Are THS oil patterns all the same or are there different ones?

[Hammer]

Sometimes when I bowl in our house with the THS pattern it seems like the ball has a different reaction on one Saturday league night and on the next one the ball has a different reaction. There are times when a target will work for you all night with slight adjustments and other times when no matter how you adjust you can't buy a strike. I was wondering do houses put down different THS patterns or do they seem different because you bowl on different lanes each Saturday? There are times on league night the ball hooks beautifully and other times when you think you are not putting revs on the ball to make it hook to the pocket. The house wouldn't sneek in a short sport pattern every once in a while would they? I think that would be illegalanyway. What thoughts do you folks have on this?

[billf]

There are different THS. Our house has the option of four different "house" patterns. They normally range from 32'-44' in length with differing amounts of oil and distances from side to side.

[e-tank]

There are different THS. Our house has the option of four different "house" patterns. They normally range from 32'-44' in length with differing amounts of oil and distances from side to side.

My team had a horrible league night last and i assuming they mustve changed up the ths or forget to reoil the lanes. I had to slow my ball speed and lessen revs just to get a decent reaction. Not to mention our 225 avg bowler didnt go any higher than about 140. It was baaaad.

[billf]

There are also times when the machine is serviced is will actually put out what seems to be more oil due to the ports not being clogged, brushes and squeegees clean, etc.
If you had to slow it down and back off revs to read the lane, it was probably more oil than usual or at least further towards the gutters.

[e-tank]

There are also times when the machine is serviced is will actually put out what seems to be more oil due to the ports not being clogged, brushes and squeegees clean, etc.
If you had to slow it down and back off revs to read the lane, it was probably more oil than usual or at least further towards the gutters.

possibly but i think if that was the case my friend who uses a lucid and modern marvel wouldve had no problem striking no? It seemed like his balls were burning out. Hes the 225 avg bowler btw.

[billf]

Was he playing a different line than you? Does he normally use them on a house shot?

[e-tank]

Was he playing a different line than you? Does he normally use them on a house shot?

I wanna say different line. Yea all he bowls is on house shot and ive never seen him go below 160 and that 160 was when he was bowling between his legs all game. Would it make a difference if i said there was a cranker on the other team throwing it on just about every line right and left handed?

[billf]

Revs allow for more push, where the ball can go further past the oil to the breakpoint. So if I'm right, you did the right thing backing the revs down and letting the ball read the lane while the others were basically going too long and not getting the correct read when it hit the breakpoint.
Plus if they are use to heavy oil balls on a THS then, well, adjustments are usually out of the comfort zone.

[got_a_300]

As billf said there are several different THS shots that a center
can choose from. Our center has a modified THS it is one of the
hardest ones to score big on so if I bowl a big game(s) or series
on it then I know that I did indeed earn it.

There are lets see at least 3 different patterns to choose from Red
White and Blue and at least 3 subset patterns within each color of
White and Blue to choose from with varying amounts and lengths
of oil applied to the lanes.

Here you go some info on the USBC oil patterns (http://wiki.bowlingchat.net/wiki/index.php?title=USBC_Patterns)

[J Anderson]

The house wouldn't sneek in a short sport pattern every once in a while would they? I think that would be illegalanyway. What thoughts do you folks have on this?

There would be nothing illegal about putting a sport pattern out for regular leagues. It probably wouldn't be a good idea, but its not against any USBC rule.

Putting a THS pattern out for a sport league would get someone in trouble. Our league secretary runs a tape on one lane before we start play to document that the lanes are sport compliant.

[75lockwood]

My team had a horrible league night last and i assuming they mustve changed up the ths or forget to reoil the lanes. I had to slow my ball speed and lessen revs just to get a decent reaction. Not to mention our 225 avg bowler didnt go any higher than about 140. It was baaaad.

225 not hitting 140? did the guy forget how to throw a spare ball?

[Mike White]

225 not hitting 140? did the guy forget how to throw a spare ball?

Averaging 225 on a THS doesn't require him to know how to throw a spare ball, so maybe instead of forgetting, he never knew how.

[75lockwood]

Averaging 225 on a THS doesn't require him to know how to throw a spare ball, so maybe instead of forgetting, he never knew how.

Averaging 225 anywhere requires you make your spares..... The number of strikes required to average 225 without making spares would be insane.

[Zothen]

Most houses either use a standered pattern(38' Christmas tree or other) or have their own! Varing lane conditions are due to the following:Weather conditions,recreational bowlers,6pm leagues have fresh oil while 9pm leagues have whats left,the oil machine may not be oiling consistantly,etc. Putting a Sport pattern down is not illegal,but,will turn people away not to mention the cost of oiling lanes to a specific pattern and finding someone who can do it consistantly.

Zothen

[UBowling]

Yeah not all THS are created equal. The term Typical House Shot describes a basic oil pattern that is a "wall" or a lot of oil in the middle and tapers to barely anything on the edge to create a "funnel" to the pocket. Some are more difficult than others.

Some have more or less oil, they are shorter or longer and some flatten out a little bit. But all are way easier than competitive and sport patterns. Typically you see the oil ratio around 10:1 whereas sport conditions have 5:1 or less.

[e-tank]

225 not hitting 140? did the guy forget how to throw a spare ball?

no he was hitting his mark but he uses a lucid and modern marvel so it seemed like his balls were burning out and in turn he had no striking power.

[scottymoney]

I don't think you can ever blame the oil for how you bowl. You have to be able to adjust.

[e-tank]

I don't think you can ever blame the oil for how you bowl. You have to be able to adjust.

Well considering he doesnt know a whole lot about adjusting and the technical aspects, he did none of the such. Hes never had a problem until our last league game though so idk what happened.

[Hammer]

I bowl every other Saturday on our league. I noticed that before our league and the other league next to us bowl for the night the house puts down fresh oil.I kind of figured that the THS patterns were different on different Saturdays. Sometimes I would feel that I had a special groove in the alley right to the pocket because strikes were not that hard to get. The only time I didn't strike was when I could tell that I didn't throw a good shot. I ended up getting a spare most of the time. And as everyone here knows you can tell instantly as soon as you leave the ball go that the shot was not going to be good. Your hand sends a quick signal to your brain that says OH NO!
Followed by the word-cleaned up-DANG IT !