Arc vs Hockey Stick

**Amyers** · 07-01-2014, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by fortheloveofbowling

[
Would you believe I know an alley where my 11 year old who averages about 110 could beat me? On a regular basis? It's in Kentucky went there on a trip decided to bowl a few games. The heads were so burnt that my euphoria before I changed the surface started hooking almost as soon as it hit the lane.

Amyers, I believe you on that kentucky house. Probably the best bowling i have done in my life league wise was in a 12 lane house in kentucky i bowled league in during mid to late 80's. I had a composite for those years of 212 and had to play 3-4 arrow with either a polished udot or yellow dot. I wish i threw it that well now.

May have been the worst lane conditions I have ever seen. Sad thing was the place looked really nice everything was finished in a dark wood it was clean had a nice bar and a full service restraunt.

**fortheloveofbowling** · 07-01-2014, 07:25 PM

What city was it in?

**Amyers** · 07-01-2014, 07:48 PM

Originally Posted by fortheloveofbowling

What city was it in?

Ashland

**rv driver** · 07-01-2014, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Amyers

Ashland

Ha! My cousins lived in Ashland back in the '60s.

**mc_runner** · 07-01-2014, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by Amyers

Aslan all of this has more to do with knowing your conditions than bowling style.

THIS! Adapting to whatever you are throwing is key. Whether it be moving your mark, changing balls, flattening your wrist to get more carry, whatever... one style will always work better for a certain condition than another style. Adjusting is KEY. I'm not saying I'm great at it - look at my score thread from tonight, first game was a disaster and it took a full 10+ frames to figure out the lanes. That's what separates great (or even good) bowlers from a lot of us.

**Hammer** · 07-02-2014, 05:51 PM

Are we still talking about arc balls or hockey stick movement type balls? If we are from the stuff I read about a balls movement towards the
pocket an arcing movement is easier to controll on most lane conditions especiually on conditions other then the THS patterns. Once you get into the sport patterns and upwards an arcing ball would seem to be able to handle those conditions better. An arcing ball would be able to be fine tuned easier. I don't know if I am right on this or not but it seems that the pros mostly have arcing shots. Does anyone here know of a pro with a hockey stick type movement ball? The bowling balls that I have used have always been the arcing type balls. The hockey stick type movement would have to have a consistent breakpoint area to have a good outcome whereas an arcing ball would have more miss area at the breakpoint. What do you folks think, agree or not?

**fortheloveofbowling** · 07-02-2014, 06:51 PM

You are correct hammer. The tougher the condition normally you will see guys trying to achieve that smooth motion like on the us open pattern. On any pattern though when those guys think they can create area they will try to open up those angles to create better carry. The difference between them and most of us is that it's something they can see alot quicker.

**rv driver** · 07-03-2014, 08:37 AM

I agree. I don't hear the pros talking much about "a great skid/flip motion out of the ball." I hear them talking about consistency and control. The skid/flip hockey stick looks hot. In the eighties, everybody tried to dress like Madonna or Michael Jackson. And every bowler tried to emulate Mark Roth (who had the hard break into the pocket). It looked cool and seemed to work well. It made a god out of someone who sorta looked like a hound dog on Xanax.

Problem is, we no longer mostly bowl on older wooden lanes, with old-school oil, with first-gen polyester balls, against people who are crazy-accurate, genius strokers using rubber. And, most importantly, we're not Mark Roth, who was accurate and very, very consistent.

I said earlier that adaptability is key for the great players, and it seems to me that a smooth-arcing ball lends itself really well to adaptability, accuracy and consistency.