Help me understand something (Ball/Lane Play)

[jab5325]

I have a tournament in the "other" local house (singles event) coming up next weekend. It's handicap, on a house shot, and cheap, so I figured....what the heck? Why not?

I don't bowl there often, only a couple of times per year. I've never had my full arsenal up there, so I went yesterday to practice. They're AMF synthetic lanes and approaches, whereas my usual venue are Brunswick synthetic.

After a couple of shots, I was stunned at what I was seeing. I threw my entire arsenal, and could not get consistent hook no matter what I threw. My strongest balls, the Bad Intentions and Saw Blade, slid like they were in an ocean of oil. Even when I played the middle, these balls had ZERO drive and skidded all the way up the lane. When playing outside, they didn't have a chance of making the turn.

To my surprise, the ball that hit the hardest (and moved the most) was my Black Urethane. I was able to stand with my slide foot (right) on the middle dot, throw between 8-11, and walk it back to the pocket. If I missed left, it still would make it back to the vicinity of the pocket......where none of my other balls made contact with the head pin.

I tried everything speed wise too, as slow as 11.5 trying to throw it out and up to 13.5 trying to fish out a line.

How is possible that my strongest equipment skids and can't even make it back to the head pin, where the urethane has the best hook/punch?

This house typically doesn't hook nearly as much as where I usually bowl, and I play a bit of a different line there......but not that much.

[bowl1820]

Usually when I hear someone say "My strong ball acted weak and my weak ball acted strong" that usually means the lanes were actually dry.

AMF lanes (HPL and SPL) typically are harder hooking (They have more friction) than Brunswick lanes which are usually slicker.

Playing the outside, your in all the dry so most likely the ball was rolling out.

Playing inside could be the oil either let it go too long an it didn't have the chance to make the turn. or possibly too dry inside also for those balls and still rolled out.

using the Urethane and playing 8-11 (the track area) you were able to play the low oil volume and you were able to ride what oil line there was better.

[JasonNJ]

Do you have a video subscription to the USBC Bowling Academy? They have a video that explains this exactly. Basically showing someone playing too far outside where there is no oil on a house pattern and that is so dry that it gives the illusion that there is too much oil because the ball is burning up and using all it's energy so there is nothing left to hook. They then show the bowler move in and throw the exact same ball and the ball hooks fine. The video is Oil Patterns of the Bowling House Shot.

[RobLV1]

Bowl1820 hit the nail on the head. When strong balls don't hook, and weak balls hook, it means that there is too much friction for strong balls. In the old days, the only thing that kept a ball from hooking was too much oil. Today, it can be too much oil, or too much friction. Welcome to the wonderful world of modern bowling!

[larry mc]

definately sounds like ur ball was burning out ,,,, i would try playing the middle in practice ,, also the might lay a completely different pattern for the tournament so bring a varied arsenal

[jab5325]

Thanks all.

I was even throwing my strong equipment down 8-11, and it got a solid hit.......on the 2-pin. It had absolutely zero change, even with a Saw Blade polished and drilled pin-down, of getting back to the pocket.

If I had to describe what I saw with what you all are telling me (please say if I'm wrong).....the BI/Saw Blade, seeing too much friction, seemed to continue to skid and never roll. It was almost a frozen rope when throwing this stuff. However, the Black Urethane, being a weaker dull ball, read the lane early and was sufficient to ride the oil line to the pocket.

It's just the first time I've ever seen quite such a drastic difference. I expected the lanes to be toast (it was a Saturday afternoon filled with drunk college kids and birthday parties).....but yikes, I never thought I'd have more success with the Urethane than other balls.

Hopefully Sunday's tournament goes a bit better.

[Amyers]

Thanks all.

I was even throwing my strong equipment down 8-11, and it got a solid hit.......on the 2-pin. It had absolutely zero change, even with a Saw Blade polished and drilled pin-down, of getting back to the pocket.

If I had to describe what I saw with what you all are telling me (please say if I'm wrong).....the BI/Saw Blade, seeing too much friction, seemed to continue to skid and never roll. It was almost a frozen rope when throwing this stuff. However, the Black Urethane, being a weaker dull ball, read the lane early and was sufficient to ride the oil line to the pocket.

It's just the first time I've ever seen quite such a drastic difference. I expected the lanes to be toast (it was a Saturday afternoon filled with drunk college kids and birthday parties).....but yikes, I never thought I'd have more success with the Urethane than other balls.

Hopefully Sunday's tournament goes a bit better.

Jab

It could be that everyone here is correct and it's burning up but don't automatically assume that the conditions will be the same as your tournament. Did you try the Rocket? It might have been able to handle the drier conditions than the BI or the Saw Blade.

[jab5325]

Jab

It could be that everyone here is correct and it's burning up but don't automatically assume that the conditions will be the same as your tournament. Did you try the Rocket? It might have been able to handle the drier conditions than the BI or the Saw Blade.

My Rocket is "in the shop", currently. I'm getting thumb slugs put in all my balls because they're too big (one of the perks of losing weight, I suppose).

It would've been interesting to see how that one reacted.....but I'm not sure it would've been a whole lot different.

FWIW, the Black Urethane works pretty well--I like the ball a lot. It truly has that old school urethane roll to it.

The first full game (start to finish) I had with it was 255 last Wednesday. I only break it out when the lanes are toast.....but the sport shot league I sub in from time to time is now on the Wolf, so I'm thinking that may be a good place to start. I hope I get called to sub within the next couple of weeks!

[Jessiewoodard57]

My Rocket is "in the shop", currently. I'm getting thumb slugs put in all my balls because they're too big (one of the perks of losing weight, I suppose).

Instead of re-slugging mine I went with switch grips that way instead of having to re-slug ever again all I need do is have a new thumb insert made and I'm ready to go.