Over/Under Lane Condition or Ball Reaction....What?

[classygranny]

Can someone please explain to me...in easy to understand terms... what is meant by over/under lane conditions (also heard referred to as over/under ball reaction)?

Everything I read on this just confuses the H*** out of me.

[JPbowl]

One shot over hooks, next under.... repeat

[J Anderson]

Can someone please explain to me...in easy to understand terms... what is meant by over/under lane conditions (also heard referred to as over/under ball reaction)?

Everything I read on this just confuses the H*** out of me.

Basically over/under is where there is is an area of the lane that causes the ball to over hook in close proximity to an area that keeps the ball from hooking. Its hard enough for pro bowlers to deal with and almost impossible for the average amateur. With me, I'm never all that confident that I've made a consistent release on every shot to say that its an over/under situation.

If you think that you really are bowling on an over/under condition my suggestion would be to use a less aggressive ball than usual. Given that I can't say for sure if I've ever bowled on this condition feel free to take this with a big grain of salt.

[RotoGripe]

Sounds like the extreme outside part of the lane on the shark pattern would be a prime example.

[Tampabaybob]

Granny, I'll assume that you're bowling on synthetic lanes. With the advent of these new surfaced lanes, we now (as opposed to wood lanes) have something that is described as the "DEAD ZONE". The easiest way to describe this is to say that as your team is bowling, others that may be shooting a different line than you (maybe to the left of your line) is actually pushing oil into what "was" your track. It's an extremely frustrating situation to deal with and requires you to be aware of how and where your ball is reacting. when you see your ball start to fade and/or all of a sudden you're leaving weak 10 pins.

If you have a subscription of Bowling this Month magazine, you can go back in the archives and read about the Dead Zone in an article by Rob Mautner. It's a great article that every good bowler should read. If you don't have the subscription, PM me and I'll sen it to you.