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Bowling News USA - March 1, 2010 The Schlemer Report - Don & Paula Carter Mixed Doubles

If you caught last week’s Don & Paula Carter Mixed Doubles telecast, you saw a variety of Storm and Roto Grip balls scattered across the show. Six of the ten players used balls from Utah. Pretty good odds if you ask me, not to mention that there was at least one player on each team. So technically we were guaranteed a win before the show even started, which for the record doesn’t suck. Anyway, this week I am going to go mix it up a little bit. I’m going to discuss the lane condition to start and then brief you on the players and what they used.

The Scorpion pattern as explained by the PBA, “allows for a multiple-angles approach to attacking it based on rev rate, lane surface, ball surface and ball speed”. Last week this was truly the case. In fact the telecast was the perfect example of all these variables. The high rev rate players played deep inside all week while the lower rev rate players played more direct. What you saw on the show was the prime example of the difference between the men and the women. All week the guys used the friction of the track area as bumper if you will, while the ladies used the track area as the spot to get their balls to read the lane. If you missed outside the 8 board it was easy to get 3 off the right, or for the lefties, 3 off the left. This was strictly due to the way the oil was loaded in the front part of the lane. If you got the ball outside the 8 board too early it would skid forever and if you missed inside of it at the wrong angle it was easy to go thru the nose for a split or crossover for a Brooklyn. Therefore, the safe play was to use the lane friction in the track to your advantage. For the girls it helped get the ball rolling sooner and for the guys it allowed them to move in faster and create more angle.

(Click link below for highlights of the 2010 PBA Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles!)

http://www.youtube.com/StormBowlingBalls

Jodi Woessner and her partner Tom Smallwood qualified in third after the fourteen games of qualifying. Both had a decent look which carried over throughout match play where they ended up qualifying fifth for the show. All week Jodi played close to the track and used the friction in the lane surface to get her ball moving. If she used a ball that rolled too early, it was easy for her to flat ten or washout. So her arsenal for the week consisted of a pin up Virtual Gravity, a pin down Hy-Road, pin in the ring finger Hy-Road, pin down Virtual Energy and the pin down Reign of Fire she used on the show. During qualifying where she bowled with just the ladies, Jodi used the Virtual Gravity most of the time and even bowled a 300 game. But once the ladies were paired with the men, her angles and ball choices completely changed. Her ball of choice became the Reign of Fire, even though it was a pin down layout, the higher RG core helped get the ball through the front part of the lane. When that ball became too early she would choose between the Hy-Roads or the Virtual Energy. At the deepest Jodi moved into to twenty-two at the arrows and would hit twelve at the breakpoint.

Jodi Woessner – Reign of Fire – 1000 Abralon® (by hand) – 5th Place

 

From the very beginning of the week Rhino felt that he couldn’t play direct. He felt his best chance to carry was by creating more angle through the front part of the lane. In fact if you watched closely on the show both he and his partner Shannon Pluhowsky were using the same breakpoint. However, Rhino was banking the 7 board from his target of the 17 board, while Shannon played straight up the 7 board, thus showing a perfect example of multiple angles of attack. As far as Rhino’s ball choices for the week, he used an Invasion, Hy-Road and Second Dimension all with 2000 Abralon® by hand. All were drilled with the pin up and outside his ring finger with an extra hole through the CG two inches left of his center of grip. This allowed Rhino to get the ball through the front part of the lane and smooth out the backend by drilling out some of the core differential. In match play there were only three left-handers, so pair to pair Rhino had to make adjustments and ball selections based on the traffic of the right-handers. Some pairs played close to others, while some pairs played like a completely different bowling center.

Rhino Page – Invasion – 2000 Abralon® (by hand) – 4th Place

 

Shannon O’Keefe and her partner, Roto Grip’s Wes Malott, “Team Utah”, were a similar pairing to that of Jodi Woessner and Tom Smallwood. Shannon played the track area most of the week just like Jodi and slowly migrated inside as the lanes transitioned. While Big Wes played the lanes similar to Smallwood, both started by playing seventeen to eight and by the end of the day both would be inside playing fifth arrow. Amazingly enough, Shannon’s arsenal was similar to that of Jodi’s. Shannon used a pin down Hy-Road, pin up Reign of Fire and a pin up Invasion. Besides their arsenals, their lane play was near the same as well; Shannon usually started by playing twelve to eight and moved inside as the lanes changed. This was the common zone for the ladies as only a few had a high enough rev rates to move in deep and swing it like the guys.

Reigning PBA Player of the Year and the undisputed King of Bowling Wes Malott made up the other half of “Team Utah”. Big Wes played the lanes left to right all week just like he did on the telecast. Like all the other higher rev rate guys, he started around eighteen to eight and by the end of the round he was wheeling fifth arrow. With the built in friction of the lane, all he and the rev guys had to do was get it right and be sure not to get it outside of eight down lane at the breakpoint. If they did, look out, some sort of split design was left standing. Usually a 2-4-8-10 or washout, with the occasional bucket mixed in as well. On the show it was the same; stand left and wheel it right just like it had been all week. Due to all the people throwing shots on the TV pair in practice and in between matches, Wes felt his best look to start was the Dark Star. It didn’t over react down lane and he felt he could make it strike. In hindsight, probably not the best option, but in the one minute and thirty seconds he had to throw four shots and get lined up, it was the only option. So it’s easy to understand now why both Wes and Shannon looked a little confused early on in their match, while their opponents had already posted back to back 270 games and were more than comfortable. Oh well what can you do, LIVE TV is just that LIVE, you can’t slow it down and take extra time.

Wes Malott – Dark Star and Nomad Pearl – 2000 Abralon® (by hand) – 3rd Place

 

Shannon O’Keefe – Hy-Road and Reign – 2000 Abralon® (by hand) – 3rd Place

 

Jason and his partner Michelle Feldman put on a display that others only dream about. Jason led the men’s side by one hundred and thirty-five pins over the second place qualifier Rhino Page; while his partner Michelle led the women’s side by one hundred and fifteen pins over second place. Lucky for the rest of the field that when they joined forces, half their total pin-fall dropped. If they would have got to keep all of their pins they may have led the tournament by six hundred pins instead of just three hundred at the end of match play. Anyway, Belmo used the ball you see below in almost every game of the tournament including on the show. We drilled this Hy-Road after practice to compliment the other pin down Hy-Road he had without a weight hole. The hybrid coverstock of the Hy-Road got the ball through the front part of the lane with ease, while the low pin placement and extra hole got the ball rolling heavy in the mid-lane and produced a controllable breakpoint.

One quick note – as you may or may not have noticed in the past, Belmo more often than not uses an offset thumbhole placement in a large majority of his balls. This is more of a safety measure more than anything. Due to his ability to change his axis tilt from 90 degrees like Pete Weber, to straight up the back at about 20 degrees; his high rev rate causes some cores to spin up faster than others. Therefore it’s safer for him to use the one inch offset and then not have to worry on which release he wants to use. The offset gives him more versatility.

Jason Belmonte – Hy-Road – 2000 Abralon® (by hand) – 2nd Place

 

What can I say about PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss and his partner Diandra Asbaty? They put on a performance for the ages on this show. They posted games of 276, 276, 224 and 234. They made it look like they were bowling league while the others seemed to struggle. This duo qualified as the twelfth team and worked all the way up to the fifth and final slot for the telecast. Along the way they had highs and lows like all the other teams. But the distinct advantage that these two had over all the other teams was that they played the same part of the lane. So on the telecast after they won the first game and were forced to switch lanes by the next team, they were able to communicate the lane transition and help each other stay ahead of the moves. After Voss converted the 7-10 split late in the final position round game Friday night to secure a spot on the show, we should have known then that it was a date with destiny. All week Voss used the two balls he used on the show; a Hy-Road and a Nomad Solid. As you can see in the picture, both balls are drilled almost identical. The difference between the two is the coverstocks. When Brian needed a stronger motion down lane, he would use the Hy-Road which has a hybrid coverstock (hybrid means half solid and half pearl). This gave him more backend when he needed it. Then when he needed a smoother reaction down lane, he would use the Nomad Solid. The solid coverstock would read the lane a little sooner than the hybrid cover and blend out the breakpoint for him. Both balls had 2000 Abralon® by hand on them and both let him see the lane how he likes to see it. The only thing better than using only two balls for an entire tournament is using one, which for the record never happens on the PBA tour.

Brian Voss – Hy-Road and Nomad Solid – 2000 Abralon® (by hand) – 1st Place

That's all the excitement right now. So until next time – Schlemer, out.

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March, 2010