aquestion about lanes and oil.

[jimgilmore]

I have a basic understanding about lanes and how the oil pattern defines how you play. What I am wondering is how fast do conditions change ? If I am bowling on a two person team against the blind would it change drasticaly from frame to frame ? Or if I am practicing on a pair would it be even noticible every other frame ?

[RobLV1]

There are several variables involved in determining how fast the pattern would change: your rev rate, the type of ball you are using, the type of oil being used, and the volume of oil being used. Higher rev rate = faster change. Ball with more surface = faster change. Less viscous oil = faster change. Lower volume = faster change. If you are a high rev rate player using a ball with a lot of surface on a low volume pattern using less viscous oil, then yes you may have to move every frame or two.

A more relevent situation would be a league situation with four bowlers each on two teams. Again, depending on those variables, you might have to move continually, and you would certainly have to be aware of where each bowler is playing, both at the arrows, and at the breakpoint. Even though players may be playing different areas of the lanes through the heads, they may all be burning up the lanes at the breakpoint. This is the reason that you will often see balls begin to straighten out at the end of the pattern, rather than hooking back to the pocket: it's not carrydown, it burn! In essence what happens is that the pattern that started out being 40' long, gets so chewed up at the breakpoint that it becomes 37' long.

In a situation where there are several high rev players on the same pair, you may have to employ a different strategy as the games continue. When your lateral moves deeper start running into the lines already burned up by other players, you may have to change to less aggressive equipment to help you to get the ball further down the lane through the burn. These situations really test a bowlers knowledge of the balls in his arsenal, as well as his ability to anticipate moves by watching how the ball exits the pin deck.

[got_a_300]

Agree with Rob like the first night of our summer league we had
several high rev players besides myself on the pair and the shot
pretty much changed from frame to frame.

They would watch my moves to catch some fresh oil and they
would move into the same spot as I did and burn the shot up
until the last game. I moved in deep enough into the 6th arrow
that they didn't feel comfortable enough to get that deep on the
lane but we did have a lefty on the pair also.

He was playing second arrow on his side with a lot of surface on
his ball and quite a few revs which would be the 6th arrow for me
so the shot was a little bit burned by the time I got there so it
didn't help me a lot to get into there.

[foreverincamo]

It's amazing how quickly lanes can change. I'm in a singles sport-shot league where there are a maximum of 4 bowlers on a pair. The shot lasts about 8 frames and starts changing, and it's all about adjusting from there. Crazy hard some nights. Sometimes it's moving left, sometimes it's balling down.

[1VegasBowler]

Get a high rev player using a resin ball and the fun never ends! lol