I started subbing on My brother Paul’s bowling team about three years ago, shortly after I got divorced, before I retired.
Paul has a decent average of about 155 – 160. I had an average lower than that, but acceptable when I was young. I am now in my 60’s and haven’t bowled for about 40 years. That ability does not just come back, at least it didn’t for me.
I had been a decent athlete when I was younger, and it is killing me to have one of the lower averages in my league. I know I can bring my scores up, but I wish I could do it sooner rather than later.
I sported a very low average of 112 my first year as a sub on “5 card stud” -Paul’s team.
Things didn’t improve even though I was practicing regularly.
I put a lot of faith in the power of prayer and, almost reflexively, started asking God to give me a decent average. I continued to practice and soon some of the better players on the league started giving me pointers and tips when they saw me practicing after league play had ended.
My brother Paul and John told me I was dropping the ball on release which hindered my ability to control it. They suggested I throw the ball down the lane instead of dropping it near the foul line. One day while John was coaching me Don and Eddie stopped by and helped- I needed all the help I could get and was glad they were willing to spend some time to tutor me.
Eddie suggested I lay a towel just past the foul line and practice throwing the ball over the towel. I’ve been following their advice and practicing as much as I can. In one season my average came up 13 pins to 125. That’s a decent increase, but still at least 30 pins below my brother. If any of you have a brother, you know that is not acceptable.
There are good points about everything, even things that seem really bad.
A good point about my terrible average was that I went to a tournament in Indiana with some of the guys from the league. I entered some handicap pools and came away with about 50 bucks. My tournament play encouraged me as far as knowing I can bowl competitively and increase my average more. I don’t give up, and won’t give up, but it is discouraging to be bowling this poorly for over a year (This is my first year of being a regular member of the team). I have bowled a few practice games recently that pleased me, 154, 165 & 184. If I could make that my typical series next season, I would be very happy. That is until I start looking at, perhaps, a 175 average.
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