The Truth About Tournament Oil Patterns and Conversions
At Kegel we get many requests for converting oil patterns to and from different lane machine technologies. Sometimes it can be for a specific tournament pattern or it may be a named oil pattern. Although we fully realize the intent, we also know that there are many factors other than the oil pattern that determine ball motion, and how easy or difficult lanes play.
One technical reason some oil patterns cannot be converted is simply because some lane machines do not have the capability to apply an oil pattern exactly like the machine it was made for. A few of the new longer Landmark Patterns are good examples as these patterns were designed specifically for the FLEX lane machine.
For example, the Eiffel Tower is a 48 foot Sport pattern and with the variable buffer speed upgrade feature the FLEX has, the last seven feet utilizes a buffer speed of 200 rpm which applies a very light film of conditioner in this zone. If a lane machine does not have the variable buff option the buffer will be rotating at 500 rpm, and apply more conditioner to that zone, making the pattern play much tighter that it was intended to play. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun if applied with other lane machine technology or the pattern will be terrible, it just won’t “play the same”.
However, even if the oil pattern is matched up perfectly from one technology to the next, there can still be differences in types of conditioners used, cleaner type, cleaner dilution, lane surface friction, and lane surface topography. Even bowler differences (who you will follow at the tournament) from your home center to wherever that tournament pattern will be used at can have a huge impact.
For instance, some lane conditioners play slicker or allow the ball to pick up earlier than other conditioners, some conditioner’s carrydown affect ball motion more than other conditioners, and some lane cleaners leave more residue behind than others causing different amounts of back-end hook. The dilution ratio, the amount of cleaner to water mixture, also affects ball motion, especially at the back-end.
For lane surfaces, conditioned wood lanes tend to hook more and earlier than conditioned synthetic lanes. Higher textured synthetic lanes tend to have an “arcing” ball motion, while smoother synthetic lanes tend to be more “skid-snappy”.
When practicing on a tournament pattern at home, you may be all alone or with a small group with similar styles. We know in today’s bowling environment using today’s equipment, it doesn’t take very long to change that oil pattern into something else simply by rolling balls down the lane. Once at the tournament site however you will be following a much more diverse group of styles, which may very well transform that oil pattern into something different.
It’s not even uncommon for us to see the scoring pace change from different squads in the same tournament using the exact same oil pattern just by the style of bowlers on specific squads, or even by the type of bowling balls used by the participants on different squads!
Topography is also a huge variable when it comes to how a ball hooks (how a ball depletes energy) and how much it hooks. A portion of a lane sloped opposite the rotation of the ball will cause the ball to lose energy quickly, while a portion of a lane sloped with the rotation of the ball will cause the ball to lose energy slower. These slopes on the lane surface can also help the ball move more easily towards the pocket, or make it more difficult for the ball to move towards the pocket.
A textbook example of how lane surface and topography can affect scoring pace is from the 2014 and 2015 Teen Masters. In this event, many of the participants played both years, all players use the same type balls, the same oil and cleaner were used, and the long oil pattern was exactly the same both years, so we can discount all those variables.
However, in 2015, the event was held at a newer installation and the lanes are predominately shaped with a certain type topography that is known to produce high scores; the overall scoring pace was 20 pins higher in 2015 than in 2014 and an abnormal amount of 300 games were bowled. The 2015 environment also benefited some players more than others as averages between the two events were 40 pins higher per game in 2015 versus 2014, for certain styles of play.
Kegel has mapped thousands of bowling lanes around the world and we have yet to find two lanes that have the exact same measurements with regard to lengthwise tilts, crosstilts, crowns, and depressions. We also have yet to find a perfectly level lane. It could be said that bowling lanes are like finger prints; no two are the same.
Therefore, perfect and exact pattern oil patterns, or conversions, GUARANTEE that ball motion will be different at home versus where you will play on that pattern at whatever event you are going to.
A good coaching tip is to practice on a competitive type oil pattern that has a similar distance to the tournament pattern you will be bowling on. This type of preparation will help you to keep an open mind and to be flexible when you arrive at the tournament site. It is easy to get overly caught up in oil patterns with all the information and focus on oil patterns today. Unfortunately, more often than not, this closes the mind and shifts focus to “what should be” instead of “what might be”.
In conclusion, if you are practicing at home on a tournament oil pattern, and planning on competing or coaching in that tournament, take that oil pattern with a grain of salt and keep your mind open - very open. We can just about guarantee things will be different at the tournament site than at your home center.
2015 USBC Open Championship Oil Pattern Program Sheet
This month’s Inside Line feature article is about key items on the KEGEL FLEX program sheet of both the Team event and the Singles and Doubles event oil patterns for 2015 USBC Open Championships.
Oil Pattern Distance
Oil pattern distance is one of the main key items to look for on any program sheet. The distance tells us how much dry back-end area is within any one pattern and can give us a good idea of where to play on the lane, providing the lane surface is fairly neutral. Essentially, the shorter the oil pattern is, the farther towards the outside portion of the lane one should play, and the longer the oil pattern is, the farther inside a pattern might play. Of course there are other variables that can affect this theory; like the amount of conditioner on the outside portion of the lane, the shape (topography) of the lane surface, and the friction of the lane surface. However, knowing the distance of the oil pattern, and how it affects your particular style of play, can help you line up quicker than not knowing this important pattern detail.
The distance of the oil pattern can be found at the top left corner of the KEGEL FLEX program sheet.
Oil Per Board Value Number
The Oil Per Board value, found at the top right of the FLEX oil pattern program sheet, is the size of the oil stream in microliters - the higher the value, the larger the oil stream, and the larger the stream, the more conditioner is applied to the lane.
Number of 2-2 Loads
The Number of 2-2 loads can often be a measure of difficulty. Think about these loads as the base of the oil pattern and all loads inside of the 2-2 loads are the shape of the oil pattern. The more 2-2 loads the more difficult an oil pattern will play because once there is a certain amount of conditioner across the entire lane surface, the shape of the oil pattern becomes less relevant.
At this year’s Open Championships, the 2-2 loads make up 12.95 milliliters of the total volume of the 27.05 singles/doubles oil pattern and 14.80 milliliters of the total volume of the 26.90 milliliters team event pattern. In comparison, in most house patterns the 2-2 loads make up 3.7 milliliters of the total volume of the pattern which is in the 22 milliliter range.
The 2-2 loads are normally the first loads on the forward pass and the last load before the buff line in the reverse pass.
Buffer RPM
The FLEX lane machines in use at this year’s championship have four buffer speed options, which are noted on the program sheet by the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. Number 1 is what we call slow buff, and it has a speed of 100 RPM. Number 2 is medium buff and has a speed of 200 RPM. Number 3 buffs at 500 RPM and is the default speed that is used on previous models such as the Kustodian ION and Kustodian Walker. Number 4 is high buff and has a speed of 720 RPM. (Note: Individual FLEX owners can customize the buffer RPM settings for their needs, so you may see different numbers on different program sheets.)
The different buffer speeds on the FLEX allow us to do a couple things; one is it allows us to fine tune the front to back taper of the oil pattern without changing lane machine drive speeds. The other is it allows us to condition the lanes in less time by allowing us to apply more conditioner in the front part of the lane without slowing the machine down, as we would have to do in machines with single speed buffer motors.
In short, the faster the speed of the buffer brush, the more conditioner can be applied in any one section of the oil pattern. Conversely, the slower the speed of the buffer brush, less conditioner will be applied to the lane surface.
You will notice on this year’s championship patterns the choice of using buffer speed 4 in the front part of the oil pattern on both the forward and reverse pass of the pattern. Medium and slow buff is not used in this year’s patterns.
The Load Structure
As previously mentioned, once there is a certain amount of conditioner on the lane the load structure becomes less relevant. However, one thing to note this year compared to recent years, and a house pattern, is how none of the loads are “stacked up”. This means the inside load streams are spread out across the oil pattern which makes the pattern a simple blend, or crowned oil pattern (See graphics above).
Because of this type load structure there is not a defined oil line anywhere throughout either the Team or Doubles/Singles event patterns which places a premium on consistent shot making and accuracy. Only once bowling begins, and depletion takes place, can an oil line be developed if, and that is a big if, everyone plays in the same place from the beginning of practice to at least through the first few frames of game one. This is called “managing the oil pattern” in modern bowling vernacular.
This year’s USBC Open Championship should prove out to be one of the lower scoring championships in recent years simply because of the flatness of the patterns. However, it should also prove out to be one of the most competitive because when scores are lower, the gap between the higher scores and lower scores is much narrower.
In closing, if you have not already made the trip to El Paso, practice your spare game, have a good game plan with your teammates, and let your ball be your guide.
"Is Your Center Fundamentally Sound" The View from a Coach
As a coach that travels the country for a better part of the year, and walks into unfamiliar bowling centers on a weekly basis, I hope to shed some light on what a coach really sees in your center, and what you can do as a mechanic to help bring tournaments back to your center year after year. Sitting in a hotel room now writing this, many thoughts run through my mind about what the start of a tournament tomorrow will bring.
Walking though the doors tomorrow I will immediately walk over to our starting lanes. A quick glance of the lanes themselves will give me an idea of how the mechanic prides himself on his daily duties. The first things I will look at are the gutters (not because we will be in them all day), then approaches, and finally the first foot of the lane surface. You may be shaking your head by now, but take a second to think about something… Freshly dusted gutters tell me someone cares about their job and how their center looks to newly invited guests, as do approaches that are spotless, and the fact that someone took the time to clean the first foot of the lane that the machine can not clean.
As the pinsetters fire up for open practice, every lane my players bowl on, they check the foul lights. A foul can be the difference between winning a match or losing by a stick. Did the mechanic take the time to check and inspect every unit before competition started? Since our practice is 20 minutes across the house and followed by ten minutes on our starting pair, I take the first half of the open practice to write in my notebook taking notes on lanes that set pins off spot on full racks, pins that wobble on a 2nd ball cycle, other players that are having sliding issues and how this can affect my team during a tight match where a key spare needs to be made. Your goal as a mechanic is to never give me the right to use my pen.
My ears are trained as a mechanic myself, I don't want to hear multiple calls to the back, nor do I want multiple malfunctions to hinder our fast paced style of play. Bowling for 6 hours and being on our feet all day is long enough without the hassles of waiting for multiple stops on multiple lanes. Believe me when I say at the end of the day I hear all of the good and bad from a variety of coaches on how a center runs. Most coaches are bowlers, and bowlers don't understand the mechanical side of a pinsetter. They expect it to go up and down, return their ball, and work perfect every time they throw a ball. As a mechanic you should provide that experience to the people that are helping to pay your wages.
Take the time in the weeks prior to your event and check your pin spots. Go through a morning routine and reset all of your lanes using the reset button to make sure it works, and watch your racks to make sure all pins are set on spot on a first and second ball cycle. Turn the foul lights on and check them your self and correct any problems you may find. Check all of your hand dryers to make sure they work properly. This will cover most of the front-end things that we see as coaches and competitors, but take it a step further. Inspect your kickbacks for screw heads that may cause ball damage as well as your ball tracks and any transitions (nothing is worse than scoring well and having a screw head take out part of your thumb hole which takes that ball out of your line-up, been there and have the t-shirt). Make sure your parts inventory is stocked so one small part doesn't make a lane go black for the weekend. Go over your stop sheets and make hot lists to fix any minimal problems such as nagging 180 stops, ball returns, or dreaded blackouts. On the day of competition get to the center in time to clean your gutters, clean your approaches, and take pride in doing your lanes and cleaning that first foot that your reliable lane machine can't get to.
In a coaches eye, I don't want to use my notebook to document off spot pins or approach issues, I want to use it to record my moves and ball changes to better me through out my competition weekend. I want to spend my time focusing on my players and their games, not what I would have done as a mechanic to make things better. If I can spend my entire day focusing on how to make my players win, then your bowling center is fundamentally sound and you have the coach's approval.
Who do you follow? We're not talking about Twitter...
In previous Inside Line articles, we showed how oil pattern breakdown happens with today's high flaring bowling balls and how different styles of play can affect an oil pattern in different ways. In this article, we will show how different groups of players with similar styles can greatly affect an oil pattern by strategically "managing the oil pattern" during practice time and the first game, and the resulting scoring pace for all those that follow these skillful "pattern managers."
The scene was the Men's Team event second block on the WTBA Seoul oil pattern during the 2013 WTBA World Championships in Las Vegas. The WTBA rule for practice time for 5 person team event is 15 minutes, then all teams bowl 3 games moving lanes every game. This gives us about 4-5 games per lane by the time each team finishes the 3rd frame of game one.
Our testing and after tapes at many modern day events show that when players play a similar line each and every shot during this time on a fresh oil pattern, over 50 percent of the lane conditioner can be removed from that area throughout the ENTIRE length of the applied oil pattern. This is significant and something all competitive players and coaches must be aware of in today's game.
Here was a test showing how much conditioner was removed in the area of play after each 3 games:
The significance and rapid pattern change is so prevalent in today's game that some Federations even employ multiple coaches during championships- one coach on the lanes helping the players during competition, and another coach "scouting out" the pair of lanes they will be moving to. Just knowing how and where the teams are playing on the lanes in front them can give them valuable information and help them get lined up quicker. In championship events, this can be the difference between winning, losing, or not even getting a chance to win. This played out exactly this way during the 2013 World Championships this year in the men's division.
Here is a graphic of the Seoul oil pattern just before the men's second squad of team event took the lanes - the graphic is with the perspective of looking at the oil pattern from the pins, so the 10 pin side is the left side of the graphic. Also shown below are the Sport Bowling ratios at multiple tape distances before the players took to the lanes:
As a side note, the WTBA Seoul oil pattern is asymmetrical with more oil outside on the left side than the right side, hence the lower ratios on the left side. You may also notice that at 32' this pattern does not fall within the 3 to 1 ratio parameters, but Sport Bowling ratios only use 22' and 2' before the end of the pattern to calculate whether it meets USBC Sport Bowling requirements, and the WTBA does not have any ratio requirements.
During this second block of team play, with these pairs of lanes being right in front of the tournament office, I was able to watch and see how each of the teams on these pairs were breaking down the lanes during the 15 minutes of practice. While watching Puerto Rico and Brazil on 57-58 play more outside, and the teams on 55-56 play more inside, I was wondering how much an effect that might have on the teams coming to these pair of lanes in games 2 and 3, so I planned on taking after tapes as soon as the block was over. Little did I know at the time, the way the teams on 57-58 broke down that pair would help Team Finland make history.
After 15 minutes of practice and three 5-man team games (15 plus games per lane), here is what the Seoul pattern morphed into on lanes 55-56:
From looking at these after tapes, it is clear how deep inside the bowlers on this pair ended up playing the lanes, which all came from how the initial teams decided to play the lanes in practice and game 1.
Here are the after ratios of lanes 55-56, calculated the same way as before:
The ratios normally get lower up front as the oil pattern gets depleted from the middle of the lane. What makes scoring pace rise as players break down the oil pattern is when all balls come together towards the end part of the oil pattern, which raises the ratios from outside to the middle. In this example the ratios from the fresh oil pattern went from about 3:1 to 3.6:1 at 32 feet and from 2.9:1 to 3.8:1 at 37 feet. This is enough for world class players to increase the scoring pace, and this block was no exception.
Here is the resulting scoring pace of each team for each game of this particular block of games on lanes 55-56::
As you can see by game 3 that pair became more playable because of oil pattern development with both Team Denmark and Team Korea breaking the 1100 barrier. It took longer because of how deep the previous teams played that pair. The reason it took longer is because when teams start in the deeper amount of oil, it takes longer for the ball to reach the "spark point", or in other words, break down the oil pattern enough for the ball to poke through the oil film and get to the lane surface. Once the ball sees the lane surface, it also sees friction. The earlier the ball sees friction within the oil pattern, the easier that pattern becomes because left of that is the created oil line.
And now the pair of lanes where the Seoul pattern was changed into something else, which helped Team Finland make history. The mutated Seoul oil pattern on lanes 57-58:
From looking at these after tapes, it is clear how much more outside the bowlers on this pair ended up playing the lanes, which also was decided because of how the initial teams decided to play the lanes in practice and game 1.
Here are the after ratios of this pair, calculated the same way as before:
While lanes 55-56 went to 3.6 and 3.8 to 1 towards the end of the oil pattern, the players on lanes 57-58 took the ratios to 5.2 and 5.6 to 1! This is borderline what many house shots are in today's game, but like I said before, most of the change happens within practice and the beginning of game one.
Here is the resulting scoring pace on lanes 57-58 of each team for each game during this block of games:
As you can see by the team game total scores, the teams that were fortunate enough to follow Puerto Rico and Brazil benefited greatly, but none more than Team Finland. This second team game with a score of 1225, along with the momentum that gave them and another 1200 plus score in game 3, catapulted them into the Team finals. After winning their semi-final match they defeated Team USA in the finals for the first team Gold medal for Finland in 30 years.
Fortunately, during this championship we also had available Kegel's LaneMap Guide of Sunset Station which shows the gravity influence on the ball based upon topography so we were able to see if one pair was significantly different causing that to be the reason for higher scores this block on 57-58, but that proved to be not the case, as the below graphic will clearly show. Both pairs have very similar characteristics.
Finally, one more look an after bowling graphic of both patterns and the resulting ratios side by side:
A well renowned Kegel laneman and now National Team Coach for Indonesia, John Forst, had a saying; "the applied oil pattern is only the pattern until the bowlers start bowling on it. After that, they are the ones that decide what happens, not the laneman."
In today's vernacular, the Seoul oil pattern, or any other named oil pattern for that matter, is only the intended pattern until players start rolling balls over it, and then that named pattern becomes something else. Some players can turn it into Easy Street, and some can turn it into the Highway to Hell. Keep your fingers crossed you follow players that can turn things into Easy Street.
Understanding 3 Point Targeting with Quiet Eye in 7 Easy Steps
By Rick Wiltse, Coach at the Kegel Training Center
In the history of bowling there have been many methods to allow bowlers to accurately roll a bowling ball from one point to another on a bowling lane. Probably the most common and easily recognizable target system has been the seven “arrows” that are placed between 12 and 15 feet past the foul line on most every lane in bowling. More specifically, the 2nd arrow on either side of the lane has become the most famous target for bowlers. In addition, bowlers have used pin bowling, spot bowling, area bowling, visualizing the ball path and breakpoint targeting.
All these targeting methods have been used with some measure of success, but none of these systems compare to the immediate improvement in accuracy and consistency that has been documented by using 3 Point Targeting and Quiet Eye.
At the Kegel Training Center, the coaching staff has been teaching this very effective targeting system called 3 Point Targeting with Quiet Eye. Although our research has proven that this system produces dramatic improvement almost immediately, it also has raised more questions by bowlers than any other area of bowling in my experience as a Kegel coach. In this article we will explore 7 Easy Steps to Understanding 3 Point Targeting with Quiet Eye and we will then answer some of the most common questions asked by our students at the Kegel Training Center. This process will hopefully give you a much better understanding of 3 Point Targeting with Quiet Eye which, in my opinion, is close to being a “magic bullet” in bowling.
Step 1 – How Long is the Oil Pattern - Find out the length of the oil pattern on the lanes where you will be bowling. This can be done by reading a program sheet or lane graph. You can also consult your local laneman or the center staff who may be able to tell you pattern length. If none of these methods work, you can roll a few slow speed practice shots and make an educated guess as to where the oil ends and the dry lane begins based on the hooking action of your ball.
Step 2 – The Formula PL Minus 31 - Take pattern length (PL) number and subtract 31. The result of this subtraction will give you the desired location of your bowling ball at the end of the oil on the pattern. For example, if the pattern length (PL) is 43, subtract 31 from 43 and the result will be 12. Board 12 (at 43 feet) is where your bowling ball should be to gain the most margin of error for this lane pattern.
Step 3 – The Focal Point - Look at board 12 at 43 feet down lane and draw a straight line to the pins. Pick out a part of the pin that most closely matches up with the line from board 12. Each pin will have 5 locations that may match the line.
1. Inside edge
2. Center
3. Outside edge
4. Inside base
5. Outside base
The pin location you selected for the 43 foot pattern should be the outside edge of the 3 pin (board 12) and this will be called your “Focal Point”.
Step 4 – The Visual Target - Now trace back from the outside edge of the 3 pin location along the line to board 12 and extend this line back to a visual target of your choice such as the arrows or dots. This location will be called your “Visual Target”.
Step 5 – Locate Your Starting Point on the Approach - Step up on the approach and align your body with the Focal Point and Visual Target by placing the inside edge of your slide foot 6 boards from the 12 board. In this example, that would place the inside of your slide foot on board 18. Now your body is properly positioned to swing the ball and roll it down board 12 toward the outside edge of the 3 pin. Achieving this trajectory will give you the most margin for error and the greatest chance to strike even if you miss your target on one side or the other.
Step 6 – Quiet Eye - Combine this targeting system with what we call “quiet eye”. To implement “quiet eye” simply focus on the “Focal Point” which in this case is the outside edge of the 3 pin for two full seconds – count in your mind 1001 – 1002. Then move your eyes smoothly from the focal point pin to the Visual Target at the arrows or dots. Again, focus on the Visual Target for two full seconds – a count of 1001 – 1002. Then take a breath, exhale and execute your delivery keeping your eyes on the Visual Target throughout your approach.
Step 7 – Drift and Shift - Note the position of your slide foot at the foul line and determine if you have any “Drift”. If so, adjust your starting position (based on the amount of drift) so that you will be sliding on the appropriate board at the foul line. In our example, you want to slide on board 18. If your drift causes you to slide 2 boards to the left (board 20), you will need to adjust your starting position on the approach 2 boards to the right (board 16) to compensate for your drift and slide on board 18. Finally, if you roll the ball down the intended target line and you don’t hit the pocket, you will need to make an adjustment or “Shift” such as a 2 and 1 move (2 boards with your feet and 1 board with your eyes) to hit the pocket. Continue to adjust as oil depletion occurs on the lane and your ball motion changes.
The Example below shows three focal points for short, medium, or long lane patterns, for both right and left-hand bowlers. Right-hand bowlers would focus on some part of the 10-pin for short patterns, a part of the 6-pin for medium patterns, or a part of the 3-pin for longer patterns. Left-hand bowlers would use the 7-pin, 4-pin, or 2-pin respectively.
Answering Questions About 3 Point Targeting with Quiet Eye
Question: Most students, who come to the Kegel Training Center, enter with a strong desire to get better and a willingness to try almost anything to improve their game. The exception to this willingness to try new techniques seems to appear most often when we ask a student to try a new targeting system. The comment is often heard, “But I’ve always used the 2nd arrow as my primary target”. The implied question is “Why should I change?”
Answer: The response to this question is simple. If you use a single point as a target such as the 2nd arrow, it is possible to roll a bowling ball across that target at an infinite number of angles – each time hitting the 2nd arrow, but each time the angle of the ball path will be different. In order to obtain consistency, two points are needed to create a straight line and a ball path with a single angle of travel. Thus, the use of at least two points for targeting increases accuracy and consistency to a degree well beyond the scattered outcomes of using a single point target.
Question: The 3 Point Targeting System begins with a simple mathematical calculation that we have termed pattern length minus 31 (PL – 31). For some bowlers who are feel players or who just don’t feel comfortable with math, this beginning calculation can be a roadblock to going further. The question for these bowlers becomes, “Why do I have to solve a math problem to bowl?”
Answer: The incentive to find out the lane pattern length by asking your local laneman or center staff or by consulting a program sheet is that by doing this simple subtraction problem you will gain the most margin for error. This means that every time you use this simple formula you will be able to miss your target left or right by the largest margin possible and still have a chance to hit the pocket and strike – not a bad incentive to go back to math class!
Question: The next question that we often hear is “How does PL-31 give me the most margin for error?”
Answer: If you examine the lane graph shown above you can see that outside board 12 there is a lower volume of oil on the lane. This means that if you miss your target to the outside, the ball will encounter less oil (more friction) and it will hook back toward the pocket.
The lane graph also shows that inside board 12 there is a larger volume of oil, thus if you miss your target to the inside, the ball will encounter more oil (less friction) and it will tend to “hold” its position and stay close to the pocket. In this way, the PL-31 formula insures that you have the most margin to miss your target and still hit the pocket and strike.
Question: So now let’s say that you’ve made it past PL-31. For example, you found out from the front desk staff that the house pattern is 40 feet long. You take the number 40 (which represents PL) and you correctly subtract 31. The result is 9. The next question is, “Now what do I do with this number 9?”
Answer: The number 9 represents the board on the lane that the ball should be on at the end of the 40 foot oil pattern in order to gain the most margin of error. Look down the lane to board 9 at approximately 40 feet keeping in mind that the lane is 60 feet long from the foul line to the head pin. From this point on board 9, draw an imaginary line to the pins and pick out part of a pin that corresponds to the imaginary line. In this case it will be the center of the 6 pin.
Then move your eyes smoothly back from the center of the 6 pin and a corresponding visual target of your choice (i.e. at the arrows; at the dots or at the foul line). This will allow you to select a starting position on the approach and to have two points of reference to guide your swing along the correct ball path to get the most margin of error.
In summary, 3 Point Targeting with Quiet Eye offers an effective method to increase your accuracy and consistency. Using the seven steps above, you should be able to obtain a clear understanding of how to practice this technique which will help take your game to the next level. For more information or to schedule a lesson, please contact the Kegel Training Center at: US Toll Free (800) 280-2695 or International +1 (863) 734 0200.
Oil Pattern Graphs: KOSI Composite Graphs
How many times have you gone to a bowling tournament, or even a bowling league, and seen a lane pattern graph and not known what in the world you were looking at? I was at a collegiate bowling tournament where lane graphs were given to the teams at check-in and I heard many a team trying to decipher what the lane graphs meant. Over and over, I heard teams trying to decide where to play based on the lane graph. It actually surprised me how many people didn’t know what to look for.
If you are like me, and I know there are many of you out there, when you look at a lane pattern graph, you don’t really know how to extract information from it. Basically, you’re just looking at a picture of a lane or worse, some lane tapes that might as well be written in an ancient language. To help you, I have consulted some of the top minds in pattern theory for a little lesson in how to read and understand the various types of lane graphs.
To begin, we must first understand that there are different types of lane graphs. Some are related to the lane machine program sheet and some are related to the actual oil pattern on the lane.
Calculated from the lane machine settings (the program that is entered into the lane machine), we have the overhead graph and the composite graph. From lane tape readings (taken directly off the lane from the oil itself), we might see the 3D graph or the 2D graph. Each of these graphs look different and provide different ‘views’ of the oil pattern, but ultimately they all give you the same basic information – the shape of the oil pattern.
Some of the information you should look for, regardless of the graph type, is pattern distance, pattern volume, inside/outside ratios (don’t get confused, we’ll discuss) and pattern shape. All of these things will provide clues about what to expect from the oil pattern.
Pattern distance tells you how long (or short) the lane pattern is; in other words, how far down the lane from the foul line the oil is applied. A short pattern will play much different than a long pattern simply because there is longer part of the dry lane to deal with.
Pattern volume tells you how much total oil is applied to the lane. It does not tell you where that volume is; only how much oil is there. The total volume of oil is measured in milliliters and per board values are measured in microliters.
When you see a graph with units as the value, it is a calculated measurement based upon the ultra violet additive (UV) that is mandated to be in each batch of lane oil. The UV additive allows the optical lane reader to “see” the oil. Units of oil should not be confused with volume of oil.
Ratios tell you the difference in the amount of oil from left to center and right to center. Pattern shape is the shape of the oil on the lane. Some examples of shape are top hat, block, Christmas tree, or flat.
The first type of graph we’ll study, the composite graph, is one that most people will see most often. The composite graph is also called a volume per board chart. The composite graph, shown below, gives us the total amount of forward and reverse oil that is applied to the lane. The total amount of applied oil is calculated based on the program that is entered into the lane machine.
In actuality, the composite graph shows us the amount of oil on each board. The best way to understand the composite graph is to imagine taking all of the oil that was applied to the lane, then drag it back to the foul line and stack it up. This would look like the composite graph.
Take a look at the composite graph example below.
Along the bottom, or the ‘x’ axis for you math people, you can see the lane boards labeled; board one on the left to 20 in the center to the one board on the right.
Along the side, or the ‘y’ axis, the amount of oil is measured in micro liters.
This particular example is the composite graph for Dead Man’s Curve, a Sport pattern in the Kegel Navigation Series. Sport Bowling uses ratios to describe (or define) the level of difficulty of a pattern; a lower ratio is more difficult than a higher ratio. The Sport Bowling ratio is defined as the average amount of oil (in units) between boards Left 18 to Right 18 divided by the average amount of oil (in units) between boards R3-R7 & L3-L7, respectively.
While this graph does NOT give us units, nor does it tell us exactly where the ratios are within the oil pattern, it is still a good reference. In this graph, we can see that there is about three times as much conditioner in the middle of program as there is on the left and right side of the program; a 3 to 1 ratio.
The chart area above the graph, which you may or may not see on a composite graph as it depends on how the graph was generated (which computer software program generated the graph), also gives information on ratios in different parts of the pattern program. It may be somewhat difficult to read in this example due to the size of the picture; however, some information about ratios around the track area is given.
The track area is generally defined around the 10-board on either side of the lane (typically a bowler will play the track on a house shot). In this example, ratios are given for outside the track (boards 3-7 on either side of the lane), middle track (boards 8-12 on either side) and inside track (boards 13-17 on either side). In general, the lower the ratio of the oil, the more difficult the pattern will be to play.
In this example, the inside track (boards 13-17) would be very difficult as it is basically flat with a 1:1 ratio whereas the outside track (boards 3-7) would be somewhat easier at a 3:1 ratio. To put the ratios into perspective, a house pattern might be 6:1 or even higher. A high ratio program, like many house patterns are, will give the bowler a defined “ridge” to play against within the oil pattern.
This difference can help you determine how best to play the lane. Don’t misconstrue that; the composite graph can give you an idea of how to play the lane, but a common misconception is that it can tell you where to play the lane. This isn’t always true since the topography of the lane surface can often be more dominant than the oil pattern.
The composite graph is more of an idea of how difficult, or how easy, the oil pattern may play. Again, generally the lower the ratio of conditioner from the inside to the outside, or the flatter the oil pattern, the more challenging the oil pattern will be.
The last things to note in this graph, and they may be difficult to read because of the graph size, are the pattern distance and pattern volume. In this particular example, the pattern distance is 43 feet and the total volume is 24.25 mL.
Since a lane is 60 feet from foul line to head pin, there is 17 feet of ‘dry lane’ after our 43 foot Dead Man’s Curve pattern. That basically means there is 17 feet of friction that the ball must move through before it hits the pins.
We hope this information has helped you understand how to read a Composite Graph. It is important to remember that the information is only as useful as your interpretation. The graph isn’t telling you where to play; it is only providing you with some information to help you make an informed decision regarding lane play.
Next time, we’ll see another type of graph, learn about how to read it, and extract useful information from it. Until then, Happy Bowling!
JJ’s Blog - 2012 PABCON Championships
Friday August 17th - Travel Day
The adventure to Las Vegas started with the alarm going off at 2am. I have a 6:40 am flight and it’s a one hour drive to Orlando International Airport, hence the early trip to the airport. I’ve got a short 45 minute connection in Memphis, so hopefully we won’t be late leaving Orlando. I got to the airport with no issues but the flight was a few minutes late and they said we were taking a route near Chattanooga because of storms to the south of Memphis which was going to add a few more minutes to the trip.
We were about 20 minutes late in Memphis but fortunately I made it. The flight to Vegas was good but since I had a tight connection I was worried my luggage wouldn’t make it. Fortunately it did make it. I was going to rent a car for the day since we didn’t have any team functions set and pick up some chocolate and cupcakes for the team. Also it worked out good since the room wasn’t ready to check into yet. My good friend Diandra Asbaty came with me and we started out with lunch at Spago at Caesars’ Palace. We then took a walk to the Palazzo to check out a cupcake place that is home of the World’s Most Expensive Cupcake at $750. Needless to say we didn’t get any, but we settled on a couple of their regular ones, haha.
After that we went back to Caesars to shop a little bit where Diandra bought a purse and I picked up more chocolate at Max Brenner’s. We then went to Crystals at City Center where I did a little shopping and bought a shirt and then we headed to Mad Hatter Cupcakes to pick up some cupcakes for the Team. This is a unique place in that the cupcake is already made and they put the filling and frosting as you order it. Basically they customize it however you like. I got a dozen for the Team the next day.
I dropped Diandra off back at Sunset Station and then went back to drop off the car and then hitched a ride with the shuttle driver who was taking Shannon Pluhowsky back to the hotel. After getting back to the hotel I went to the room where my roommate for the week Steve Smith was already there. Steve and I went to In-N-Out and had a burger and then went back to the room. I was out not too long after getting back to the room since my day started out pretty early.
Saturday August 18th - Unofficial Practice Day
I woke up at 6:30am (which is seriously sleeping in compared to waking up at 5am in Eastern Time Zone) and went with Steve to go to the breakfast buffet but the buffet didn’t open until 8am. Went back to the room and watched some TV until 8am rolled around and then did breakfast and then went to the bowl for practice with the Team at 10am.
Practice went pretty well. I had to spend some time opening up my thumbholes since my hand always seems to blow up when I come to Vegas. I threw it pretty well and felt pretty good. After practice Steve, Marshall Kent and I walked over for a burger at Carl’s Jr. After killing a little time there I went back to the room and ended out taking an unplanned nap, haha! At 6pm, a bunch of us went to Mimi’s Café to have a little bite to eat. Afterward I then went to another dinner celebrating Leanne Hulsenberg’s birthday at a Japanese steakhouse. After meeting more than my allotted 500 calories for dinner I headed back to the room and crashed. A pretty low key day, but after getting up a little early I was feeling pretty pooped. Need to make sure I head to the gym tomorrow morning to get back on the fitness trail.
Sunday August 19th - Official Practice Day
I woke up on my own at about 5:30am but didn’t get out of bed until about 6:00am. I decided to go to the gym since it’s been since Thursday since I last went. I normally go to the gym about 5 days a week when I’m home, so it’s about time to get back on it. I never like to do anything heavy when I have to bowl so it just consisted of about 15 minutes of cardio, some pull-ups, a lot of abdominal work and stretching. After about an hour in the gym I went back to the room, showered and got with Steve and went and had some breakfast. We have official practice at 10am so I wanted to make sure I go there early to get ready because I feel my hand blowing up again so I need to allow some extra time to open up some thumbholes.
Practice session went very well. The patterns that will be used will be the 34’ WTBA Stockholm and the 44’ WTBA London. Though they’ve changed these patterns slightly at the beginning of the year, they still maintain a lot of the same characteristics that they’ve had in the past. In my opinion they are both on the easier side of the WTBA patterns, though not the easiest.
On the short I had a good look with both of the urethane balls I brought, so I decided to check them both in. The Storm Natural flares a couple of inches while the 1992 Ebonite Nitro doesn’t flare at all. I feel the pattern is short enough and there is enough friction in the surface to where I think my long pattern balls will work if I need them. Since the volumes are higher on all of the WTBA patterns this year, I feel you can get away with stronger covers, especially when the oil moves down the lane from all of the urethane balls.
The long pattern played a little shorter than I had expected. I had a good look there as well. It was a little tougher for me to play closer to the track as the ball wanted to pick up a roll a little earlier than I had anticipated but I did have nice ball reaction around 22 swinging out to the 12-13-14 zone down the lane. Over the course of the hour and a half of practice the lanes held up pretty well in my opinion. I got into a good rhythm physically so I have no complaints. I decided to check in my Ebonite Maxim for spares along with the Storm IQ Tour, Ebonite Innovate and Columbia Omen. In WTBA Zone Championship competition you are only allowed to check in six bowling balls, so you have to be pretty good at making some guesses as to what you think you’re going to see.
I had lunch at Panda Express with Steve and my good friend Vernon Peterson who came out for the weekend and then went in to watch the girls practice. At 3:25pm we had the opening ceremonies which lasted about 45 minutes and then we went back to the room. At 6:00pm Steve and I met Stefanie Nation, Josie Earnest, Liz Johnson and USBC’s Matt Lawson to walk to dinner at Tony Roma’s. After that we came back to the hotel and relaxed. The girls bowl at 8am tomorrow so I want to make sure that I get plenty of rest as we start bowling for medals tomorrow at 1pm.
Monday August 20th - Singles Event
We bowled in the afternoon, so I was able to sleep in even though I was still up at 5:30am. I went to the gym to do a workout with Steve and then we went to the breakfast buffet at 7:30am. We watched the girls bowl for a couple of games, went back to shower and then had Subway before we bowled.
We were bowling on the short pattern for the Singles which was the 34’ WTBA Stockholm pattern. I figured scores would be pretty high and that I’d need to have at least 1370 to be even close for a medal. Practice session went ok, didn’t hit the pocket too much because I think that Natural I was using flared too much. I knew it was wrong when my first two frames went Greek Church/Miss the headpin. I switched to my other urethane ball the Nitroand moved a little more right and moved my eyes left to where I was a little more on top of it and then I reeled off a 7-bagger to pull a 247 out of it.
I shot 248 the next game and then 227 in game three so I was at +122 for 3. That was putting me about 4th place. I moved to the next pair and keep inching right and taking some hand out of it because the oil was getting pretty thick down the lane with all of the urethane balls plowing it down. The non-flaring Nitro was able to keep me on top of the dry without the ball over-hooking if I got it a little right quick. I shot 235 in game to put me +157.
In game 5 I started to lose ball reaction. The ball went a little long in the first frame for a 2-4-5 and I slid by wrapping the 2 around the 4. The next 4 frames went strike, stone-8, ring-10, 4-9. I now had 75 in the 5th and was in trouble. I felt like I needed to get the ball to go through the pins better to I decided to move 2 left and use more grip pressure. I reeled off a 5-bagger but in the 11th frame I came in light and left a paralyzer 5-pin. Needless to say I was a little naked after bowling a really good game with the exception of the first frame for only 214 - that put me at +171 and in about 7th place going into the last game.
I knew I needed at least 260 the last game to have any kind of chance at a medal because the scores were too high, even though I hadn’t looked at the scoreboard until the middle of game 5. I debated whether to throw resin the last game, but it didn’t look real good on my fill shot shooting the 5-pin. I decided I needed to stay with the stronger hand, but on that 5-pin it obviously didn’t go through the pins real well so I needed to do something to help it slow down - I decided I’d move another board left and soften the speed.
I started the game with a double and I knew right there by watching how the ball went through the pins that it was the right look. It was just a matter of me just getting it off of my hand after that. The next thing I knew I had the front 9! I had been inching a ½ a board about every 3 frames and I knew that I need to keep the hand pretty strong so I inched another ½ a board in the tenth and I threw it where I needed to but I missed it a pinch at the bottom and left fortunately only a 2-pin. I covered the spare and then tried to catch it a little more on the fill ball and left a 6-pin. I didn’t know where I was at because I finished about 3 frames ahead of a few of the people in front of me but I later found out that I won!
I was behind the leader Marcelo Suartz by 71 pins going into the last game but he only shot 181 the last game. I had a great feeling of relief and joy considering I wasn’t even near a medal 20 minutes ago. You always have to believe in yourself and never give up.
I was quite elated to say the least, but I was starving so I went with my roommate Steve Smith and Patrick Allen to Romano’s Macaroni Grill for an enjoyable dinner and then called it a night because I had to bowl early tomorrow in the Doubles with Steve at 8am.
Tuesday August 21st - Doubles Event
The alarm went off at 5:30am but actually I was up about an hour earlier. I had a hard time sleeping for some reason. I don’t know if it was the excitement of the Gold Medal yesterday or what but I was awake at 4:30am even though I didn’t get out of bed until the alarm went off. Showered and had breakfast with Steve at 6:30am as we had to bowl at 8am.
The Doubles was going to be on the Long pattern and I had a good look on it in the practice session but it wasn’t quite as good for the Doubles. I struggled shooting 167 the first game where I felt I was too far right. Then I switched balls and went farther in and shot 232. Then we went to the next pair and it was different enough where I lost my look and shot 179 with a late double. Tommy Jones came up to me and said that he thought I was too far left and needed to go straight through the fronts a little more and get more up the back of it and/or use more ball speed to keep it on-line. I think in retrospect that was the problem. I think I was a little too slow ball speed-wise and I moved left and used a weaker ball because of it. Steve was a little right of me but his ball speed was higher and he was bowling great. It’s frustrating when you don’t see the picture and you’re scoring terrible because of it while everyone else is striking. I’m still mad at myself as I type this for not seeing the picture soon enough.
Fortunately I saw it quickly enough to where I shot 716 the last three. The last game we made a run and I had the front 7 but I cut one off a pinch for a 3-6-10 and then I chopped it. Steve punched out from the 4th frame for 245 and I went flat-10 in the tenth for 245 as well. The good news was we snuck into a Silver medal but we lost the Gold by only 28 pins. I was feeling that 270+ game just like yesterday but I couldn’t milk two more frames of it. It was ok though because our teammates Bill O’Neill and Tommy Jones won the Gold and there is no shame finishing behind them. Steve bowled great as he was +283 alone for 6.
We went and grabbed some dinner with Josie and Stef at Buffalo Wild Wings across the street and called it a night. We had to bowl Trios at 9am so I wanted to get some sleep.
Wednesday August 22nd - Trios Event
I had trouble sleeping so I decided to head to the gym for a workout at 5:30am. After an hour workout and a shower, Steve and I went to breakfast at 7 and then headed down for the Trios. It was going to be me, Steve and Patrick Allen. I was really looking forward to it.
The day started off great as we were leading after 2 games with +203 but then we went to 5-6 and the left lane hooked a lot more and after a few splits we only shot 612. Thank goodness PA shot 258 that game. We bounced back with 686 in game 4 but then in game five, transition was starting to affect Patrick. The righties were getting pretty deep and we were starting to torch his lay-down area. He was bowling unbelievable up to that point as he was +180 after 4 games himself and the fourth game he went strike, stone 9, strike, stone 8, strike, ringing 7 and then off the sheet for 240. PA started to struggle and neither Steve nor I were able to help him much either as we were struggling with the transition as well. We shot 636 and 614 the last two to miss a medal by 40 pins. Not the best of days as we finished 5th and our other Trios team of Tommy, Bill and Marshall Kent finished 2nd.
Afterward it was me, Stef, Steve, Josie, PA, Liz, Diandra and Matt Lawson for dinner at the Italian restaurant at Sunset Station. Salmon and sautéed spinach it was for me. It was a well needed change after some of the chocolate I had that afternoon, haha! It was kind of a long day so I went back to the room, checked a little e-mail and then was out by 10pm. We had to bowl at 8am and breakfast was at 6:30am so I wanted to make sure I got some sleep.
Thursday August 23rd - The Big Daddy, Team Event
I woke up a little before the alarm went off at 5:30am and then after shower and breakfast headed down to the bowl. It was now the first day of Team event, the granddaddy of them all.
We were bowling on the short pattern today which was my best pattern by far. I had the trusty Blue Nitro ready to go. We were bowling well as a team and I had a really good look the first game. I actually started the game with the front 9 but going into the tenth frame I did something that I’ve never done in my life. I was trying to play around 5-6 at the arrows and get it to like 4-5 down the lane and I threw it in the gutter on the front 9! Doh! What made it worse was I left a 4 pin on the fill ball so I shot 258 the first game. It wasn’t as much the embarrassment that bothered me but the fact that I cost the team a potential 42 more pins that first game. We ended out shooting 1119 the first game which put us in 3rd.
We went to the next pair and the pair seemed the same as I started with the front 3 but then I got it a little right and it went 2-4-8-10. After getting 2 I threw a double and then went 4-6-7-9. I didn’t think I threw it that bad even though that lane was hooking a little more. I then went back on the right lane and went 2-4-8-10 again. At this point I didn’t know if I needed to throw resin and hook it but at the same time no one on the team was really crushing them with resin either so that made it even tougher to decide.
I decided to stay with the Nitro in the ninth and then left a 4-pin and converted. I tried my Omen in the tenth but threw a bad shot and left the 1-2-8 and I went to hook at the spare and managed to leave the 8 after making the 1-2 on the left. Stay hot! A three-bagger and a double for 169…..nice job. Needless to say I was a little livid at that point. We shot 1014 despite my sub-par performance but we lost ground to the field.
We went to the next pair and I talked with Tommy and Bill on what I felt like I needed to do. I watched Rolando Sebelen from the Dominican Republic shoot 260 on that pair hitting up on a Black Hammer and thought I might be able to do the same while getting slower. I tried that in the first frame and went 3-6-10 so that wasn’t a good idea. I made the spare and then I switched to and IQ Tour and threw it terrible for a Brooklyn 5-pin but made that spare. Steve had suggested trying that Innovate again since that’s what I used near the end of the Trios and lineage-wise they were getting to about the same point. I did that and managed to string a three-bagger and then came in light for a 4-pin on a shot that I missed a little at the bottom.
We were all starting to string strikes so we were feeling the momentum start to swing. We ended out shooting a huge 1184 the last game and I managed to punch out for 258. That put us in first by 45 pins going into the long pattern on Friday. It was nice to shoot a big game to help the Team the last game but at the same time I also felt a little bad because I left so many pins on the table those 14 frames in the middle. I have to say I don’t remember having that many strikes for 685 ever, haha! I’ll be bowling with the pacer team tomorrow on the long which frankly I think is the right call. The other guys definitely had a much better look on the long than I had this week and I’m sure they’ll do great as this is definitely their “money” pattern.
We went back to the room and changed clothes and went to Pizza Hut with Steve and his wife Christine who just flew in last night. After consuming way more than my 500 calorie allotment for lunch, I went back to the room to check some e-mail and then went to watch the girls finish out their team event. They shot 1185 and 1132 to finish out but they’re only leading Mexico by 14 pins. Mexico is bowling quite well. Liz shot 785 on the short to help power the team which was 100 pins better than the highest guy on our team. Great bowling Liz!
We then carpooled after bowling to eat at Claim Jumper with the Team and some of their spouses and friends. It was a really good way to end the night with about 20 of us enjoying a good meal. After that, it was off to bed. The girls bowl in the morning followed by the guys in the afternoon.
Friday August 24th - Team Event Day 2
We bowled in the afternoon, so I had some time to relax and watch the girls in the afternoon. We were bowling on the long pattern today and I was going to be the one bowling with the pacer team. My look on the long wasn’t quite as good as the other guys so I understood the decision, though I was excited to bowl because I bowled much better on it in the Trios.
Lucas Wiseman came up to me and said that since I was bowling on the pacer team that I was destined to shoot 750. Little did he know he was going to be correct. I started out great with a 258 game with a smash 7-pin in the middle. I managed to back it up with a 248 in game 2 and a 246 in game 3 for a 752 series. It was actually a well-bowled set which consisted of no open frames. I was quite a few pins short of the all-events medals but I knew that if I popped out a big set that all things were possible. I ended out missing the bronze medal in all-events by 3 pins. Oh well, I gave it a good run by punching out from the 7th frame of the last game.
As far as the Team event, we were pretty close after one but we shot a huge 1243 game in game 2. That gave us the lead by about 170 going into the last game which we managed to win. Yay, 2ndgold medal for me this tournament to go along with the silver medal I got in Doubles with Steve Smith. It was a good day. We ended out celebrating at the Sonoma Cellar Steakhouse at Sunset Station as a group where I had a nice meal of Sea Bass and Truffle Mac and Cheese. Nice way to end the night. Off to bed as the Masters starts at 8am tomorrow.
Saturday August 25th - The Masters
After the 6:30am breakfast it was off to the bowl for the Masters portion of the tournament. The top 24 bowled 6 more games and then cut to the top 8 for 7 games of match play with 20 bonus pins for a win. All pin fall carried over so I was in a good position to make it being in 4th.
The lanes were pretty much the same as they had been but they were a little tighter down the lane which isn’t unusual for a multiple re-oil tournament in its 6th day. Somehow I was making them a lot tougher than they really were shooting 185 and 178 the first two games opening in bowl 10thframes. It was a real comedy of errors. I was too slow on the left lane the first game and split twice and then I went to the next game and had the left lane figured out and then lost the right lane where I split twice and slipped and hit my ankle and threw it in the gutter in the 2nd frame. It was just an all-around disaster. After spotting the field 100 pins the first two games I finally got back on track and finished the block about +86, which was good considering I was -37 after two. That left me in fifth going into the round robin.
The round robin was kind of an up and down experience. I won my first two games shooting 245 and 225 but then I lost my next 3. Had a 279 game shot at my 246, nice draw ha-ha. I won against George Lambert IV in game 6 so my last game was against my teammate Tommy Jones. I had a good look starting out three-bagger, spare, spare, double but Tommy started with the front 6. I spared in the 8th frame but I was starting to lose my look as I thought I threw it really well in that frame for a 2-5. Tommy opened in the 8th and 9th so I had a chance to lock him out if I punched out. Mind you I didn’t know what I needed to get to the top 4, but I knew I needed to keep striking. I threw a horrible shot in the 9th for a 2-4-10, but made the split. I got up in the tenth and after coming in light I decided to stay in the same spot and just make a better shot but dead-yanked it left for a 3-6-10 spare. I still didn’t know what I needed but I knew I had to get all I could, but I chopped the spare to finish with 209. Tommy marked in the tenth to finish in the 220’s. I found out later I needed to beat Tommy for the bonus pins and/or strike on the first ball in the tenth and fill twenty. I ended out missing the medal round by 14 pins finishing in 5th place.
That was a hard one to take since I had my fate in my own hands and threw it terrible two frames in a row and missed a spare that I normally make quite regularly. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but like with all things in life I’ll learn from it even though it still bothers me as I type this. Me not finishing the tenth frame allowed George Lambert IV finish 4th in which he beat Tommy (who was the #1 seed) in a one game match and then went on to beat Puerto Rico’s Frankie Colon by shooting 300 in the final. It was fun to watch and I was very happy for George who I’ve known for many years. Overall, it was a very good tournament for me even though it had a very bitter ending. There’s always room for improvement and it was another good learning experience for me.
We had the banquet at Club Madrid inside the casino and it was a good time with teammates and friends. The lasagna was really good and I helped myself to a double portion of carrot cake ha-ha. I headed back to the room about 12:30am and had to take the 4am shuttle and I still had to pack so it was going to be a late one to say the least.
I made my flight and got home safely but it was a quick turnaround since I had to fly to Hong Kong the next morning as I now have to put my Kegel hat back on to oil lanes for the ABF Asian Championships. I want to thank Team USA and Kegel for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to be able to participate in the PABCON Championships and hopefully I’ll get to represent the USA in a tournament next year.
JJ
Breakdown and Carrydown - By The Numbers
In our last Inside Line feature article, Breakdown and Carrydown – Then and Now, we discussed the reasons why breakdown and carrydown are different today. For this edition’s feature article, we will add some data and visuals to support the previous article. The data was taken from the recently concluded European Bowling Tour Masters in Munich, Germany and it shows the same thing we often see in bowling tournaments today.
The event consisted of the top 16 men and women from the 2011 European Bowling Tour point list. On the men’s side there was a mix of styles; high rev players, medium rev players, and low rev players, with fourteen right-handed players and two left-handed players. On the women’s side there was also a good mix of styles, even though most fall into the medium to low rev rate category, with 15 right-handed players and one left-handed player.
The players on the men’s side were: Martin Larsen (RH), Mika Koivuniemi (RH), Karl Wahlgren (RH), Sean Rash (RH), Gery Verbruggen (LH), Dominic Barrett (RH), Perttu Jussila (RH), Syafiq Ridhwan (RH), Osku Palermaa (RH), Mik Stampe (RH), Paul Moor (LH), Dennis Eklund (RH), Jesper Agerbo (RH), Robert Andersson (RH), Thomas Larsen (RH), and Stuart Williams (RH).
The players on the women’s side were: Rebecka Larsen (RH), Clara Guerrero (RH), Mai Ginge Jensen (RH), Krista Pöllänen (RH), Nina Flack (RH), Patricia Luoto (RH), Wendy Kok (RH), Bianca Wiekeraad (LH), Britt Brøndsted (RH), Joline Persson-Planefors (RH), Jacqueline Sijore (RH), Zandra Aziela (RH), Lisanne Breeschoten (RH), Nicole Sanders (LH), Heidi Thorstensen (RH), Sascha Wedel (RH).
The Data and Graphics - Breakdown
The oil pattern used for the event was Kegel’s Navigation Sport Series pattern The Turnpike. This pattern is almost flat from the midlane to the end of the pattern because the forward application consists of only 2L-2R loads. The shape from the mid portion of the oil pattern to the foul line is built on the return pass.
Here is a graphic of the fresh oil pattern with tapes taken at 8’, 22’, 32’ and 39’ (left side of the graphic is the right side of lane, right side of graphic is left side of lane – you are looking at these graphs from the pins perspective):
As we have known for many years, apart from the type of equipment being used, how the oil pattern breaks down is dependent on where the players play on the lane. When styles or rev rates are more similar, players tend to play in a more similar area of the lane, causing a much different type of pattern breakdown than when styles and rev rates are more diverse.
During the EBT Masters, all blocks consisted of 6 games with four players per pair, which equals 12 games per lane, plus ten minutes of practice. In comparison, a five person league would be 15 games per lane, plus 10 minutes of practice.
Here is the graphic of the EBT Masters pattern after one block of play by the women:
Here is the same graphic of the men’s pattern breakdown after one block of play:
You can plainly see (I hope!) that the pattern breaks down significantly different when styles/rev rates are more similar versus when styles/rev rates are more diverse.
Here is a graphic of the before to after bowling between the men players and the women players at each tape distance, 8’, 22’, 32’ and 39’ (fresh oil is behind the after bowling tape):
This graphic clearly shows how the lower rev rate women players “cliff” the oil pattern much more than the men players simply because the women play in a more similar area.
But now comes the interesting part of this breakdown pictorial and data article – the numbers.
What we often track is the oil depletion in percentages from that of the fresh oil pattern. As you will see, the percentages match up to the above graphics. What might surprise you is how much each group depleted. Common thought is high rev players deplete much more conditioner than lower rev players, but is it really so?
Here is the depletion by percentage on the men’s side of the event, with the square boxed area being a guide to show where the greatest depletion took place:
As you can see, the men took off about 40 plus percent at each distance throughout the oil pattern. After about 4 games of play, the right-handed players and the left-handed players came together in the fronts (8 feet) from boards L10 to L15, causing the greater depletion numbers in that area.
Before that move left, the right-handed men players continually moved towards the inside portion of the lane in their lay down area, yet they were still playing to near the same exit part of this 41’ oil pattern, between boards R5 and R11.
So how many units were left in the oil pattern after play? And what area of the depletion caused them to move left?
Here is a graphic of the before, on the left side of the graphic, and after tape data, on the right side of the graphic:
As you can plainly see, at the 8 foot distance of the pattern, after 12 games plus practice there was still over 60 units of oil on the lane. Only when the left-handers and right-handers lay down point became similar did we see the 50 unit barrier get broken, and that was only on a couple boards.
As we pointed out in the last feature article, the depletion towards the end of the oil pattern is what causes players to move left in today’s game, not “the fronts”.
Now the depletion tape data in percentages from the women’s side of the event, and as before, the square boxed area is a guide to show where the greatest depletion took place:
As you can see, because the women’s styles are more similar, as well as their rev rates, this group tends to play in a tighter area of the lane. This causes more depletion than when everyone is spread out all over the lane.
If you notice, the greatest percentage of depletion is at the 32 foot mark. The reason is, for the women players, all shots are starting to come together at this distance and there is more oil in that area than the end of the pattern - more oil equals more change.
Now let’s look at the same graph of the tape data in units of a women’s block after 12 games:
As you can see by this data, the women actually erased more oil off the lane in their lay down area (8’ tape) than the men did, yet still not enough to make the ball hook early, or make them move left because “the fronts have gone away”. The end of the pattern however is once again, another story.
The women have “ganged up” on the exit point of the pattern causing the 10-12 units of fresh oil at 39 feet become 5-6 units by the end of play. At 32 feet, the fresh 25-26 units of oil became 8 units after bowling.
This back-to-front oil pattern breakdown is the cause of the players moving left, not the old school front-to-back oil pattern breakdown we used to have before bowling ball track flare became a dominant force.
Also, to give you an idea how much oil is left on the lane by each group at each tape distance after bowling, here is what the tape data showed as an average amount of units at each tape distance:
- The men players at 8’ had an average of 54.35 units left on the lane, at 22’ an average of 31.73 units, at 32’ an average of 19.93 units, and at 39’ an average of 9.84 units.
- The women players at 8’ had an average of 58.79 units left on the lane, at 22’ an average of 30.79 units, at 32’ an average of 18.60 units, and at 39’ and average of 9.40 units.
Carrydown Data
This next graph and data might surprise some people, although it will make perfect sense once explained. I have been watching this in action over the last few years and it is something as lanemen we have no control over.
During this event we took carrydown tapes of the men and we will show the same percentage graphic as before with an additional twist, the carrydown tape in units. We do this so you can plainly see the exit points within the oil pattern of both the right-handed and the left-handed players.
Here is the graphic with carrydown tape visual (left side is right side of lane, right side of graphic is left side of lane – you are still looking at these graphs from the pins perspective!):
Here is the data, depletion percentages plus carrydown in units of oil:
If we look at the blocks which show where both the left-handed and right-handed players played, you can plainly see how much carrydown is on the left side of the lane at the left-handers exit point of the pattern, yet not so much on the right-handers exit point. Why might you ask?
It is actually very simple once we think about it. We know that most spare balls in use today do not flare much, nor do they soak up oil like high flaring reactive resin strike balls that are in use today. So as right-handed players continually shoot spares on the left side of the lane, these non-flaring non-absorbent spare balls leave those long carrydown strips when they exit the oil pattern.
These ball types also do this when players are shooting spares on the right side of the lane, yet the carrydown tapes clearly do not show as much carry down at the end of the pattern.
The answer lies in the amount of high flaring balls going down the lane on the right side of the lane versus the left side of the lane.
Basically, the right-handers strike balls continually erase the carrydown left by the spare balls, but on the left side of the lane there is simply not enough high flaring absorbent balls going down the lane in that area to erase left side spare ball carrydown.
This lane condition change can be beneficial or detrimental to the left-hander. If these left side carrydown strips become dominate inside of target, like on patterns or conditions that allow the outside of the lane to play, it can give the left-hander hold area.
Yet if these spare ball carrydown strips become dominate left of target, or at their exit point, like many medium long or long patterns, it can result in a hang spot or reduced pin carry.
One more thing to be aware of with spare balls on today high volume oil patterns is how they can actually increase the amount of oil at the end of the oil pattern where high flaring balls are not traveling. We saw this happen often in the late 1980’s even where the traffic was when more aggressive coverstocks and larger core urethane balls were mostly in play. The end of the pattern after a couple blocks often had more oil on it than when fresh. It also shows up often in our after tapes in today’s game outside the track area (where most balls are being rolled), which can clearly be seen on the aforementioned data.
The reason for this today and back then is simple, by the mid to late 1980’s the amount of oil on the lane had to significantly increase in order to give the wood lane protection.
The by-product was more carrydown because more oil was being picked up by the ball in the fronts and re-deposited towards the end of the pattern and the dry back end.
This combination led to a great advantage after a few games by high rev big hook ball players as they could simply go around the carry down for return outside of target, and then the carrydown became hold area inside of target for this type player.
We see the same dominant style trend happening again today but for different reasons – this time it’s rapid depletion of the oil pattern from back to front and who can chase the oil inside of target on the lane the fastest.
Normally today, just like in the late 1980’s, it is often the high rev players who can create the largest margin of error and best angle for the best pin carry once the oil conditions are altered simply by bowling.
After reading all this you might be asking yourself what then is the best combination of ball versus lane versus oil that would minimize all this rapid lane condition change? That my friend is another article for another time…