League Night - NSAC - Victory Lanes - Kankakee, Illinois

I've known for a while now that surface adjustments make a huge difference in bowling, and boy did that show itself to be true this evening!

Game 1

X 9/ 9/ X X 81 X X X X71 - 220

Last week, I never really got the look and shape I wanted out of my newly-acquired Mastermind Genius. As such, I spoke with a good friend of mine (Jason Milligan), and he suggested taking the 500 Siaar plus Royal Compound box finish up to 3000 abralon. Man, that did the trick. The Genius looked great! Whereas before it cleared the heads and then seemed to labor off the spot, it now came off the spot in a strong, yet controllable, manner. The look was butter-smooth all the way through, and it was awesome. I easily could've had the front ten here. The 4-pin in the 2nd was unexpected, the 10-pin in the 3rd was an absolute ringer, and the 4-9 in the 6th was just uncalled for! The only bad shot I threw that game was the 11th ball, and then the attempted conversion was even worse! Still, although 220 was far lower than what this game could've been, the reaction change that came with the surface adjustment left me very encouraged.

Game 2

9/ X X X X 6/ X X X XXX - 266

I moved a few boards left after Game 1, so now I was in to around 31 with my feet. Man, the Genius looked good from there! I rang a 10-in in the first, and just threw a really bad shot in the 6th (3-6-9-10). Other than that, every ball was flush and looked great getting there. I am absolutely loving the way this Genius rolls now; it's the perfect combination of control and hitting power!

Game 3

X 9/ 9/ X X X 9/ X 81 XX9 - 215

I stuck with the Genius through the first three frames, but the back-to-back soft 10s in the 2nd and 3rd proved that the friction up front was just causing too much flame out on the back for my Genius. As such, I figured it was time to see if the surface change on my Melee Jab would work as well as the one had on the Genius. In a word, yep! Again per Mr. Milligan's advice, I took the Jab from 500 + Royal Compound to 2000 abralon plus High Gloss, and, just like with the Genius, I couldn't have been happier! With the new surface, the Jab easily pushed through the heads, and it offered a strong yet smooth move down the lane. I threw three in a row right after making the change. The left lane broke down a bit more than the right, resulting in a tight 4-pin in the 7th and a 3-10 in the 9th, which I missed like a dumb-dumb. When all was said and done, I only managed 215, but that still gave me a skinny 700 for the night and a lot more confidence in these two new balls.

Based upon the difference in ball reaction that I saw out of the Genius and Jab tonight, I am already looking forward to next week. If you don't like the reaction/shot shape a particular ball is giving you, don't write things off as a bad match. Play with the surface; you would be amazed at how much better that ball can roll for you!