Aslan
12-10-2014, 01:36 PM
Okay...
Quick backstory:
My home center, about 4-5 weeks back, stopped cleaning and re-oiling before league play. Their new policy is to "flood the lanes in the morning and leave them alone". Now, I don't know "why" they are doing that.
- Maybe it's a $$$ thing. I don't know how much oil costs.
- Maybe it's a seasonal thing and they figure the oil won't evaporate as fast in cooler weather.
- Maybe they are tyying to make the conditions harder so people will do better in Vegas at sweeps.
I don't know.
Result:
The result is that by the evening, the lanes have a HEAVY THS shot in the middle...with a great deal of carrydown up the right side and some up the left side.
What is carrydown?
"Carrydown" is what bowlers used to have to deal with BEFORE reactive resin technology. It's the oil that is "pushed" by plastic and urethane balls rather than absorbed by reactive resin balls.
We don't factor carrydown into play usually, because reactive resin balls tend to soak up oil, not push it...and the pushing from an occasional spare ball or house ball or urethane ball has been shown to be minimal. Nowadays, we're much more concerned about the track left by reactive resin balls that soak up the oil...which has been shown to be much more significant.
BUT...because this center doesn't strip and re-oil before league play....and has decided just to increase volumes in the morning...they've created a carrydown situation. All day long, there might be a few old timer leagues or disabled leagues...not much reactive equipment. And the rest of the play is mostly with house balls. That means the oil is being pushed up primarily the right side.
It has led to a rather odd pattern where there is a good deal of oil in the middle...some carry down on the left...and the right side of the lane has oil pushed all the way to the pin deck. It's lighter in volume than it is in the center...but it's still there, where it shouldn't be.
QUESTION: So how do you play that?Assuming you're right handed...how do you play a pattern that is heavy in the middle, longer than a typical house shot, and has significant oil up the right side....to the point that there is no longer "dry"...ANYWHERE except a little bit on the left side?
I've played long sport patterns like the PBA Shark. And the strategy is to stay inside the 10-board. But even a long sport pattern assumes that you are going to have dry area. I can't think of a pattern that DOESN'T assume you will have SOME dry area.
I was able to bowl a 233 on that condition by slowing my ball down CONSIDERABLY. But many of those strikes were rather weak and quite a bit "lucky". The ball just didn't seem to have the energy coming in from the 6-board 'gradually'. I tried playing inside the 10-board, but missed right every time.
On the one hand, I feel like complaining to the center that they've essentailly created a very difficult sport shot. ANd everyone's averages have suffered. We used to have many players over 200 back in the "wood" days. Now we have ONE...out of 161 bowlers in the league...we have ONE guy at 204 and he's only bowled 9 games, probably before the new oiling policy. We only have about 13 or so even in the 190s.
On the other hand...is increasing the difficulty "bad"? Maybe this new pattern they've created makes people better bowlers. Maybe it makes them more accurate...better able to control their speeds...maybe they will do better in tournaments and in Vegas?
Last night, our best bowler with a 195 average bowled a 532...and he's a LEFTY. The best bowler on the other team...one of the better rightys in the league...189 average thereabouts...bowled a 604. Nobody in the league has a 700 scratch series. I think there have been a total of TWO 800 handicap series so far with 161 bowlers over 11 weeks.
Quick backstory:
My home center, about 4-5 weeks back, stopped cleaning and re-oiling before league play. Their new policy is to "flood the lanes in the morning and leave them alone". Now, I don't know "why" they are doing that.
- Maybe it's a $$$ thing. I don't know how much oil costs.
- Maybe it's a seasonal thing and they figure the oil won't evaporate as fast in cooler weather.
- Maybe they are tyying to make the conditions harder so people will do better in Vegas at sweeps.
I don't know.
Result:
The result is that by the evening, the lanes have a HEAVY THS shot in the middle...with a great deal of carrydown up the right side and some up the left side.
What is carrydown?
"Carrydown" is what bowlers used to have to deal with BEFORE reactive resin technology. It's the oil that is "pushed" by plastic and urethane balls rather than absorbed by reactive resin balls.
We don't factor carrydown into play usually, because reactive resin balls tend to soak up oil, not push it...and the pushing from an occasional spare ball or house ball or urethane ball has been shown to be minimal. Nowadays, we're much more concerned about the track left by reactive resin balls that soak up the oil...which has been shown to be much more significant.
BUT...because this center doesn't strip and re-oil before league play....and has decided just to increase volumes in the morning...they've created a carrydown situation. All day long, there might be a few old timer leagues or disabled leagues...not much reactive equipment. And the rest of the play is mostly with house balls. That means the oil is being pushed up primarily the right side.
It has led to a rather odd pattern where there is a good deal of oil in the middle...some carry down on the left...and the right side of the lane has oil pushed all the way to the pin deck. It's lighter in volume than it is in the center...but it's still there, where it shouldn't be.
QUESTION: So how do you play that?Assuming you're right handed...how do you play a pattern that is heavy in the middle, longer than a typical house shot, and has significant oil up the right side....to the point that there is no longer "dry"...ANYWHERE except a little bit on the left side?
I've played long sport patterns like the PBA Shark. And the strategy is to stay inside the 10-board. But even a long sport pattern assumes that you are going to have dry area. I can't think of a pattern that DOESN'T assume you will have SOME dry area.
I was able to bowl a 233 on that condition by slowing my ball down CONSIDERABLY. But many of those strikes were rather weak and quite a bit "lucky". The ball just didn't seem to have the energy coming in from the 6-board 'gradually'. I tried playing inside the 10-board, but missed right every time.
On the one hand, I feel like complaining to the center that they've essentailly created a very difficult sport shot. ANd everyone's averages have suffered. We used to have many players over 200 back in the "wood" days. Now we have ONE...out of 161 bowlers in the league...we have ONE guy at 204 and he's only bowled 9 games, probably before the new oiling policy. We only have about 13 or so even in the 190s.
On the other hand...is increasing the difficulty "bad"? Maybe this new pattern they've created makes people better bowlers. Maybe it makes them more accurate...better able to control their speeds...maybe they will do better in tournaments and in Vegas?
Last night, our best bowler with a 195 average bowled a 532...and he's a LEFTY. The best bowler on the other team...one of the better rightys in the league...189 average thereabouts...bowled a 604. Nobody in the league has a 700 scratch series. I think there have been a total of TWO 800 handicap series so far with 161 bowlers over 11 weeks.