away during this game. He was starting to get forced into where I was playing, and he was having a hard time getting the ball to hit. I made just enough shots to win the game and go up 3-2. I did notice that the lanes were opening up a little bit and I made a move left at the end of the game.
Game 5 (   ) – Well, there’s not much to say about this game. Chris didn’t have a very good reaction and mine kept getting better and better. Its always very gratifying to bowl 300, but to do it in match play against one of the best bowlers in the world was special.  I have a tremendous amount of respect for Chris, and I felt very fortunate to catch him when we wasn’t on. The fact that the pair played more to my game than his didn’t hurt much either. Jeff's Match Play Record Against Chris Barnes
After the Round of 16, Schlem wanted to drill me another Agent, hoping to smooth my reaction out a little. I headed back to the hotel to lay down for a while. My back and legs had been bothering me all day long ( I’m getting old !!! ) and I needed to lay down and relax.

Friday, January 12 -- Round of 8 -- Opponent:  Patrick Healey, Jr.

When I got back, I took the new Agent to a practice pair and was surprised as to how much more it hooked than the other one. We thought this one would be tamer and it turned out to be more. Sometimes you guess right, sometimes you guess wrong. As it turned out, this was the ball I used anyway.

My Round of 8 opponent was Pat Healey Jr ( fellow Storm Staffer ). I knew that Pat and I would be playing the same part of the lane and my feeling was that I needed to jump out to an early lead, before I started to run out of lane. The last time we bowled each other, we totally trashed the pair and the scores got ugly. I was hoping to avoid that during this round. I started using the new Agent that we drilled, since it allowed me a little more recovery room. The problem was it changed direction pretty hard. I had to make better shots, but the other Agent wiggled a little when I missed right. I felt that this was the lesser of two evils.

Game 1 (  ) – Pat clearly outbowled me during this game. I left 3 splits during the game, and other than the excitement of Pats 5 count in the 10th making it interesting, this game wasn’t very close.
Game 2 (   ) – After a 3-4-6-7 start, I made a move left and got lined up and started striking. Pat split in the 10th, basically giving me the win to tie the match up.
Game 3 (   ) – I had a chance to shut Pat out in the 10th, but left a blower 7-10 allowing him to step up and win.
Game 4 (   ) – This game wasn’t even close. I left a 4-9 in the 3rd and never got into the game. I overhit the shot in the 9th for a 4-count split.
Game 5 (   ) – I left four 10-pins ( all different ways ) to stay clean and win this game. As it turns out, this game was worth about $1500.00 and a bunch of points. Luckily for me, the other 3 matches were over in 5 games and this game locked up no worse than 5th place for me.
Game 6 (   ) – I left four more early 10-pins, but I was still in this game until the 8th frame when I overhit another shot for yet another 3-4-6-7-9-10, ending my night earlier than I had hoped. Jeff's Match Play Record Against Patrick Healey, Jr.
Even though I was very disappointed about not making the show, I was still pretty pleased about the fact that I finished 5th after being in last after 3 games. Pair that with the fact that I revamped my timing just 4 days earlier, this week was a pretty good feeling. I needed the points more than anything else, and this week certainly helped. After I was done, I went straight to bed. I was totally worn out.

Saturday, January 13th

I was so tired and sore after two solid days of bowling, I didn’t want to get out of bed…but I was really looking forward to the noon Pro-Am. Like I said earlier, I traded out of my Wednesday pro-am to get the High School Baker Pro-am at noon. When I got down to my starting pair, I found out that I was bowling with the same girls team that I bowled with last year, the Springfield Millers. Last year we finished 3rd in the rolloffs, so I was hoping to help them to the title this year. Unfortunately we never really got going, but we certainly had a lot of fun. After we got done, I autographed some photos and a bowling ball for their auction that they have. I want to thank all of the girls on the team for helping me have a great time. For the second year in a row, I can say that I had the best girls team to bowl with.  After the noon pro-am I headed back to the room to relax and watch a little football. With me being a die-hard Steelers fan, I was rooting for Indy to whoop up on the Baltimore Ravens ( one of our biggest rivals ). I chilled out doing some e-mails until it was time to go back to the bowl for the 6:00 Calcutta Pro-Am. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this type of format, all of the Pros are auctioned off to 30 4-person teams. All of the money goes to the prize fund, and last year the winners got $5000.00. The highest price last year was Jason Couch at $1000.00. This year, Tony Reyes was top dog at $875.00. The minimum bid was $200.00 and I figured that number had my name written all over it. Much to my surprise, some guys that had watched me all week paid $575.00 and we not only bowled pretty well, but had a blast doing it. I want to give a special thanks to Mike Damenhager, Dave Barlow, Larry James and Chuck Eilenburger for not only bidding on me, but having so much fun while we were bowling. I’d love to bowl with those guys again next year if possible.

Well that concludes a pretty long, but gratifying week. As always, it was a true pleasure coming to Medford, and I’m sure I can speak for most of the field in saying that we can’t wait to go back again next year. Thanks again to Rick Donnelly and his entire staff for putting together a top notch event. I also want to thank Marshall Holman for giving me an autographed bowling ball for my collection. It was an honor to spend time with him this week. My next report may be a little “fuzzy”, due to the fact that 11 of us have rented a beach house in Newport Beach. Combine that with the fact that we are bowling a unique format, and next weeks report could be all over the map !!! Well, that will just about take care of this week. Thanks to everybody on www.ballreviews.com for the support this week, as well as all of my family and friends back home. I’m lucky to have so many people behind me. Thanks to all of you !!

Well, until next week…….”Bowl up a Storm”