Okay, so I had the most amazing series ever today. My daughter and I bowled in the adult child league this afternoon. This was week 4 of 12. After a pair of lackluster 161s last week, I felt like we really needed a good couple of games to get ourselves back on track. Did we ever deliver.

My daughter bowled 94-78 and I bowled a new record 222 for the first game and a second game of 209; two of the three highest games I have ever bowled! Those were the games for our league.

After those two games, my daughter and I bowled two more games. My third game was a 195, which gave me a 626 series, which was the first time I ever broke 600. My old record for a three game series before tonight was only 531! For the last game, I just fooled around and shot a 126. But it was a great day for me.

It just felt right today. I was more fluid in my shots, especially in the follow through. I felt relaxed. I had 7 strikes in the first game, including 6 in a row from the 7th frame on. In my second game, I had 6 strikes, which was two turkeys, split up by a spare. I covered a lot of the spares today, which really helped. All in a ll, a great night for me and my bowling.

I need some advice for a getting a new spare ball.

Currently, I have only one ball that I bowl with; a Brunswick Zone Classic. It is very reactive and allows me to put a decent amount of hook on it, something that I had not been previously able to do. Now however, it makes picking up spares a little bit more challenging as I have tried to straighten it out but I don't want to mess up my hooking ability.

Any suggestions on a good spare ball, preferably plastic that will allow me to throw a straight ball to increase my spare pickups? Thanks

Okay guys and gals. I need some advice from those of you who know a thing or two about bowling balls.

Currently, I have only one bowling ball; a 15 lb Brunswick Zone Classic. It is a rather reactive ball for me because I do not have the greatest ability to hook a ball. This ball really allows me to hook the ball and reach the pocket at a much better angle than if I just throw it straight. Problem is this; I don't have a spare ball so I rely on my strike ball for all my shots.

 Recently, I have been leaving a lot of spare shots that would be better hit by throwing a plastic ball straight. But, I have a lot of difficulty straightening out my Zone Classic.

So I need some advice as to if you know of a certain brand or certain type of ball that will allow me to throw the ball down the lane and increase the number of spare pickups. Just curious. Any advice would be much appreciated.

And I thought Sunday was bad!! I just got back from the lanes a few minutes ago. After bowling double 161 this past Sunday, I thought a little practice during the middle of the week might allow me to work on my release a little bit. During both games on Sunday, I felt like my release was too rigid, and thus, I pulled the ball across the headpin a lot.

Today was even worse. I bowled three games. I threw 153-126-205. The lanes were VERY dry, and I kept hooking the ball into the headpin, or crossed over it, hitting the three or even six pin on a couple of occasions. I have not left this many open frames in I don't know how long.

 On the third game, I decided to play my usual line, and throw the ball a little faster to try to reduce the amount of time it had to hook. That yielded much better results as the 205 would show.

Strikes were hard to come by in game one, with only one strike in the 9th frame. The second game yielded three strikes, but four open frames in a row did me in. Like I said, the third game was a lot better. I had 5 strikes in this game, including a turkey. At least I finished with a bang. Hopefully, Sunday will be better than today.

What a terrible morning on the lanes!! Week three of the parent child league that my daughter Cassie and I are in has come and gone, and I have to say that I am thankful that it is over.

When I bowled last week, I did really well; 206 and 193 for the two games, for a 199.5 average. This week was terrible. I bowled 161-161. My league average dropped from 189 to 180.

I did however manage to raise my overall average to 160 for the season, so that is worth mentioning. My goal when I started seriously bowling three months ago was to try to get an average of 165 by the start of the summer. I have shown rather dramatic improvement over the past three months, from an average of 143 in December to 160 today. Hopefully, I can return to better scoring conditions in our league next week and score better than 161.

 The lanes were very slick and I actually threw two gutter balls, though both times, the ball struck the outside of my leg on the downswing and follow through. I also had difficulty with getting the ball into the pocket. I tried to compensate for the slick conditions by moving in towards the center, but at times, the ball actually came in too far, and I either crossed over the headpin striking the three low (I am a lefty), or I hit the headpin almost headon. I also had three splits between the two games, and was unable to convert any of them. That was dissapointing because last week I had two, and converted both of them.

One positive note was that in the first game, I had 4 strikes in a row and 5 for the game. Second game also yielded 5 strikes. That was a personal goal I set for myself when the league started three weeks ago.

My daughter (5 yrs old) threw games of 75 and 77, down from 105 and 82 last week. But we both had fun and that is the whole point of the league. Hopefull next week will be better.