Regaining my bowling stroke

Last night was bowling night. I was really looking forward to it too. I hadn't bowled the prior week due to my sinus infection and had missed another week before that due to a fight I've had with tendonitis in my right elbow that has been going on for months now. Last night, my arm was hurting, but wasn't throbbing at all times like it had before.

My first practice ball was terrible. I felt every bone in my body crack and pop. It also brought back the elbow pain as well. However, once I a few more practice balls under my belt, I was OK. The pain would stay away until after bowling was done.

I was in 5 brackets despite not having tossed a bowling ball in a few weeks. I'm a degenerate gambler at heart though, so I had to fork over $10 for 5 brackets. I thought it was a good decision too after I tossed a 216 my first game. I had an awesome ball reaction and a clear path to the pocket. I did lose one of my brackets to a "max handicapper" that bowled a 203 and with his extra handicap beat me.

Game 2 was a complete opposite of game 1 though. My first ball really set the tone for that game. It was deep in the pocket, pins flying everywhere...except for that single stone 8 standing tall. It seemed like I was all over that pocket in game 2 and nothing would carry. I made matters worse in the 2nd half of the game by getting frustrated with my dismal pin carry and started missing spares. I finished game 2 with a 156.

In game 3, I was back. I made a few adjustments. I made it a point to move in a little deeper and swing the ball out further to get a lighter pocket hit. This allowed for better pin carry as the ball would hit lighter and send the 1 pin to the wall and back across giving me a bunch of scattering strikes. However, when I didn't strike, I couldn't pick up a spare to save my life. I ended up with a 202 in game 3. This gave me a total series of 574. Not bad.

So the last 2 times, I've bowled, I've bowled 4 200 games out of 6 tries. I have series of 628 and 574. That's much better than earlier in the year when I was struggling to break 500 on a given week. I think I'm finally out of my funk. Now, if I can just get my elbow better, then look out. It's tournament season coming up too. We have a Sweethearts tournament that pays big $$$, a big handicap tourney next month I'm bowling in, plus the city tournament where I have been on the winning team 2 years running and I also have finished 1st and 2nd in the singles events.