My Story

Hey guys,

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I want to share with you my experiences on the PBA Tour.

The PBA Tour has been an interesting experience for me. I haven’t bowled particularly well overall, but I have enjoyed the roller coaster. A LOT of thoughts have went through my mind. Every time I bowl a tournament, I study what’s going on. What I can do to succeed, what seems to be working, how guys are making the oil patterns look easy when they’re tough, and so on.  So, my goal with this blog is to go into detail what I’ve seen and went through on the national tour. Hopefully, it will be informative enough that bowlers and non-bowlers can enjoy the read, and learn something along the way.

And by the way, I’m doing all of this by memory. So I won’t be able to write down everything I went through.

World Series 2012-

The World Series of Bowling is an event that consists of 6 tournaments within a week’s span in Las Vegas. We bowled a different tournament every day. The old Tour, just like the PGA tour, would consist of an event per week, and that event lasted the last 4 days of the week. Since the economy started slowing, traveling became harder, the PBA decided to allow the bowlers to get in multiple tournaments during the week, that way there is only traveling expenses for one week, but still get a number of tournaments.

I can remember the practice session before the World Series. We were bowling on the Cheetah, Viper, Chameleon, and Scorpion patterns. Well, I bowled on the viper the entire time. I got to lanes 5-6 and stayed there for the whole 2 hours. About an hour in, Bill O’Neill (probably the best bowler in the world at the time) made his way to the pair with two different Hammer First Bloods. He threw each of them twice, struck 4 times, pick them up and moved on. Meanwhile, I’m sitting there pulling my hair out as to why I couldn’t even get a sniff. My ball hooked when I got it inside, and slid when I threw it farther outside. Bill was able to get his ball to go straight off of the friction, where mine was going sideways. It allowed him to be able to get the ball inside a little bit and still strike. This is something you HAVE to have while bowling a pro tournament, good ball reaction. The best bowlers in the world get their ball to read the lane in a way that makes you think, "Damn, that’s sick."

So I sat there and worked. I wasn’t leaving that pair until learned to do what Bill just did. By the end of the practice session, I was more confused than I was when I started. I couldn’t tell you how to throw a ball. But I shrugged it off. I was always confident in my ability to perform well when it’s game time, so I figured the day we bowled on that pattern, I’d be fine. So, I left the bowling center and didn’t think about bowling the rest of the night.

The next day was the first tournament of the series, the Cheetah Championship. For non-bowlers, the cheetah pattern is the easiest pattern bowled on tour. Put your striking shoes on, and keep em laced, because you’ll need it. The atmosphere before we bowled was pretty laid back. Ill admit, I was a little nervous. The I look at it, I embrace nerves. If you’re in a spot where your nerves seem to be taking a bit of control, you’re in a position people would love to be in. I went 167 over (avg 220.88) for 8 games. I finished up the day 117th, and I was not happy. I understood it was my first tournament, but the thought of being in the 100's didn’t sit well. I was amazed at how much I had to hook the ball. I thought on cheetah you could play really far right, but majority of people stood left, and threw it to the gutter. I was not very good at that. I’m sure any competitor would know that’s it tough watching your opponent do the things necessary to win, and you can’t physically do them well enough. It made me want to work on things while I was bowling the tournament.  Here I am trying all these different things with my swing, and before I knew it, I was struggling every game. I wasn’t focusing on the things I need to focus on. Every bowler has been through this. It’s a helpless feeling, and great bowlers find ways not to get in this situation. I learned that very quickly.

Tommy Jones was on my pair throughout the entire tournament. He started off his block with a 170, but managed to get back to 300 over. It was cool bowling with him. At one point in time, he was the dominant figure on the planet. I understand why he was too. He struck a lot after he bowled his 170. It occurred to me, that when you are bowling well, you have rhythm. A lot of times what happens is we let our score affect our rhythm. Its an easy game when we are bowling 250’s, but when we are bowling 170’s, our minds enter a state of confusion. I think its important to stay out of the state of confusion, and think logically about everything. I noticed that tommy did that really well. It didn’t matter what his score was, he always seemed in rhythm.

The Viper Championship.

This was the pattern I pulled my hair out on in practice. I was ready. I couldn’t wait to redeem myself for the 117th place the day before. I didn’t care if I couldn’t find a ball to read the lane properly; I was going to make it work.

I finished 128th place.

I didn’t understand why I couldn’t strike. There could have been many reasons. Is it ball selection? Lane play? Am I not doing things in my physical game that I need to? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know what would work because every time I changed something, it didn’t get better. I remember switching balls to Roto Grip Defiant Edge in the middle of the block. This was the ONLY ball I could get to the 1-3 pocket consistently. I felt good. I had confidence that I was going to make a run late in the block once I went to this ball. But it never struck. It left a single pin at least every other frame. I thought, "the one ball I can throw well enough to strike, doesn’t strike." At this point, I was watching a lot. I crossed with Tommy Jones the whole tournament, and he had this Columbia 300 Vow that just made the pattern look easy. He had the same thing Bill O’Neill did in practice session. Tommy threw it hard enough that his ball would start hooking, and go straight. The tons of friction I had in the middle of the lane that was causing me to hook the ball more than I should have, wasn’t there for him. It looked like he was bowling on a house shot, which was cool to watch, but at the same time frustrating. This is when I realized that the guys we watch on TV are no longer just icons, they are competitors. I had to figure out how to beat them.

The third day was the Chameleon Championship. Even though I had a rough first couple of days, I was excited to bowl on longer patterns. The cheetah and viper cleaned my clock, but maybe as the patterns get longer, I’ll be able to have that "push" that everyone else had.

The day went alright. I started out really well, but ended in mediocrity which was fine in the sense that I was able to get my ball to do the things I wanted. Because I was able to get my balls to create better shape, I was able to relax a little bit. I figured out that bowling isn't necessarily about accuracy, but more getting good ball reaction to give you the ability to make good shots. If the most accurate player was throwing a ball that does not match up, they would lose to a less accurate player that has good ball reaction. This is why some people bowl so well on easy patterns, because the pattern allows them to be comfortable. When you’re comfortable, you bowl better.

I ended up finishing in 83rd for the Chameleon and 46th for the Scorpion Championship. I had a chance the last game to strike out in the tenth to cash (top 32 cash), and I split for 241. This position is one of the coolest spots to be in. The tenth frame has provided bowling with some of its most memorable times. There is no other feeling of rush, and nerves than when you have to strike all three shots in the tenth. Pete Webers memorable tenth at the US Open against Mike Fagan is one of the greatest shots in bowling history, and should be watched by every athlete. Its how people can make their legacy. I was hoping to throw all three in the tenth to get my first cash as a national member, but we all know how it goes when pins move on ya and cause a split. J

 I was very disappointed in how the whole week went. I remember after the chameleon championship, I got back to the room and threw my clip of cards that I used as a wallet against the wall. It was tough. The top 20 or so bowlers just had it. They did so many things right, and it showed. Coming up through juniors and collegiate bowling, I didn't think it was that big of a difference. The guys who make shows make them for a reason: they’re studs. They train with the best coaches, study lane play, bowling balls, physical game, and anything other variable. All I knew was 1 thing: practice.

January 19th, 2013. PBA Detroit Winter Swing

The winter swing was the same format as the World Series. Multiple events in a short amount of time. When I walked out of the hotel room to go to practice session, it was negative 4 outside. Miserable.

The tournament started just like the World Series for me. I went minus 1 in the first day, the Carmen Salvino classic. The pattern was tougher, but not tough enough for neg 1 to be acceptable. The leader after qualifying beat me by 377 pins for 8 games. That’s a lot. I was okay mentally though. I had the "whatever" attitude when I finished up. I felt I had bowled well, just the fact that I didn’t score well was something other than my game. I needed another ball and some different shapes.

This brings me to a topic that is debated often, drilling. The pros that win titles can, and do drill many bowling balls during the week. It allows them to stay out of the situations I was in that day, and the World Series. But how do I drill a ball? I’m not on staff with a company. Companies only want you to drill their equipment is you make a cut, or make TV regularly. I had just finished in 102nd; surely they wouldn’t let me drill anything.

I asked anyway though. I had known the Roto Grip ball rep since I was little, and maybe he’d allow me to drill. I got the typical response though...staffers first. Which was fine. I had always understood that a ball reps job is not easy. People think that being a ball rep is easy. All you have to do is hand balls to their staffers and line them up. Yes, that is true. But you also have to deal with your bowlers when they bowl badly, and we all know a sour bowler is not easy to deal with. Plus they always have randoms coming up to them trying to take advantage of their resources in some way. It can get annoying. So I understood. I also felt that if I had to drill a ball to bowl well, I’m not as good as I want to be anyway. So I was hesitant and hard-headed when it came to that.

Anyway, the next went just as bad. It was a longer pattern, but I just wasn’t bowling well enough. I didn’t know enough about ball choices. I was throwing some balls that none of the guys doing really well were throwing. I think that’s an important concept. If you see a mass of players throwing a certain ball, chances are that ball matches up really well. I was trying to throw frantics and marvel pearls when nobody else was throwing them. But then again I didn’t necessarily have what everyone else was throwing. So I was a bit stuck.

The tournament the next day was a good day. It was the Don Carter pattern, which was 50 feet at length. Normally, at 50 feet, the ball won’t curve a bunch, but there was friction. Everybody was able to play on the outer part of the lanes because it would hook back. So we walled them up. Scores were high. I started off pretty poorly with a couple low 200's. Then game 5, I shot 300. My first PBA honor score.

The 300 got me to plus 170ish and I would need to get another hundred the next 3 games. Games of 225 249 245, I was the number for the cut, 16th. I shouldn’t have made it either because Tommy Jones, Norm duke, and Eugene McCune all missed in the tenth to stay behind me. Thankfully, I had made my first PBA national cash.

I was stoked.

I had a chance to make a run for TV. Unfortunately they were only taking the top two for the televised match, so it was going to take some work. I also was able to drill a ball once the standings came out. Bugsy Kelly from Columbia 300 gave me a Vow. I was extremely fortunate.

I bowled Mike Devaney my first match, and won.  258- 220ish. The 258 bumped me all the way up to 8th place with 6 games to go. That’s a jump! I was confident I could do a couple more of those and id be there. However, the guys I was bowling against the next 4 matches thought otherwise. My next 4 games were223 233 237 247 and I lost 3 of the 4. I dropped back down to 12th, and at that point television was out of reach. I was alright with it though, I was enjoying myself. I was proud of the way I bowled.

I bowled really well the next as well in the Earl Anthony championship, but the Earl Anthony only counted for overall pins. I finished up 20th on the day, which would have been a cash, but only counted towards my total pinfall.

It’s amazing how much one tournament can affect a person’s confidence. I can remember watching Jason Sterner strike out in the tenth of the Scorpion Championship to make the show at the World Series. It was awesome. To watch a guy who has never made television, step up in the tenth to get there. I mean, that’s what every bowler dreams of, throwing three in the tenth to make it on for the Sunday telecast. After that tenth frame, in my eyes he’s been a much different bowler. He was confident with his shots, and walked around on and off the lanes like he belonged. I mention his name because the tournament I made my first match play appearance in, the Don Carter Championship, he absolutely destroyed. He and Wes Malott were the two who made the show, and Sterner ended up shooting 299 in the final match to win his first PBA title. It was neat to watch.

The Winter Swing was an eye opener for me. From then on I thought I could compete. Even though I bowled well at the Don Carter, the pattern really played to my game. I was able to get deep inside and throw it slow, something I’m really good at. What I’m not so good at is bowling on a lot of friction, like what the lanes were like at the World Series. I was forced to throw weaker stuff, that didn’t read the lane as well, where Tommy Jones was just throwing it hard enough for his ball to not read the friction. So it was easy for him, along with many other guys. This is what it takes to bowl well.

I’ve always thought that the top ranked guys in anything are top ranked because they can make it easy, or easier than they’re opponents. You’re not going to succeed at something when it is hard for you, but easy for other people. If playing the gutter is tough for you and makes you uncomfortable, I don’t care how well you bowl, the person that loves playing the gutter will beat you eventually.

This is when I learned that if the patterns matters, you’re probably not one of the premier bowlers in the sport.

The way Pete Weber’s ball reads the lane makes it easy for him to make shots. Belmo, Rash, Barrett, along with many other great players, can make their ball see the lane correctly on any pattern. It makes striking easier for them. It makes the game easier for them. I was pulling my hair out, throwing things in my room, and extremely frustrated at the World Series. Meanwhile, Barrett was probably over there eating an apple, and discussing what he and his friends were going to do that night, while bowling. When it’s easy for you, you succeed.

So I kept working. I got back from the Winter Swing happy, but at the same time I finished like 50th overall. All the habit’s I developed in college bowling had to change. I couldn’t just jump way left and spin the ball anymore. My ball had to start reading the pattern the right way.

February 18th, 2013 - USBC Masters.

I was really excited about this event. I remember going to standings of previous masters thinking, "All you have to do is go plus 100 for 10 games." I can do that. Hell, if I can get matched up on the fresh, I can just kill the burn and coast into the match play. The format changed this year though. It was now 15 games, 3 sets of 5; 2 on fresh, 1 on burn. This didn’t particular help my odds of going deep, but I remembered that if the pattern mattered, I shouldn’t be there anyway.

Practice session went fine. I liked my ball reaction and they weren’t particularly tough. My main goal was to really bowl well on the burn. I’ve always liked bowling on burnt patterns; it’s where I’ve always gotten my advantage.

I was on B squad. This meant I bowled on the burn first, and then bowled on fresh the next two blocks. Since I had never bowled a Masters before, I got there a little early to watch. Scores were lower. You had to really make good shots. It’s weird, even though scores were low, there were still a couple people avg 240 plus. This leads people to believe that the pattern is "easy." Well, I have to break it to you, just because a couple people are bowling outstanding doesn’t make it easy. Ever since I bowled the World Series and Winter Swing, I started to respect the scores that are mid pack. For example, let’s just talk about the guy that went plus 100 and was in 70th after the first day. That’s good bowling. But he doesn’t get the recognition of good bowling, because he’s in 70th. That’s why it’s tough on tour. You can have a good day, and be mid pack. Or you can have the infamous day where you hit one bad pair, and have carry issues the other, and you’re in the bottom half. This is what I like to blame my bad bowling on, hitting a bad pair and "carry issues," haha.

Anyway back to the tournament. I went plus 42 on the burn. I was throwing a victory road pearl, one of my all-time favorite balls, but I just couldn’t get it to roll right. If I got it right, it stayed, if I got it in, it hooked. This would be fine if the pattern was extremely difficult, but it wasn’t. They were score able. I switched balls multiple times, and just couldn’t get anything going. This type of reaction is when the elite pro would go to the truck and drill something. Well, I didn’t have that luxury. The ball companies were slammed with nagging bowlers, plus I’m hard-headed and felt like I can make it work anyway.

I wasn’t happy with it. In order to make match play, I would have had to bowl better on the fresh, than the burn. But, hey, I could do it, just have to focus.

The next 10 games were rough. I threw it bad. I tried playing out on the fresh, had nothing. Id jump in and try to do something similar to Brian Kretzer, had nothing. I tried in between that, had nothing. It was bad.  There was something I was doing that was making my ball not come off my hand very well. It goes back to that whole good reaction, easy to throw it idea. I couldn’t pry it off. I felt like I had to be perfect in order to strike. Perfect sometimes didn’t even look good enough. It’s a helpless feeling knowing that I had absolute air, and other people around are having zero problems, guys I’m better than...

Brett Cunningham (my roommate) and I stuck around for the rest of the week. One thing I really enjoy about bowling on tour, is when I bowl bad, I can stick around and watch some good bowling. Half the time I wonder if I like watching high level bowling too much. A big component about the tour is it’s really easy to try and throw it like someone. I’ll catch myself sometimes trying to do what Pete does, which is a really bad idea. I’m myself, there is no possible way I can imitate what somebody else does. Our bodies are different. Even though it might feel like you’re doing it the way they are, you’re not. Therefor it’s important to continue to throw it like YOU. Even if your ball reaction sucks, you have to figure out a way to do it your own way. Too much watching can be hurtful, but at the same time I really enjoy the sport of bowling as a whole, so I watch anyway.

When I got back from the masters, I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to see an accomplished coach, but I wasn’t too sure who to see. I thought about flying out to the west coast to see Mark Baker, but didn’t really think it was worth the travel for just one time. There were a couple other options, but I decided to stick with myself. I have never really had a physical game coach. Itrusted myself, and my ability to get me wherever I needed to be. So once again, I was back to the drawing board. I knew the way I bowled wasn’t good enough. I was good, don’t get me wrong, but there were some things physically that held me back from getting that "magical ball reaction." I needed to learn to send the ball right, and get it to recover. I don’t necessarily mean to hook the ball more, but to get the ball to stand up and go left in places where my ball was flattening out. Unfortunately, the next couple months, I wasn’t able to practice as much as I would have liked. I was in my last semester of class, and I wanted to get that done. I was all of a sudden doing all of my homework, going to every class, doing large group projects, and then finding time for bowling, which wasn’t a whole lot. If it wasn’t for Brett Partlingham (Cunningham) getting me to go to tournaments with him on the weekends, I probably wouldn’t have bowled very many. I was burnt out a little. But after the inside bowling tournament, the spark reunited.

The Insidebowling.com tournament in 2013 was a pretty cool experience for me. It wasn’t a PBA event, but it was pretty close. I ended up finishing third for the second year in a row, but Mike Flanagan was able to make this one much cooler. When the tournament got down to the final 5 bowlers for step ladders, Flanagan put together a cool set up for us to bowl it on. He had certain chairs for us to sit in, cameras everywhere, and bleachers behind us for spectators to sit and watch. It was almost just like a PBA television show. We had pre and post-game interviews with the bowlers, live stream going, Mike and Randy Pedersen broadcasting it, over a thousand people watching online. It was awesome. It made making the finals and bowling for 10,000 that much better, so props to mike. To make the story short, I qualified second for the step ladder, and ended up losing a close match to Craig Nidiffer for third place. Even though it was third place, I was happy with my performance. The field was extremely tough, and to make it to the show was one of my favorite experiences so far.

Anyway, back to the PBA.

The Summer Swing - May 22nd, 2013

I was really excited to bowl this event. I had just come off two good tournaments for me, Inside bowling and one the week after.  We were also bowling on new patterns, which I thought was a great idea. I was personally tired of the same guys bowling on the same patterns. It made it repetitive. So the idea of new patterns was a great move.

The first day was on the long oil pattern, called the badger. I was more excited about this one since I excel more on longer patterns. But things didn’t go as well as I would have liked. After the first 5 games, I was sitting in 29 out of 90. Which wasn’t as bad as I was thinking at the time. I legitimately thought I could lead the pattern. So we take a lunch break, come back and bowl the second 10 games. The second block was almost an identical 5 games. A bunch of mediocre 200's that kept me around the middle of the pack. Which I could deal with. I specifically remember watching Fagan bowl. He was throwing it worse than I have ever seen him. His ball wasn’t reading the pattern real well and it seemed he wanted to play straight on everything. From what it looked like, he was playing straighter because of the way he was getting out of the ball. He wasn’t creating good ball roll. But the kicker was, he was in 3rd. 3rd! He was getting it done, no matter how he had to. I gained a lot of respect for him for being able to battle through adversity. This is when you know somebody is good, and this is how you can tell if you are good. No matter the circumstances, you find a way to get it done.

The pattern was the Wolf, the shortest pattern we’ve bowled on. The first day was the longest, second day was the shortest. And what another great........ fantastic........ absolutely wonderful....... and most importantly.......... frustrating block I had. It was almost an identical day to the one on the badger. I was really close. I was hitting the pocket, throwing good shots, posting them, but not scoring. Ten pin, four pin, seven pin, pocket seven-ten, you name it. It made me wonder what the heck was going on. I feel as if I had gotten much better, but still in the middle of the pack. Was I throwing wrong balls? Still not good with my physical game? It could have been anything. I noticed that the best bowlers didn’t really go through this kind of struggle. They may for a block or two, but not consistent like mine was. This leads me to the next day. All of the thoughts caught up to me. My block in the Bear Open was the worse I have ever bowled. I had no clue about anything. I think at that point, the 95 I shoot in golf was better quality than my bowling game. It really really sucked, and all I can say is I wanted to get out of the bowling alley, go home, and forget about it.

I know that was a short analysis, but it was truthfully the same story as all my other tournaments. All the concepts I have talked about previously applied to this one as well. So, we move onto the US Open.

US Open - July 21st.

I had never bowled this tournament before. I was in New Jersey watching the US Open when Norm Duke put on a clinic. It’s funny hearing people’s stories about this particular tournament because it’s the hardest one of the year. It’s similar to US Open style golf courses, just really tough. The stories always include how they saw somebody do something stupid, or shot a 77 game, or took a ball sanded at 180 and threw it on the burn. It was just the dumbest things you can think of, and what made this tournament so unique. That’s what makes it so awesome. You can have a bad week, and still be entertained and enjoy the week.

So we start bowling.

And it’s not going very well. I start out trying to play right with a hyroad pearl, and bowled an okay game...204. But as the day went on, I lost my ball reaction more and more. They were tough.

And by the way, they had shortened the Us Open pattern by 2 feet, was made me either have to do one of two things, THROW IT HARD OR HOOK IT, two things I can’t do very well. I wouldn’t say I’m bad at them; just half of the tour players throw it hard and hook it as the same time so they excel to the max at it. I can specifically remember trying to figure out what to do for this certain block. I didn’t know whether I needed to stay soft with my hand, or throw it harder. This was my dilemma throughout my whole tour experience really. I didn’t know what kind of bowler I needed to be in order to succeed. I once was really good at being really soft at the bottom, but bowling in St. Louis for 4 years on house shots all the time got me away from that. So what was I to do? Neither one was working particularly well at the time, and I would constantly go back and forth trying to be really soft, and then throw it hard when that didn’t work. It seemed all of the guys who are successful on tour had they’re little trick. Pete was really soft. Rash, Belmo, Tommy, Fagan, Wes all through it hard enough to get the ball to create shim. I was in the middle. Not soft enough to get the ball to push, and too slow of ball speed to see the ball straighten out. This, to me, was the biggest reason I was struggling on tour. I was forced to play in between everybody, and got mixed signals. Some people were able to play left of me, some were able to play right, and both would score. Meanwhile, I couldn’t get anything going from I felt comfortable playing the lanes. I had to figure out a way to either play left or right, and probably left since that was more of a comfort zone to me. So this block was going poorly, I was trying to be soft, probably throwing the wrong balls, and I finished up minus 100. I told myself, the next day, I’m standing left and throwing it hard. If Loschetter was able to start his blocks deep inside, I could too. But I couldn’t hook it, it wouldn’t recover. I had to figure out a way to keep my ball more inside where the hook was, but go straight enough to hit the pocket. Throwing it really hard seemed like the only option. Which ended up being a decent one. I bowled better the second day. I was plus 40ish, which got me to minus 60 for the tournament. The block went a lot better, but still wasn’t what I was looking for. It wasn’t going to win a title, that’s for sure.

The way the tournament was set up, we bowled in 3 different houses, for each of the 3 different blocks. My first two blocks were the houses that most of the higher scores were coming out of. I needed roughly plus 60 to make the cut, and had to bowl in the hardest house of the three. I was going to have to bowl excellent, considering my ball reaction wasn’t good. I started the block out with a 150, and proceeded to finish a little minus. I just couldn’t throw the ball in the right spots. When I would hit good pairs, I couldn’t take advantage of them.

I was over it. Usually I would go back to the hotel room and think about what I could have done better, but that was getting old too. I apparently needed to change something drastic, but I didn't know what it was.

I stuck around for a few more days and watched part of the match play. It almost became a routine. Bowl, miss the cut, and watch the guys that bowled well. The only thing that kept me sane was Brett being in the same shoes I was in. He was struggling too. The only reason we still watched was because we thought seeing what the leaders were doing would make us better. I specifically wanted to watch what Marshal Kent was doing. He was a college bowler that was having success at the PBA level. He was good, awesome in fact. But never did I think anybody was that much better than me. If they beat me one tournament, I just figured they matched up better, or I possibly had a poor tournament. Not too many people ever really beat me on a consistent basis, until now. I was watching former competitors excel where I wanted to. It solidified that I needed to better, but was still unsure on what to improve. Everybody I watched bowl well this tournament threw the ball fast. Marshal, AJ Johnson, EJ Tackett, guys my age all throw it hard. Was this the answer? Am I just supposed to start throwing it hard because I see most people doing it? Normally, I would say yes. But some of the greatest bowlers of all time don’t throw it hard, like Pete. This is what watching got me thinking about, but I never could find an answer. Like I said, I was struggling. More than ever I thought.

World Series October 26th, 2013

There were some rumors about the lane patterns being changed for this year’s World Series. The patterns had hooked a lot the past 3 years from what everybody said. The rumors were that the PBA was going to lengthen all of them, besides the cheetah. Which would have made me happy, but I decided not to listen to the rumors. I took almost ALL weaker equipment with me. The strongest ball I had with me was the storm Byte. When we started the practice session, I quickly figured out that all the patterns had indeed been lengthen. I couldn’t get a ball to hook. After the first hour of practice was over, I thought I was going to have to pull off a miracle make bowl well this week. Even my byte wasn’t hooking enough. Thankfully, Jason couch saw me struggling and offered to drill a ball for me. Which ended up becoming really useful.

The first block of qualifying was cheetah again. The difference between this time and last time was I knew what to expect. Since I had all weak equipment, I had several bowling balls I could match up to this pattern with. The balls of choice were a Karma pearl and a Vow. By the end of the 7th game, I needed roughly a 260 to get into the finals. If you know anything about bowling, you know a 260 on the cheetah pattern isn’t the most difficult thing to do, so I was feeling good. The 260 didn’t end up happening, but I was still happy with how I bowled. I gave myself a chance. Something I wasn’t able to do the year before. I ended up in the 40's out of 240 bowlers. The next day, however, really kicked me in the teeth.

Bowling really is a tough sport. One day I was bowling well enough to be in contention, and the next day I bowl bad enough to put myself in a position where I have to bowl REALLY well to make it to the 5th day. It’s similar to a golf tournament. A golfer can have two great days of golf and maybe even be leading going into the weekend. All it takes though, it that one bad day where you shoot 4 over par to drop you way out of contention. It is one of the most frustrating feelings. The only difference between golf and this is, there is always a golf tournament the next weekend. Bowlers have to wait 2-3 months before they get another shot at winning a title. I went minus 90 on the viper pattern. Equipment played a HUGE factor in this, as I knew it would. Normally, I would blame myself for errors that I make, but I couldn’t on this one.

What do you think when you feel you bowled great, and didn’t score great? This is one of the concepts I wanted to talk about when I decided to write this. What’s the next move? I know what the next move is for a select few on tour, drill. If Barnes would have had the block I had, I know he’s in the truck the rest of the night drilling things. It works for him. Its works for a lot of people on tour. I don’t necessarily think that way though. I’m the kind of guy that thinks I can get it done without a bunch of help. A lot of people have asked me why I haven’t signed a contract yet. Well, I wanted to get better first. I didn’t want to sign an advisory or amateur contract and not get much in return. My goal was to reach a level where I was competing for titles, and then sign an awesome contract with a company because they truly wanted me to represent their brand. With that being said, after this day, I wanted to have a contract. I wasn’t able to drill what I wanted out on tour because it was staffers first. Which I understood, I think that’s a fine policy. At the same time though, I felt having a contract this particular day would have helped.

So I didn’t drill anything. The next day was going to be an even longer pattern, and I struggled getting the ball to roll on this one. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do, but even though I haven’t had much success on tour to this date, I still took pride in how I could make good things happen when they mattered. I had B squad the next day, which meant I could watch A squad, see what they did, and go to work. The block ended up not being that bad. I stayed around even for the first 4 games. The pattern played tough enough for even not to be a big hole. I just needed to bowl really well the next 3 games, which I did. I bowled awesome after the even start, but only managed to get to plus 50. The 90 under the day before wasn’t nearly as frustrating as these last 3 games. I was SO close. I told my dad that I would take 90 under any day like the day before, than to go through that again when I needed big games. I’m sure every bowler understands what these last three games were like, so I won’t go into detail.

It all just didn’t make sense though. I was bowling better than I ever had, on tour at least, and I was in the same position. A really poor second day due to mainly equipment, and a third day that I crushed in my eyes, but nothing to show for it.

I was actually more alright with this type of mediocre bowling, than with the previous tournaments where I wasn’t close. This way gave me more hope. I was able to go back to the room knowing I gave it my best shot, although I was still confused.

The 4th day was on the scorpion pattern. It was 47ft in length, longer than any of the others. I only had two balls I could really throw on it, assuming they played slick. The cool thing is I made it worked. I started off with a 236. The pair had a little bit of hook, and when there is some hook on a pattern of this distance, you can almost easily line up off the hook, and play the shim. The next pair what a pair that Tom Daugherty just got off of. If you don’t know who Tom Daugherty is, he doesn’t put his thumb in the ball, and rips the cover off of it. The thing about following "two handers," even though he technically throws it with one, is when they get left of you, they dry up your hold really easily. Which is what happened. I shot a 180. I had hang right, hook in, and nothing in between. After that, the block went really well. I was able to throw it slow, roll it off my hand, and get into 9th place for my squad. They took the top 24 for match play, so considering things go as they should, I was in. I was excited that I had another chance at TV, but this time it was business. I had bowled around these guys long enough that having small amounts of success seemed necessary.

The round of 24 went pretty awful. I hate to blame it on equipment again, because it wasn’t just that, but I wish I could have had some stronger equipment to throw. We were bowling later that night, and the patterns always got tighter as the day went on. Well, a tight 47ft pattern getting tighter doesn’t make for a whole lot of fun. They were tough, but my reaction made it tougher.

Outside of my bowling, one thing I noticed is that nobody bowling at that moment was smiling. I didn’t see one person having fun. It got me thinking. Why wasn’t anyone enjoying this? I was bowling poorly, and I loved the fact that I was still bowling. Certain guys were making a run at the show, and seemed liked they hated it. I think there was a reason for it though, the money. We were bowling for $10,000. Majority of the guys I was bowling against grew up in an era where $10,000 was chump change if you were good enough to win titles. Yeah, it great to win another title, but titles don’t make the living. I felt bad. It makes me wonder if the PBA doesn’t change something soon with the prize funds, will there even be a PBA tour? The marketable bowlers that they rely on don’t enjoy bowling for what they can provide. It’s sad.

Well, that was the end of my World Series. They took the top 24 to a round robin match play to eventually cut to the top 5 for the Major Championship. I ended up somewhere around 60th. I was okay with it. I knew I bowled a lot better than that, which was a different feeling from previous tournaments. Brett and I stuck around as usual, and hit the road home after we watched all of the shows.

Masters - 2014

I was ready for this tournament. My previous masters didn’t go so well, but I had trained hard for this one. I went and saw Bill Spigner about a month before for a couple hours of coaching. Itold him that I had trouble getting out of the ball cleanly. He took one look at my approach, sat me down, and listed several things causing it. The info he was telling me all made sense, and I began working on it immediately. By the time the Masters came, I felt sharp. Practice session went well, and I had an arsenal I could work with. This time, I had A squad. Opposite of the B squad the year before, I bowled on fresh the first two days, and the burn the last. This was good for me, since I felt I have a better chance on the burn if I need big number.

The first block I bowled really well. I didn’t score that well though. It was kind of similar to a couple of my blocks at the World Series, except it’s easier to do at the masters. Brunswick Carolier Lanes in New Brunswick, New Jersey is where the event was held. The center plays pretty tough. There are two different sections of the bowling alley that play completely different, along with the house just being overall tough to knock down pins. So even though my score wasn’t that great, I felt good. The next day went better. I had the same look as the day before, but pins were falling for me a little more. The first day I went minus a couple. The second day I went plus 79, which put me in good position to make a run. I need a better day than I had the second day, but it was on the burn, and I felt really confident. The third day didn’t go as planned. It was weird, the first day I felt I bowled really well, the second day I didn’t throw the ball as good, and the third day was even worse than the second day. I got gradually worse. I stopped thinking about the things I was working on with bill. By the end of the third block, I could tell Iwas throwing it much different. My head wasn’t above my feet anymore, my tempo was off, and I was off balanced at the line again. I got what I deserved. There’s no room for physical mistake. The pins are hard enough to knock down consistently when you throw it well, let alone letting your craft be sloppy.

There are only two ways to be good. You have to be able to create room, or be a shot maker.

I’ve watched so many people over the past couple years be able to "miss" and still strike. Great bowlers do it all of the time. Guys who hook the ball a lot usually create themselves some room. When I see this, I feel like there is room out there to be had. Ive been sadly mistaken. When you have miss room, it’s because things are going right.  You’re in the right part of the lane, with the right ball, and throwing it well. Since the pros throw it well majority of the time, all they have to do is line up correctly. Other players, like Barnes, make great shots. His physical game is sound enough that his bad shots are still decent shots. The thing is, even the guys that hook the ball and create room, there physical games are now just as sound. Belmo isnt dominating the tour for no reason. He has slowed his ball speed down, got balanced at the line, and became accurate. Making your physical game sound is an extremely important aspect of the game. I don’t care if you walk sideways to the line, if your sound enough to do it the same way every time, you will have the ability to make good, quality shots.

The one thing I have learned from bowling on tour is to get better. Work on things. Become a student of the game. If you think your good enough, there is somebody that will make you think otherwise. Bowling on tour has been an awesome time. I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. The only thing I plan on doing differently is working harder than I ever have.

To everyone who read this blog all the way through, thank you. I hope it was insightful.

To everyone who has supported me along the way, AKA, my parents and friends, thank you.

To every bowler that is currently struggling, trust me; I know what you’re going through. Chin up, figure it out, and keep on keepin’ on.

To every bowler with a dream to compete on the big stage, don’t let anything stop you from getting your ass out there and competing.

It’s fun as hell.

Brad