How to Practice - Two Ideas to Get the Most out of Your Game
One of the first keys to improving your bowling game is to practice properly. You know the old saying, “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.”
This is one good reason why it’s very important to work closely with a qualified teaching professional. A qualified bowling coach will determine what parts of your game need the most attention and give you specific drills, exercises and corrections that will help you raise your scores. No matter what level a player you are, trying to diagnose and correct the problems in your game without a “second set of eyes” is an invitation to trouble.
Here are a couple of guidelines to help you get the most out of your practice sessions. Follow them and you’ll find that practice will turn from an arduous regimen into a productive and even enjoyable journey of improvement.
Chart Your Game
Even though almost everyone realizes that during a practice session, the weakest areas of their game should be the one’s of your main focus, we tend to spend most of the practice time doing what we do best. A simple approach to determine what areas you should be working on is to keep a chart of your game. That is, during every league session or bowling outing, write down the following:
How many times and what direction you missed the pocket (left, right, high, light).
What single pins you seem to leave most often on pocket hits (strike percentage).
What spares you leave.
What spares you missed and how you missed the spare (left, right, chop).
Each individual game score and the average of each game. (1st game average, 2nd game average, 3rd game average).
Do this for several leagues sessions or tournaments and you should see a distinctive pattern. From this information you will clearly see what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Develop a Plan for Practice
Here’s where working with a qualified bowling coach can really pay off in bowling higher scores. Once you have completed an accurate charting of your game, sit down with a knowledgeable coach and interpret the results. The instructor may see some specific trends in the results that are not apparent to you.
If your strike percentage is low, under 50 percent, then you may need to work on your ball roll, ball speed, or choice of equipment. If you are chopping the 6 off the 10, then you are probably hooking the ball too much at that spare. If you consistently miss your mark to the left, your timing may be too early. A professional teacher of the game can help you focus on the areas of your game that need the most attention.
When developing a practice schedule, keep in mind that the most effective practice is done over short periods of time versus spending hours throwing shot after shot at your local bowling center. A great time to practice is right after receiving a lesson because the thoughts and the feel you just learned are already fresh in your mind.
By following a structured practice regime, you will soon be on your way to higher scores with a better understanding of what makes your bowling game work.
Preparing for World Championship Events - The Short
Reprinted with permission from Bowling Digital
There have been a few articles written, seminars performed and many discussions or “concourse seminars” about how to train and play on the World Tenpin Bowling Association’s short and long oil patterns.
Federations, coaches and players throughout the world continually practice for these championship events but are they preparing correctly?
In August of 2007, the WTBA Women’s World Championship will be held in Mexico and in this article we will try to shed some light on some of the challenges slower ball speed players face and suggest an “outside of the box” approach to prepare for the short oil conditions.
We must understand and accept the fact that the majority of women players do not throw the ball as fast nor do they rev the ball up as much as the men players. Both of these playing characteristics have a tendency to make the bowling ball release energy too quick if the player is using a bowling ball that has a coverstock too aggressive or a core/layout that is too strong.
With the wide variety of available equipment on the market, it can be confusing as to which choice to make when deciding on what bowling ball to purchase or choose but there is one thing we should always keep in mind about the bowling game of today; “more is not always more” and actually many times “less is more.”
For slower ball speed players, mid-price performance balls may be a better choice than the high priced performance balls from many of the ball companies. Not all, but most of the ball companies tend to save or use there stronger reactive coverstocks and cores for the high end range of their product line.
Many of the mid-priced bowling balls are of the weaker variety with regard to coverstock and core. This however does not make those mid price balls less susceptible to knocking down pins and for slower ball speed players; they may very well be the better choice.
In times when bowling balls were not as aggressive as those of today, when a player left a “weak 10-pin” or a 5-pin on a seemingly good pocket hit, we knew exactly why the ball hit weak and more often than not it was because the ball was sliding too long or too much.
In today’s bowling game however, we have a relatively new occurrence of the bowling ball hitting weak by slowing down too early, or “burning up” as many like to call it.
If a bowling ball uses up all its energy before reaching the pins as it does in the above video, it becomes “dead on arrival”, or in scientific terms, the bowling ball has lost all of its axis rotation and tilt and rolls completely in the direction of its travel.
In today’s bowling environment, early loss of bowling ball energy or ball speed usually happens because the player has chosen a ball with a coverstock that is too aggressive for the lane conditions they are bowling on for their style of play.
It could be that the ball surface is too sanded (dull), the coverstock is particle or just an overly aggressive reactive cover is being used all causing the ball to grip the lane too much and too soon.
Bowling balls can also use energy too quick, or slow down too much, because the layout or core of the ball may be too aggressive for the playing conditions.
Remember, high differential cores are more unstable than low differential cores, and this unstableness causes track flare. When a high differential core ball is laid out in such a manner to maximize track flare potential, the bowling ball will have wider track ring separations exposing a greater amount of clean ball surface to the lane, which increases friction on the lane. The additional friction makes the ball slow down sooner and release energy at a faster rate.
When a bowling ball releases energy too soon, it will straighten out on the backend minimizing not only your room for error on the lane but also decreasing your pocket strike percentage.
On the PBA Tour, some of the more talented players may use bowling balls or layouts which “burn up” to control the excessive back end ball motion on short oil patterns. This practice however is not recommended and in fact, even most of the tour regulars stay away from using this intentional strategy. Chris Barnes is really good at that technique, but as you can see in the above video, it does not always work out.
Proper ball motion through the pins cannot be to strong nor can it be too weak. The bowling ball must lose speed in the proper way as it travels towards the pins.
A ball motion that is too strong through the pins or that does not slow down soon enough, may not deflect properly causing spare leaves like the solid-9, solid-8 or even the 4-9 split (right handed leaves).
If the motion is too weak, the bowling ball may deflect too much causing spares like the 8-10, weak-10, 5-pin or a combination thereof. The misunderstanding today however comes from the weak pin leaves.
If the bowling ball is sliding through the pins or never quite grips the lane, it will deflect more and “hit weak” with most of us knowing what to do in this situation.
If a ball uses all of its energy up too soon by grabbing the lane or releasing its energy too early, it will also deflect and leave many of the same spares as that of a ball that slides too much through the pins and that is where it can get confusing.
Finding that balance between releasing energy and slowing down too soon or too late is what all players and coaches should be looking for first and foremost when analyzing how the bowling ball is traveling towards the pins.
The only way however to get this education is by watching bowling balls go down the lane on sporting conditions --- and that means watching a lot of bowling balls go down the lane!
Without this ball motion knowledge and awareness in today’s bowling environment, a technical bowling coach is only half a coach.
Whether you use a bowling ball with the pin in a very weak position (pins closer or farther away from your PAP), a bowling ball with a weaker core (less differential) or a bowling ball with a less aggressive cover (weak reactive, urethane or polyester) to achieve proper ball motion on the short pattern is a little bit trial and error but closing the mind to available equipment options in today’s environment can and may very well be detrimental to your success.
Another challenge for players of today on the short oil patterns is that most players simply do not have or will not seek out the opportunity to practice this condition.
Unfortunately many of the bowling centers block their lanes at the ten-board because most house bowlers “just like to stand on the big dot and throw over the second arrow.”
This of course leaves the sport players in a predicament on preparing for world championship events. If a player, coach or federation can solicit a few local bowling center proprietors who are willing to help their sport players and national team members prepare for championship events, here are some practice procedures that will help to conquer the short patterns.
As we stated in previous articles, “The Long and the Short of It”, the short pattern requires a break point that is closer to you than most of the medium length patterns. The short patterns are usually conditioned anywhere from thirty-two to thirty-five feet in length which leaves almost half the lane without conditioner.
If there is no conditioner to guide the ball into the pocket, then we are either relying on carrydown of the players we are following, the topography of the lane surface or the differences in friction of the lane surface for our margin for error.
There is however conditioner on the first half of the lane which normally is extremely sloped on the short oil patterns. That is where a player will create their greatest margin of error so we must find a way to use that part of the lane in order to maximize our mistake area.
For a player to use the conditioned part of the lane, the bowling ball must react to the lane during the first thirty feet of it path towards the pins. This is not a ball motion the modern player is accustomed to.
Most players would rather see the bowling ball skid for forty feet and then hook sharply into the pocket. This looks impressive but it is not necessarily conducive to success in the long run and definitely not on the short oil patterns.
To get used to this early ball motion with continuation, I suggest a practice environment with less conditioner volume overall, a very short forward buff distance and then practice on this condition using only a polyester bowling ball!
In order to create this environment, we must first reduce the length of the pattern to the twenty-four to twenty-eight feet range. Then reduce the total volume of oil to the six to nine milliliter range. Finally, make the pattern fairly flat except for a large slope from the three board to the six board without any oil applied on the first and second boards, and maybe even not on the third board.
View and download the 'Short Plastic Practice 50 mic' oil pattern.
The reason for zero oil on the outside boards is because polyester coverstock bowling balls need “dry” to react on the gutter and for practice we want the players to be fearless of playing the one-two board. If the outside hangs, the players will move more inside and that is not what we want to get them comfortable playing the outside line.
Of course if a player does use a reactive based urethane ball on this condition, it will “bounce” off the gutter and they probably could stand farther left without negative consequences. A reactive based urethane ball will also destroy the condition too quick because of its porous characteristic.
By limiting everyone to polyester or even polished urethane bowling balls, you will create a repetitious practice environment that will breed the familiarity and reassurance we are trying to achieve.
For specific lane machines, contact the manufacture’s tech support department and they should be able to send you a pattern as a good starting point. You might also ask a bowling proprietor or mechanic to apply these conditions prior to their birthday party or glow bowling sessions since those customers do not use anything but polyester/urethane house balls and in reality, this “short oil-light volume condition” is best for those activities anyways.
This practice exercise will accomplish a few things:
1. This environment will get the players used to the ball motion needed on the short pattern. The polyester ball will look like it hooks sooner and then it will seem as though it straightens out on the backend. For the short pattern this is the ball motion we should be looking for.
2. This environment will force the players to get their sliding foot more towards the gutterso the ball will read the dry boards on the first and second board before the end of the oil pattern. If the sliding foot is too far inside, the ball will be in the oil too long and then skid directly into the gutter. Remember, most polyester balls have very low differential Rg values (low track flare potential) so the first couple revolutions will provide a continuous oil ring around the track area and the ball will not have time to dissipate that oil in the front part of the lane. When lined up correctly, the 3-5 board will become hold area if the players can hit the first and second board consistently and early enough.
3. This environment will force the player to align their swings with the path of the ball. If the swing path is too much inside-out, an extreme amount of gutter balls will also follow. The best and most versatile professionals use different swing paths for playing inside or outside lines.
Once this exercise has been practice a few times, obtain some recent past Championship patterns, apply them and start experimenting with different balls and layouts to see which combinations achieve a similar ball motion. You will soon see the short patterns are not that difficult to get comfortable with and your ball choices are not even that vast. You might even find the outside line is most enjoyable and becomes one of your favorite places to play.
From: James McGinty [mailto:james@teamstorm.com.au]
To: ted.thompson@kegel.net
Subject: Short Practice Pattern
Hi Ted,
Just thought I would let you know how the weekend went with our camp.
It was the final selection camp for the Women's worlds, and we had already narrowed the group down to 11 players for a 6 person team. The challenge was to cut it back to 6 by the end of the weekend based on Physical performances (Fitness), on lanes performance and an interview and team suitability. We had a lot of work to do.
Saturday we had a skill testing session on lanes using a short pattern with the emphasis being on sparing. To many of the girls surprise a lot of them missed plenty of spares due to their plastic balls hooking at the end, this was even after I warned them that they need to practise sparing with no side roll on the ball. It takes evidence I guess to make them change. We then had a session on playing short and long conditions and focused on ball reaction and the required shape, finishing with me showing them the short plastic pattern you gave me.
Saturday night we went back to the bowl and I laid the plastic pattern, the lane surface was AMF HPL, machine was an ION set for 50 mic stream and the oil was Prodigy and Fizzion wash.
I have to say that the pattern played exactly as I thought a typical short oil pattern would play, all but 2 of the girls could easily hook the ball with a ball reaction that mimicked a Urethane or similar ball reaction on a typical short pattern. A few of the more skilled ladies were really ripping the rack, scouts flying everywhere, a couple of stone 9's etc. None of them believed it was possible that they could do what they were doing.
We had them practice for 15 minutes then had them score 3 games with 4 girls a pair moving across the 3 pairs as we went. The condition held up very well and all the girls commented that only small 1/2 board adjustments were required, with no one adjusting more than 2 boards (target or feet) over the 3 games.
The top 3 girls all were the girls with the higher skill levels, and they all had over 600 for the 3 games, the highest was 648 and I must say that she really played well, making fantastic adjustments with rotation and ball speed in order to get the ball roll correct. The majority were in the mid to high 500's with the last 2 that I mentioned not managing to make it to 450.
In my opinion this is an essential exercise for any player wanting to succeed on short oil, and the reaction is truly unbelievable. I was hoping you were right as I had not had a chance to lay it prior and had told the other 4 coaches of how it should play and it's intended purpose. All stated that they would not have believed it unless they saw it themselves. All the girls thought it was a terrific tool and thank you and Kegel for your involvement.
Mate if you need any more feed back on this please let me know and I will be happy to expand where I can.
Thanks again,
James
Team Australia
Never Stop Learning – Bowling’s Lifelong Lesson
Most bowlers enjoy the fact that their game needs continuous adjustments and self-improvement throughout the life of your bowling career. Much of that is done on a trial and error basis that develops sensitivity, confidence, and trust in order to play at your best. However, it is most important to make the learning process fun, not frustrating.
First, let’s look at the strike game and spare game. In my nearly 30 years of teaching, I’ve developed some key principles that I have found hold true whether you’ve just picked up the game or have played it for 20 years:
1. A repeating approach that produces misses of one kind is better than a great-looking approach that produces misses both ways.
2. Do not make unattainable demands on yourself. Make sure your instruction program fits your lifestyle, goals, and the time that you have in order to make the necessary changes
3. Find an instructor that does not teach everyone in the same manner to make all approaches look alike or to have the perfect bowling approach. Consideration must be given for your strength, flexibility, and your emotional approach to the game. Walter Ray Williams Jr’s game is a perfect reflection of his aggressive mindset to compete.
4. Your priorities should be addressed in a cause and effect manner, not necessarily by what is being taught or predominately being used on the Pro Tour. Remember, they are doing calculus and you are still doing arithmetic.
5. Practice alignment and swing path lines during your practice sessions. Practice throwing balls to different targets (pins) to check your setup and alignment tendencies.
6. Make sure you learn a drill for each change you make in your approach and spend a minimum of 25 percent of your practice time throwing shots with the appropriate exercise.
7. Limit your spare shooting practice to short periods of time, such as 20 minutes or less. Focus the time on making the spares, instead of trying to fix the look of your approach.
8. When making changes in your approach, throw shots at less than full speed.
Once you’ve made progress with your delivery and can control the ball direction during your practice sessions, the next step is to take your game to league and tournaments and execute. This transition is a challenge that everyone struggles with on occasion – regardless of age.
I’m of the opinion that tension, both mental and physical, must be addressed. World-class athletes from all sports say that tension is the most damaging factor in the ability to execute at one’s highest level. Here are some tips for handling these challenges head on:
1. Play bowling with motion and rhythm, not by mechanics and positions. It’s ok to practice swing mechanics and positions during your practice sessions, but thinking about it when playing tournaments or league will only stifle your ability to produce a consistent motion and rhythm.
2. Grip pressure and minimal tension in your hand, wrist, arms, and shoulders are critical for feeling the swing, the sensitivity for the bowling ball and awareness for its desired path, rotation, and speed. Thinking about your breathing between shots will help you relax and keep damaging thoughts from entering your mind. Make sure you breath deeply and rhythmically. This applies to not only the strike shot, but to the spare game as well.
3. After throwing a bad shot, do not express self-talk as what you did wrong. Such as, “I was too quick.” Give yourself verbal keys that will help you feel what to do to make a better delivery on the next shot. Norm Duke is a genius at doing this. After a bad shot, he always takes the time to feel the correct swing movement before throwing the next shot.
4. Practice your pre-shot routine during your practice sessions by always throwing shots to a target. This creates desired habits without thinking too much and getting too tight in an attempt to over-control the bowling ball or over-power the bowling ball on the lanes. Set your mind at ease so your body can perform.
5. Preparation breeds success. Brian Voss felt he handled the difficulties of tournament bowling by being well-prepared. That gave him confidence and put him in a peaceful mindset in order to compete.
In conclusion, the most important advice I can give you is to enjoy the learning process. Whether you’re 30, 50 or 70+, it is truly a necessary process that will follow you throughout the life of your game.
Length vs. Volume
We at Kegel hear it all the time with statements like “man, the lanes are really flooded today” when a player has trouble hooking the ball or “wow, the lanes are really dry” when the ball hooks more than they are used to seeing. The variables that make up the playing environment today are so complex that one would need a super computer and a physics degree to decipher everything involved. There are so many factors other than oil that make up our playing environment but oil is the one factor everyone likes to focus on and for the purpose of this article, we will discuss this elusive, controversial and unseen variable as it relates to length and volume.
The length of a competition oil pattern may be the most important factor in how the bowler plays the lanes. While I was PBA Tour Player Services Director and Kegel was the official lane maintenance provider for the PBA Tour, there was a flood of information provided each week by Kegel to the players. Some of the more observant players began to take notice of how each of the patterns played and correlated their observations to the posted pattern.
The one item that seemed to be consistent with how a pattern played and developed was the length. I’ll never forget PBA Champion Ryan Shafer telling me he only looked at the length and the number of 2 to 2 loads on the weekly posted program sheet. The length gave him an idea of where he was going to play and the number of 2 to 2 loads gave him an idea of the difficulty - it's no different today. Knowing the length of the oil pattern and how it relates to your style of play may be the most important information you can learn about oil patterns.
In basic terms, the length of the pattern will determine how much time the bowling ball spends in the dry part of the lane (back end) and therefore how much time it is able to hook. For example; a length of 34 feet using modern bowling balls will usually force a player to play a more outside line because of the excessive amount of hook the ball will incur as it spends over 26 feet in the dry backend.
On the other end of the spectrum, a length of 44 feet will only give the ball 16 feet of dry backends, and therefore less time to hook towards the pocket. Therefore the player will normally play a line that is “closer to the pocket” since the ball has minimal time to hook into the pocket.
When using pattern lengths in the 37-40 foot range, the lane surface is usually the greatest factor in determining where the optimal place to play is, and that is never really known until competition begins and players experiment with different lines and ball choices. In this case a player must keep a very open mind when it comes to strategy.
Volume of oil on the other hand is not really a good barometer of how lanes will play since knowing the volume in itself does not tell you where the oil is applied to the lane surface. This reality can be found by looking no further than a short-long pattern example of the 2005 WTBA World Ranking Masters patterns. In those two patterns, the short pattern had a total oil volume of 20.76 milliliters while the long pattern had a total volume of 20.02 milliliters of oil. This is because the basic structure of shorter oil patterns normally have more "wide loads" than longer oil patterns, which increases the overall volume.
Every player at this event would tell you the short pattern had more “hook” than the long pattern. The greater amount of hook is because of the longer amount of time the ball spends on the drier back end.
In short, assuming equal lane surfaces, the load structure (width) of a pattern and where the oil is applied to the lane front-to-back determines how much overall hook a specific pattern allows the bowling ball to have - not necessarily how much overall volume is on the lane.
The Long and the Short of It: Pattern Play and Ball Choices
At various high level events the last few years, dual lane conditions have become more common. These lane patterns are categorized as long and short, or could also be referred to as "inside" and "outside", as John Davis likes to refer to them. The long patterns normally range from 42 to 45 feet in length and the short patterns range from 32 to 35 feet in length, with both of these lengths having very similar required ball motion characteristics.
Most players normally play on oil patterns that are in the 38 to 41 foot range at their home bowling center, or single condition events. These medium length patterns are used mainly because it puts most players in an area of the lane that is more comfortable to most of the participants. In addition, when these pattern lengths are used, high flare balls and layouts, which most ball drillers employ in their customers arsenal, normally work the best.
Medium length patterns also tend to allow the lane surface to be the determining factor when the pattern is not a blocked recreational oil pattern. These non-blocked medium oil pattern lengths however tend to favor a certain style, breakpoint, or "match up" too often, which can lead to social nonacceptance.
Unfortunately for the players, the ball choices used on medium length oil patterns may not be the best choices for World Championship dual condition events. (Note: World Bowling has since gone to single pattern events; medium length patterns may be the prevailing choice most often.)
For patterns that are shorter or longer than this 38-41 feet range, the breakpoint must be managed in a more defined and minimal manner. One must also look at the oil patterns being used, how they relate to ball motion, and what motion would be most advantageous to create the greatest margin for error.
Maximizing margin for error is what all players, coaches, and ball drillers should be looking for when deciding on where to play, how to play, and what equipment should be used for a specific oil pattern. Not withstanding a specific lane surface characteristics (topography and wear) and who you follow - different styles of play can affect oil pattern breakdown drastically.
Let's start with the short pattern since it seems to be most challenging for today's modern player, available equipment choices, and layouts. As stated before in John Davis's article, "The long and the short of it", the short condition will be 32 to 35 feet in length.
The high point of the short oil pattern will normally begin from the forth board and rise to the eighth board. Inside the eighth board, the pattern is usually completely flat. Since the oil pattern is on the relatively short side (this used to be the normal pattern length before aggressive bowling balls) there is a lot of lane left, which other than topographical influences, has no definable shape or guidance.
Therefore the player should be targeting along the oil line as long as possible to maximize their room for error. More than likely a player will need to make a few technique adjustments as well. This entails foot placement during the slide, swing direction, hand position, and last but not least, correct ball motion.
If a player chooses a ball that is designed to go long and break sharp, it will not be able to read the oil line. If a player chooses a ball that is to aggressive and hooks to soon, it will force the player away from the oil pattern slope (from least to most amount of oil).
How should the short pattern be attacked? Here are some points and characteristics a player and coach should be looking for when playing the short pattern. Note: Line up techniques are for a right handed player, left handers should reverse the information:
GET THE SLIDING FOOT RIGHT!
The main thing a player must do first is make sure they are lining up the correct way. Most people will release the ball about 4-8 boards right (right handed player) of their sliding foot. Since the low point of the pattern has been stated to be outside of the forth board, if a player is sliding left of 15, most likely they are playing in the flat part of the pattern way too long, which minimizes their room for error.
Depending on the player and amount of free hook to the right, the sliding foot should be somewhere as far right as the sixth board to not much left of the 15th board.
KEEP THE INSIDE-OUT SWING PATH TO A MINIMUM!
If a player's swing is coming from the inside to the outside too much, they will have a launch angle that is too high which will make it very difficult to target along the oil line early enough or long enough.
The more inside out your swing path is, the more difficult it is to go "up the lane". Swing directions that are straighter down the target line will normally be more advantageous on the short patterns.
SWING DIRECTION TIP: Place your ball into the swing either straight down the target line or even a little to the right of your target line. This will keep the swing direction in a more "up the lane" direction. If you place your ball into the swing inside the target line, this will make your swing a "figure 8" type swing path, causing a launch angle that is often too high for short patterns.
KEEP THE HAND QUIET
Historically, players that excel on conditions that allow the extreme outside to play tend to be quieter in their release. What that means is there is not a lot of un-cupping and re-cupping of the wrist through the release point. It really does not matter if your axis rotation is high or low. Pete Weber is one of the best gutter players of the time, and his axis rotation is almost 90 degrees, but his release is very "quiet".
Get with a qualified coach to experiment what works best for your game and mental mindset.
EQUIPMENT
Choose bowling balls and/or layouts that create an elongated break point! Bowling balls that have high differential RG values, or layouts that maximize the differential in a high differential ball, tend to have a break point that is very short in nature. Basically the ball releases energy in a very short length wise area.
If you do not know your Positive Axis Point, find it before you layout or choose balls for the short and long patterns.
When Chris Barnes won his first PBA Title in Portland Oregon on a 32 foot oil pattern on freshly resurface wood lanes, his ball reps set him up a Navy Quantum with the pin located in his track (about 6 ¾ from his PAP). This helped him keep the ball in play because the weight block was already in a very stable position, and therefore flare was virtually eliminated.
When you eliminate flare, you minimize backend reaction. Most players on the PBA Tour will use layouts that place the pin farther from their PAP rather than closer to their PAP. Another option is to use a ball that already has a low flare core, preferably less than .026 differential.
However, the best option for most players is probably a low differential urethane, or even a polyester ball. These ball types will allow you target along the oil line for an extended period of time because they release energy in a more continual manner, which will maximize your room for error.
On the long patterns, the same type of ball motion philosophy should be used. The only difference is within the aggressiveness of the cover stock and how aggressive a player can go with the layout or ball core.
While I was Player Services Director for the PBA Tour, a.k.a. the PBA Ball Drilling Truck, when the players bowled on longer patterns, their ball layout choices were in the 4 ¾" to 6 ¼" layout spectrum from their PAP.
The reason for this is they are trying to control the breakpoint and minimize the backend change of direction, much like the short pattern philosophy. To refer again to John Davis' article again, "the long pattern dictates the ball will hook a minimal amount; a player's break point will usually need to be closer to the pocket." Since the breakpoint needs to be closer to the pocket, backend change of direction must be minimized while at the same time retaining energy.
Many high level players will strategically place an extra hole or the mass bias in a position to enhance these characteristics.
The long oil pattern slope will usually begin at the 10 board and increase to its peak at the 15th board. If your dominant ball path is either outside the 10 board or inside the 15th board, you will be playing in the flattest area of the pattern.
To maximize your margin for error, much like the short pattern, you should be targeting along the slope of the oil pattern.
The dual patterns used at the World Championship level are more defined than most of the patterns used in single condition events, and therefore should actually be simpler to figure out. As a player and coach, it is up to you to figure out exactly how to attack a specific oil pattern, and lane surface characteristic, for your particular style of play. (2016 Note: World Bowling has since gone to single pattern events where medium patterns will most likely dominate the pattern choice.)
The spectrum of available equipment is very wide these days so don't be so close minded you don't use it. There is definitely not a rule that says you must use the strongest ball in your bag, so don't be afraid to try the weakest ball in your arsenal if the environment warrants it.
One last thought everyone should remember about today's bowling environment. The group of players as a whole can and will make a pattern develop more predictable, more unpredictable, easier, or tougher. On top of that, with today's synthetic lane surfaces, topography can be anything on any part of the lane. Don't think for a moment topography can't change a way the oil pattern plays from lane-to-lane or center-to-center; it can, and does greatly.
Until LaneMap Guides become common place at all high level events, and oil patterns change less than they do now throughout any given period of games, these unknowns to the players will ultimately determine what happens to the development of the oil pattern, and what the resulting scoring pace will be.
So when competing in today's environment, let your ball be your guide more than ever, and get all you can get. What one squad does means very little to what the following squad may do.
Going for the Gold
When I say gold, I am not intending it means a medal. I use this term about a person intending to get the best or most out of some endeavor. In this case it is a score in bowling.
I watch people in a practice session before any bowling event. After each first throw, if it is not a strike, many either foul intentionally or push the reset to attain a full rack. This way they can practice their first throw, or should I say their strike shot.
At first I was worried they would develop the lane differently than development during the tournament. That the oil depletion and carry down would result in ball reaction not matching what happens during the tournament to a great degree. However, everyone uses different equipment and different lines to find out which ball gives them the best reaction so I no longer worry about different ball reaction from practice to the tournament. I now ponder the meaning of only practicing for a strike.
Yes, there is the token throwing of a shot or two at the 7 and 10 pin at the end of the practice session, but that is only a token and nothing like real competition. The balance of spares and strikes has possibly been permanently changed.
A 200 average bowler of the past never missed a spare. A 200 average bowler of today misses 2 or 3 spares a game. It is that 4 or 5 strikes in a row that keeps them over 200. To attain an average even higher such as 210 or 220, the 200 average bowler attempts to get more strikes. If the bowler gets more strikes it means he or she is shooting at less spares.
Filling the frame is a phrase not heard too many times in the game of today. One of the reasons that we see triple digit differences from one game to the next. It is not uncommon to see scores of 250 and above and then the very next game the very same bowler shoots 150.
Another possible cause for this is the dominate style being learned today is the power game. If the ball does not hit the pocket, the high spin rate ball entering the pins at a large angle will leave spares that are very difficult to pick up. Filling the frame becomes more difficult.
Is the balance of spares and strikes permanently changed? By going for the gold, it seems to me that we are missing 90% of the joy bowling.
This worries me, but at this time, bowling is still a seemingly and good diversion.
The Long and Short of It: About the controversy surrounding multiple lane conditions
There is much controversy surrounding multiple conditions. It seems so different than the past. However, the sport of bowling has changed and formats of competition have not kept up with these changes to promote Fair Play for all styles.
The WTBA Technical Committee has separated the styles into two groups; first, those whose style prefers a breakpoint closer to the foul line and second, those who style prefer a breakpoint closer to the pins. By using two conditions, long and short, we can give each of the basic styles an equal advantage.
Out of the 30 plus tournaments that have been played on the two conditions, only one or two have shown unfair play as an apparent result and those were not between the two basic groups. They were thought of as unfair because of the left hand, right hand and light ball styles.
For the last 30 years fair play has become increasingly more difficult to attain, even though lane maintenance machines and lane oil chemistry have made major advances. At Kegel, we have over 1500 high level tournaments of experiences where we have provided our services.
Even with this experience and our advanced tools, we never feel comfortable with single condition formats. Multiple conditions give us a little more confidence that Fair Play can be achieved.
Furthermore, it is our opinion that multiple condition tournaments are only a band-aid to reduce the chances of Unfair Play. To achieve consensus of Fair Play for all, bowling must dig deeper into the reasons of our integrity and credibility crisis. That cannot happen over night. For now however, we feel confident that Fair Play is much more achievable.
Fair Play for all is a must. The sport cannot grow and prosper without it. All must agree with this statement.
Observations of international experiences of Multiple Condition Tournaments:
Five years ago the WTBA Technical Committee created the definition of the best bowling player. These attributes are:
- Accuracy
- Repeatability
- Power
- Knowledge
- Versatility
A bowler who possesses a balance of these five characteristics is therefore considered a world class player. From this definition, the WTBA Technical Committee produced the multiple condition concept. Instead of waiting for the lane condition to match up to a bowlers style, the committee forced the player to become versatile instead of being single dimensional. This format gave the player more prestige for winning instead of everyone thinking his game matched up with that particular condition.
Watching the many multiple condition tournaments, we have found that many players have not played the lanes correctly (knowledge), they used the wrong ball (knowledge) or they could not play one or the other conditions very well (versatility).
At every player and managers meeting that I have been involved in, we have told the players that the short condition was designed for playing outside and the long condition was designed to play inside. Most of the time, bowlers played the lanes the opposite way and used entirely the wrong type of bowling balls, especially on the short pattern.
I believe this is due to a lack of experience, knowledge and also the fact that most players now own and exclusively use excessively strong bowling balls and layouts. This could also be attributed to the fact that a larger majority of today's popular equipment is stronger than the equipment of five years ago. These equipment mistakes were very noticeable to the experienced and educated eye.
Here are some hints for short oil patterns:
The short condition will be 32 to 35 feet in length. The high point of the short oil pattern will normally be from the sixth to the eighth board. Inside the eighth board, the pattern is completely flat. It is also a point where the ball is only five to seven boards away from the pocket.
If the bowler attempts to play the short condition from a deep inside line because the ball hooks a lot, the ball will leave the oil pattern at an area from the eighth to the twelfth board. That does not leave much room for the ball to hold back into the pocket.
Because of the extreme amount of overall hook a short pattern will produce, by playing more towards the outside portion of the lane, the ball will have enough room to make its move towards the pocket.
We have also witnessed players trying to exclusively use very shiny equipment on the short patterns. This type of surface only adds in giving the ball little chance to begin to process to its forward roll. This lack of procession to a forward roll causes the ball to retain a high amount of energy, such that very small changes in speed, turn, and direction will result in violently different reactions.
The knowledgeable player will use a ball type that is smooth in character and play as far to the outside as possible in the lower amount of oil. This allows the ball to begin its turn towards a more forward roll which will smooth out the reaction and make the ball become more predictable as it travels down the lane.
Keep an open mind when choosing equipment to combat conditions. Here are some hints for long oil patterns:
The long oil condition will be in the 42 to 45 feet range. The high point of the oil pattern should be between the 12 and 15 board area. The oil pattern outside this area will be moderately flat and have much less slope than the 10 to 15 board area.
We have witnessed way too many bowlers playing outside on the long pattern. There is actually very little room for error in this portion of the lane on the long patterns as the pattern tends to be fairly flat in this area. If a bowler does choose an outside line on the long pattern, accuracy and repeatability will be extremely important and keeping the ball in play will be difficult to maintain.
The proper way to view a long pattern is this; if the ball comes off the end of the oil pattern at 45 feet at the five board, and there are twelve boards to cover to get to the pocket, the ball has only fifteen feet to make its move up to the pocket. Once again, like the short pattern, its basic geometry on where one should attempt to play.
Since the long pattern dictates the ball will hook a minimal amount, a player's break point will usually need to be closer to the pocket. Therefore, a bowler should find a line inside or around the second arrow as there are fewer boards to the pocket and keeping the ball in play will be much easier.
I personally watched the American Zone Youth Championships this past summer. One block on the short pattern sticks out in my mind. It was like a radio transmission was telling the young men to play inside on the short pattern. The whole squad was playing from 15 to 25 on 32 feet of oil and cranking the ball with as much speed as possible.
As we watched we felt like crying but after awhile it was almost comical. My colleague John Janawicz and I could only laugh. We watched coaches shaking their heads in frustration. They just could not get the concept in the minds of their players. That particular block scored much lower than the previous block where many bowlers played outside.
Conventional thought from a right handers point of view is that if the lanes hook, you move left and if the lanes don't hook you move right. This kind of thinking does not consider the fact that oil distance and where the ball leaves the oil pattern and enters the dry backend.
This is blocked lane thinking, not World Championship thinking. So, coaches please train your bowlers about oil distance before they get to championship events. This is not new knowledge; it is just not common knowledge ----- yet.
One more note on short and long conditions, the problem of playing long and short is somewhat different for men and women. Traditionally the women break down lanes together in the track area (7-12 board) and the graphs taken afterwards show the lane to almost be blocked after bowling.
When men bowl the whole middle of the lane oil pattern is destroyed in the front of the lane and narrows down to six or seven boards at the end. This works well on the long pattern but, on the short it is a disaster for scoring pace and the women usually outscore the men.
For the long the opposite is usually true. The women will still break down the track 4-5 boards away from the true best area to play and the men will outscore the women on the long, but not always.
In conclusion, bowling is a game of angles. If you can learn how the length of patterns directly affects how you should play a certain pattern, you will have a better chance at succeeding on all the different types of patterns you may encounter.