How can I prepare?

[v33dubfox]

It is quite impossible for me the change surface during practice. In those tournaments, partice lasts for less than 10 minutes with all other bowlers.

[billf]

Which 8? Some patterns are very similar so researching them can definitely help you out.

[v33dubfox]

I don't know which of them. I'll take some informations on that.

[v33dubfox]

They don't want to tell us which patterns can be choosen. The only thing they can tell is that each patterns has a minimum of 40ft lenght

[AZBowla]

Sometimes it's better to just not worry about it. Just show up and bowl. If you overthink it or get too worried about whether or not you'll be able to bowl on an unknown pattern then you'll probably do poorly on it because you're not relaxed and focused on your own physical and mental game like you should be.

I have yet to bowl in a tournament, but plan to start soon. I already know that in all likelihood I'm just going to be donating money to the winner, so I'm going just to get some experience and have fun. The local tourney's out here have a $25 win-a-spot option so at worst I'm out $25 for 3 games of bowling and at best I can turn that $25 into a grand or so in prize money if I were to actually win. I will most likely be paying $25 to bowl three games and give someone else an easy entry into the actual tournament, but meh, who cares? It'll still be fun.

I would just watch some videos about some of the different PBA patterns to get an idea how to adjust for the various patterns and then at the tournament, watch the other players, find one that's doing well and try to do what they are doing.

[Zothen]

For me I try to find out what pattern i'm bowling on and if I can't get the info ,then i'll do the following!

I will bring 4 balls(I know people who bring 6+)consisting of a Heavy oil,Medium-Medium Heavy oil,Light-Medium oil and a Dry lane/spare ball. These balls for me are drilled so I can use them on most lane conditions. If you bowl a lot of tournaments or are in a Sport league,it is a good idea to have at least 1 ball for every lane condition(Heavy,Medium,Light,Dry/Spare)this way your prepared.

Zothen

[v33dubfox]

I'll bring my four balls with me. T-Zone (exclusively for the 7th pin), Nexus pearl (dry lanes), C-System alpha max (heavy oil) and Wild Card (medium oil). The only clue I could find is the rule "pattern lenght - 31". So bowling on a 45' long pattern would make me have my target on the 14th board...

[billf]

The rule of -31 is where you want the ball to exit the oil pattern, that's not necessarily your target.
The longer the pattern the closer to the middle you will want to be.

[v33dubfox]

I got to the tournament today. The pattern selected was the Viper pattern. Ho my god, now I respect the PBA Tour players ahah. We were 32 players and half went to semi-final. The cut has been made at 167. I don't even understand how I could play a 200 game. I am used to play near the gutter and I don't have a lot of revs. So, it happened often that I didn't even touch the first pin.

It was a real great experience to play on a hard pattern. I can't even imagine how it would be to play on the US Open pattern or the WTBA Paris pattern.

[Tampabaybob]

Ok, so now with what you've learned about the pattern, go to that linkI provided you in an earlier post, and see what the oil pattern looks like on paper. Remember which ball you were using and what reaction it gave you and make some notes. Do this for each tournament/pattern and eventually you will have a full notebook on what you have to bring, use, and expect. As soon as you find out the pattern, go to your notebook, check what happened last time, choose the right ball, change the surface if necessary (before you bowl), and set up your starting point based on your last outing on that pattern.
You see, because everyone is different, both in speed, rotation and release and have different equipment, the information you were originally looking for, can only be a guestimate. Now that you've shot that pattern, if you shot another tourney next weekend on the same pattern, you should expect to go in knowledgeable as to what to bring and how to play it. Right? So start you're own "PLAYERS GUIDE" for all of the different situations, and carry it with you just as you carry your regular equipment. Sometimes it may take 2 years or more to get a complete notebook on every pattern, configuration, or circumstance (rainy day, high humidity inside the center, noisy, etc) but this is what the pros do. They come prepared. Good luck, you've just learned some valuable information. Now write it down, study it and figure out what you'll do next time on this pattern.