need help choosing a ball

[tylersheehy]

i throw 12-15, slow revs, turns maybe 10 or 15 times before hitting the pins, and i want something that will turn HARD without much effort something that will work in extremely heavy oil...EXTREMELY HEAVY!. i cant get big revs like everyone else. but i want that hook at the end. something that will spin slowly then grab and go. any suggestions?

[bowl1820]

First what balls are you using now?
If its the black widow venom in your other post, I would try giving the ball some surface (Sand it). So it can grab the lane earlier.

Second what makes you think it's EXTREMELY HEAVY oil?

I ask that because a lot of bowlers think that because their ball isn't hooking hard it must be heavy oil. With a slow speed and low revs the ball could be burning up on a short, low volume pattern and rolling out. Or you could be on a long low volume pattern which would give the feeling there's a lot of oil.

[tylersheehy]

First what balls are you using now?
If its the black widow venom in your other post, I would try giving the ball some surface (Sand it). So it can grab the lane earlier.

Second what makes you think it's EXTREMELY HEAVY oil?

I ask that because a lot of bowlers think that because their ball isn't hooking hard it must be heavy oil. With a slow speed and low revs the ball could be burning up on a short, low volume pattern and rolling out. Or you could be on a long low volume pattern which would give the feeling there's a lot of oil.

heavy oil- the alley uses 23.oz of oul for a 39 foot house shot...that is my definition of heavy oil

[bowl1820]

heavy oil- the alley uses 23.oz of oul for a 39 foot house shot...that is my definition of heavy oil

I hope your not saying its 23 ounce's per lane, because no ball would hook on it.

25 milliliters of oil is a heavy application for one lane. 23 ounces is about 680 milliliters and is enough oil to do about 30 lanes.
(18-21ml is About 2/3rds of a shot glass of oil and is enough to do 1 lane about 35ft.)

I'll take a guess you/they meant 23 milliliters per lane with a 39 ft pattern. Something like the Kegel Challenge Series - MIDDLE ROAD - 4239 (50 uL) Pattern is around 39' - 23ml of oil (This wouldn't be the typical house shot.).

[bowl1820]

Heres some extra info About how many units of oil was considered Heavy, Medium and Light.


First what is a unit of oil defined as, I found this in a 04/05 Spec. manual. (It's in the "Computerized Lane Inspection Program Manual" you can find it on bowl.com)

"A "unit" of oil is defined by the American Bowling Congress (ABC) and Women's International Bowling Congress (WIBC) as 0.0167 cubic centimeters of oil evenly spread over a 1 sq. ft. surface, which equates to a film of oil about 7 millionths of an inch thick."

Now in In USBowler Magazine Vol.2, No.3 Spring 2007 Page 12 Coach's Corner They have a article "Everything you wanted to know about lane conditions" In it they say,

Example: a piece of typing paper is about 400 units thick.
(.000007*400=.0028" A 16# bond paper is .0032" thick so that's pretty close.)

"A layer of oil 100-plus units would be considered "Heavy oil" and anything less then 50 units probably would be "Light oil".

Now in from other source's Oil, Medium and Dry is looked at in terms of length.

In the book "Revolutions 2" they define it this way,

Oil (long oil) were lanes oiled 35 to 45 feet.
Med. were lanes oiled 25 to 35 feet.
Dry (very short oil) was 18 to 25 feet.

Now in In USBowler Magazine Vol.2, No.3 Spring 2007 Page 12 Coach's Corner They have a article "Everything you wanted to know about lane conditions" In it they show it as,

Long oil as 40 feet or longer
Medium oil as 35' to 45' feet or more
Short oil 35 feet or less

Now in Bowling This Month magazine they rate ball's for Oil, Medium and Dry, the current issue is showing these patterns being used.

Oily is a 44' oil (High Street)
Medium 41' oil (Main Street)
Dry 38' oil (Easy Street)

High Street, Main Street and Easy Street, These are the Kegel Navigation Recreation Series of patterns. you can see them here.
http://www.kegel.net/patternlibrary/default.asp

Now for a comment it's not how much oil on the lane, but where it's at. Pattern's can be adjusted to make short ones appear long and long ones appear short.

Heres a quote from a article called- "Lane Pattern Basics: An Overview of Blend, Taper & Application".
Click here for the article

"the overall volume of the shot probably has the least affect, as the length that the conditioner is applied can make the "volume" almost meaningless."

When it comes to Oil and Oil patterns there are many factor's that come into play about lane condition's and how to play them. The amount of oil is one of the smaller factor's involved.