Published: December 26, 2008 11:18 pm      

Another perfect game for Nickleson

Shane Nickleson scored a perfect game in his 764 set at White Oak Lanes on Dec. 17. He also rolled a 300 game two weeks earlier in the same Industrial League. This latest game is the fourth on consecutive weeks.

The top score for the week was Bob Greene’s 780/289 at Wilson Lanes. Joe Buff was next at that center rolling a big 280 game in his 765 set.

Nickleson’s 764 was the high at White Oaks followed by Troy Smith who bowled 760/279.

Brad Burr was highest at The Bowler for the week, rolling 725/266. A.J. Bishop was two pins back at 723/254.

Shawn Opel bowled 697/247 at Sherwood Lanes followed by Derek Monahan’s 641/221.

C.P. Sines also rolled a 697 set with a high game of 245 at Rainbow Lanes. Phil Whetstone was next, scoring 682/247.

In the PBA Experience League at White Oaks, Mike Brobst had the top mark bowling 754/265. Adam Blackburn and Mike Sipple were next, rolling 669/226 and 653/225, respectively.

Crystal Uhl was the area’s top lady bowler for the week scoring 582/205 at The Bowler. Debbie Mohler was just one pin back at 581/235.

Olive Thompson was Rainbow’s top lady, scoring 572/229 in the Powder Puff League. Fran Cuthbertson was next, rolling 545/191.

Alice Monahan also bowled a 572 set at Sherwood Lanes. Her high game in that set was a 212. Gail Warnick rolled 445/173 for next high.

Julie Greene’s 548/201 was the ladies’ high at Wilson Lanes. Pat Guizdale was next scoring 525/191.

At White Oaks, Deb Grove was the top lady bowling 543/204. Autumn Gable was next rolling 530/192.

The area’s top senior for the week was Ray Ross, who scored 622/224 at The Bowler. Brad Deter, White Oaks senior, rolled 545/211. Helen Uncapher scored 498/202 at White Oaks.

Amanda Greene bowled 638/234 at Wilson Lanes and was the youth high for the week. Charles Abernathy bowled 614/225 at Rainbow Lanes and Caitlin Weems rolled 562/191 at White Oak Lanes.

A high speed delivery and an aggressive ball may be all you need to throw a lot of strikes in most bowling centers where the house shot usually has a dry area outside of the ten board. The key to bowling at a higher level is being accurate especially at spare shooting. In my opinion, accuracy is a result of keeping your game as simple as possible and committing yourself to practice on the weaker parts of your game.

An important part of keeping your game simple is to let the ball do most of the work. The ball doesn’t get tired or have spurts of energy or memory lapses. The preferred delivery is to pushaway from a near shoulder high starting point (aim) then, to relax the arm muscles so that gravity guides the ball into a smooth straight backswing. The final release must be well timed with the body balanced during the follow through.

Muscling the ball during the critical downswing actually slows down the swing and leads to a lower height and lower delivery speed. In addition, muscling the ball adds side forces to the straight directed delivery of the ball and obviously hurts accuracy. With gravity controlling the direction, there is no disturbance to the straight delivery. Get serious about practice and you will certainly improve your game.

Good luck bowling and have fun striking out!

Howard “Pete” Peterson is the bowling columnist for the Times-News. He can be reached at petesbowling @atlanticbb.net.