U.S. Open pattern question

[Bowling Wonder]

Hi everyone. I haven't had time to post in a little while, as I've been busy with several things, the most important among them improving my bowling (of course!). My question is this: Why exactly is the U.S. Open pattern so difficult? It's completely flat (1:1), meaning that your ball is going to react the same on every board, 1 to 39- or is my thinking incorrect? I don't have a very thorough knowledge of the complexities of lane oiling, nor do I claim to have it. With other patterns (e.g. THS), the bowler, especially the new bowler, is going to have to do some thinking: Is there oil on board X? No oil on board Y? Light oil here? Heavy oil there? With the U.S. Open pattern again, there's flat oil everywhere. As a beginner, especially regarding lane conditioning, I would think that this extreme uniformity would make it easy for bowlers. This pattern is claimed to be the most challenging, but wouldn't an asymmetrical pattern, such as Beijing, be even more of a challenge? I hope that I've articulated myself clearly, though I doubt if I have. Thanks in advance for clearing up my confusion!

PS- Feel free to move this to the appropriate thread if needed.

[J Anderson]

Hi everyone. I haven't had time to post in a little while, as I've been busy with several things, the most important among them improving my bowling (of course!). My question is this: Why exactly is the U.S. Open pattern so difficult? It's completely flat (1:1), meaning that your ball is going to react the same on every board, 1 to 39- or is my thinking incorrect? I don't have a very thorough knowledge of the complexities of lane oiling, nor do I claim to have it. With other patterns (e.g. THS), the bowler, especially the new bowler, is going to have to do some thinking: Is there oil on board X? No oil on board Y? Light oil here? Heavy oil there? With the U.S. Open pattern again, there's flat oil everywhere. As a beginner, especially regarding lane conditioning, I would think that this extreme uniformity would make it easy for bowlers. This pattern is claimed to be the most challenging, but wouldn't an asymmetrical pattern, such as Beijing, be even more of a challenge? I hope that I've articulated myself clearly, though I doubt if I have. Thanks in advance for clearing up my confusion!

PS- Feel free to move this to the appropriate thread if needed.

The typical house shot has a lot of oil in the middle and very little outside of the 5 board. This allows bowlers who hook the ball to use the dry boards like bumpers. miss a board or two out side and the ball hooks early and makes it back to the pocket. Miss to the inside and the high volume of oil lets the ball skid farther down the lane and it holds pocket. On the fresh US Open pattern the margin of error is + or - 1/2 board. Well disciplined teams have shown that its possible to work as a team to break the pattern down to give themselves a better shot. When ten bowlers get out there, each doing his or her own thing, it can quickly become nearly unplayable.

Oops! I have my opens confused. Obviously the PBA doesn't have five man teams.

[JaMau24]

There is no room for error... You're right, the whole lane is flat oil.. So if you miss your mark to the right (even by the SMALLEST of margins), the ball will go right of the pocket... If you missed left of your mark, the ball is going to go left of the pocket. You have to be dead on accurate. If more people knew the difficulty, they'd be even more impressed with Pete Weber's US Open victory this year, knowing he HAD to get a strike to win, nails his mark and crushes the pocket.

Watch this video if you want to understand it better. Very informative.

[billf]

I love this question. Just disappointed I was beaten to the punch. My skill gets put to this test in two weeks as our final week of sport league.

Jason, great video, good find.

[JaMau24]

I love this question. Just disappointed I was beaten to the punch. My skill gets put to this test in two weeks as our final week of sport league.

Jason, great video, good find.

I'll be bowling on it on Monday... as will Iceman.. It's going to be DIFFICULT. I look forward to it though...