The INTERESTING (to bowling nerds like me) think to me...about this debacle...and maybe Rob can shed some light on this or give his 2 cents....
But, when I was throwing the sanded Optimus Solid (symmetric, solid, 2.48 RG, 0.048 diff., 800 Siaair)...I started standing left foot on 19 and aiming 8-9. So, even on a wider THS...I was outside the oil line. I ended up having to move 1:2 RIGHT...to straighten out the angle of entry to the pocket...AND...I had to loft the ball by changing my vertical target to about the midpoint of the lanes.
Now, in Games 2 & 3...I switched to the Pyramid Force Pearl (assymetric, pearl, 2.53 RG, 0.051 diff., surfaced to 2000 Abralon and then polished with resin polish). I ended up having to move my targeting back down closer to the arrows...and needed to move quite a bit left. On the left lane I was standing left foot on 25 and aiming at 12 and on the right lane I was standing with my left foot on 27 and was aiming at 13.
So...to sum up the lateral movement...we're talking 3-5 boards left with my eyes and 4-6 with my feet. Not creating a great deal more angle...a little bit. But if you consider a THS oil line is almost always going to start by 11...I was moving INSIDE the oil line by late Game 2 and all of Game 3.
The "results" were also interesting:
Game 1: Pretty much all pocket hits...maybe 1-2 Brooklyn strikes: 5 strikes, 3 10-pins, 2 5-pins, 1 7-pin.
Game 2: 6 strikes, 1 5-pin, 1 7-pin, 1 3-pin (pulled shot), 1 9-pin (telling me I needed to move left).
Game 3: 7 strikes, 1 split (telling me I needed to move further left), 1 1-3-6-9 (pulled shot), 1 4-pin (telling me I need to move left), 1 10-pin.
If I'm looking at those results...and feel free to disagree:
A) I see a LOT of missed opportunities to carry in Game 1 when I was leaving pins that are evidence of balls hitting the pocket lacking energy (10s, 5s, maybe 7s).
B) In Games 2 and 3, the spares left tend to be more related to either bad physical shots (pulling shots) or are leaves that are evidence of transition (going through the nose, 4s, and 9s).
So if SURFACE is supposed to help me play in the oil...why did I need to move right and straighten out my line with a surfaced ball?
Likewise, if a polished ball is too slick to play 'in the oil', why when I balled down did I need to start rapidly moving left into the oil?
Could it be, maybe, that I was correct in my initial assumption..based on throwing the Optimus Solid all summer with a 1500 surface on it as my Ball #1...that you can't make a ball stronger by surfacing it? The Optimus Solid is a weaker ball and I don't have the hand to make it perform well in the oil. Surfacing the heck out of it isn't going to turn it into a different ball. The Force Pearl...a much STRONGER ball. I can polish it so it doesn't burn up in the transitioned lanes so I can use it later in matches...but I can't stay out in the track all night and pretend that the polish magically turns it into a Storm Mix.
Or am I off base?
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