JJ's Blog - 2012 US Open

Saturday February 18th:

It was another crack of dawn flight to New Jersey.  The alarm went off at 2:00am.  I got in the shower and when I got back I see my phone rang three times.  Once I got some clothes on, it rang again.  It was after-hours tech support, which is part of my job.  The phone calls can come at any hour.  It was a little challenging trying to focus on fixing his problem and also trying to go over my checklists to make sure that I had everything, but fortunately I had some time and he had some patience. 

I spoke with him off and on throughout my one hour drive to the airport, and unfortunately I couldn’t get him fixed, but he had to get back home anyway and I had to check in luggage and then go through security so there wouldn’t be much I could do for the next 30 minutes anyhow.  He said he would call back in the morning if he needed more help.

I got to New Jersey with no problems and actually got in a little early at about 11:00am.  I got my rental car and I decided to go straight from there to the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Central Valley, NY.  It was about an hour and 10 minute drive.  I got there and did the valet parking because after “vulturing” around the parking lot for a few minutes I got tired of wasting time and fuel trying to find a parking space.  I spent about 3 ½ hours shopping and the only thing I bought was a pretzel dog and bottled water.  I found a polo shirt I loved, but they didn’t have my size.  Saw a really nice tuxedo but the same thing, didn’t have my size.

I then went and drove back to New Jersey and checked into the hotel room.  I was there for a while and then I met my good friend Corissa for dinner at a restaurant called Old Man Rafferty’s in New Brunswick.  We had a great dinner and it was good to catch up with her since she moved up to New Jersey four years ago. 
By the time I got back to the room it was about 9:00pm so I was getting a little tired and decided to just call it a night.

Sunday February 19th:

I woke up in the morning and called my good friend Ron Dixon who drove up last night from Boynton Beach.  We talked about going into New York City a few weeks ago and he wanted to go this morning as well as I.  I met him at his hotel around 10:30am and then we drove over getting there a little before noon.  We spent the day shopping on Fifth Avenue and also went to Rockefeller Center and went to the “Top of the Rock”.  The roof is at the 67th floor and we got some awesome views of the Empire State Building, Central Park and the rest of the New York skyline.

We had some dessert at La Maison du Chocolat downstairs where I picked up some truffles and chocolates to bring home.  It was a great day just walking around and enjoying the city even though it was in the 40’s with the wind blowing at about 15 mph, even though that was pretty mild for how it normally is this time of year.

We had a nice steak at Smith and Wollensky and then headed back around 7pm since most all of the stores had shut down by then.  Also I needed to get back because I was supposed to pick up my roommates for the week, Marcelo Suartz and Gary Faulkner who both bowl for Webber International University who were supposed to be getting in around 11pm.  They were coming from Indianapolis where they were bowling the Hoosier Classic, but they called me shortly after 7pm and said they missed their flight because the tournament was running late.  Since Webber International finished 2nd they were bowling to the very end.

I dropped Ron off and then got back to the room about 8:30pm.  Since it was a long day of walking around, I decided to retire early.  They were both going to be flying in about 11am, so I needed to go pick them up.

Monday February 20th:

I woke up about 7am and then walked over to Panera Bread.  It was about a 10 minute walk and the 37 degree weather was pretty brisk, but I needed the exercise anyway and the colder weather definitely helped to wake me up, haha.  I headed to Newark and picked up Marcelo and Gary.  Their flight was good except for three of Gary’s bowling balls didn’t make the flight.  We got back to the hotel room and changed and the headed to the bowl for practice session.  Our practice session (since we had all C squad) was at 2pm.

The practice session went well overall for me but the fresh was really hard.  I brought a lot of old bowling balls with me since I’ve heard that the B squad (no re-oil after A squad) tends to hook quite a bit. Friends had told me that a lot of the old bowling balls come into play because of the amount of hook so I brought some old ones, like a Red Pulse, Black Ice, (2) Original Ones, 505C, a Game Changer and the old trusty Maxim for spares.  I figured if they hooked less, I could drill something there, but if they hooked a ton there wouldn’t be any old balls on the truck.

I had a pretty good look with my Original One that was drilled 4” pin down once they opened up a little bit.  I had a pretty good look going from like 20-13 but at least for me I couldn’t get anything to recover outside of 13. With the pattern being 42’, I could fall it back at a few different spots around 25.  The lanes were pretty tight overall. There was much less overall hook than I was expecting.  I think I could survive the transition with what I had, but I might need to drill a ball or two during the week, especially if the lanes tightened up which I pretty much know they will.  I might need a stronger ball for the burn than the stuff I brought since they’re pretty tight down the lane.

After practice Ron, Gary and I went back to the City.  Gary had never been to the City before.  Marcelo hadn’t either, but he had some schoolwork he had to get done.  We got to the City about 6:00pm.  The Knicks were playing the Nets at Madison Square Garden but the tickets were all sold out, especially since this was the peak of “Linsanity”.  We decided to not do the “scalper” route so we just started walking around.  We went to Times Square and took some pictures and then we went to Grand Central Station to check out the Apple Store they recently opened there and had some great cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery downstairs in the Food Court.  We then went back walking down Fifth Avenue and then we took a cab to Mulberry Street to Little Italy.  Ron was trying to find this restaurant he ate at before but he couldn’t find it.  There were a bunch of restaurants there so we ate at Lunella Ristorante Italiano and it was unbelievable.  Olive Garden and Carrabba’s will never be the same, haha!

After that meal we headed back to the car and then went back to New Jersey.  It was getting close to about 10:30pm by the time we got home.  We didn’t bowl until 6pm tomorrow, but I wanted to get some sleep so I wanted to get up early and watch a little bit of A squad so I could get another look on the fresh, since my look in practice was pretty stinky.

Tuesday February 21st:

The Big Show begins today.  I went in to watch a little bit of A squad just to see what was going on and give me a second look on what I might need to do.  After that Ron Dixon and I went to the Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, NJ to look around and get some lunch.  It was about a 45 minute drive to Short Hills and we looked around for an hour or so and then got lunch at Joe’s American Grill, but I still didn’t buy any clothes.  Just bought some macaroons and some more chocolate from La Maison Du Chocolat, didn’t find anything I liked clothing-wise other than this tuxedo at Neiman Marcus.  Maybe if I bowl for the title I’ll come back for the tuxedo, haha!

We got back about 2pm and I went to watch a little bit of the burn since that’s what I’ll be bowling tomorrow.  They were starting to get kind of keep around game 6 but nothing really alarming.  Some guys were getting in front of the ball return but not near as bad as what I was expecting from the stories from previous years. 

I went back to the room for a little rest and then went with Gary and Marcelo to get a little bite to eat before the squad.  We stopped at Chipotle for a quick meal and then went to the bowl.

The day went pretty well.  I went +81 for the six games and bowled really well except for the last game where I shot 177 on 77-78.  That pair was tight and I made the mistake of trying to move right where I should’ve moved about an arrow left.  I did that but it was a little too late at that point.  At least I got a double near the end to avoid a potentially disastrous 150 game.  My best ball reaction was with that 4” pin down Original One and used that for pretty much the whole squad.  I started going about 18 at the arrows to about 13-14 down the lane and then just kind of chased it in after that.  I could see that I could maybe use another ball for the burn squad, one with a stronger coverstock than some of the relics that I brought with me.

I spoke with Mike Calderon with Ebonite and he suggested drilling an Elevate with like a 5 ½” pin with no hole.  This way I would be able to get some length with the drilling but with a stronger cover to be able to slow down in the back ends.  I went out to the truck and laid it out, filled out the specs and then headed back to the room.  It was late so Marcelo, Gary, Ron and Amleto Monacelli and his girlfriend and I went to the Omega Diner down the road for a light meal since we needed something in our stomachs after bowling for 4 hours.  After that we got back to the hotel about midnight and it was time for bed.

Wednesday February 22nd:

At 2pm we’ll be bowling on the B squad known as the “burn” squad since they won’t re-oil after A.  I woke up about 7:30am and then went to Panera Bread again for my usual Asiago Cheese Bagel, Yogurt Granola Parfait and Orange Juice.  After that I went to chill back in the room for a little while and then went with Gary and Marcelo to the bowl because I wanted to get there early not only to work out the Elevate that I just drilled but also to watch some of the end of A squad just to get an idea about how much they’ll be “burning”.  I got my ball but realized something was wrong, the finger holes were HUGE!  I didn’t understand why….until I looked at the spec sheet.  My finger hole sizes are 49/64 and my thumbhole is 59/64.  For some reason I put down 59/64 for my finger hole sizes.  Since it was about an hour before I had to bowl, there was no way to be able to plug it and there were too many people in line to be able to drill another one. 

Good job Double J!  Alzheimer’s is closer than you think!

Knowing that I needed to do SOMETHING and that I would probably need that ball, I just started using a lot of white tape and starting cutting it in small pieces to be able to close the gaps around the tops and sides of the finger holes to hopefully try to get it to fit.  Fortunately, I actually got it to fit pretty well.  Ironically, I used that ball for a good portion of the block!  I didn’t hit them as good as some of the guys from the squad yesterday did, but I went another +79 which got me to +160 total for the two days.  I was actually kind of happy since high on our squad was only +130.

Looks like A squad started deeper than the day before (not a real surprise, haha) so it forced us deeper than the guys were yesterday.  We probably didn’t get the best deal, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.  Either way I’m still doing fine, since the cut after two days was around -33. 

Since I was in a good position and I was going back to the fresh, I kind of wanted another look on the fresh….something with a little stronger cover so just in case they get tighter I’ve got something that I can just let go, instead of trying to get too soft in order to get to slow down in the back of the lane.  I went back to Mike Calderon from Ebonite and he suggested drilling an Omen.  Apparently this is a much smoother ball with a very strong cover and he suggested a drilling like my One.  I laid it out on the truck, filled out another spec sheet and then headed out.

Marcelo wanted to stay back in the room and study for an upcoming exam so Gary Faulkner and I went to the Menlo Park Mall which is only about 15 minutes up the road from the bowl. We walked around for a little while, but I still didn’t find any clothes that I liked.  Not much clothing success so far, but at least I’m saving money that way, haha!  The only thing I got was some chocolate covered strawberries from Godiva.  Ron Dixon met us up there and we had some Chipotle and then headed back to the room.  We were going to bowl A squad tomorrow so I wanted to be in bed by 9:30pm since we bowl the next day at 8am.  We got back to the room around 9pm and I was out shortly afterward.  Back on the fresh tomorrow…..

Thursday February 23rd:

The alarm went off at 5am…..time for the fresh.  But first it was time for a fresh breakfast at Panera.  I’m a creature of habit…..mostly bad habit, but a creature of habit nonetheless.

I went with Marcelo to open the place at 6am but getting there at 6:05 we noticed they weren’t open, though the sign on the door “says” they’re supposed to be open at 6am.  Since Panera was denied, we went over to Starbucks instead.  I had to settle for a yogurt parfait there, which was not nearly as good as Panera’s, but was all of the cost. 

After that we went back to pick up Gary and then headed for the bowl.  I needed to go back and work out that Omen that was drilled last night and then went to do some surfaces on the stuff I thought I was going to need.

The fresh went pretty well overall.  The Omen worked ok but I only got about 5-6 frames out of it before I could see it was starting to die a slow death.  It started to become too early so I bailed out of it and then went into the Original One for a little while.  It wasn’t really much better but I was able to stay near par for the first 5 games or so.  At least I wasn’t killing myself. 

I then switched to the Elevate in game 4 as I noticed that it looked like that fall-back shot around fifth and sixth arrow was starting to develop.  Game 4 I shot a decent game, but I shot back to back 255 games in 5 and 6 to leap to +293 which ended out leading our C squad.  I just found a little groove and I actually made some really good shots and that ball hit REALLY well to say the least.  With the scoring pace that low, 510 for 2 will move you up the ladder in a hurry. 

I knew I was a lock for the casher’s cut but I really felt like I needed something after that Omen started to die.  Something with a little stronger coverstock and core than the Original One to give me something else to go to until the lane developed into the slot where I could fade it with the Elevate.  I went back to talk to Mike and see if he had any advice.  He thought to drill a regular Pursuit with the same kind of 4” pin like I had with my Original One.  I went ahead and laid that out and then headed for lunch.  I felt a lot better now that I had another option because even though I was in really good position to make the top 24, I wanted to stay near the top.

I went with lunch with Marcelo, Gary, Ron Dixon, Amleto Monacelli and his girlfriend to On The Border right down the road.  I had the Shrimp Tacos, one of my favorites there.  We had originally planned to go to New York City afterward since it was only about 2:30pm at this point, but since I was going to be bowling the casher’s cut tomorrow and the fact that I was right near the top (I ended out qualifying 7th for the day after it was all said and done) I felt like I needed to stay closer to home and focus on tomorrow.

I just kind of chilled in the room for a little while and then went with Gary over to the Mall at Short Hills.  I got some more macaroons from La Maison Du Chocolat and we ate at an Italian restaurant there called Paparazzi.  It was good, but after eating at Little Italy in New York City it’s hard to compare anything to that.  I dropped Gary off at the airport where he was going to get a rental car and then I got back to the room around 9pm.  After that it was time for bed, ready for the second stage of the US Open:  Casher’s Round.

Friday February 24th:

I got up at 5am again and was ready to go.  I got cleaned up and went to Panera where they were actually open at 6:05am.  I asked what happened yesterday and he said…..”We’re open at 6am, but it’s a long story.”
That was enough of an explanation for me. 

I got my usual Asiago cheese bagel, yogurt parfait and orange juice and then I was off to the bowl.  I wanted to work out that Pursuit and also get there early enough to refresh the surfaces on the 4 balls I thought I might be able to use. 

I used the Omen at the start but since it was the casher’s round the guys on my starting pair pretty much burned up the middle of the lane after practice which put me in the Pursuit right away.  The ball rolled great and I used it for most of the block.  They were pretty burned up by the end of the block mostly because we were all playing the lane pretty much in the same part of the lane (inside of 20, haha) and the rev rate on the squad was overall much higher.

I could see with the way the lane was developing that using a little more spin with higher tilt was better.  I can do it ok, but that’s not my A or B release so I didn’t score as high as a few guys that whacked them but it was still enough for me to stay near the top.  I’m kind of glad it ended when it did because I shot 193 and 191 my last two games.  My ball reaction was kind of fading and the Elevate didn’t work quite as well as it did when I got into that zone previously. 

Overall it was a good squad for me.  I went +65 for the block which got me to +358 for the tournament which qualified me for 6th going into the top 24.  I felt pretty good with my arsenal but I wanted to see if Mike Calderon thought there might be something else to give me another look playing inside in case the Elevate didn’t work out too well.  He suggested a Jet Black Taboo with a 5 ½” pin like the way my Elevate was laid out. This ball wasn’t really going to come into play later tonight for match play since we were back bowling on the fresh and we were only going to be bowling 8 games with 2 per pair, but maybe for the next day for the burn.

However, it could be useful playing in the track as well.  Match play is a whole other tournament and now it’s pretty imperative that you’re going to be playing the pair where the other guys are playing them.  The ball could be useful in other zones.
Gary, Marcelo, Dixon, Monacelli, his girlfriend and I then went to Chipotle to get a meal and then I went back to the room to just kind of chill out for a while.  Match play was going to start in about 3 ½ hours so I just wanted to catch up on some e-mail and just kind of rest.  I got back to the bowl about 4:30 to work out that Taboo and re-do some surfaces.

Match play went ok.  I went 4-4 but only went -10 for the block.  I was fortunate to win a couple of matches shooting 170 (those pairs were brutal, haha) but even though I didn’t score really well I only dropped to 7th.  It kind of evened out because I also was the victim of Chris Barnes’ 298 even though I bowled a pretty good 223 game though I say so myself.  He’s tough on his Team USA teammates, haha!
I was overall pretty happy but I need to bowl better tomorrow.  I think I’ve got the right strategy on the fresh but I need to just execute better.  I think my swing is still bouncing out a pinch when I’m trying to go up the lane and on this condition if you bounce one a little right off the hand on the fresh you’re missing the headpin. 

Went back to On The Border with Marcelo and then back to the hotel.  More Shrimp Tacos, mmmmmmmm.  Match play wasn’t going to start until 11am so I didn’t have to be up at O-Dark-Thirty for a change.

Saturday February 25th: 

I still got up early anyway, so I headed off to Panera at about 7:15am.  Had the usual, some things never change, haha!

I went back to shower and then headed to the bowl at about 9:30am to re-do the surfaces.  In all tournaments, there are a few games that you wish you had back.  Well in this tournament, I’d like to have the first 3 games of match play back.  I went 175, 177 and 165 and didn’t win any of the matches. Next thing you know I went from 7th to 14th in 3 games. Granted two of the matches the guys shot 220 and 230 at me, but still.  You can’t go 517 your first 3 games and expect to gain any ground of the best 24 bowlers in the US Open no matter how hard the conditions were.
 
I think I played too far right on the first pair and just didn’t execute very well.  The second match I had to move in and missed a spare early in the game.  I needed the first strike in the tenth to win the game and threw it great and left a stone 8-pin.  The third match was just as bad as the first.  I had to move back to the track and left a washout in the tenth and wrapped the headpin around the 10 to finish with 165. 

I really don’t have any excuses, just didn’t throw it real good and I paid the full penalty for that hour.  I moved in and bowled well for most of the rest of the block and got my match play record back to even and actually went +2 for the block, but the damage was done.  I was in 13th place and now about 240+ out of the show.  Need to have a really good block in the evening to make up for that. 

I was invited to lunch by Jason Belmonte and Diandra Asbaty to the Skylark Diner right up the road.  Apparently this place was featured in Guy Fiori’s Diners, Drive-Thru’s and Dives program on the Food Network and features a little higher class diner food.  It was us and about 7 others including Mike Fagan and his parents, Osku Palermaa, Martin Larsen, Alex Cavagnaro and Mikael Ahlqvist.  I had the Lobster Mac and Cheese and the Shrimp Quesadillas.  It was excellent!  It was a good way to help change my spirits since I was a little down after dropping that far in the standings. 

I went and dropped Alex and Jason back at the bowl and then went with Diandra to Cold Stone to get a pre-squad ice cream.  After Cookies and Cream in a waffle cone I was ready to head back to the bowl.

Match play went better as I went +59 for the block, but I couldn’t win any matches or at least not enough to make up any ground.  I ended out in 12th place with a 12-12 match play record and averaged 208.18 for the 50 games. Overall I was pretty pleased even though I’d like to have those three games in the morning back and I missed too many clusters.  I missed (4) 3-6-10’s, (1) bucket, (4) washouts, (1) 1-2-4, chopped (1) 4 off the 7, chopped (2) 2-5’s off the 4 (sweet), chopped (1) 4 off the 7 (sweeter) and chopped (1) 6-10.  Not horrible, but still I can do better than missing 14 multi-pin combination spares.  If there was any one bright spot I didn’t miss any single-pin spares for 50 games.  I was proud of that because when you’re averaging only 208 for 50 games, there were a lot of single pins, haha!

Afterward, I spent some time talking with my good friend David Eisenberg and another good friend Eric Frost who came from Massachusetts to watch me bowl match play.  Eric used to work for Kegel years ago and he came to see me the night before as well.  It was great to see him again.  Unfortunately I had to cut the visit a little short since I looked at my phone afterward and see that I had some missed calls and texts from Amleto and Marcelo.

They both went to the City in the late morning and they were trying to call me so I could pick up Marcelo at the New Brunswick Train Station at 10:55pm.  Considering it was 10:30pm, I had to go!  Amleto said Marcelo’s phone was dead so I had to make sure I was there to meet him or otherwise I’d have a hard time locating him.  I got there about 10 minutes before he arrived and fortunately he had enough battery life left to get texts.  After that we stopped by TGIFriday’s by the hotel to get a quick bite to eat and then we went back to the room.  I was flying out at 6:30am so I went back to the room and packed and got some sleep. 

Sunday February 26th:

The 3am alarm went off early since it was about 1:30am by the time I got all packed and went to bed.  Gary was going to take Marcelo to the airport so I left the hotel at 3:30am and got to the check-in counter at 4:15am.

I went to try to check in 4 bags and I knew that I was going to have to pay extra.  I knew I could get 3 bags for free since I was Diamond Medallion with Delta but when they told me it was going to be $125 for the 4th bag I said no thanks.  I wanted the bowling balls, but a few of them were old so they really weren’t worth it for me to pay that much to bring them home.  I told them I was just going to leave 3 balls with them.

I had to do some reorganizing since I had to figure out which 3 balls to leave.  During that time the lady at the ticket counter was asking me if there were other ways I could bring the balls back or if there was someone here locally that could take the balls for me.  I told her there was, but she left for Los Angeles 4 days ago and wouldn’t be back for another 4 days.  I explained to her I couldn’t put them in the other bags because then those bags would be overweight.  This issue stemmed because of the fact I drilled 4 balls this week.

After about 15 minutes of talking with the lady at the ticket counter and the skycaps on trying to find ways to bring these home, a guy in a white shirt came up to me and said that they would go ahead and check the 4th bag for me for free since I was a Diamond Medallion Frequent Flyer and loyal Delta customer for all these years. 

Sweet!  Problem solved.  I had a great tournament AND I was able to get everything home without costing me a dime in extra baggage fees.  This……was a good day!

I got back to Orlando at about noon and then headed to AMF Semoran Lanes to watch a little bit of Erik Ramos’ 10-game sweeper that I just missed.  After spending an hour or so visiting with some friends I headed to the Mall at Millenia to get some chocolate at the Godiva store and had a nice meal at Fleming’s Steakhouse off Sand Lake Road and then went home.
 
It was a great week of bowling, great time with friends and had more money on the 26th than I had on the 18th (which is always a sign of a good tournament) but it’s good to be home….and to 70 degree weather.

The gloves can go back in the closet until next winter.

JJ

Breakdown and Carrydown – Then and Now

We hear it all the time; “the heads are hooking”, “carrydown is happening quickly today”, “time to move again”, “my ball’s burning up – grab the fire extinguisher!”...ok maybe not the last one. But with the amount of oil needed in today’s environment in order to protect the lane surface and keep the modern ball from hooking into the gutter at the arrows, rapid and chaotic change is often the result. Even the best of players can get confused in today's game over the course of a few games.

In this month’s piece we'll try and give some sense of order to that chaos, but the first thing many will have to do is let go of what you’ve learned and experienced in the past – today’s pattern mutation, carrydown, and resulting bowling environment is different, very different.

Oil Pattern Change

The first thing we need to understand about oil pattern change is how bowling balls with different amounts of track flare change the oil pattern.
 
Prior to the 1980’s, when bowling balls did not significantly flare, the ball essentially picked up all the oil it could within the first couple revolutions - the first 8’ to 16’ of the oil pattern. It was in the head area where the oil pattern dried out the most, and after that, the oil pattern basically remained unchanged. Only once we got to a point of about 24 games per lane or more, did the rest of the pattern began to “dry out”.

As lower flaring more aggressive coverstock balls were introduced in the mid to late 1980’s, the amount of oil on the lanes had to increase, and oil pattern mutation changed because of that. John Davis' research showed the latter half of the oil pattern actually increased in volume during this era.

Back then the bowling ball picked up so much oil in the front part of the lane, it re-deposited some of that oil towards the end of the pattern, and then a lot more of that oil on the dry back-end. This is the time when carrydown quickly became a big problem.

When ball manufactures figured out that track flare increased the friction between the ball surface and the lane surface, bowling balls became unbalanced again - only this time it was by way of significant Radius of gyration (Rg) differential, It was then, oil pattern mutation, and the resulting ball motion, changed dramatically.

However, bowler "lingo" hasn't seemed to change as much as pattern mutation has, which can cause a lot of confusion and misinformation in our world of bowling.

Bowling balls with track flare (pictured below far right) pick up and erase oil off the lane with every revolution, causing a much different type of oil pattern breakdown. It’s not just the heads that breakdown down anymore, it’s the entire length of the oil pattern that breaks down, and it begins with the first ball thrown on the oil pattern.

In our research, when starting with 80 units in the front part of the lane, our after tapes show that about half the oil has been depleted during a normal league session, which is 15 games per lane. We see the same trend in high level events bowling 12 games per lane.

That means there are still about 40 units left in the heads, but many in our industry still talk about the “heads hooking”. Anyone want to bowl on a pattern with 40 units on the outsides? Of course you don’t - your ball will never hook! So what causes the players to move left in today’s bowling environment? It’s more about the removal of oil from the mid-lane towards the end of the pattern.

Because of oil pattern taper, the mid and end part of the oil pattern has much less oil than the front part of the oil pattern. As the ball erases the oil off the lane, the modern “mountain range” like coverstock can easily poke through that thin film of oil towards the back part of the pattern. This causes the ball to read the friction much sooner there than in the front part of the pattern, and that is what makes players move left, not the oil pattern breaking down in the heads.

What this flaring ball pattern breakdown does to ball motion is simple – the ball simply slows down sooner and therefore hooks more. For high rev and high ball speed players, this pattern mutation falls right into their wheel house as finesse has been removed from the equation for them - its flat out every shot without having to worry about “throwing it through the break point”.

For rev challenged and slower ball speed players, this pattern mutation becomes more difficult to overcome – their bowling balls slow too early and begin to lose axis rotation too soon causing less room for error and decreased pin carry.

Of course this type player could switch to a less aggressive ball to combat the increased friction towards the end of the pattern, but then that type ball is more susceptible to carrydown. It’s a delicate balance for these styles of players.

Can the heads (the first 16 feet) still give the ball the perception it is hooking early? Sure they can, but in today’s bowling environment, more often than not it’s not because of the lack of oil.

With synthetic lanes it’s normally a side hill slope issue where the ball is thrown into a hill and trying to rotate up that hill. This topography issue will make the ball “check up” or move in the direction of the slope, which is more of a gravity issue, with a bit of friction thrown in for the banked curve affect.

For wood lanes or really old synthetics, it could be a severely roughed up lane surface, which therefore is a friction issue. However no reasonable amount of oil will significantly help in either of these situations simply because the depth of the scratches in the lane surface are deeper than the oil film – resurfacing or re-leveling the lane surface is the only solution to combat that kind of "early hook".

In short, bowling balls that do not flare tend to break an oil pattern down from front-to-back, and today's high flaring balls tend to break down oil patterns from back-to-front.

With high flare balls the oil pattern is literally getting shorter in the ball traffic area with every shot thrown, and by moving left we are increasing our launch angles to that area in order to give the ball more time to hook. Of course when missing inside of target, we are now in a "longer pattern" again so the ball holds pocket. This is why sport and challenge patterns get "easier" and scores often increase after a few games.

Carrydown

Carrydown is also much different by balls that don’t flare versus balls that do flare. Bowling balls that do not flare leave long three to four foot streaks of carrydown beyond the end of the pattern. Because the footprint of the bowling ball is so small, a shot hitting these long streaks of carrydown can all of a sudden make a pattern feel like it is much longer, mainly because to the bowling ball, on that single shot, the oil pattern has become longer!

With the amount in the middle of today's oil patterns, it is not uncommon for those streaks of oil to be in the 5-8 unit range.

As noted before, significant carrydown was not a problem in bowling until the 1980’s - especially towards the middle to end part of the decade. With the advent of ever stronger urethane balls, as well as increased dynamic weight blocks, an increased amount of oil was necessary as more and more customers bought these new balls.

And as players began sanding the covers and using drilling techniques to create more dynamic imbalance, more oil was needed to help protect the lane surface and keep these new higher friction balls on the lane, and of course, keep the customers who bought these new balls happy.

It was only then that we saw carrydown become such a significant part of the playing environment in so few games. Prior to that, when fairly dynamically balanced rubber and polyester balls were mainly in use, there was simply not enough oil needed nor used on the lanes to cause significant carrydown issues.

Sure there was carrydown after a few days of play, when lanes were not cleaned but once a week, but nothing like what happened in the 1980’s to tournament organizations like the PBA Tour, who cleaned the lanes every day.

Carrydown that is created with balls that flare however is much different, as well as how these much more aggressive and diverse internal dynamic balls allow players to play the lanes.

Meaning, because the amount of dynamic imbalance is much greater, this increases the range of available hook and allows players to play the lanes in a much wider area than in the past. When balls were more balanced and didn’t hook as much, everyone played the lanes near the same area, causing a much narrower spread of carrydown.

This dynamic imbalance causes track flare, and track flare creates what are called “bow ties” (where the flare rings come together) at only two points on the balls surface. Those two points are the only parts of the ball with oil on it that touches the lane every revolution.

The higher the differential Rg, the wider the track flare is, and the smaller those touching points are. This in turn creates random 2” to 3” strips of carrydown. For instance, using a 40’ pattern as an example, one track flare carrydown strip may be at 41’ to 41’ 3”, another small strip at 41’ 6” to 41’ 9”, and another one at 42’ to 42’ 3”, etc.

Therefore, when a fresh part of the modern flare balls surface comes in contact with these small strips of carrydown, ball motion is hardly affected at all. As these strips build up however, along with the longer three to four plus foot random strips of carrydown created by the many low flaring spare balls going down the lane, the back-ends will “tighten up” somewhat, but not as soon, or as much, as lanes did in the late 1980’s.

There was a very good article written by the PBA that represents what happened in the late 1980’s. It stated how after a few games of bowling the “fronts go away” and significant carrydown happens beyond the pattern at the balls exit point.

When this occurs, the player who greatly hooks the ball can move left and effectively “go around” the carrydown, creating an increased margin of area from that of a fresher oil pattern, and clean dry back ends. Low flare carrydown gives this style of player hold area inside of target.

On the PBA Tour in the mid to late 1980’s it was not uncommon for big hook ball players to average 20-30 pins a game more in the evening blocks versus the morning blocks.

Today however, even though high rev and high ball speed players can often struggle right out of the gate because their ball motion is too “skid-snappy” on the fresh, with today’s expeditious pattern breakdown, and high friction balls, high rev players can hit their stride much sooner. Today it doesn’t take more than a couple games to “smooth out” their ball motion from front to back.

In addition, as we stated before, carrydown at the end of the pattern with high flaring balls is not as defined as it was in the 1980’s, or when lower flaring urethane balls were in use. Therefore today there is simply not enough defined carrydown to go around and use as hold area.

High rev players tend to get their advantage today more from rapid pattern breakdown towards the mid and end part of the pattern, not carrydown. As most know, low to non-flaring balls today are most often regulated to shooting spares and therefore, those long strips of carrydown are more random across the lane surface - sometime you’ll hit a strip, and sometimes you won’t.

Remember, today you must think different. No longer are we using non-flaring balls on less than 5 milliliters of solvent based lane conditioner like we did in the 1970’s. No longer are we using low flaring balls on 12 milliliters of oil with massive carrydown like we did in the mid to late 1980’s. No longer are we bowling on lanes that are resurfaced every year like was mandated until deletion of the rule. No longer is levelness being maintained regularly like we did prior to advent of synthetic lanes.

The bowling environment today is much more varied, much more complex, and does not always make sense, or play “how it’s supposed to play”.

The best piece of advice we can give you is what the late great PBA National Tour tournament director Harry “Goose” Golden use to say to the players after every roll call; “bowlers, let your ball be your guide”.

JJ's Blog - 2012 USBC Masters

Sunday January 22nd

The alarm went off at 2:45am to head to the airport for a 6:45am flight to bowl the USBC Masters.  It was a particularly rough wake-up call because I went to bowl a 5-game sweeper in Jupiter (the city near West Palm Beach, not the planet) the night before and I only got home 2 hours ago.  It was ok because I knew I could sleep on the plane.

I got to the airport at 4:20am.  By the time I got to the ticket counter, checked in and cleared security it was 5:00am.  I got to the Delta Sky Club and then just hung out there until 6:10am.  We got boarded with no problem and I was off to Memphis and then straight to Vegas from there.

I arrived in Vegas at 11:30am and got my rental car.  Rental cars are pretty cheap in general in Vegas but the airport really hits you on the taxes.  I rented a mid-size car for $59 for the week….but the taxes brought it up to $130.  It was still really cheap so I really can’t complain that much.

I spent most of the day shopping since there was really nothing going on since I didn’t get in early enough to bowl the unofficial practice session or the sweeper.  I went straight from the airport to the Outlet Mall at Primm and found nothing so I went to the hotel and then checked in.  After checking in and visiting with a few friends, I headed back to the Strip to shop some more and grab a bite to eat.

I was just here like two weeks ago for the Team USA Trials so I’d already scoped out most of the stores previously, but with a lot of the Spring/Summer clothing starting to come in I thought maybe I might find something new.  I found a nice workout shirt at the Nike Store at the Forum Shops at Caesars, but that was about it.

I then walked to the Bellagio and then took the tram to City Center and shopped a little bit there but found nothing that I really liked.  I then went to the Fashion Show Mall for a little while and then walked over to the Esplanade at the Wynn and then to the Palazzo.  Found a few things I liked at the Wynn but nothing that I particularly wanted to pay full price for.

It was about 8:30pm and I went to the airport to pick up Diandra Asbaty and then we went back to the Forum Shops and had a nice sushi dinner with her and Jason Belmonte who met us there.  Afterwards, I then went back to the hotel to call it a night.

Monday January 23rd

I was bowling A squad so I had the 10am practice session.  Practice went pretty well.  I had a pretty good look between 6-10 throwing it pretty straight through the front part of the lane and with a couple of different balls.  It was a good practice session overall.  I felt physically good, no issues with the approaches and the bowling balls felt pretty good on my hand.  I grabbed some lunch with Jason Couch and Dave Wodka after the practice session and then went back to the room to chill out for a little while.

At about 3:45pm I went back to the Strip with Cody Reichenberger (one of the students at Webber International University) and we hung out there for a few hours.  He hadn’t been to the south part of the Strip before so we spent a few hours walking around bouncing from casino to casino.  I like to walk a lot in the afternoon during the down time because it’s pretty decent exercise (as opposed to just sitting in the hotel room) and also it helps get me worn out so by the time I get back to the room around 8-9pm I’m pretty tired so it’s easier to sleep.

At home I go to bed pretty early, around 9-9:30pm because I go to the gym at about 5:15am during the weekdays.  Being 3 hours behind I don’t want to be going to bed at like 6pm and getting up at 2am, so this walking around on the Strip is pretty helpful to keep me awake in getting used to the time change. Cody and I got back about 8:45pm and then it was about time to retire.  I’m going to hit the gym about 5:45am to get the body warmed up before my 9am squad tomorrow.

Tuesday January 24th

The alarm went off at 5am and after hitting the snooze button a few times.  I got up and headed to Gold’s Gym which was only about 8 minutes away.  I never do anything heavy on tournament days, mostly just some light cardio, pull ups and abdominal work.  After doing that I headed to Panera Bread for some breakfast and then back to the room for a shower and to get ready for the squad.

The practice bell went off a little after 8:45am.  I had a great look in practice playing pretty straight around 5-8 at the arrows.  I struck a lot in that zone so I was trying a few different zones to see how the lane looked in other areas.  Once the game started I was seeing transition but it was different on both lanes.  The left lane was getting tighter down the lane and the right lane was starting to hook earlier.  They started out about the same in practice but now the right lane was hooking about 3 boards more.  I was using a combination of the Red Mission on the right lane and the Encounter on the left lane but I switched to the Encounter on both lanes when the fronts on the right lane started hooking too early and needed something I could get around the corner better.

After starting with a double I threw a couple of bad shots on the left lane where I missed the headpin for 1-2-4’s and I missed one of them for a 193 start.  I moved to the next pair and the Encounter that I was throwing was definitely starting to burn up too early.  I switched to a Mission X and then threw a Double but then I threw a couple right and they hung out there for a 2-4 and then a 2-8-10.  Throw in a blower 7-10 and then next thing I knew I shot 189.

I could see the outside was starting to get a little flaky and I saw a couple of guys striking playing between 15-20 going out to like 8-10.  I tried to do that on the next pair and it worked on one lane but not as well on the other.  A couple more bad shots and some bad carry on the left lane resulted in a Dutch 200.  I didn’t bother to fill out the application for the USBC patch.

I tried to stay inside but made a couple of bad shots early in the game for splits and then never threw a double for 168.  I switched balls and then couldn’t strike…..ugh!  This was turning into a really bad block.  Since nothing else I was doing was working, I decided to go around 17-12 in game 5 with the Mission X and threw it straighter and harder.  I decided to go this route since playing out was pretty well cooked and I couldn’t get my ball to the pocket consistently or get it to go through the pins the right way from playing inside so I’d try and split the difference.

I threw a double but had a couple of bad shots that kept me from stringing any more strikes and then sent the headpin in front of the tenpin on a washout attempt.  Combine that with another open and I finished with 182 and -68 for the block.

That was one of the worst performances I’ve had in a long time.  Bad execution and bad decision-making aren’t going to get you anywhere in this tournament.  Throwing (3) doubles for 5 games didn’t help my cause either.  I think I threw more strikes in 15 minutes of practice than I did for the whole block, haha!

It’s been a long time where I bowled the last 2 games and really didn’t have any idea on the best way to play the lanes.  Nothing I did worked, and I went through all of my bowling balls.  There were people playing all over the place at the beginning:  hooking it, throwing it straight, playing out, playing in the track, playing 17, all with somewhat decent results.  Too bad I couldn’t make any of those options look good.

I was pretty frustrated so I went back to the room to change and headed to the Forum Shops at Caesars to get some lunch.  It was time to get out and clear the brain of the train-wreck squad I just bowled.

Lunch was the best part of the day so far.  After drowning my sorrows in a burger and a cookie from Max Brenners, I went back and watched a little bit of B squad to see where I went wrong and maybe give me a few clues to see how tomorrow may play, even though that’ll be pending if A squad plays them the same as we did.  That probably won’t be exactly the same, haha!

Mike J. Laneside invited me in the booth for Xtra Frame for a few minutes and gave them my spin on how the block went amongst other conversation.  It’s always good to be up there with Mike and Jason Thomas, thanks for the invite guys!

After that I went to see Mike Calderon from Ebonite to see if he had any advice for tomorrow.  He suggested drilling a Jet Black Taboo for the burn squad.  I went to the truck and laid it out and I’ll work it out in the morning.  We’ll see if it’ll strike because I’ve got a LOT of ground to make up tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be a new day…..

Wednesday January 25th

I woke up about 5:30am and headed to Gold’s Gym to do a light workout.  It’s nice to be at Sunset Station because Gold’s is less than 10 minutes away and it’s a very clean one.  After the workout I went to Panera Bread to get my daily Asiago Cheese Bagel, Yogurt Parfait and Orange Juice and then went back to the hotel to shower and relax a little.

After that I went to go workout the Jet Black Taboo that was drilled on the truck last night.  I just took the high gloss off of it and hopefully it would roll well for the burn.  I watched a little bit of A squad and it looked like they started a little deeper than we did.  You could play between 6-9 pretty straight on the fresh and a few guys could make the 18-9 angle look pretty good.  I think out was better personally but after about 2 games I think you needed to hit the abort button and move inside with the masses.

I started out pretty well and didn’t miss the pocket for 216, playing a little straighter in the 22 to 14 zone.  I was using the Eruption but it wasn’t quite going through the pins right.  The new Taboo seemed a little too long at the time, at least on the first pair.  I then switched to the Taboo in game 2 and it got a little better for 221.  Not a bad start but I knew that the target score for me was get to at least +100, so I knew that I needed to start striking.  The lanes were then breaking down a little more and I figured it was time to move in a little bit more and see if I could open up the lane.

I moved in closer to 27 at the arrows out to about 12-13 down the lane and lo and behold……254-244 the next two games!  Now we’re cooking with gas!

The lanes were starting to curve and I knew the next pair was going to be hooking more.  I was concerned that the next zone I was going to have to jump might be a little too far in for this Taboo.

The next pair I moved 3 left and the first shot went 4-6-7.  Sweet……way to get a good read!

Fortunately though………I made it!  Bounced it out of the pit and took out the 6 pin like a Jet Li bicycle kick, haha!  (more on the significance of that conversion later).

I went to the other lane and moved another 2 and went ringing-10.  The ball kind of burned up.  I made the spare and moved another 3 and got it in a touch and I hit the nose and left a 3-pin.  Made that spare.

At this point I knew I needed at least 230 to even have a chance and with this ball reaction the best I was going to muster would be a 205-215 game so I knew I needed to do something drastic.  I went to something that I remembered that worked at the Team Trials a couple of weeks ago……loft.

I knew my ball roll wouldn’t be any good if I tried to go farther left and there was a little hold right in the 13-14-15 area down the lane so if I could just get it down there clean I’d be in good shape.  I also switched balls to a Mission X since that ball was a little cleaner and wouldn’t over-react off the dry…….and there was plenty of dry in the mid-lane at this stage of the day, haha!

I squared up with the loft and a little extra speed going like 23-13 and reeled off a 5-bagger.  Whew!  I got up in the 9th frame and just got it in the oil for a flat-10 and I made the spare.  I wasn’t watching the board but I had a gut feeling I needed to double in the tenth.  I moved a board left on the left lane in the 8th frame and came in light so I figured I wasn’t going to move.  The only problem was I threw it a little right and firm and I left the bucket…….just the spare I want to shoot in the tenth frame…….NOT!

Fortunately I made the bucket and made a good shot on the fill ball but flat-10’d again.  I think I milked the loft for all it was worth which gave me 232 the last game.  That put me at +99 and the cut to 77 was at +98 with one to go.  I thought for sure that I was going to miss by about 4-5 pins.

I think Criss Angel came from the Luxor to Sunset Station to work his magic because the cut ended out being……+99.  I tied with my good friend Rhino Page for the 76th and 77th spot.

Putter in the air……..three pumps with the fist” (from the Tiger Woods Nike commercial a few years back).

I went +167 for the block to get the last spot.  Considering +97 was 78th place, how big was that 4-6-7 conversion in the last game?  Oh……..the drama! Might be the first time I jumped 162 spots in 5 games in a tournament, haha!

Needless to say, I was quite ecstatic.  That was grounds for celebrating at Caesars’ Palace with my favorite Smoked Salmon Pizza from Spago and a Max Brenner cookie…..but I didn’t feel like driving and sitting down to eat, so I just went to my favorite fast-food joint in Vegas (In-N-Out) to get a burger.

I also went back to Mike Calderon from Ebonite for some advice for the cashers round and he suggested drilling another ball to give me another look since I obviously had some trouble the last time on the fresh to say the least, lol!

I went to drill an Ebonite Pursuit-S (Symmetrical) with a 4” pin down for the next day and see if that would give me a little better look than what I had when I had to move in but would pick up a roll a little earlier when the Taboo would be a little too clean.

Afterward I was invited to my friend Wendy MacPherson’s home where she was hosting a dinner for my friend Robert Lee and about 8 more people from Japan who Robert brought over to bowl the tournament.  Wendy had a friend from New York fly down who cooked some amazing food.  It was a great way to end the night spending time with them.  Thanks for the invite Wendy, I had a great time!

Thursday January 26th

I woke up again about 5:30am and did the same G.P.S. routine (Gym, Panera, Shower).  I got to the bowl about 8:30am to do surfaces and work out the Pursuit-S I drilled the night before.  Always good to get there early and beat the crowd.

I was crossing with Rick Steelsmith, Chris Barnes and Rhino Page for the cashers round.  There were 77 players and we were bowling 5 more games and then cutting to the top 63, so we were eliminating 14.  I started out pretty good with a 232 game playing pretty straight around 7-8.

We then went to the next pair and I couldn’t hit the left lane to save my life.  Struck on the right lane every time but the left lane was tighter which resulted in missing the headpin, 2-pin, 2-8, (switch balls), light 10-pin and then 4-pin.

No, I didn’t want to throw double…….not at all.

I threw the first one in the tenth and fortunately got the second in the tenth as well and struck on the fill ball for 210.  I’m so glad I got the second one in the tenth because the last thing I wanted was my SECOND Dutch 200 of the tournament.  I still didn’t fill out an application for a patch with USBC.

We moved to the next pair and I felt it was time to move in, since there were more guys starting to strike from in there.  I went to the Mission X and it looked close but I had a few bad shots during the game but fortunately I didn’t pay any penalties for it.  I didn’t have a double but had a strike working in the 9th and was going for 216 if I could double in the 10th and threw a good shot but came in light for a 7-10.

Thanks……really appreciate it.  184……..and not particularly amused.

That put me at +125 and even though I wasn’t scoreboard watching, I knew I needed a couple of good games to make it to match play.  I knew I needed to switch balls so I thought why not try that Pursuit-S?  I know I’m only going to shoot another 185 game if I stay with what I got.

I moved in a couple more boards where I was now going about 24 at the arrows to about 12 and guess what?  254-231 the last two games to get me to +210 jumping me up to 38th place for match play.

I hate it when you use the wrong ball for too long.  Very bad for your score’s health.

Well, I now made it to match play and I had to bowl Keith Odette from Hawaii for my first match.  The format from here is 3-games total pins double elimination.  I wish I could say I bowled great but I didn’t, though I didn’t bowl particularly poorly.  I missed (2) 1-2-4 combinations in the first two games.

I tried to hook at them but choppedthe 1-2 off the 4 both times.  Keith bowled very well shooting 695 at me.  I think I stayed out between the 7 and 10 zone a little too long which when I leaked it a little bit was where I missed the headpin.

I shot 631 in the losing effort.

I then bowled Kyle Barnes the next match in the losers’ bracket.  I shot a good 228 the first game to Kyle’s 195 but then transition took place and it got kind of ugly.  Kyle shot 208 the next game to my 181.  I then tried switching balls, moving left, lofted a couple of shots, it didn’t matter.

I tried switching balls and moving out between 7 and 10 in the 6th frame and struck on the first shot but then 2-8-10’d in the 7th frame.  The right lane got cliff wet-dry in the mid-lane from inside and the left lane had a bunch of hang down the lane.

Kyle was only leading by less than ten when I went up in the 8th and 9th frames and pretty much took the gas pipe.   Still not sure where to play I went back between 6-10 and left a 3-6-10 and on the spare slid by missing the 3-pin.  I then went up on the left lane in the 9th frame and left a 2-8 and then took out only the 8-pin.

Now Kyle only needed a mark in the last two frames to win, which he did just that.  I lost 594-568.  The worst part was I took the ball I tried playing outside with and I thought I’d try in the tenth frame playing inside where I was earlier and I proceeded to dead flush all three in the tenth for 159.  Now I was really nauseous after seeing that on top of missing two pretty routine spares in the 8th and 9th frames to give the match away.

Congrats to Kyle…….I can’t expect to nor deserve to win matches against the best 63 players in the tournament shooting 568 no matter how hard the pair was.  It’s funny, my tournament ended pretty much the way I started it.  Really bad, haha!

With that being said, I was pretty bummed about how it ended so I decided I was going to try and change my flight and get out tomorrow.  I was supposed to stay until Saturday night but after spending a week in Vegas at the beginning of the month for the Team USA Trials and now another week here for the Masters, I just wanted to go home.  I went and grabbed a quick bite to eat and then I went back to room afterward as I was a little tired.

Friday January 27th

I changed my flight to get out on the 12:20pm flight out.  I wanted to get some chocolate from Max Brenner’s before I left and I saw on their website that they opened at 9am on Friday.  This would be perfect as I would leave the hotel at 8:30am get to Caesars’ about 9am, then buy the chocolate and head out to the airport.

All was going well and I parked the car in valet and got to Max Brenner’s and this is what I saw (see picture).

Yep, this trip is ending just like it started.  Three weeks ago it was the cupcake drama in Los Angeles…….now this!  I knew I should’ve bought all of my edibles a couple of days ago!

Well, being in Vegas I was not to be denied.  One of my other favorite dessert-places is the Jean Philippe Patisserie at Aria.  They also have one at the Bellagio.  I headed over there as I knew they would be open.  I got some chocolates for a couple of friends (and myself of course) and then headed to the airport to catch my flight.

I had no problems getting home with plenty of time to change planes in Memphis getting back to Orlando at 10:20pm and getting back to my condo at about 12:15am.  It was a late one, but it sure is nice to sleep in your own bed!

Overall it was a good trip.  Made some money, did a little shopping, saw some old friends and ate some good food. I had more money leaving Vegas than I had going in……definitely a good trip!

JJ's Blog - 2012 Team USA Trials

Saturday December 31st

The alarm went off at 2:45 am.  It was an early one but it was easy to get up because I was heading to Los Angeles and then Las Vegas to bowl the Team USA Trials.  I’m an early-airport-guy so I like to be at the gate like 90-120 minutes before my flight.  Since my flight was at 7:30am, that would get me to the airport to about 5:00am.  I got up a little extra early just so I could go through my checklists to make sure I had everything.

I got to the airport at 5am and had a quick and painless check-in and run through security.  I sat in the Delta Sky Club for about an hour and a half and then went to the gate.  We boarded on time and everything was going as planned.  I was supposed to get to Los Angeles at 10am and was going to spend the day shopping and also going to this cupcake place in North Hollywood that makes the best cupcakes.  I wanted to share some of these with a few of my friends that were going to be bowling the tournament next week.

For those of you that don’t know me real well I have a real passion for two things:  Clothes and chocolates/cookies/pastries/any kind of sweets.

We sat at the gate until about 8am when the pilot got on and said that they were having trouble with the fuel pump and they were having the mechanics come out and look at the plane so at this time we didn’t know how long it was going to take.  Mind you, this plane just arrived from LA about 6:30am, so all they were doing was basically topping off the tank and cleaning it up and it was heading straight back to LA.

About 8:20am they were letting people de-plane but told them to check in to the gate every 10 minutes to make sure all was ok because when the plane was ready, we were leaving ASAP.  About 8:35am the pilot said we were ready to go and at 8:45am we were all boarded.  Well, 5 minutes went by, then 10 minutes, and then at 9am the pilot got back on the PA and said that the fuel pump was still not working and we were going to be re-routed because he had no idea how long this was going to take.

Next thing I knew that I was getting rerouted to Atlanta and my itinerary said I was going to get to LA about 6:40pm!

Since this was New Year’s Eve, most of the stores I wanted to shop at were going to be closed by 6 and when I called the cupcake place they were going to close around 5pm or maybe a little later depending on business and they were going to be closed on New Year’s Day, so it looked like my window for cupcakes was closing.  This had all of the makings of a really bad day.

I got to Atlanta and I got on standby for the 1:20pm flight that was going to get into LA at 3:20pm.  Fortunately, I got on!  Things were looking up all of a sudden!

I got to LA at 3pm (even better) but since I flew on standby my luggage didn’t make it.  That wasn’t a big deal since I was staying right across the street from LAX.  The lady in baggage service said my bags were on the way to Salt Lake City and then LA and they should be there tonight.  Well since I was there early, I got to the rental car place and off I went.  I left the airport at 3:30pm and I was only about 30 minutes from the cupcake store.  Since the guy I spoke to said that they were closing at 5pm, I should’ve had enough time to get a few cupcakes.

I got to the cupcake place at 4pm only to find a note on the door saying that they had already sold out of their inventory and they would be re-opening on Monday.

Happy New Year! Well isn’t that just flippin’ great!  Cupcakes…..denied!

Since I was a little peeved about that I headed to Beverly Hills to do a little clothes shopping.   It was about 25 minutes from North Hollywood to the “Hills”.  I stopped at this one store on Melrose Avenue and looked around but found nothing I liked despite the sale that was going on.  I then headed off to Rodeo Drive and got there right at 5pm.  With my good fortune continuing, I found out that all of the stores on Rodeo closed at 5pm on New Year’s Eve as well as Neiman Marcus on Wilshire Blvd., the one department store I REALLY wanted to see today.  Stay Hot!

Fortunately Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys New York were still open as they weren’t closing until 7pm.  I spent about a little more than an hour shopping at both stores, but still found nothing I liked.  This was turning into a really bad day.  What made it worse is Rodeo Drive is also closed on New Year’s Day.  I found that out last year as the Team Trials were basically on the same week and I flew out New Year’s Day last year just to find out Rodeo Drive was shut down.  So far, no cupcakes for me or my friends and only about 15% of the shopping done that I wanted to get done.  This day has definitely been “no bueno” so far.

Being now about 6:30pm and being quite hungry I grabbed a quick bite at the Grill on the Alley and went to go check into the room.  I first had to go back to the rental car facility because when I looked closer at my rental agreement they screwed up the coupon I was using for a free day at the end of the rental.  It just keeps getting better.

After clearing up that mess, I got to the hotel about 7:15pm and my luggage still hadn’t arrived.  Stay red hot!

The one thing that I did have to look forward to was my good friend Missy Parkin invited me to a New Year’s Eve party hosted by her friend Scott Norton at his mother’s house.  After the day I’ve had so far, I really needed something to go right considering I was denied cupcakes, didn’t do hardly any shopping and didn’t have any luggage.  I didn’t want to sit in the room and think about how the day went, so I got showered and headed to their party which was about an hour from my hotel.  I got there about 8:45pm and stayed until about 12:30am.  I had a GREAT time as we talked, played some Password and ate some really good food.  I got back to the hotel about 1:30am and lo and behold my luggage arrived!  Woo-hoo!  Things finally were looking up today.  Well actually it was already Sunday, but it was a good way to sleep on a high note.

Sunday January 1st

I headed out about 8am to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets.  It was about a 2 hour drive from LAX since the outlets were over near Palm Springs.  I got there with no problems but I spent an hour there and still found nothing I liked.  The bad part was the one store that I REALLY wanted to go see…….closed…..permanently.  So far I was 0 for 3 on the shopping establishments, however I did get a nice ice cream cone at Haagen-Dazs which helped relieve some of my retail distress.

Since I found nothing there I made the 4 ½ hour trek to Vegas since practice session was on Monday.  I was going to stop at the Outlets at Primm, NV but when I got there I figured that would be a really BAD idea.

Being New Year’s Day and around 3pm at this time, a lot of the people from LA who drove to Vegas for New Year’s Eve were heading home…….I mean…….A LOT of people were heading home.  I could see at times on the southbound lanes on I-15 there were stretches where the traffic was backed up for miles.  As I got closer to the exit for Primm where the outlets were at, I could see all the cars backed up on the road underneath the overpass and how they were backed up at the couple of gas stations on the southeastern corner of the exit ramp.  I realized this would be a bad idea if I tried to get off so I kept going.

When I passed the overpass for the exit I noticed the southbound exit ramp (as well as the other three lanes) was backed up for about a mile and a half.  It was a good call on my part since it probably would’ve taken me an extra 15 minutes to get in and probably another 20 minutes to get out, however that made me 0 for 4 on shopping.  I hope the bowling goes better because the shopping has pretty much sucked so far.

I went straight to the City Center and looked around and then went to the Fashion Show Mall and then to the Forum Shops at Caesars’ Palace.  I did find a nice shirt at the Forum Shops and a nice tie at the Fashion Show Mall.  The shirt and tie were 60% and 70% off respectively so it was a big score to end the day.  After grabbing a bite to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in the Forum Shops (Spago), I headed to Texas Station to go check into the room and call it a night.

Monday January 2nd

I woke up about 7am and spent a little time riding the stationary bike at the hotel because my right hamstring was a little tight.  I felt it the night before at the end of the day and I thought if I slept on it, it would be a little better in the morning.  Well……I was wrong.  After about 30 minutes on the bike I felt a little better, so I went out to Panera Bread and got some breakfast.  I noticed there was a cupcake store in the same plaza that Panera was in.  They opened in like 15 minutes so I stuck around and grabbed a couple.  They were pretty good.  The day was starting off pretty well.

I came back to the room about 8:30am and then took a shower.  I then left about 9:30am with Jessica Baker to go pick up Diandra Asbaty and her son Madden at the airport who was getting in about 10:30am.  I made a quick stop to the Forum Shops on the way to pick up some unbelievable chocolate chip cookies at a restaurant called Max Brenner’s that I discovered the night before and then we went to go pick up Dee.

After picking her and Madden up I then made a quick trip to my good friend David Haynes’ pro shop to pick up a case of balls I had shipped there (Thanks Dave!) and then headed back to Texas Station to get ready for the one and a half hour practice session.

The practice session went well but the 90 minutes went really quick.  Texas Station is 60 lanes and since we were bowling on 4 patterns over the next 4 days, they had all the patterns spread throughout the center in blocks of 14-16 lanes. 

When you’ve got 13 bowling balls with you for all different patterns and you’re trying to practice on all of the patterns, it takes a little bit of time just switching bowling balls from one bag to another and then walking to one end of the house and then back to get bowling balls for another pattern and then walking back, etc.  You lose quite a few minutes of practice session just walking back and forth in a 60 lane center and switching equipment from one bag to another.

I felt pretty good on all of the patterns though.  Afterward we had orientation and then I went back to the Strip for some shopping and some food.  Tonight was back to City Center where I had a nice Mushroom Pizza at Wolfgang Puck’s Cucina at the Crystals Mall.  I found a couple of shirts I liked but they didn’t have my size, so that made me at about 2 for 7 now on shopping malls.  I’m only batting a little under .300, but not too bad.  At least that’s good on my wallet.  The tournament begins tomorrow so I headed back to the room about 9pm and was out by 10pm.

Tuesday January 3rd

Today the tournament begins.  We are going to be bowling on the 39’ Seoul pattern. This week we’re bowling on all WTBA patterns.

The pattern schedule will be as follows:
Tuesday:  39’ Seoul
Wednesday:  47’ Paris
Thursday:  34’ Stockholm
Friday:  45’ Mexico City

The Team USA Trials is also a little different this year in a couple of ways.  First, we’re only bowling 7 games a day instead of last year’s 9.  Also, this year’s champion will be determined by points and not total pinfall.  Basically if you lead the squad by total pins, you get one point.  If you’re second in total pinfall you get 2 points.  If you’re third you get three points and so on down the line. 

So, the person with the LEAST amount of points over 4 days is the Team USA Trials champion, the 2nd least amount of points is 2nd, and so on.  It’s supposed to reward the player who is the most consistent on all 4 days which is definitely a trait of a great bowler:   Versatility.  The player who is really good at one pattern but mediocre/sub-par on another will definitely stick out in this format.

The day really wasn’t a real good day.  My ball roll didn’t really match up too well and I was slow on reading a few transitions.  Texas Station has a little more early hook than the lanes at Sunset Station (which has hosted the Team USA Trials for the last 3 years).  Since my ball roll reads the fronts a lot naturally, this isn’t a real good combination for good ball motion when they break down, which started for me in game 3.  I felt like I threw the ball well overall, but being a little behind on transitions kind of hurt me.  I thought the scoring pace was going to be a little lower so I wasn’t quite as aggressive when I had to move inside the track and needed to start opening up the lane a little more.  I was trying to “trap” the ball just inside the track from games 3-5 instead of just moving deeper and really trying to open it up.  I only went +68 for 7 games which put me in 39th place for the day, especially not good considering I was +72 for the first 2 games.

I figured one point for every year that I’m old will not be acceptable for the rest of the tournament.  I was kind of depressed as I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make up that many points considering this is the first time they’ve used this points system.  I went back to the Forum Shops and drowned my sorrows on another Smoked Salmon Pizza at Spago and more cookies at Max Brenner’s.  I knew though……..tomorrow was going to be new day.

Wednesday January 4th

Today we were bowling on the 47’ Paris.  I started out the first game with a pretty good line to the pocket but I think my ball was still burning up a little quick and not getting into a roll down the lanes as I never missed the pocket for 218.  I think the Rapid Fire Pearl I was using was probably flaring a little too much combined with my ball roll reading the fronts too much.  I tried switching balls to an Anarchy and that wasn’t much better ball motion-wise though I did manage to shoot 230 somehow.  I then switched to a Mission X in game 3 and since that flared a little less but still had a strong cover it got through the fronts and rolled through the pins much better. Now I was able to do some striking.

From here I was just trying to chase it left and stay ahead of the moves.  The 6th game I was getting a little too deep as I was starting to get the big wet-dry from side to side as I was shooting a 200 game which wasn’t very good with par being around 225.  I tried to move back right on the fill ball and use loft so I could keep the ball on line as I knew that if I stayed where I was at I was only going to shoot another 200 game which wasn’t going to cut it at the scoring pace that was set.  It looked like it would work based on the fill ball, I just needed to move a little farther left with the same Mission X.  Lo and behold, it worked!  268 to finish the day!

That put me at 7th place for the day which moved me up from 39th to 16th in the standings.  Things were looking up for tomorrow for the short pattern, which has either been really good or really bad for me the last few years in this tournament.

Went back to the Crystals Mall at City Center and grabbed a pizza and some chocolates to take back for later.  I then went to use Kaitlin Mayall’s ball spinner to do some ball work (Thanks Kaitlin!) and then called it a night.

Thursday January 5th

I brought two urethane balls with me to combat the short.  I figured if anything it will give me more control and get me around the pocket until I see how the scoring pace is going to be and then go from there.  It sounded like a solid game plan going in.......however……..then we started bowling, haha!

I think the combination of the early roll of the urethane balls, the early hook built into the surface and my roll which reads the fronts too much as it is…..was a bad combination.  I shot 203 the first game which wasn’t terrible but not up to pace.  I had trouble keeping it on line when I went direct but the ball had trouble cornering when I gave it some room.

After 4 frames of the next game only hitting the pocket twice with one open, I realized that urethane wasn’t cutting it.  Since the loft worked out really well the last game yesterday, I thought I’d try that again.  It made sense since it would help eliminate some of the early roll my release naturally gets since the ball won’t hook in the air, haha!

I switched to pretty strong bowling balls and between the same Mission X and Rapid Fire Pearl I used yesterday, I shot +204 the last 5 to vault me to 6th place in the standings for the day which shot me to 4th place overall.

It was a good day so it was time to back to the Strip at the Forum Shops at Caesars.  I went with my good friend Katie Thornton to have a meal at the Cheesecake Factory and more of those good cookies at Max Brenner's and walked over to the Bellagio and bought some really good pastries at the Jean Philippe Patisserie.  I brought those back to the hotel and Katie and I shared the pastries with Kaitlin Mayall and her Dad while she let me use her ball spinner again (Thanks again Kaitlin!) to prepare surfaces for the Mexico City pattern the next day.

Friday January 6th

This pattern is on paper one of the most difficult in the WTBA series.  It has the potential to be pretty ugly so I felt like I kind of needed to play smart on the fresh and not try to “swing for the fences” so to speak.  I was fortunate shooting 256 the first game out of the box.  I threw a Red Mission playing between 10-13 really straight and had a good look.  I also had the good fortune of tripping a 2-pin, a Brooklyn and a “trip 3-9” for a 5-bagger, but I took every one of them because goodness knows I might need them later.  Sadly, I was really going to need them later.

I shot 196 the next game which I was still in good shape but as we made the turn to the low end I could see that there actually was some ball reaction developing between 20 and 25.  After 4 frames of really bad ball reaction (and seeing some strikes from a fair amount of other people) I knew it was time to move inside.  I went to the Mission X and it was the right ball but it took me a few frames to get lined up and combining that with another open frame I shot 176.  I got lined up and shot 223 the next game but the next few games were a struggle.  I was slipping on the approach which was resulting in a half a game of adjusting slide soles and heels and I was also seeing that my ball roll really wasn’t right.

I’m a fair amount up the back of the ball and I see that I needed more tilt and more rotation but with a softer hand.  All the guys that were bowling well had that.  I can get more rotation, but my tilt is still low so that makes my ball read earlier which forces me farther left which is part of the problem since I’m already about 5 boards too far left to begin with.  I can get more tilt, but not with a soft enough hand.  My ball roll forces me farther left (because it rolls sooner) so I get less hold when I miss in and when I get it to the right (since it burns up earlier) it doesn’t roll through the pins the right way thus it doesn’t strike as much.  I’ve been fighting this all week, but it was magnified today on this pattern.

It was a disappointing way to finish with (2) 170 games in the last 3 games and that put me 35th for the day and 6th place overall.  From here I needed to get picked for the Team since only the top 3 spots were automatically on the Team.

Fortunately, I got picked but I realized that I needed to work on developing this softer hand with more rotation and more tilt.  That’s going to be one of the first things I’ll be working on when I get home.  We had Team USA Orientation that night and then I went to get a bite to eat afterward even though it was near 10pm at that point.  Overall, it was a week with some ups and downs but in the end it all turned out good.  Looking forward to a good year on Team USA!

Saturday January 7th

I took Diandra, her son Madden, Jessica Baker and Jazreel Tan to the airport in the morning and then it was back to the hotel to check out and then back to Los Angeles for a couple of days of R & R.  I met with Missy Parkin for lunch at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa (nice call on the fish tacos at Wahoo’s!) and then went to Beverly Hills for some shopping on Rodeo.  I didn’t buy anything at either place, but it was just good to walk around and relax.  It was a reasonably low-stress day ending with a nice juicy “Double-Double” cheeseburger at In-N-Out.

Sunday January 8th

I met up with my cousin who lives in Santa Monica in the morning and we spent most of the day together with her and her boyfriend.  We did some shopping and lunch at the 3rd Street Promenade, watched the NFL playoff games at their house and then went to a few cupcake stores that were right nearby.  Los Angeles is big on cupcake stores….my kind of town.

Speaking about cupcakes, I wanted to go back to the cupcake store that I wanted to go to originally the weekend before that closed early.  I saw on their website that they were open until 8pm on Sunday.  I thought to myself……Perfect!  I’ll get there about 6pm and I’ll get some cupcakes to bring back.  I said goodbye to my cousin about 5:45pm and then got to the cupcake store in North Hollywood about 6:15pm.

I get there…….and they’re closed! There’s a sign on the door saying that they close at 6pm on Sunday, but their freaking website says they’re open until 8pm on Sunday.

Ironically, this trip ended the exact way it started.  Fortunately I bought a few cupcakes from one of the other stores in Santa Monica so I had some cupcakes to take home for my friends, but not the ones I REALLY wanted. It was then off to the airport to catch the 10:50pm red-eye flight and back to work on Monday morning.

At least the bowling part went well. :-)))

Oil Pattern Depletion

Oil pattern depletion (breakdown) is much different with today’s high flaring balls versus the low flaring balls of the past. Oil pattern depletion also happens much quicker and much more with today’s bowling balls.

When bowling balls had essentially balanced weight blocks, or differential Rg values of .010” or less, the ball basically rolled over the same place every revolution. When this happens, the ball picks up all the oil it can within the first couple revolutions and oil pattern depletion only happens in the head area, or only in the first 16’. The rest of the oil pattern remained intact, but not with today’s high differential Rg weight blocks.

Most bowling balls today have differential Rg values in the .040” to .060” range. The maximum differential Rg value is now .060”, according to USBC specifications. These high differential Rg values create a dynamic imbalance within the bowling ball. When a ball is drilled to maximize this imbalance, this causes track flare and results in the bowling ball rotating on a fresh part of the cover every revolution. This erases oil off of the lane every revolution, causing oil pattern depletion throughout the entire length of the oil pattern, instead of only the heads as when bowling balls were more dynamically balanced.

Kegel performs many tournaments every year and one of the things we are constantly measuring is oil pattern depletion. We do this because the main goal for the laneman in tournaments is to try and create a playing condition that has the best opportunity for fair play; in other words, give as many styles a chance as possible. If massive oil pattern change continues to make this task difficult, we need to find ways to help Lanemen do their job better.

How much oil is erased with today’s balls?

During a recent seminar tour, we got a group of bowlers’ together and measured oil depletion after 10 minutes of practice, and then every three games of play. At the end of this test, we had 9 games per lane. To put it in comparison, a 5 person team bowling a 3 game league has 15 games per lane.

To follow are the results of that test:

The greatest amount of depletion occurs during the early stages of play because the ball creates a larger footprint within the oil pattern. In the head area, there were 80 units of oil before bowling. After 9 games, there were about 35 units in that same head area. The move left by the players was not the lack of head oil; it was the ‘spark point’ being reached in the mid lane and the back part of the pattern causing the ball to hook more and forcing the players left.

Now we show why this massive depletion of the oil pattern can affect fair play. The following graphics are a comparison on how different styles of players break down oil patterns.

The event was the 2009 European Bowling Tour Masters featuring the top 16 players, men and women, from the 2008 European Bowling Tour point list. Both groups had 3 bowlers per pair and they played 8 games. So the lanes had 12 games per lane plus 10 minutes of practice on them. There was also an equal amount of lefties and righties on both the men’s side and the women’s side, and every player bowled on each pair of lanes twice within the block, so it was a very good comparison.

The fresh oil pattern was 44’ in length with the same pattern used for both the men and women. Below is the graphic of that pattern:

The first depletion example is the women’s side of the event. They were bowling by themselves and as with most lower rev players, because of the decreased motion on the back end, these type players tend to play in the same area on the lane and in a tighter line to the pocket.

As you can see in the above graphic, the women essentially started at the slope of the oil pattern, the rise from the least amount of conditioner to the greatest amount of conditioner, and broke the oil pattern down in a very logical manner. When oil patterns are broken down this way, scoring pace can increase greatly.

The men played on lanes right next to the women players. Here we had players like Jason Belmonte, Osku Palermaa, Dominic Barrett, and several Scandinavian players with fairly high rev rates. Below is the graphic of how the men broke that same fresh oil pattern down.

Because of the great amount of potential hook we have in the game today, and especially with the higher rev players, the slope of the oil pattern is not always followed as it used to be when bowling balls hooked less.

What is interesting, is the area where the bowling balls roll throughout the pattern, both groups depleted the same amount; over 60%. Testing has shown depletion is not significantly greater with higher rev rates, depletion is only more spread out. Towards the end of the pattern where all balls meet, both groups depleted the same amount, over 60%.

Here is the tape data and depletion percentages at comparable distances throughout the above patterns.

Most bowlers still believe “the heads” breakdown the most and therefore affect ball motion the greatest. This was the case with balls that did not flare, but that’s not the case with balls that flare.

When flaring balls are rolled over an oil pattern, the oil pattern is erased near the same amount,percentage wise, from the lay down point to when the ball exits the end of the oil pattern. The most oil is depleted where the footprint is the greatest, but at each distance, the percentage of depletion is essentially the same.

Once the oil pattern is depleted enough for the ball to reach the “spark point” in the mid lane and back part of the pattern, players start moving inside. And they move until the modern practice of lofting the gutter cap comes into play.

If depletion continues to happen at such a rapid rate, lofting could become the modern way to play the game. After all, we have yet to see a ball hook while it is in the air.

Sir Isaac Newton Knows Bowling

Sometimes pictures, or in this case a picture and a video, explains it best. The video below is the championship match of the Trio’s event at the recently concluded WTBA World Men’s Championship. The picture is the Kegel LaneMap™ of lanes 11-12 at Dream Bowl Palace.

The final match was played on the WTBA Mexico City oil pattern which is fairly flat and 45' in length. Our after bowling tapes showed the optimum breakpoint was around the 10-11-12 boards on that oil pattern at this championship.

The ball tracks of the left-handers and right-handers during the trios championship match are on top of the LaneMap™ Slope Graphs.

Sir Isaac Newton, the father of gravity, was not surprised with the ball motion of the players during this match - Newton has known for a long time that gravity has the same influence on the bowling ball as friction, or lack thereof.

The green areas on the LaneMap™ have very little gravitational influences on the bowling ball. The light blue and orange areas are significant gravitational influences on the bowling towards the direction of the arrows. The red and dark blue areas are severe gravitational influences on the bowling ball towards the direction of the arrows.

Now watch the video below and see if you can see and understand what Sir Isaac Newton already knew. He has been whispering in our ear for many years that it's not always oil or lack of oil (friction), as the reason the bowling ball reacts differently from one lane to the next, or even in certain areas of the same lane.

Pay attention to the right lane and how many light hits the right-handed players have. Then look at the above Slope Graphs in the break point area. Those blue areas signify a significant slope to the right - which is why the ball has a hard time moving to the left. Slopes to the right beyond the oil pattern (for a right-hander) acts like "carrydown". But it's not carrydown causing those light hits - it's gravity,

Are today’s two-handed bowler yesterday’s Dodo bowler?

When reading about USBC’s recent quest to coach the two-handed style of bowling, I could not help but think back to some articles that were shared about the early days of the American Bowling Congress and how the leaders of the time governed the game. In those very early times of governance, when the game was still being defined at a rapid pace, a new crop of hotshot bowlers came into vogue because some of the more ingenious players figured out how to make exotic bowling balls and use them to their advantage. Those early high tech balls were known then as ‘dodo balls’ and the players that used them were called ‘dodo bowlers.’

From 1900 to 1913, the hotbed of dodo ball competition was Cleveland, Chicago, and Louisville. There was a great debate on whether these balls should be legalized or outlawed, which divided bowlers from these cities into factions that either supported or opposed the use of dodo balls.

However in 1913 the ABC, in favor of equipment standardization, outlawed the dodo ball and officially adopted a rule limiting the weight of a bowling ball to a maximum of 16 pounds and "required all bowling balls be evenly balanced".

Some of the early ‘dodo’ balls simply exceeded the 16 pound maximum weight limit and a few bowlers in those early years were using balls that weighed up to 22 pounds to knock down those stubborn pins. The extremely heavy ball, called a “phony” at the time, gradually went away as bowlers discovered the greater effectiveness of the unbalanced dodo ball.¹

The most common way of loading a ball in the early 1900’s was called the “7-9” combination; where a 17 pound ball was cut in half and cemented to half of a 19 pound ball. The extra weight was primarily used on the left side of the ball, but not always.

To make the dodo ball as effective as possible, nearly everyone used a two-finger grip and common practice was to drill both finger holes the same size. Then the only thing the dodo bowler needed to do to significantly change the "action of the ball" was reverse their grip.

This is where today’s two-handers may be missing the boat, or at least not hopped on board yet. With today’s bowling balls and their dynamically unbalanced cores, by flipping the ball around 180 degrees, a two-hander can get two distinctly different ball motions out of one bowling ball; much like the dodo bowler of the early 1900’s.

By strategically placing the core in relation to their PAP, if rolled in one direction that one ball could have a significant amount of flare potential but when turned around and rolled the other way, it could result in almost zero flare potential.

Note: Since the article was written in 2010, experimentation has continued and some two-handed players, or no-thumb players, have even used a drilling with three holes, increasing layout options for these players. Please refer to “Drilling Specifications” section of Equipment Specifications and Certifications Manual which can be accessed via USBC web site. Also, the USBC has added additional limitations to the ball rules of the 2016 US Open.

On the majority of bowling conditions, when side rotation is employed on the bowling ball, the amount of potential hook is directly related to flare potential. Flare is what enables the bowling ball to track over a fresh surface every revolution which increases the amount of friction between the ball surface and the lane surface.

The extreme amount of flare today’s weight blocks create is mainly what prohibits a bowler using a traditional grip from doing this. If two thumb holes were drilled into the ball, not only would it be difficult to statically balance out the ball and the core layout, the flaring action would eventually roll over one of the thumb holes. When the ball track rolls over such a large hole like most thumb holes, it can jump up off the lane causing unpredictable ball motion.

But a two-handed player does not use or need to drill a thumb hole and therefore could drill their finger holes in the middle of the CG and rotate the core as they see fit. When not drilling a thumb hole into a ball, all the player has to do is satisfy the ‘one ounce in any direction limitation’ set forth by the WTBA , the world governing body of tenpin bowling. The UBSC recently changed their balance rules for bowling balls drilled without a thumb hole and now allow up to three ounces top or bottom weight.

In events that limit players to the number of balls they are allowed to check in for competition, like the WTBA World and Zone Championships, this technique could prove to be particularly advantageous over players relegated to using a thumb hole, or not having the ability to turn the ball around 180 degrees. If done strategically, that 6 ball limitation could become 12 balls for the two-hander. Players using thumb holes do not have this option.

In the early 1900’s, even though there was a clear advantage to use a dodo ball, it was not that popular during those years for two reasons; the dodo ball was difficult to control and there was a strong desire by the ABC to bring ‘fair standard conditions’ to the game.¹

As previously mentioned in my “I’ve been thinking too” article, the modern high tech bowling ball, when used on flatter oil patterns, is also extremely difficult to control and very unpredictable for the less skilled. This volatility is why blocked lane conditions are favored by the majority of bowlers.

Simply put, with the highly sensitive and frictional bowling environment of today, blocked lane conditions are more predictable and therefore just more enjoyable for most bowlers.

Perhaps the two-handed game will also remain a technique for very few since that style is also “difficult to master” and an extreme departure from the style so many have already learned.

As far the game today having ‘fair standard conditions’, like the dodo bowlers of the early 1900’s could do with dodo balls, so can two-handed bowlers with the modern ball. And that contradicts the founding fathers decision that “all bowling balls must be evenly balanced.” A component to the game they felt was necessary in order to have “fair standard conditions.”

¹Bowling Magazine – November 1960 – Dizzy Doings of the Dodo

Bowling Bedlam - The Lane

The playing environment of bowling today may be as complex, unpredictable, and chaotic as any time in the history of the game. We’re not talking about the recreational league or club game where the participants just want to have fun, and the conditions are designed as such. We’re talking about professionally maintained and controlled tournament environments where bowling sports people compete.

It is in this type of sporting environment, along with the basic premise of playing well physically and mentally, that the decisions the modem player makes will ultimately determine whether they perform up to their expectations or have to wait until the next event comes around.

The players of today have to choose how to execute their delivery using which type of bowling ball, with which layout, with what surface preparation, on what lane surface, with what lane characteristic, on which oil pattern, and following what group of players. The player must also change this strategy rapidly and often during any specific round of play or throughout the course of an event.

This series of articles will try to shed some light on many of the variables in the current game of bowling and why the players of today need to be very open minded and aware of the total environment at all times when competing. The supplied information is all in the quest of understanding and to increase performance, not to create excuses.

The Lane

There is no question bowling balls of today are more frictional, hook more, and cover more area across the lane as it travels from the foul line to the pins. The modern core designs and coverstock compositions create more friction, which also makes the bowling ball more responsive to all the different variables that make up the playing environment.

There are different types of plastic film coated wood lanes which are the softest lane surfaces. There are wood lane surfaces coated different types of urethane which are the next hardest lane surfaces. The hardest and most common lane surfaces around the world now are synthetic lanes, with many different installation and friction characteristics.

We won’t get to deep into the specific manufactured hardness, friction, or wear properties of synthetic lanes, but keep in mind that all manufactured synthetic lane surfaces are different and how those surfaces wear from use is also not equal.

The USBC has performed studies that show some modern synthetic lane surfaces score best when brand new, some score better after a few years, peak, and then begin to score worse, while other surfaces score higher as wear and friction increases.

In regard to topography, the sanding techniques on wood lanes make those lanes much flatter than that of the installation of multiple synthetic panels. When a particular bowling center employed a strict resurfacing program, with skilled resurfacers, all the lanes in the bowling center was of high-quality and fairly consistent.

It is therefore a fair statement to say that wood lanes that are consistently resurfaced, screened, and re-coated on a consistent basis are more level than the synthetic bowling lanes of today.

One might think the contrary when only thinking about the synthetic panel itself. But when multiple panels are attached in sections on top of structures made up of other wood components, and more often than not on top of older wood foundations, it is easy to see the challenge for consistent levelness across a center using synthetic overlays. But it’s not impossible to achieve.

The current lane specification rules were written in 1937 by the American Bowling Congress, for wood lanes. The basics of the rule are the entire lane must be less level within plus or minus 40/1000 of an inch to be certified and approved for sanctioned play. The idea was that any groove deeper than the specification would allow too much guidance, or path correction, of the bowling ball after it was released by the bowler.

These level number limits also apply to crowns (hills), depressions (valleys), crosswise tilts, and lengthwise levelness. Surprisingly, only recently has the lengthwise level specification been added into the rules. The 40/1000 inch specification now reads “over 42 inches in any direction”, but only for new installations or centers that are changing from wood lane surfaces to synthetic overlays.

However, the overwhelmingly majority of the lanes are still inspected and passed by inspecting the lanes at only three predetermined points. These three inspection points are at a distance from the foul line between 10’-15’, 30’-40’ and 50’-55’. It is of course at these predetermined inspection areas installers of synthetic lanes pay most attention to.

Of course there are some very good installations and installers of synthetic lanes today but the reality is, installations are only as good as the time and care that is taken on a particular installation. Since the advent of synthetic lanes, achieving consistent levelness throughout a bowling center is a very difficult painstaking task and the tools and technology to level lanes in a more efficient manner have not been available. (Note: The recent invention of the Kegel Portable LaneMapper has made this process more efficient and attainable.)

Long time laneman and former PBA Lane Maintenance Director Len Nicholson states, “I’ve seen synthetics installed in 4-6-hours and they were legal according to the Sanctioning Body. This was in bowling centers that were changing over to synthetic overlays after their wood surfaces have reached their life limit. However, when the arena settings started on the PBA Tour and companies like AMF and Brunswick wanted to showcase their synthetic lanes, it would take them up to two days to get them as perfect as they could. And they were using their best installers performing the job on only four lanes!”

As the bowling ball travels down the synthetic lanes of today, it has to go slightly uphill sometimes, and then downhill at other times. The ball encounters random patterns of hills, valleys, and it encounters microscopic frictional differences, all without any uniformity.

By performing tests at the Kegel Training Center’s adjustable lanes in 1999 with top PBA professionals such as Parker Bohn III, Brian Voss and Jason Couch, it was proving that as little as 20/1000 of an inch, or 25 percent of the allowable tolerances, will affect the path and reaction of today’s highly responsive bowling balls.

These seemingly minute irregularities can cause a ball to increase its footprint which increases the friction between the ball and the lane. This will make the ball slow down more therefore increasing the hook potential. These topographical irregularities may also decrease the footprint between the ball and the lane which causes less friction. This makes the ball slow down less therefore decreasing the hook potential.

These random irregularities can make your intended shot possibly either hit the pocket heavy, light or in extreme cases even miss the pocket entirely.

When oil patterns that are designed to play more towards the outside portion of the lane are applied to bowling lanes which are predominantly crowned on the outside boards, it is difficult for the bowling ball to hook back into the pocket. Most short oil patterns are designed this way, and crowned lanes can make those patterns more difficult. However on longer oil patterns, or patterns designed to play more towards the inside portion of the lane, crowned lanes can sometime act like hold area which can increase mistake area.

On the other hand, bowling lanes that are depressed from the edge board can act like a race track with high banked turns on short oil patterns. The highest scoring lanes for short oil patterns are when lane topography is either slightly depressed or flat.

On long patterns however, depressions can take away hold area and make a long pattern more difficult since the ball will have a tendency to hook more. That is unless the player is on the other side of the depression. Then a depressed lane acts like that same banked race track a depression gives a player on a short pattern.

Unfortunately, rarely do synthetic lanes have a consistent character with regard to topography which makes it a challenge for both the players and the laneman.

For tournament players, depending on what lane a player begins their round on, these lane differences may determine a player’s equipment choice for the day or even where to play with no likeness of another. These choices can and often will cause the oil pattern to change in a different manner from day to day, squad to squad, pair to pair and even lane to lane.

A scenario often seen in leagues and tournaments throughout the world is when there are perceived differences in ball reaction, total blame is put on the oil condition when in fact most times it is the difference in the topography, surface friction of the lanes, or even the bowler themselves.

The below picture show a real world example of two lanes that make up a pair in a sanctioned bowling center.

The left lane of the pair is within specification, plus or minus 40/1000 inch, at most points throughout the lane. The right lane however has historically played notably different than its companion.

In this case, because of the extreme depression in the head area, and the excessive crowns in the mid lane and break point area of the lane, the right lane has always played considerably tighter. Basically the bowling ball is falling off the mountain in the midlane and then trying to climb the mountain as it begins it move towards the pocket. The depression in the head area also causes the ball to 'burn up' earlier which causes less back end movement. The players in this center say they are always lined up 4-5 boards different between these two lanes with the ball hooking much less on the right lane.

Take notice the points on the right lane that are within specification, which in this example are not many but only in the three aforementioned inspection areas. The left lane is also most level in those same three inspection areas.

Kegel has measured 1000’s of lanes and studied the scores of many different tournaments they have been associated with. They have found these topographical and frictional differences are the reason those “mystery pairs” tend to show up at bowling centers. It’s not always that those lanes or pairs are bad or out of specification and sometimes that one lane or those mystery pairs are actually flatter than all the other lanes. What makes them challenging is they are different than the others and players are trying to adjust to that one different lane off of all the others.

With all other things being equal, low scoring centers or tournaments are more about the lane surfaces throughout center being very irregular from lane to lane, while higher scoring can be more about the lane surface being very consistent from lane to lane.

In short, when centers have consistent topographical features from lane to lane, fewer adjustments from the players are needed.

Nicholson tells of an example from the PBA Tour at The Showboat in Las Vegas; “The TV Pair always played weird. The great PBA players always had problems. Scores on that pair were never up to par and eventually they changed the TV pair.”

If there is one thing you can take from this article, is to look at bowling lanes individually with each having their own unique characteristics. Don’t look upon a pair of lanes as both being the same or adjust to one lane in a pair off of the other lane unless you notice a specific trend in the center.

The balance between caring for the playing environment and it participants from the monetary pressures is one of bowling's sanctioning bodies’ greatest challenges. Our recreational fads will come and go with having to be continually reinvented to keep interest amongst those non-sporting customers. A healthy sport of bowling however will produce lifelong customers which every business person should want to create and sustain.