Vaughn Jackson

When it comes to a great past time, hobby, family fun event, or friendly competition there is nothing like Bowling. I was first introduced to bowling when I was a little kid about 4 years old. My mom was part of a bowling league and I would go with her to the Irving Triangle for games. It was a good time that I will always remember, although my activities at the bowling alley were running around, playing video games, and eating Tator Tots. However, bowling was not on that list then.

As I grew up bowling still wasn’t a game of choice. It was soccer, football, and skateboarding. But then as I grew up we began to bowl a bit, but it wasn’t until I went to college that bowling really took off in my life. It is and was one of the most fun escapes away from everything and hanging out with good friends and beating them down in bowling. (Quick note: if you like to bowl and go every now and then, PLEASE buy your own shoes, it’s one of the best investments you’ll make.) Let me tell you how my technique began.

How it started

I began bowling with a backspin on the ball when I had all fingers in the ball, but I really didn’t like it. The ball seemed to go slow and it didn’t look cool…LOL…if that really matters, but it did to me. So to fix this I figured that if I take my thumb out of the ball I could put a curve on the ball that was rather cool, effective, and results in great pin action. If you know anything about bowling, pin action is the answer to strikes, and using a curve in your technique is a great way to achieve this. However, it’s easier said than done and believe me it took a long time to get that curve to where it is now. I had to start with a lighter ball to get the feel of the proper release, and then later I was able to raise the weight to cause more damage on the pins giving more chances for a strike or spare.

Using this style makes bowling either more fun or very frustrating and it’s always due to the amount of wax on the lane. This can cause your ball to curve too much or not enough at all. And that problem is even more magnified by using a house ball (bowling alley’s ball) that you really have no idea what it’s going to do. Which led me to buying my own ball. If you have you’re own ball it gives you a greater advantage due to the custom fitting, your specific weight, your style of ball, and with all of these things it will increase your confidence. More confidence equates into making stronger more precise throws in clutch situations. My first ball is the Venom created by Hammer. There are numerous brands and quite a few styles. I’ll have to tell you about the specifics of balls in another blog. My spare ball is a White Dot by Columbia. Spare ball meaning the ball to use to pick up spares and not my spare ball incase my other ball is not working good that night. But I’m sure you knew that.

The Venom is a ball with allot of back end bite, meaning that as it spins down the wax it will keep going straight until it gets down the lane and then right when you think it will keep going straight it makes a violent turn in the direction of your spin and just attacks the pins causing an explosion of pins in all directions. I’ve yet to beat my highest score with this new ball, but the new ball and it’s new trajectory have to be dialed in correctly first. I’ve bowled a 202 with it, but that doesn’t beat my most recent high score of 232 in Las Vegas. I’m trying to remember my other high score which I believe was xxx at Strikez in Plano, but I can’t remember, however I have a print out at my girl’s house and I will clarify.

I will keep some updates of my coming games to keep track of my growth in the game. I’m already the champ as far as the Jackson Cup goes. I’ve been the defending champ for over a year now, but there hasn’t been a title match in a long time. Maybe it’s time to have one. Stay tuned for those new scores.