Going into the 1ast qualifying game last weekend on the PWBA Tour, I had a feeling.

I wasn’t looking at the board. Even when the scores are scrolling right in front of us, I’ve been doing a good job of not looking at them. To me, the score is distracting. It can set a person’s mind spinning. Are you in the cut? Are you out of the cut? How much are you back? How much are you in? That inner chatter can’t help a person.

So in the last qualifying game of the last PWBA stop, I didn’t know the score.

It was nine o’clock at night and I just knew that I was doing the best that I could. And that I was going all in with my shots. Based on instinct alone, I felt that I was just in or just out.

I had the good game I needed. 

I made some really good shots in the ninth and 10th frame, which landed me making the cut by three pins. Just in.

It turned out that my instinct was right. I did need that good game. I had just been out. I needed to put some strikes together to make that cut, as it had been really down to the wire.

But I didn’t waiver, because I didn’t know exactly what number I needed to get, which is the point of not looking at the board.

I pulled up the live stream later and a lot of what the commentators were talking about during those shots was that steadiness in decision making. In fact, one called them Hall of Fame level shots and added that I “still got it.” It was such a great feeling knowing deep down in my heart and mind, I could still handle the pressure of our sport. The not knowing. The showing up.

Last season, I was “just out” a lot for a lot of the events. Even for the first event this year, I was just out. So, honestly, landing just in the cut this time felt amazing. Taking that turn, having those steady decisions pay off – landing me just in –  felt a bit like a revival.

The truth is that I feel like I have started out this year’s tour especially steady and strong. The first two events in qualifying – the 24 games I had, there was not one game under 180. I also haven’t had games over 230. I have held a real steadiness and consistency in that range. In fact, that consistency is what makes me feel really good this year going into the Queens. It makes me feel like I have an especially good handle on the things that I need to focus on to make sure that my shot making decisions are on point.

Being consistent and steady is so valuable in bowling. This is not a game about riding a roller coaster of scores – or emotions.

At the end of the day, bowling is all about making sound judgments and making solid calculations. And also about not freaking out when your calculations don’t cut it.

Because, really, when you think about it, the entire game of bowling is just a series of calculated guesses.

Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you get it wrong. But the way that you deal with that dictates the outcome of each game as much as the shots themselves.

If I make a guess, and it’s off, I can be upset about it. But that reaction could affect everything else that I’m doing on the lanes.

The other option is being really objective and not so emotionally attached to what’s happening. And that’s how I always try to bowl.

Maybe I try a ball and it doesn’t do what I want it to do… I just put it away and try something else from my arsenal of balls. I do my best not to feel emotional about it.

What is in my control is not the current score, or the last ball. What is in my control is my next choice, along with the ability to be steady in my decision making as I adjust my calculations along the way.

Doing that, instead of getting emotionally wrapped up in each result, or the overall score, can be really hard to do. But I believe it is the strategy that makes the cut.