Hammer
10-11-2013, 09:33 PM
House patterns have a reputation for being easy. That is not always true. House patterns can play easy for some and are more challenging for others. On a given house pattern, a high speed player that likes to play left-to-rightmay be scoring higher than a low speed player who likes to keep the ball in front of them, aka playing down the boards. On a different house pattern, a stroker who plays down the boards may be more likely to score then a player who wants to stand left and throw right. In short, while there is usually more oil in the middle of the lane, not everyone finds a house shot easy.
House patterns give you more room to miss and, when you are properly matched up, the area to carry pocket hits can be quite vast. It's easy to have a free swing when you have that much room. There is also a much smaller need to be an outstanding spare shooter on house shots.
The best course of action is to do what the lanes tell you to do that day. You want to be able to play whatever shape the lanes call for standing anywhere on the approach. You play what the lanes give you. You can't play the lanes the way you want to play them.
I find this in my own experience playing on THS patterns for 27 years. Sometimes on league nights I feel like there is a channel in the lane that lets my ball go to the pocket on each shot. Also I get a feeling that I can throw the ball with my eyes closed and get a strike. On other nights no matter how I set up on the approch my ball does not want to hit the pocket solid for a strike. There are nights when my ball will hook and other nights when I feel like I am playing on a sport pattern. I guess the problem is that sometimes my ball just don't match up with the lanes on a particular night.
The solution for this is more practice and a ball arsenal. If you go to league night with just one ball and your ball doesn't match up to the lanes that night it will be a long night for you. You will be doing a lot of head scratching and teeth clenching. The lanes are just laying there telling you to try and figure them out. Whoever figures them out first wins.
House patterns give you more room to miss and, when you are properly matched up, the area to carry pocket hits can be quite vast. It's easy to have a free swing when you have that much room. There is also a much smaller need to be an outstanding spare shooter on house shots.
The best course of action is to do what the lanes tell you to do that day. You want to be able to play whatever shape the lanes call for standing anywhere on the approach. You play what the lanes give you. You can't play the lanes the way you want to play them.
I find this in my own experience playing on THS patterns for 27 years. Sometimes on league nights I feel like there is a channel in the lane that lets my ball go to the pocket on each shot. Also I get a feeling that I can throw the ball with my eyes closed and get a strike. On other nights no matter how I set up on the approch my ball does not want to hit the pocket solid for a strike. There are nights when my ball will hook and other nights when I feel like I am playing on a sport pattern. I guess the problem is that sometimes my ball just don't match up with the lanes on a particular night.
The solution for this is more practice and a ball arsenal. If you go to league night with just one ball and your ball doesn't match up to the lanes that night it will be a long night for you. You will be doing a lot of head scratching and teeth clenching. The lanes are just laying there telling you to try and figure them out. Whoever figures them out first wins.