High marks: Jones rolls perfect game, 815 series

You might say Doug Jones has a loose, relaxed attitude when it comes to bowling.

"I just go up there and do the best I can," he said.

"What I end up with, is what it is. It's not that big of a deal."

Well, it turned out to be a pretty big deal on Jan. 6 when Jones not only recorded a perfect game, a 300, but also finished with an 815 series.

Jones, 57, recorded those high numbers in the Big Sky League on a Tuesday evening at the Pin and Cue in Whitefish.

He started with a 247 and followed that with a 268 before finishing in style.

"That's my first one (300)," he said.

"I don't expect that to happen too often. I'll keep trying, learn from other good bowlers here and make my game better. That's what I like to do."

The Columbia Falls kegler said his first game on that memorable night started with a 7-10 split.

"I thought, 'Here we go.' I didn't pick that up."

He just kind of shrugged it off and moved on.

"You let it go, don't let it bother you," he said.

"You just start all over again. You can't change it."

He posted seven strikes in the first game, followed with nine in the second and racked up 12 in the finale.

"The second game, I left a solid eight pin and a solid 10 pin," Jones said.

"The rest were strikes in that game."

Everything finally came together for Jones in the third game.

"Anyone that is in that groove 'realizes what it's like)," he said of his strike-fest.

"You gotta be focused. That night was a better night than others. It just felt better, but I was pretty nervous."

Jones said he would take a couple deep breaths to stay relaxed before each ball.

"I turned around to one of the teammates and said, 'I really don't want to do this,'" he said as the strikes added up in his perfect game.

The teammate's reaction …

"He just smiled at me," Jones said.

On his last ball …

"Just like the first one and second one," Jones said of his delivery.

"You don't get too many opportunities to do this. You just try to do the best you can. This time it worked out."

Jones bowls on the Jones Boys team, which includes his son Chris, a nephew Duayne, and brothers Fred, 59, and Dave, 47,

Doug Jones lives in Columbia Falls and also subs in the Majors League on Wednesday.

Only two bowlers have posted an 800 series at Pin and Cue. The other is Corey Wagner.

Jones' previous high game was a 279. For a series, his best is somewhere in the 750s.

Jones has bowled on-and- off since he was a youngster. He stopped bowling in the early 1980s when he began building a home. When he finished paying that off, in 2006, he started bowling again.

"My third season back," he said.

"I couldn't afford to do it. I guess I could have chose to squeeze it in, but I chose to do other things.

"It has changed so much (over the years)," he continued.

"They had wood lanes (when I started). The equipment, bowling balls used then compared to now with the cover stock on balls, weigh blocks, the game is a little easier."

Jones, who is averaging 210 in league play, followed his 815 series with a 620 and a 666 on his next two trips to the lanes.

So, does all this mean that Doug has bragging rights in the Jones family now regarding who is the best?

He says, not really.

"They're (all) good bowlers," he said.

"I'm just waiting for it to happen. It will. They're very capable."