I'd like to welcome everybody back to my weekly "Road Reports". It's been a while since i've been able to get these journals up to date, but i'm hoping to have more time to write these on a regular basis. Things have been extremely busy lately. I've been coaching a lot, working on our upcoming regional ( the Mary Teubner Memorial Open ), and i've been writing seminars for the PBA based on the patterns ( Not to mention the fact that my Palm Pilot broke, so i was unable to document my game scores efficiently ). As you can tell i've been keeping busy, and that doesn't even take into account trying to keep up with Kaitlyn and Trey. Not only is Kaitlyn dancing full time, but now she's getting into cheerleading and she has also informed me that she wants to play softball !!! Needless to say we have our hands full.

Just a quick update on my bowling, i really don't have much to say other than i still haven't been bowling very much and when i have it hasn't been very well. I've spent some time recently with Schlem and coach Rod Ross working on mechanics. We gone to 4 steps and made several other changes. My main goal is to get myself ready for the upcoming Tour Season. I'm down around 25 lbs or so, and looking to continue getting into better shape and for the most part i feel as healthy as i have in years. The finger is totally healed with no complications, so i'm looking forward to jumpstarting my career again.

Thursday

For those of you that have followed along in the past, you know who Allen Ahner is. Allen is a major part of this website and somebody that i've sort of "taken under my wing". Allen will be attending Vincennes University this fall, so he is again spending part of the summer with me.

Now, on to the Report.......I normally bowl the Regional in Centerville, OH on this weekend. I had worked with the Central Region Director ( Bobby Jakel ) and we had set up a clinic for Friday in Centerville with the center hosts. At the same time, the Midwest Region Director ( Rich Weber ) contacted me saying that the hosts in Belton, MO were also interested in doing a clinic. Since the Midwest is my home region, i decided i would head there. I booked my room and entered the tournament, but 4 phone calls to the center manager went unanswered and i was unable to set up a clinic for this weekend. SInce i had already booked my room, Allen and I decided to go to the Thursday afternoon Cards / Royals game in St Louis. The morning got off to a rough start, waiting for some shirts to get finished for the Junior World Team Challenge team that i'm sponsoring. My buddy Billy ( who does all of my embroidery work ) was having some problems with the machine, so we got out of town later than planned. We got to Busch Stadium around the 4th inning and got to sit in the sun and enjoy some afternoon baseball. After the game, he hit the highway for Kansas City. Once we got into town, we checked into the hotel and unloaded our stuff. We headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for the weekend and then it was off to find a theatre to see Iron Man. Allen hadn't seen it yet ( I've seen it 3 times already ! ), so we went to a 10:15 movie, then came back to get some sleep.

Friday

Since it's getting down to the wire for my regional, i brought most of my work with me. We are also making major changes and improvements to jeffcarterbowling.com, so Allen and i spent the morning working on various projects. We worked until around 1:00 pm then headed up to the Belton area to grab some lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. After lunch it was practice time. For those of you that don't know, each region in the PBA received a Brunswick A-22 lane machine to use. Now i'm certainly not the biggest fan of this machine, and we've already seen major issues already this summer. To be honest, it's been pretty rediculous how much friction we've bowled on this summer. Basically the patterns have all played out and they all act like various lengths of Cheetah. Since we are bowling on Cheetah this week, we werent expecting anything different. I used a handful of different balls in practice ( T-Road Pearl, Street Rod Solid, Jolt Pearl, Pyro, Spitfire, plastic balls ), and on the fresh nothing would get down the lane. Once we got some carrydown, the lanes calmed down a little and became more playable....but this will still be yet another week when the strongest ball that i throw wont be any higher than a midline ball.

After practice was over, Rich was kind enough to give me the night off. The host center only needed 4 pros for the Youth pro-am, so Rich gave me a break and Allen and I headed back to the hotel to get some much needed work done. He spent the night working on the upload page for our online coaching program, while i worked on a variety of projects : the Scorpion pattern video/seminar, the pro-am for our regional, my Journal page templates, etc....We probably worked until around 1:00 am or so, then called it a night.

Saturday

Since i had B squad this weekend ( 2:00 pm start ), we decided to get some work done in the room before heading towards the bowl. We ran by Subway on the way for lunch and ended up sitting with Dave Beres, Chad Maas, Jason Poli and Chris Wade. It must've been "Eat at Subway" day because that place was packed !!!

Qualifying

The first thing i did when i got to the bowl was to take my Ice Storm down to 1000 grit. It looked ok in practice, but if i hit 1-2 it went sideways and if i hit 5-6 it went dead straight. I figured it may be an option if i knocked some more shine off of it. In practice it was evident that there was even more hook to the right than yesterday. The way Cheetah was originally designed was to give all style bowlers and option on how to play the pattern, but the key was every option funnelled to the same spot at the breakpoint. Now the pattern has morphed into more friction to the right and less hold in the middle, especially with the Brunswick lane machine. I have to admit, this was one of the few times that the lanes were half way close between practice day and qualifying day. Even so, they hooked a ton and it's getting very frustrating bowling on this much friction every week.

I started with a T-Road Pearl, standing on 18 and looking at 6-7....trying to feed the ball no farther right downlane than 3-4 at the breakpoint. This T-Road is older with a lot of games on it and seems to be tamer when it comes to bowling on friction.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 13 - 14 -17                   183 3-4 10 4   3-10  7 / 7
As you can see, the left lane pretty much kicked my butt this game. It was hooking early and i was having a hard time getting it to the breakpoint consistently. My entry angles weren't very good, thus resulting in a low carry percentage. Balls used : T-Road Pearl
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 15-16 +2                   215 10 2-10 10 9 4
This pair was much tighter and the T-Road didn't want to read the lane in the back part of the midlane....and when it did, it came off of the friction too steep. I switched to a pin-axis Street Rod Solid, trying to get the ball to pick up a little sooner and be smoother off the breakpoint. For the most part, it was a good ball change ( 5th Frame ) Balls used : T-Road Pearl, Street Rod Solid
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 19-20 +44                   246 3-6-7-10 4 10
This pair was closer to the first pair, with much more friction in the midlane. I made a 3 and 2 adjustment after the split in the first, then another 1 - 1 after the 4 pin. Balls used : Street Rod Solid
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 25-26 +77                   233 3-6-10 4   4-7  10
This pair was pretty much the same as the last pair. I made a horrible shot in the 5th and got a little slow in the 9th. Balls used : Street Rod Solid, Pyro ( Fill ball only )
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 27-28 +122                   245 3-6-10 10 6-10  8 / 10
The first shot duck hooked immediatley, and since the Street Rod Solid had no chance of making a solid change of direction if i moved left....i jumped 5 and 3 left and switched to the Pyro. Since it's pearl particle, it still gave me a smooth motion but it was still strong enough to go through the pins. Balls used : Street Rod Solid, Pyro
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 31-32 +168                   246 10 4-9 4-7
Another very clean pair....no issues at all. The 4-9 was a bad break, but it was left off of my hand and still froze. I was starting to see the pattern develop the way it used to years ago. The straight guys could camp out on top of the dry and the hook guys were starting to get some push and be able to wheel it to the gutter. The key was to still control the direction change. Even though we could move left, you still couldn't "touch the grips" at all !!! Balls used : Pyro
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5-6 +205                   237 7-10 10 10
I kept inching left and the Pyro started to labor downlane. The 7-10 and both 10 pins were either flat, or a missed messenger. I switched to the Spitfire in the 6th...since the Spitfire and Pyro share similar cores, i knew the biggest change would be the coverstock. Going to a pearl reactive allowed me to open up the backends a little more and create better angles Balls used : Pyro, Spitfire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7-8 +201                   196 10 2 10 3-6-10  10  10
This game pretty much signifies my biggest problem....when i start bowling well, i have a hard time sustaining it through the end of the round. Even though i told myself to "stay on the gas" i found myself getting lazy and waiting for the round to end. My ball reaction wasn't the greatest and i probably should've changed balls, but i didn't. I made a bad shot in the 8th and i stuck for the first time in the corners missing a 10 pin in the 9th. The approaches were a little iffy all day, but i really didn't have any problems. The "stick" probably had as much to do with me as the approach did. Balls used : Spitfire

For the most part i felt pretty good about how i bowled. It's no secret that i absolutely hate this pattern, so when i bowl well on it I'm usually pretty happy about it. I would've like to have finished it off, but i'm not driving home....which is a bonus. I ended up qualifying 14th for the semi's, and it was off to Kauffman Stadium to watch the Royals / Giants.

Sunday

The alarm went off waaaaay to early on Sunday morning. We got up, showered, packed up and headed to the bowl. I started the day in 14th, about 10 in the cut number. I was hoping that the number would hold steady and give me an opportunity to get through the first few games, where i struggled on Saturday.

Semi-Finals

My gameplan was pretty much the same, except that I had a little more hold early. I started with my Street Rod Solid in the same area as Saturday. Practice looked ok, so i just stuck with that option....especially because everything else looked terrible.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 15-16 +193                   192 ALL 2-8 4-10 10 2-7  10 / 10
Theres nothing like starting your day off with a gutterball !!! I left a solid 9 on the spare, by the way. For the most part this pair was okay for the fresh, but i just couldn't execute shots at all in Game 1. Balls used : Street Rod Solid, Pyro ( Fill ball only )
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 17-18 +236                   243 4 3-6-7     4
Other than the bad shot in the 5th, this was a pretty good game. The fronts were starting to hook quite a bit, so i was able to jump left earlier than expected. Some hold was starting to develop, making it much easier to get the ball down the lane. Balls used : Pyro
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 21-22 +336                   300
This pair was pretty wide open. I had plenty of hold and not quite as much bounce off the gutter. I threw 10 fairly identical shots, and the 11th and 12th were both messengers. I could tell my swing was getting looser because my momentum was increasing, along with my ball speed. That was a pretty good feeling for a change. Balls used : Pyro
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 3-4 +353                   217 3-6-10 4 7-10    10
This pair hooked quite a bit more than the last, but luckily i made a good guess in frame 2....moving an additional 4 and 2 left, staying with the Pyro. The 7-10 in the 8th was a bad shot that i let get to the gutter too quick, and it basically burned up and stopped in the pocket. Balls used : Pyro
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5-6 +371                   218 10 8 7 10    4
Well i needed a good last game to jump up and get a good match play seed. I was 6th going into the last game, but some bad breaks dropped me all the way down to 10th. I switched to the Spitfire in the 4th, trying to get something going. Balls used : Pyro, Spitfire

Round of 16

My round of 16 opponent was Jeff Campbell from Amarillo, TX. I know absolutely nothing about him, as a matter of fact i'm not sure i've ever seen him before. I'm assuming he bowls out of the Southwest Region. I crossed next to him all day Sunday and he struck a lot and seemed to be matched up all day long. He is pretty much a spinner that throws it hard and straight. With his lower track and tilt, his ball didnt read the lane nearly as hard, allowing him to stand on top of the dry better than i could. During practice i had absolute air. Nothing looked good at all and i figured i was in trouble. I moved right to start the match ( farther right than i'd been all weekend ) and just piped it up the gutter the best that i could. This round played nothing like what i'd seen all weekend.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 195-233 LOSS                   195 2-4-8-10 2-4-8-10 10
The right lane was pretty much impossible for me. If i sent it at all, the ball wiggled and laughed at me. All weekend long it was impossible for me to 2-4-8-10, but now all of a sudden we've got hang ( at least on one lane !!! ). The 10-pin flag in the 8th was sheer frustration and shouldn't have happened. I finally though i'd found something at the end of the game. Balls used : Pyro
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 198-203 LOSS                   198 10 3 2-4-10     4-6-7
Another frustrating game. Jeff gave me a couple of early openings but i couldnt take advantage of them. Another 2-4-10 in the 6th had me totally fried on the right lane. I felt like i had to dead roll it off my hand to get it to pick up and read the midlane. I needed a mark in the 10th to win the game, so i thought i'd try to keep it a little tighter on the right lane. I made the exact shot that i wanted, but it checked early and stopped on the face....basically sending me home. After that i was pretty much done Balls used : Pyro
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 208-232 LOSS                   208 7 6-10 10 4-6    8-10
Just when i started making good shots on the right lane, the left starts to hook at my toe. It didnt matter too much because Jeff was dialed in and kicking my butt. He was piping a Shift up 5 and the ball just laid there....it was tough to beat ! Balls used : Pyro

For the most part i'd consider this a fairly successful weekend. Making Match Play on my worst pattern is always a bonus, especially when i've been making so many physical changes. Hopefully i can build on this and move forward. I'd like to thank the staff at Aaron's Family Fun Center for hosting the event. Next weekend we're in Oak Forrest, IL on the Scorpion pattern. Until then, Bowl up a Storm