Exactly what is Sport Bowling

[GeoLes]

Excuse the newb question, but I am unclear of this. What exactly is Sport Bowling? and how is it different from league bowling? I bowl in a handicap league at my local Bowling Center. I assume they use a standard house oil pattern. I asked and I belive it is a 38, or 39-foot pattern. That's all I know about it. Is sports bowling leagues of various challenging patterns or is it a synonym of league bowling on the grass-roots level?

Which begs the question; What then is Recreational Bowling?

[bowl1820]

Excuse the newb question, but I am unclear of this. What exactly is Sport Bowling? and how is it different from league bowling? I bowl in a handicap league at my local Bowling Center. I assume they use a standard house oil pattern. I asked and I belive it is a 38, or 39-foot pattern. That's all I know about it. Is sports bowling leagues of various challenging patterns or is it a synonym of league bowling on the grass-roots level?

Which begs the question; What then is Recreational Bowling?

Sport Bowling is basically just like traditional bowling, but using more difficult lane conditions.

[75lockwood]

To Add to the above, the majority of leagues you will encounter are played on a Typical house shot, when a league is advertised as a "sport league" they lay down specific oil patterns that are more challenging than a typical house shot, PBA experience sport leagues use the patterns found at http://www.pba.com/OilPatterns/

[billf]

Recreational bowling is when people bowl but not in any type of league.
Most house patterns are dry on the outside and tapered towards the head pin. The oil is all in the middle, usually from the second arrow of each side. This promotes high scoring as the ball will tend to "hug" or follow the oil line. The dry boards will force the ball towards the oil and the oil will nudge the ball the other way. Sport/PBA patterns use the oil in such a way as to make scoring more difficult.
I hope I kept this in a way that made sense for you. Being new I tried not to get too technical. If I failed and you still have qiestions, ask away.

[Zothen]

Sport bowling is a USBC sanctioned league where by the league will use a keigel oil pattern that is similar to a PBA pattern. The patterns are 33'-47' of oil and can be either gutter-gutter of oil or light-heavy oil in varing patterns. these leagues are very challenging and not many bowlers want to bowl it as it will really affect your avg. It is a very fun and challenging league! I am a current 176 THS(Typical House Shot)bowler and a current 146(130 last yr) Sport league bowler.

[bowl1820]

Sport bowling is a USBC sanctioned league where by the league will use a keigel oil pattern that is similar to a PBA pattern.

Sport Leagues don't have to use use "Kegel" oil patterns similar to PBA patterns. As long as the pattern meets the USBC sport specifications you can use any pattern.

PBA Experience (PBX) leagues use PBA animal patterns, you can read about them here.
PBA_Exp_Pattern_Flyer.pdf (http://usbcongress.http.internapcdn.net/usbcongress/bowl/sportbowling/pdfs/PBA_Exp_Pattern_Flyer.pdf)

[GeoLes]

Thank you all. It makes a lot of sense. I assume then that my league is simple, standard league bowling. I will have to look around some of the more advanced lanes to try out the oil patterns for fun.

[Zothen]

Most alley's will have standard house shot and will only lay out a specific pattern if their is a tournament or Sport league. The reason you will not find a pattern othen then a house pattern(THS) is because most poeple wont know how to bowl it and it's bad for the alley as it will cause people to go to an easier alley. These special patterns are by no means easy!

Zothen