Brad Boudreaux
My name is Brad Boudreaux. I started learning how to bowl back in 1975 in the Air Force, as bowling was only 25 cents a game and I was looking for a sport I could do alone since it was difficult to get 5 or 9 friends together. Back in the 80s, I practiced about 100 games a week and thought I was good enough to go pro. Thankfully, God had a different plan and I ended up working in the paper industry for 40 years and got away from bowling for about 20 years.
Eventually, I retired and needed a hobby to occupy my mind and give me something to focus on.
I was searching the internet one day and found the Stroke-N-Roll website in August of 2022. In the opening paragraph, a man was talking about a method using "No Lift," and immediately, I was curious. As I read his bio, I learned that he was a Christian and still held the highest average in Colorado in three different houses, playing three different lines using a White Dot. He had me, hook, line and sinker so I emailed him, I figured I wasn’t too old to learn a new system and the fact that he was a Christian reassured me that it wasn’t a scam.
Boy, has bowling changed over the years, or basically the bowling balls changed. Many years ago, the balls had small cores, and you had to try and rip the cover off the ball, lifting as hard as you could to increase the revs enough to hook the ball and carry. If you ever watched Mark Roth—and today’s version, Jason Belmonte—you know what I’m talking about. But as I said earlier, I’m 67 years old. Physically, I can’t do what they did and my hero was Earl Anthony. Cause, you guessed it, I'm a left-handed stroker and tried to mirror everything Earl did—except carry the 7-pin. Good thing I stayed in the paper industry for 40 years, ha!
Today’s game has really changed as the ball has such a big core and if you try to "lift it" it will over-hook. Goodness knows, in the past five years, I bought every new shiny ball on the market, and learned a whole new language that ball drillers now use and plugged and re-drilled them all, trying to de-hook them. Hey, I tried over 100 different layouts and ended up with plastic beginner-type balls that basically bounced when they hit the pins and left my old friend—the 7-pin—over and over. I was averaging roughly 17-20 nine-counts every league night. Needless to say, I know how to line up and hit the pocket, especially on the local house shot. You can actually see the oil line when you walk in the building if you look close enough.
When I first met Randy in Colorado at the lanes, he said, “What do you see?” and I knew it was his first test. I replied, “No oil on the one board.” He smiled and said, “You are right because the machine can’t put oil there.” I learned something new. Then he freaked me out by saying, “That’s exactly where I want you to play.” I tried the best I could and may have hit the 2-3 board area a few times. He finally explained why he wanted me to play left of the 5-board, and I was hooked. I spent the next two days—roughly 10 hours—working my butt off, trying to learn his fundamentals. As you all know, he is very critical about the details he considers important. At night, as a bowling junkie, I scoured the internet to find bowlers using the same fundamentals. To my surprise there are many PWBA bowlers and Japanese female bowlers using these techniques. My new favorites are Andrew Pepe (about 8-10 years ago on the PBA) and the player of the year, Jane Sin. So thankful for YouTube and BowlTV because I study everyday to learn why the good bowlers are so good.
After traveling back to Alabama, the first night I bowled with my brand-new skills, I played in the dry, and the carry was really good and bowled one of my best scores in many years—had my fourth 300 and a personal best 799 with Randy’s favorite plastic: Radical Spy. I might not ever repeat those numbers again, but I’m a Stroke-N-Roll believer for life. I will spend the rest of my bowling life doing “less” to the ball and watching it roll because, truly, "Less is More."
