The Surfacing Dilemma

[RobLV1]

Aslan, something I would recommend doing if you haven't already is drawing to scale a bowling lane, from foul line to the back of the deck to get a different view of the impact of front to back ball motion vs. left to right ball motion. There is definitely some really good points in this thread about oil, releases, etc. and I do think that the common thread of you were using too strong of a ball with too much surface to create room and carry. My two cents on this (and I am open to correction/critical comments) is as follows:

1. Another way to say oil is your friend - you use the oil to attack the friction on the lane. The oil helps you gets to that part of the lane in which your ball needs to use its energy.
2. When talking about "ball up" or "ball down" it may help to shift your perspective away from the left and right comparisons and more to the front and back comparison. Think of "ball up" not as a recipe to move left, but rather as a recipe for the ball to start its move (and use its energy) closer to you, and "ball down" as moving this closer to the pins. I know this is an over-generalization, but it may help in the rolling out discussion.

A great summary and recommendation!

[J Anderson]

But why did I need to move right with the first ball?

Thats where my "stronger/weaker" comes into play.

If oil = good...and sanded = better in oil...then the first ball should have been the bee's knees. But, it wasn't. I actually had to move right 1:2 because it wouldn't make the turn.

Now, in fairness...I wasn't really in the oil with it when it wasn't making the turn...I was up 8-9. But, the Force Pearl made the turn (and the some) up 8-9...forcing me all the way into 12-13. So, Force Pearl = "stronger ball" than Optimus Solid?

I do not know how both Rob and I missed this, maybe Rob is just tired of saying it, we have to get away from thinking of balls as “weak” or “strong”. There are at least four things that affect how a ball reads the lane, R.G., differential, cover stock composition, and surface texture. Those are too many variables to resolve into a simple stronger/weaker choice.