BATON ROUGE - I’m sure you are wondering about this headline for this week’s column and I must admit there have only been a few times, other than some occasions cracks about my bowling, that I have made myself the focus of a column that I have written for The Advocate and now WBRZ over the last 30-plus years.

But I feel that maybe telling my story will be a type of mental exercise that may help me get over the long hill to the top. 

Having covered a lot of golf over my years and watched more on TV, I have heard golfers as they get older have what is termed the “yips” over that short simple 4-or-5-foot putt.

I’m pretty sure I have the “yips” when it comes to shooting at the dreaded 10 pin.

How do I know?

Well, many years ago a fellow bowler showed me how he kept track of all his shots and marked down strikes, first ball counts and spare attempts. It was in the days when computer programs were beginning to boom and I found one (Pin Pal) that I religiously kept all my bowling stats for the last eight years.

Another popular program that does similar things at lanes around the country is Lanetalk. Both are great programs that give you a lot of information and statistics about your bowling based on your results.

To show you how deep in the minutiae you can get in this thing in the Thursday night league at All Star I bowl in I have made 82 percent of single pin spares in the 2023 season; 80 percent in 2024 and 77 percent in 2025. Yes, I notice that is going the wrong way.

However, for the 10 pin I have consistently made 2-of-every-3 at 66, 64 and 64 percent.

At this point I should have deleted the app off my phone. 

This season, there has been a move to just rerack the lanes and give me a miss on the 10 pin because I am making a paltry 30 percent (12-of-39). Even worse on single pins I am just 56 percent (51-of-90).

Now I could sit here and blame the lanes, the oil pattern, my bowling shirt is too tight, but I won’t although it might make me happier if I did.

But I have to admit it’s me, the bowler. Something isn’t right in my delivery and to say it is disturbing would be an understatement.

Like the golfer missing the short putts, I have no exact clue as to what to do to stop this drama. My team is trying to see if they can put me on waivers. They are hoping I will soon have some basketball conflicts that I will need a sub to bowl for me.

I have watched video, read articles, studied several different things. It hasn’t really improved; in fact it has gotten worse.

The thing is if I didn’t keep up with the stats on my phone, I really wouldn’t know how bad my spare percentages are. They maybe I wouldn’t be so crazy about this whole thing. I think leave my phone with this app in the car may be the next step.

But I am determined to advance out of this abyss and at least get the percentage up to 40 percent by the end of the season in May. Maybe 50-50?

Thank you for reading and supporting my attempt to get out of the bowling “yips.”

Back with you next Monday with state senior results.

Until then good luck (hopefully more spares) and good bowling,

                          Kent Lowe