PBA lane differences: 5/8/22

[RobLV1]

For those of you who watched the PBA telecast on Sunday (Mother's Day), what do you think caused the large disparity between the two lanes on the telecast?

[J Anderson]

For those of you who watched the PBA telecast on Sunday (Mother's Day), what do you think caused the large disparity between the two lanes on the telecast?

I recorded it, haven’t watch it yet.

In the earlier shows Randy Pederson has been raving about the perfect Kegel Training center lanes and pin decks where everything is dead level and perfectly flat. One would have to think that topography could not be the correct answer.

[boatman37]

I only watched the first game so far but thought they said they were not at Kegel this week? But I did see the difference but I fast forwarded through it so didn't put much thought into it

[classygranny]

I would say topography played a large part in the difference. With the specto recordings, it was very evident. Even with an untrained eye you could see the balls jump and not hold what a true line would be. Glad that wasn't me trying to manage those lanes.

If it had been somethings other than topography, the ball changes, ball speed and release changes would have had more of an impact than they did. That is...in my humble opinion.

[RobLV1]

I recorded it, haven’t watch it yet.

In the earlier shows Randy Pederson has been raving about the perfect Kegel Training center lanes and pin decks where everything is dead level and perfectly flat. One would have to think that topography could not be the correct answer.

Today's show was shot at a different bowling center, not Kegel.

[RobLV1]

I would say topography played a large part in the difference. With the specto recordings, it was very evident. Even with an untrained eye you could see the balls jump and not hold what a true line would be. Glad that wasn't me trying to manage those lanes.

If it had been somethings other than topography, the ball changes, ball speed and release changes would have had more of an impact than they did. That is...in my humble opinion.

As RP would say, "Winner, winner, Chicken Dinner!" LOL

[boatman37]

Just got done watching it and was gonna post that you could almost see the ball bounce off the surface just before the breakpoint on the right lane

[SRB57]

I was going to say the same Topography. Straighter was the way to go on that alley. They could not get the ball to slow down in the right spot on that alley and caused a lot of grief. I thought Prather had it figured out when he switched to the Dark Code but the missed the headpin again. I even said good shot on a couple of them and they missed the headpin. Was a tough shot and Kudos to Troup and Jones. Steve

[Hammer]

Kyle Troop won the first match and who won the second? We went out for Mother's Day and I missed the second match. Did Tommy win?

[RobLV1]

Yes, Tommy won.

As for the topography issues, I think that they were much more complex than many of you think. The negative topography on the right side on the right lane was pretty obvious early on. As the show progressed, there were also issues with positive topography on that right lane when the ball missed the breakpoint left. I'm pretty sure that what we saw was a bump or bulge in the lane surface that sent the ball downhill to the right on the outside, and downhill to the left on the inside.

I think that there was a similar situation on the left lane, but it was less obvious on the outside. As the players migrated left, the balls started diving left off of the topography. By the end, the left lane was just about as tough as the right lane. This is a good lesson about how topography issues change, becoming more or less apparent, as the oil dries up at the end of the pattern.

Next two weekends should be interesting. I wonder if they are going to use the same pair!

[classygranny]

What would be the answer to shooting on that pair of lanes?

I see the finals will be on the same lanes (9-10). Could prove to be an interesting match.

Also, what does "race to three points" format really mean? If one bowler wins the first two matches, it's over? If so, what happens to the other hour of airtime? I absolutely can't listen to RP fill an hour.

[boomer]

Yes, if one bowler wins the first two matches, it's done. They win.

but since the tie-breaker isn't a whole hour long, there won't be that much time for Peterson to fill, LOL

[classygranny]

Yes, if one bowler wins the first two matches, it's done. They win.

but since the tie-breaker isn't a whole hour long, there won't be that much time for Peterson to fill, LOL

But that was for the semi-finals-two points. The finals indicate a "race to three points" format. Just curious to the difference.

[ALazySavage]

I have the fortune of watching the final before commenting on this, but Norm is also commentating on the final and he had a few gems that Randy did a very poor job of bringing light to. The first was directly related to this feed, Norm specifically calls out the topography difference between the lanes - stating that one lane has always played tighter than the other in his experience (although he doesn't specifically say topography). This comment was very easy to miss because it just is made and then is left to a quick death. Secondly, Norm was talking about additional hold due to playing a deeper inside line (believe this was soon after the Tommy Jones ball change) and Randy immediately goes to his favorite topic that it is the cause of urethane; Norm tries to get into the pattern - and presumably the higher ratio of oil in the middle of the lane that can create a little more hold as compared to being more straight up the boards - but Randy can't get away from the urethane topic and it seems as though Norm just seems to give up.

[J Anderson]

I have the fortune of watching the final before commenting on this, but Norm is also commentating on the final and he had a few gems that Randy did a very poor job of bringing light to. The first was directly related to this feed, Norm specifically calls out the topography difference between the lanes - stating that one lane has always played tighter than the other in his experience (although he doesn't specifically say topography). This comment was very easy to miss because it just is made and then is left to a quick death. Secondly, Norm was talking about additional hold due to playing a deeper inside line (believe this was soon after the Tommy Jones ball change) and Randy immediately goes to his favorite topic that it is the cause of urethane; Norm tries to get into the pattern - and presumably the higher ratio of oil in the middle of the lane that can create a little more hold as compared to being more straight up the boards - but Randy can't get away from the urethane topic and it seems as though Norm just seems to give up.

I think Norm's point was that by playing more to the inside Troup could miss left and still have some hold, where if Jones missed left he would cross Troup's line and get a bad reaction. Otherwise I absolutely agree about RP.

[RobLV1]

IMHO RP is a detriment to bowling today. He never mentions topography because his mind is stuck back in the 80's where everything was about friction. Gravity is, by far, the strongest force in the universe, at yet Randy thinks that everything is about oil and friction. I must also say that it was a pleasure watching the PWBA on Sunday afternoon when Liz Kuhlkin left a solid eight pin and we didn't have to hear 15 minutes of whining about what happened to RP 35 years ago! Just my 2 cents.