The Beginning

The year was: 1956.

The place was: Hillsdale High School in San Mateo California

My first recollection of Billy Hardwick was that of disbelief. What a sight it was. He was a sophomore, a year behind me in school. He was all of 5’3” and weighed-in at exactly 99-pounds.

He came out and (tried out) for the Varsity football team. The Head Coach, Frank Collins, looked at him and said that he was too small to play, but since we were a new school and needed players, he told Billy that he could hold the blocking-bags during practice. He also told him that because of his size (or lack of it) that he wouldn’t be able to issue him a team uniform.

But, Billy had guts and said that he still wanted to play and practice with the team. It was a cold and rainy day in September. There he was in his ragged, old sweat-shirt, sweat-pants and wearing his tennis shoes. The shoes were those old “high-top” canvas style and the laces were tied around the tops about 4-times. His skinny, little ankles were way too small to fill-up the tops of the shoes and it looked like he was walking around with two small “sacks-of-potatoes” hanging off of the bottoms of his legs.

The practice field was very wet and muddy that day, and the first chance I had to block him and the big blocking-bag that he was trying to hold-up, I put a little bit of an “extra” effort into it. The poor little kid had no chance. He went slipping and sprawling and sliding before eventually ending up on his back in the middle of a huge mud puddle. On his way down, all you could see were arms and legs going in every direction as he tried in vain to maintain his balance. It was an absolute riot. Even all of the Coaches were laughing.

I intentionally humiliated him once again when I reached down to help him up and purposely stepped on his foot with my football cleats. He let out a scream and rolled over (face first) in the mud. Now, he was covered from head-to-toe in the sloppy quagmire. It was hilarious. Everybody there was howling. Everybody that is, except for Billy. Looking back though, I was probably a big “bully” for doing that to him. Even though he never said it, I am sure that he hated me for doing that to him.

Basically that was the end of his football career. He did go on to play on the basketball, baseball and cross-country teams. Despite his slight stature, he was a fierce competitor. As the years went by, he would eventually prove “that” to everybody. His burning desire that he possessed soon became evident when a new bowling center opened in our town and he was finally able to find (and master), his sport.

During that year we became the best of friends, and that friendship has been a close one for 6-decades. I owe him a lot from what he has taught me and the countless doors that he has helped me to open. We have (personally) endured a lot together and I have countless stories about him. I will be telling some of them here……at least the ones that are suitable for print!!!

History tells us that he did go on the Tour, twice becoming Bowler of the Year. He was voted in the top 20-players of all-time and inducted into both the ABC and PBA Halls of Fame.

Today, Billy is alive and well and owns a very successful bowling center in Memphis, Tennessee. I still see him now and then and occasionally talk with him on the phone. If you see him, tell him that I said hello.

By the way, he did pay me back. Yeah, he was the rotten egg that got me into bowling!

Bowling Bedlam - Oil

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 weekly league or club game where the participants just want to have fun. 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 both 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.

This is the second in a series of articles that 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.

Oil (Conditioner)

There are low viscosity oils and high viscosity oils. There are oils with different amounts of additives such as friction modifiers and flow agents for different types of lane machines. There are oils with varying surface tensions which help the oil bond to the lane surface.

Mineral oil is used in most lane conditioners as the base oil but over the years lane conditioner has evolved. Today's conditioners are now mixed with a percentage of specialized additives to increase the performance and durability of the conditioner.

All these different types of conditioners will make your bowling ball react differently on the lane. At the same time, different types of conditioner can make the same pattern play different.

If using a wick machine, some conditioners will flow through the wicks more than others making the same pattern settings apply a different pattern. With wick machines, temperature will affect the flow rate since temperature not only affects viscosity or the thickness of the conditioner, it will affect the size of the capillaries of the wicks as well.

If using spray type machinery, different conditioners will either peel off or hold onto the buffer brush more or less which can change the shape of any specific pattern even though the machine settings remain constant. Different lane surfaces will do the same thing so add that into the equation also.

There is a very good online article by Kegel's Chris Chartrand on lane conditioner (oil), "10 Things That Everyone Should Know about Lane Conditioners" which you can view by clicking on the title. Therefore we won't go into specific details on all conditioner properties but one thing we will touch base on is viscosity since the USBC has just made a new specification on this lane conditioner property.

The new viscosity rule the USBC has implemented "requires that lane conditioners used during USBC competition read between 12 and 81 centipoises at 70 degrees Fahrenheit." Centipoise (cps) is the standard unit of measurement for fluids and many lane oil manufactures will have this designated on their product.

Viscosity is very misunderstood in common bowling discussions. Most bowlers believe the higher the viscosity of oil, the "slicker" the bowling ball reacts to it. Actually the exact opposite happens.

By definition, viscosity is the measurement of internal friction of a fluid. The greater the amount of friction, the more force is required to move the fluid against itself which is called shear. Therefore the higher the viscosity, the more force it takes which increases friction. The lower the viscosity of oil, the less force it takes to shear which decreases friction.

In terms of a bowling ball rolling through these different oils, the higher the viscosity, the more resistance there is which makes the ball slow down more. When we get to the bowling ball portion of the series, we will spend more time on this subject but in short, friction is what makes the ball slow down and therefore enables it to hook.

Temperature is one of the biggest environmental factors in changing viscosity of a conditioner. So as the weather changes, so can the bowling conditions.

So what is the purpose of viscosity in lane oils? In short to provide durability to an oil pattern however, because of the many different additives being used in today's oils, viscosity is not as important as it once was in regard to lane maintenance. But as a bowler, you should be aware of how it relates to ball motion.

Oil Patterns

This subject of oil patterns is a difficult one and probably the most blamed and misunderstood subject in bowling. Lane conditioning rules have changed many times over the years and even today with the USBC 'three unit rule' or the USBC Sport Bowling rule in place, there are an infinite number of pattern combinations and ways to apply an oil pattern to the lane.

Kegel's Founder and CEO John Davis had a saying when he was entrusted in doing lanes over the years which goes something like this;

"Its 4 o'clock in the morning and the tournament starts at 8:00. You know if you do this; this might happen. But if you do something else, that might happen. So what are you going to do? Who do you call? Who can you call? You have to do something but there is no book. It is all up to you."

In these simple questions lies the major dilemma for every laneman at every bowling tournament in the world. Only after the tournament do they ever know if the job was socially acceptable or unacceptable. In simpler words, did the laneman do a good job or a bad job?

Of course the laneman might ask the same question to the bowlers; when trying to figure out the conditions, did the bowlers do a good job or a bad job?

2008 EYC - When Everything Comes Together

The 2008 ETBF European Youth Championships at famed Tali Bowl in Helsinki Finland showed what can happen in the modern bowling environment when all parts of the scoring environment are predictable and at a high level. During the Championships, 12 of 15 girls scoring records were broken and 11 of 15 boys scoring records were broken. There were also five 300 games during the Championships. However, the closer you look and dissect the possible reasons why those records were broken and scores were achieved, the less anyone should be surprised.

The Players

The youth players of Europe are more knowledgeable than ever and the overall level of coaching is at an all time high. Add to the fact that eastern European countries are increasing in participation numbers and they are treating bowling as a sport. Even world renowned coach Sid Allen has been attracted to Europe being hired as head coach of Latvia. This proved to be a great move on the Latvian Federations part as it helped them achieve the country’s first Gold Medals in Major Championship events. In fact Latvia won a total of five medals during the Championships, 1-Gold, 3-Silver and 1-Bronze. A fine testament to what a solid coaching program can bring to a Federation.

The Scandinavian countries have long been setting the standard in Europe by developing great player after great player. The Finns, Swedes, Norwegians and Danes all took medals in the boys divisions and from watching the youth competition at the 2008 EYC, the Scandinavian’s still are generating many great players.

But there are also some very good up and coming youth players from other parts of Europe because of solid coaching programs and Federation support. We should look forward to watching them in future European Championships and tournaments like the European Bowling Tour for many years to come.

Another item coming into place within Europe is increased equipment knowledge which is a huge part of being successful in the modern game. Until now and mostly because of language barriers, Europe as a whole has been behind the learning curve of countries where English is spoken or understood in high numbers. That however is changing and they are catching up fast as was evident by observing ball choices at this event.

The Lanes

But back to the environment, the scoring or playing environment that is. Tali Bowl is somewhat of an anomaly in the world of bowling. Built in 1972, the Finns might have known something very few knew, or at least practiced, about the installation of bowling lanes. Even after the replacement of the wood lanes to Pro Anvilane synthetic panels, all lanes at Tali Bowl consistently have a certain topographical characteristic and the key word here is “consistently.”

Many of the synthetic lanes we have checked over the years have showed very little regularity with regard to topography throughout any specific lane but not Tali Bowl, all lanes follow the same topographical features throughout the entire lane surface. When lanes are installed in as a consistent manner as they are at Tali Bowl, players have to adjust very little as they move across the center during any one block of bowling.

As Team Norway Coach Trond Syvertsen said, “Only thing we did, was not to move too much and keep the ball rolling forward.”

Just imagine not having to take one, two or even three frames to figure out how the next pair of lanes is playing in relation to the last pair and only having to concentrate on releasing the ball the same way. This adds a minimum of 10 pins to the scoring pace right off the bat.

As far as the specific topographical character of the lanes at Tali Bowl, lanes can be crowned, flat or depressed. But because it has been requested by Tali Bowl representatives to not make certain aspects of the installation public, here is how different types of topography act to a bowling ball.

Crowned lanes act like a banked curve that is falling away from the apex of the turn. You won’t see race tracks built this way but we do see many lane surfaces that are installed this way.

As the bowling ball travels towards the channel, crowned lanes decrease the pressure between the ball and the lane which also decreases friction. This decreased friction of the bowling ball keeps the ball from slowing down at the normal rate and therefore also decreases the hook potential of the bowling ball.

Basically, on a lane that is crowned the bowling bowl is rolling down a hill as it travels towards the channel and then has to climb a hill as it makes it moves towards the pocket. This topographical property also decreases pin carry because it lowers the entry angle of the bowling ball into the pocket.

Crowned lanes are also more sensitive to release variations or ‘mis-hits’ which can cause inconsistent ball motions for the less repetitious player. For right handed players, the 2-10 spare combination is a common leave on lanes that are crowned.

Flat lanes, or lanes that are in the plus or minus 10/1000 of an inch range, are very rare in synthetic lanes of today but there are actually a couple documented examples. One is the Kegel Training Center in Florida. The other is the bowling center that held the USBC 5 person team scoring record of 3905, Chacko’s Bowl in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. That record was broken in 2004 but Chacko’s is still the host to the USBC Men’s three player team series record of 2443. Flat lanes provide the most predictable ball motion for the greatest variety of styles.

Depressed lanes act like a high banked curve at a race track. Just like a banked curve helps a race car turn easier, depressed lanes help the bowling ball curve back to the pocket easier.

As the ball travels towards the channel, depressed lanes increase the pressure between the ball and the lane which also increases friction. This increased friction of the bowling ball helps the ball slow down and therefore hook into the pocket with more regularity. This not only helps with consistent ball motion, it also helps with pin carry because it increases the entry angle of the bowling ball into the pocket.

And last but certainly not least is the lengthwise levelness of bowling lanes. Lanes that predominantly go downhill from foul line to pin deck make the bowling ball slow down less and therefore decrease hook potential. Lanes that predominantly go uphill from foul line to pin deck make the bowling ball slow down more and therefore increase hook potential. As in crowns and depressions, flat lanes are the most predictable for most styles.

An example of how lengthwise level affects ball motion is a bowling center Kegel checked during their lane maintenance years on the PBA Tour. In this particular bowling center, the high end always played significantly tighter than the low end which had lanes that were added on after the initial installation.

After mapping the entire center, the difference was found to be in the lengthwise levelness of the lanes. All lanes in the high end went downhill almost two inches from foul line to pin deck. The lanes on the low end were relatively flat.

As stated in the opening paragraph of this section, the most important thing about a bowling center installation is “consistency” in lane levelness from the first lane to the last lane. For the bowling player, this gives the most predictable ball motion from lane to lane and that equals the highest scoring potential. If there is one thing we can say about the bowling lanes at Tali Bowl, they have very consistent topographical features from lane to lane.

The Pin Carry

Tali Bowl has long been known for good pin carry. The pins used during the 2008 EYC were Brunswick Max’s but it was not the pins that made the difference, it was the lane installation plus the entire pit area at Tali Bowl. The side boards (kickbacks) are tight, the pin decks are solid and the pin spotting was good.

The last 300 game bowled in European Youth Championship history in the boys division was, you guessed it, at Tali Bowl in 1994. The first and only 300 game by a European girl was last year in Thessaloniki Greece at another consistent lane installation but that bowling center has since closed down.

The Oil Pattern

Ah yes, the oil pattern. The one thing everyone likes to focus on because it is invisible and therefore open to discussion, controversy, interpretation or whatever analytical word one can come up with.

Being a mixed youth event that employed a single condition, the main goal for the 2008 EYC lane maintenance team was to provide a playing environment where many different bowling styles had a chance to succeed. In order for that to happen, it was important to provide an oil condition that complimented the lane surface.

The pattern used for the 2008 EYC was 39 feet in length as announced in Bulletin II. Standard procedure in ETBF Championship events is to announce only the distance based upon the pre-tournament inspection which is normally six to nine months in advance.

At the 2008 EYC, oil pattern information was transparently provided to the teams like never before. As usual the teams were provided the lane machine settings, the forward volume, reverse volume and the total volume of conditioner. However this time they were also provided with the front-to-back taper ratios and side-to-side ratios.

For all ratio readings, USBC Sport Bowling calculations were used which averages the unit amount of conditioner from boards 18L to 18R divided by the average unit amount from boards 3 to 7. Currently, USBC Sport Bowling has the only official guideline for competitive oil patterns in bowling and states side-to-side ratios must be 3:1 or less. The WTBA and ETBF do not have definite oil pattern specifications so the goal for the 2008 EYC was to hit the high side of the USBC Sport Bowling ratio parameters.

The front-to-back taper ratios at the 2008 EYC were 2.2:1 on the inside and 2.7:1 on the outside portion of the lane. This means in the front part of the pattern there is 2.2 and 2.7 times the amount of conditioner in those zones compared to the amount at the end of the pattern. A 3D visual of the oil pattern was also provided.

Also shown to the coaches and players were the side-to-side ratios from six different tape readings. The pattern ratios at the 2008 EYC were 2.5:1 at 6 feet, 2.9:1 at 14 feet, 3.0:1 at 22, 27 and 32 feet and 3.2:1 at 37 feet using USBC Sport Bowling calculations.

In comparison, the side-to-side ratios of the 2008 EYC pattern were the same as the 2007 PBA Greater Detroit Open and PBA Spartanburg Open. In those PBA events, the ratio at the end of the pattern was also 3.2:1 but all PBA tournaments must pass USBC Sport Bowling standards. Therefore, the 2008 EYC pattern also passes USBC Sport Bowling and was on the same difficulty level as those PBA patterns.

Conclusion

Too many people think scoring pace is all about the oil pattern. Of course the oil pattern can make the scores higher or lower but so do many other abovementioned areas of the playing field.

However, should we not just have some specific oil pattern parameters and let the scores be what they are? Bowling should not penalize a good installation and reward a bad installation because of a perceived perfect scoring pace and until now, that is what bowling has been doing.

The play and competition during the 2008 European Youth Championships was fantastic. There are many very talented youth players in Europe right now and all the record breakers and medalists should be very proud of their accomplishments because they earned it.

I also hope the players realize how lucky they were to be able to compete in an arena like Helsinki Finland’s Tali Bowl. It is arguably one of, if not the best, bowling arena in Europe. And the ETBF European Youth record book proves it.

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.

How to Practice - Two Ideas to Get the Most out of Your Game

One of the first keys to improving your bowling game is to practice properly. You know the old saying, “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.”

This is one good reason why it’s very important to work closely with a qualified teaching professional. A qualified bowling coach will determine what parts of your game need the most attention and give you specific drills, exercises and corrections that will help you raise your scores. No matter what level a player you are, trying to diagnose and correct the problems in your game without a “second set of eyes” is an invitation to trouble.

Here are a couple of guidelines to help you get the most out of your practice sessions. Follow them and you’ll find that practice will turn from an arduous regimen into a productive and even enjoyable journey of improvement.

Chart Your Game

Even though almost everyone realizes that during a practice session, the weakest areas of their game should be the one’s of your main focus, we tend to spend most of the practice time doing what we do best. A simple approach to determine what areas you should be working on is to keep a chart of your game. That is, during every league session or bowling outing, write down the following:

• How many times and what direction you missed the pocket (left, right, high, light).

• What single pins you seem to leave most often on pocket hits (strike percentage).

• What spares you leave.

• What spares you missed and how you missed the spare (left, right, chop).

• Each individual game score and the average of each game. (1st game average, 2nd game average, 3rd game average).

Do this for several leagues sessions or tournaments and you should see a distinctive pattern. From this information you will clearly see what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Develop a Plan for Practice

Here’s where working with a qualified bowling coach can really pay off in bowling higher scores. Once you have completed an accurate charting of your game, sit down with a knowledgeable coach and interpret the results. The instructor may see some specific trends in the results that are not apparent to you.

If your strike percentage is low, under 50 percent, then you may need to work on your ball roll, ball speed, or choice of equipment. If you are chopping the 6 off the 10, then you are probably hooking the ball too much at that spare. If you consistently miss your mark to the left, your timing may be too early. A professional teacher of the game can help you focus on the areas of your game that need the most attention.

When developing a practice schedule, keep in mind that the most effective practice is done over short periods of time versus spending hours throwing shot after shot at your local bowling center. A great time to practice is right after receiving a lesson because the thoughts and the feel you just learned are already fresh in your mind.

By following a structured practice regime, you will soon be on your way to higher scores with a better understanding of what makes your bowling game work.

I've Been Thinking too...

While surfing the World Wide Web recently, I came across a March 2007 Golf Digest Feature article by golfing great Jack Nicklaus and his “state of the game” thoughts about golf. Although many in the world of bowling may be tiring of the constant golf to bowling comparisons, while reading Nicklaus’ commentary I could not help but realize the similarities and challenges the two activities have in common.

Just like the game of bowling has the bowling ball versus the bowling pins versus the bowling lane condition debates, golf has the golf ball versus the golf club versus the golf course debates.

However, the question and debate in my mind is should a sport follow technology and let the activity develop from those new findings or should a sport lead technology so the activity is enhanced and not damaged by those new findings?

Allowing a sport to evolve out of whatever technological advancements come about is a philosophy any five year old kid can administer. Leading and limiting technology so it is by and large beneficial to the sport takes historical perspective of the activity, knowledge the current activity, and extreme foresight of what might become of the activity.

“Should a sport follow technology and let the activity develop from those new findings or should a sport lead technology so the activity is enhanced and not damaged by those new findings?”

I’ve been thinking...

Jack Nicklaus; “Removed from the competition, my life is very full. My business has never been more brisk, but I pay attention to the issues in golf. From a greater distance, I look at the game a bit differently and probably more accurately than when I was a competitor. Even though I don’t enjoy playing as much, I love the game, and I care about it. I’ve been thinking on a variety of the topics and issues in today’s game.”

In bowling we have had strong personalities like Bill Taylor, Len Nicholson, John Davis as well as great players like Brian Voss, Mark Roth, and Marshall Holman who have kept a discriminating eye on bowling throughout the years. These personalities have at times spoken out publicly because they also deeply care about the state of their game.

In the early 1980’s during the beginning of the urethane bowling ball days, the entire PBA Tournament Committee had the foresight of what might become when they unanimously voted to prohibit the use of these bowling balls on the PBA Tour. Their decision was overturned by the PBA Executive board, which was of course primarily made up of businessmen.

Like the PBA Tournament Committee, many of the warnings from these men in bowling were never heeded and many of their dire predictions have come true. Much like the game of golf should probably listen more to high level players such as Nicklaus and Palmer, maybe bowling should listen a little more closely to our sports people. After all they have been thinking, studying, and devoting their entire life to the game.

The modern professional game...

Jack Nicklaus; “The best golfers should be better today than the best golfers of yesterday. At the moment, I’m not sure that’s the case. I realize I’m an old fuddy-duddy, and that previous generations always say that their game was better. I guess I’d plead guilty—in part. But here’s the difference. The game in terms of equipment barely changed for 60 years. Then with the equipment revolution that began with metal club-heads in the ’80s and accelerated with dramatic ball technology in the late ’90s, the game changed radically.

The best players suddenly found themselves able to hit shots more easily and consistently, as well as pull off shots they never would have tried in the past. It made the game for elite players simpler and easier. As a result, I don’t care as much for today’s game as I did for the one played for most of my career. I like the old game of moving the ball both ways and using strategy with angles, and hitting all the clubs in the bag.”

How true the time-lines and thoughts Nicklaus states about golf are the same in bowling. The bowling ball was also essentially the same for almost 60 years! The equipment revolution started in the early 70’s with the advent of the soaker which launched the introduction of soft polyester and soft rubber bowling balls into the mix.

It was accelerated in 1980 with the introduction of the AMF Angle and urethane cover bowling balls. In 1991 the equipment revolution was shot to the moon with the advent of Reactive Resin™ additives into those urethane shells. Soon after came the widespread introduction of high differential cores creating this new phenomenon called track flare.

A few years later came the addition of particles added into the shell of the bowling ball which acted like metal spikes in motorcycle tires used in ice racing. The game of bowling changed radically.

Are the best bowlers today better than their predecessors? I am not so sure on a whole they are better, although they should be. With these new high tech balls, players suddenly found themselves able to throw shots with consistent and great amounts of back-end hook not even the most talented bowlers were able to do before.

Power players began to find they were always able to hook the ball which eliminated the need for finesse. Lower revolution players suddenly had the power of the great Mark Roth with these new type bowling balls. The pocket became wider and pins began toppling over on pocket hits that would have not had any chance to strike before the advent of this new type bowling ball.

Like Nicklaus, bowling players like Brian Voss and Marshal Holman also state they do not care as much for today’s bowling game. Many would be surprised at the length of the “off the record” list that feel the same. The game they grew up with, learned to love and played during most of their careers required much more finesse and physical manipulation of the bowling ball. For them using different hand positions, ball speed changes, and leverage variations to combat the bowling variables was much more rewarding.

Today, a player’s first choice of adjustment is trying a different bowling ball which more often than not, works better than using a different physical attribute.

Before bowling's equipment revolution, PBA Hall of Famer and long time PBA ball driller Larry Lichstein said that then “it was easy to see who the great players were since everyone was basically using the same type ball.”

Jack Nicklaus; “My greatest concern, because I believe it has the most effect on the most parts of the game, is the golf ball. I’d very much like to see the U.S. Golf Association and the R&A institute at least a 10-percent rollback in the distance the golf ball travels. I know the ruling bodies are looking at limits on equipment, including possibly reducing the size of driver club-heads and eliminating square grooves, but that’s treating an effect more than a cause. The desired results from such moves could be taken care of by a rollback in the ball. In fact, there would be much less need to limit equipment innovations that help amateurs play if the ball were rolled back.”

Just like Nicklaus believes the golf ball has the greatest effect on most parts of the golf game, many in bowling feel the same about the bowling ball. The bowling ball hits the pins, rolls across the lane surface, and rolls across the oil pattern. We know the ruling bodies of bowling are looking into such things like lane conditions and have instituted Sport Bowling along with the PBA Experience league option. They are also looking at the pins, the kickbacks, the oils, the cleaners, and the lane surfaces.

Many however feel those are just treating an effect more than the cause and the desired results could also be taken care of by further restricting the bowling ball. The rollback comparison in bowling balls would be eliminating track flare (minimizing Differential Rg) and eliminating porous and particle coverstock bowling balls.

In fact, if the bowling ball was not so absorbent, internally dynamic, or responsive to minute differences in friction, there would be much less need to limit oil patterns or pins.

Jack Nicklaus; “I don’t think a rollback should restrict an elite player’s options in customizing the golf ball he or she would play. It’s OK with me for, say, a player with a low ball flight to get some help by using a model of ball with a dimple pattern that creates a higher launch, or a guy whose angle into the ball generates an excess of spin getting a ball that spins less. In other words, I wouldn’t want to see every player having to use the same exact “tournament ball” picked out of a jar on the first tee. As long as players could keep the ball characteristics that best suit their games, I honestly believe it would take them only a few rounds to completely adjust to a rolled-back ball that doesn’t fly quite as far.”

This simply applies to bowling balls as well. A rollback bowling ball specification does not need to be one for all. A specification that makes it easier for the ball to spin a little sooner or later (low Rg versus high Rg) and a coverstock specification that allows slight surface adjustments without excessively changing an oil pattern so fast could easily give different styles of play options while keeping the equipment everyone uses similar.

Jack Nicklaus; “Although my main problem with the modern golf ball is what it’s doing to the game at the highest level of competition, I still don’t believe in instituting two sets of equipment rules: one for the elite player, and another for everyone else. From a practical perspective, such a structure would be very difficult to administrate. Perhaps more important, the notion that the rules are the same no matter what the skill level is as old as golf. It might be an illusion—the difference between the equipment pros use and what’s best for amateurs is increasing all the time—but it would be dangerous to tinker with such a fundamental tradition."

Employing one set of equipment specifications has been a fundamental part of the game of golf’s mandate. Bowling however has tinkered with different specifications for different levels of play for many years.

The USBC has a hardness rule of 72 on the durometer scale while the PBA for many years had a hardness rule of 75. The PBA now follows the USBC 72 hardness rule. Interesting to note is that all bowling balls the manufactures made with regard to hardness followed the PBA specification.

Another difference between the PBA and the USBC for many years was the extra hole specification. While the USBC has a maximum diameter size of 1 1/4”, the PBA for many years followed an unlimited extra hole size. Like the hardness rule, the PBA now follows the extra hole rule of the USBC.

Before adopting the USBC specifications, it does make one wonder why the PBA would have a tighter tolerance in hardness but have a looser tolerance in the extra hole specification.

Although I would personally prefer more similarity in the game of bowling from the recreational player to the elite player, bowling has already tinkered with such specification differences. Having different specifications for different levels of play (sport versus recreation) might be considered, but I only envision one bowling entity capable of doing this and that is the PBA.

Jack Nicklaus; “I have faith in the USGA and the R&A to get this thing right, but they need some prodding. A generation has gotten away from them already.”

Not much to be added here towards the USBC other than, isn’t that the truth! The USBC is bowling's only accredited and recognized testing facility so whatever specifications they decide, the other worldly organizations and federations will follow.

As far as generations getting away from bowling, one only has to look at the many high level bowling events throughout the world, and especially in the USA. The overall age of the participants is astoundingly high.

Jack Nicklaus; “What’s ironic is that nobody benefited more from the technology revolution than I did. I continued to play credible golf well into my 50s in large part because advancements in the ball and high-tech drivers allowed me to keep my distance. That wouldn’t have happened in the era of persimmon heads, heavy steel shafts and soft balata covers—I would have lost so much distance off the tee that I would have stopped playing much sooner.

Even today, when I barely play, I realize that the challenge of hitting the ball solid and straight—especially with a driver—is not what it was. I can go weeks and even months without hitting a ball—that’s often the case—and then after a few driver shots on the range, I’m hitting the ball fairly straight and far. I’ll play and might not miss many fairways. If I’d had that kind of a layoff 20 years ago, it would have taken me a month to get my golf game back.”

While I am far from a Jack Nicklaus or Earl Anthony caliber, last month I played 4 games with a group of friends after not bowling for almost a year. Using a Hammer Pearl Big Blue, I averaged over 250 with no practice balls. It was sick. When I was playing a lot and sharp I could release it many different ways to combat the playing field variables. Because of not playing and being as dull as a butter knife, I still release it many different ways, albeit not on purpose. The sad part is today when I hit the pocket using these high tech balls, it has a good chance of striking.

Jack Nicklaus; “So why do I think this is bad for the professional or competitive game? Because modern players don’t have to develop the skills they used to and are not as well-rounded as they should be.”

This one really only needs a “yea what he said!”

Jack Nicklaus; “But from what I see, the pro game has switched to where it’s about 80 percent power and 20 percent shot making. This is not an assault on the modern player. They’re playing the cards they were dealt, just like every generation before them. These guys are talented, and they work hard. They’re doing what works best with the equipment they’ve been given. But they don’t bend the ball very much because the modern golf ball is harder to curve and much easier to hit straight. They don’t have as many shots from the rough because square grooves allow them much more control from bad lies. They hit driver much harder because the ball goes so much straighter and because they’re not as worried about the rough, especially with a short iron or wedge in hand. Long-iron approach play has become almost a thing of the past."

Just replace “the modern golf ball is harder to curve and much easier to hit straight” with “the modern bowling ball is easier to curve and much harder to throw straight.” I guess that’s why most players of today need another relatively new term in bowling, a spare ball.

Golf course design… (Oil pattern design…)

Jack Nicklaus; “We have about 16,000 courses in the United States. Almost all of them are obsolete for tournament play. For them to become relevant, we need to roll back the ball about 40 yards. That or rebuild all the fairway bunkers at 300 yards. Which is what we’re doing, and it costs a fortune.

Instead of changing equipment, we’re changing golf courses. It’s great for my business. I’m making a living redoing my old courses. But the game should be able to go back to the classic courses just as they are. Why should we be changing all those golf courses? It’s ridiculous.”

This one is for the lanemen of the world. To quote a saying from John Davis and Len Nicholson, “You don’t need to be a laneman to know there are problems; you just need to be a laneman to know how big the problems are.”

Luckily for bowling we don’t have to retool the lanes all over the world, but just like most house patterns being used today, those oil patterns are now obsolete for tournament play. They once were not that much different. The patterns the PBA Tour and World Championships were very similar, or even the same, as what the weekly league bowler played on.

Much like the USBC Sport Bowling and the PBA Experience league idea, we’re changing the course too much instead of changing the equipment.

For house patterns to become relevant again, the ball must not react to a minimal amount of oil as it does today. Three units of oil on the lane is no match for the balls of today.

We could change the specification to ten units, until another breakthrough in ball technology makes that specification irrelevant. Then we could change it to seventeen units, until another technological breakthrough makes that specification irrelevant. I just wonder how long the “dog must keep chasing it's tail.”

Of course for companies that make and sell the chemicals that condition the lanes, the equipment revolution is great for their business. Stronger balls equal more oil needed on the lane, more oil equals more change in the condition, and more change equals more conditioning's for any competition or bowling center.

For the competitive bowler however playing on non-blocked lane conditions, equipment becomes much more of a factor in their success or failure. This is the reason during my tenure as PBA Player Services Director we drilled an average of 6,700 bowling balls per year.

This equipment factor will prove to be the biggest challenge for the PBA Experience league idea. Like the saying of today goes, “you can’t out bowl bad ball reaction”, so you either drill, or go home.

Of course for companies that make bowling balls, this is good for their business. Sport bowling players need a large arsenal to ensure competitiveness.

Jack Nicklaus; “Trying to build great courses today is more complicated than ever. I’ve decided it’s best to basically design for the enjoyment of the average golfer. That’s what works best for the owners, who are selling memberships and selling their land. I was once accused of designing courses that were too severe. A lot of that was because I was designing a lot of tournament courses. Creating a true challenge for the best professional players for one week of golf makes it too tough for the average player who is going to play it the rest of the year.”

Because of the highly responsive nature of today’s bowling balls, trying to build competitive oil patterns today is also more complicated than ever. This is the main reason proprietors all over the world began blocking their lanes for their weekly recreational customers in the first place.

By creating a definite oil line in the pattern, not only does this allow the weekly customers to stand in a consistent spot (the big dot) and allow them to play to the same area from week to week (the second arrow), it also does not require them to have the perfect ball setup to enjoy the game.

The issue to me has never been the blocked lanes on the league level. Those participants have worked all day at their job and the last thing most want to do is work hard again during their recreation time. The issue is bowling’s sanctioning body recognizes scoring achievements in this environment and rewards those high scores with gifts. This in turn legitimizes those playing conditions.

The health of the game ...

Jack Nicklaus; “I hope we’re not running people out of the game. As it has become an easier game to play for the pros, the trend toward more severe courses has made it harder for the amateur. In most cases, the farther the amateur is able to hit the ball, the farther the ball goes off line. The old average drive was in the 190-yard range, but now it’s more like 210 to 220. And on many of the newer courses, off line means searching for golf balls. It’s making the game slower, and a lot less fun."

Nicklaus’ observations of how the modern high tech golf equipment helps the golf professional much more than the amateur might be viewed as a slight contradiction for bowling. While the modern equipment does help the bowling professional greatly, it could be argued it helps the recreational player much more, at least on conditions that greatly guide the ball into the pocket.

Even Jeff Sluman, who is the best bowler on the PGA Tour and a standout youth bowling player, states “high-tech advancements have helped the average bowler a lot more than the average golfer.”

While I do think the PBA Experience idea is a good idea on the surface, I hope we are not running participants out of the game as well. It is quite clear that USBC’s Sport Bowling phase one was not a success. In fact, I predicted in its past 2:1 ratio structure it would become a failure. When the PBA Tour announced they were going to use the standard in 2001, I warned the PBA leaders as well to no avail. Sport Bowling 2:1 ratio parameters lasted three weeks on the PBA tour.

This is however where Nicklaus’ course comparison comes back full circle to bowling. From observing countless events all over the world, as oil patterns get flatter, the less skilled actually score worse with today’s high tech balls than they would with balanced balls. Because of the highly responsive nature of today’s bowling balls, mistakes are magnified and spare leaves become more difficult, which make the less skilled bowler become confused and dejected.

The Steve Miller quote that always stuck in my mind was “the game of bowling must be understandable and palatable to the consumer.” The consumer here is not just the spectator, it’s also the participant.

While in time the PBA Experience and USBC Sport Bowling might become understandable to the consumer, they must also become palatable to be a success.

Jack Nicklaus; “The game is more popular than ever among avid golfers with the income and leisure to play a lot, but most people have less free time than ever. The current generation of younger parents spends a lot more time supervising their kids than previous generations, and it means they find it harder to justify a weekend round of golf. Leaving for the course at 7 in the morning and coming back at 3 in the afternoon is a hard sell for a family man. But getting back in time for lunch wouldn’t be.

That’s why we should consider the possibility of making 12 holes a standard round. It might mean breaking up 18-hole facilities into three segments of six holes. Of course it would meet resistance, but eventually it would be accepted because it would make sense in people’s lives.”

Can we make a comparison to Nicklaus’ observations about leisure time and his proposes 12-hole round to 12-week leagues? You bet we can! Organized league play seasons have been way too long for most for a very long time.

While short term leagues and some outside of the box organized play may take more efforts by the bowling proprietors, it is something that must be done to preserve and rejuvenate the league aspect of bowling.

Jack Nicklaus; “Those who say that my comments are intended to help my course-design business are wrong. As a designer, I benefit financially from more land used, more renovations and more penal features. As for people thinking I favor a rollback in equipment because I don’t want Tiger to break my record, going back to older-style equipment would help, not hurt, Tiger because his skill level would make a bigger difference. If we took equipment back today, he might win 30 majors instead of 20. I’m more interested in the game of golf than in my records. I did what I could do in my time, and it was the best I could do. Now I just want what’s best for the game.”

Like many of the aforementioned people in this article, they are past their prime in earnings, titles, and accolades. Now they just want what is best for the game.

Golf and bowling; our activities are closer than you may want to believe...or want to admit.

Jack Nicklaus excerpts reprinted from the March 2007 Golf Digest Jack Nicklaus article by Jamie Diaz "I've been thinking…"

Original "I've been thinking too..." Column at Bowling Digital

Preparing for World Championship Events - The Short

Reprinted with permission from Bowling Digital

There have been a few articles written, seminars performed and many discussions or “concourse seminars” about how to train and play on the World Tenpin Bowling Association’s short and long oil patterns.

Federations, coaches and players throughout the world continually practice for these championship events but are they preparing correctly?

In August of 2007, the WTBA Women’s World Championship will be held in Mexico and in this article we will try to shed some light on some of the challenges slower ball speed players face and suggest an “outside of the box” approach to prepare for the short oil conditions.

We must understand and accept the fact that the majority of women players do not throw the ball as fast nor do they rev the ball up as much as the men players. Both of these playing characteristics have a tendency to make the bowling ball release energy too quick if the player is using a bowling ball that has a coverstock too aggressive or a core/layout that is too strong.

With the wide variety of available equipment on the market, it can be confusing as to which choice to make when deciding on what bowling ball to purchase or choose but there is one thing we should always keep in mind about the bowling game of today; “more is not always more” and actually many times “less is more.”

For slower ball speed players, mid-price performance balls may be a better choice than the high priced performance balls from many of the ball companies. Not all, but most of the ball companies tend to save or use there stronger reactive coverstocks and cores for the high end range of their product line.

Many of the mid-priced bowling balls are of the weaker variety with regard to coverstock and core. This however does not make those mid price balls less susceptible to knocking down pins and for slower ball speed players; they may very well be the better choice.

In times when bowling balls were not as aggressive as those of today, when a player left a “weak 10-pin” or a 5-pin on a seemingly good pocket hit, we knew exactly why the ball hit weak and more often than not it was because the ball was sliding too long or too much.

In today’s bowling game however, we have a relatively new occurrence of the bowling ball hitting weak by slowing down too early, or “burning up” as many like to call it.

If a bowling ball uses up all its energy before reaching the pins as it does in the above video, it becomes “dead on arrival”, or in scientific terms, the bowling ball has lost all of its axis rotation and tilt and rolls completely in the direction of its travel.

In today’s bowling environment, early loss of bowling ball energy or ball speed usually happens because the player has chosen a ball with a coverstock that is too aggressive for the lane conditions they are bowling on for their style of play.

It could be that the ball surface is too sanded (dull), the coverstock is particle or just an overly aggressive reactive cover is being used all causing the ball to grip the lane too much and too soon.

Bowling balls can also use energy too quick, or slow down too much, because the layout or core of the ball may be too aggressive for the playing conditions.

Remember, high differential cores are more unstable than low differential cores, and this unstableness causes track flare. When a high differential core ball is laid out in such a manner to maximize track flare potential, the bowling ball will have wider track ring separations exposing a greater amount of clean ball surface to the lane, which increases friction on the lane. The additional friction makes the ball slow down sooner and release energy at a faster rate.

When a bowling ball releases energy too soon, it will straighten out on the backend minimizing not only your room for error on the lane but also decreasing your pocket strike percentage.

On the PBA Tour, some of the more talented players may use bowling balls or layouts which “burn up” to control the excessive back end ball motion on short oil patterns. This practice however is not recommended and in fact, even most of the tour regulars stay away from using this intentional strategy. Chris Barnes is really good at that technique, but as you can see in the above video, it does not always work out.

Proper ball motion through the pins cannot be to strong nor can it be too weak. The bowling ball must lose speed in the proper way as it travels towards the pins.

A ball motion that is too strong through the pins or that does not slow down soon enough, may not deflect properly causing spare leaves like the solid-9, solid-8 or even the 4-9 split (right handed leaves).

If the motion is too weak, the bowling ball may deflect too much causing spares like the 8-10, weak-10, 5-pin or a combination thereof. The misunderstanding today however comes from the weak pin leaves.

If the bowling ball is sliding through the pins or never quite grips the lane, it will deflect more and “hit weak” with most of us knowing what to do in this situation.

If a ball uses all of its energy up too soon by grabbing the lane or releasing its energy too early, it will also deflect and leave many of the same spares as that of a ball that slides too much through the pins and that is where it can get confusing.

Finding that balance between releasing energy and slowing down too soon or too late is what all players and coaches should be looking for first and foremost when analyzing how the bowling ball is traveling towards the pins.

The only way however to get this education is by watching bowling balls go down the lane on sporting conditions --- and that means watching a lot of bowling balls go down the lane!

Without this ball motion knowledge and awareness in today’s bowling environment, a technical bowling coach is only half a coach.

Whether you use a bowling ball with the pin in a very weak position (pins closer or farther away from your PAP), a bowling ball with a weaker core (less differential) or a bowling ball with a less aggressive cover (weak reactive, urethane or polyester) to achieve proper ball motion on the short pattern is a little bit trial and error but closing the mind to available equipment options in today’s environment can and may very well be detrimental to your success.

Another challenge for players of today on the short oil patterns is that most players simply do not have or will not seek out the opportunity to practice this condition.

Unfortunately many of the bowling centers block their lanes at the ten-board because most house bowlers “just like to stand on the big dot and throw over the second arrow.”

This of course leaves the sport players in a predicament on preparing for world championship events. If a player, coach or federation can solicit a few local bowling center proprietors who are willing to help their sport players and national team members prepare for championship events, here are some practice procedures that will help to conquer the short patterns.

As we stated in previous articles, “The Long and the Short of It”, the short pattern requires a break point that is closer to you than most of the medium length patterns. The short patterns are usually conditioned anywhere from thirty-two to thirty-five feet in length which leaves almost half the lane without conditioner.

If there is no conditioner to guide the ball into the pocket, then we are either relying on carrydown of the players we are following, the topography of the lane surface or the differences in friction of the lane surface for our margin for error.

There is however conditioner on the first half of the lane which normally is extremely sloped on the short oil patterns. That is where a player will create their greatest margin of error so we must find a way to use that part of the lane in order to maximize our mistake area.

For a player to use the conditioned part of the lane, the bowling ball must react to the lane during the first thirty feet of it path towards the pins. This is not a ball motion the modern player is accustomed to.

Most players would rather see the bowling ball skid for forty feet and then hook sharply into the pocket. This looks impressive but it is not necessarily conducive to success in the long run and definitely not on the short oil patterns.

To get used to this early ball motion with continuation, I suggest a practice environment with less conditioner volume overall, a very short forward buff distance and then practice on this condition using only a polyester bowling ball!

In order to create this environment, we must first reduce the length of the pattern to the twenty-four to twenty-eight feet range. Then reduce the total volume of oil to the six to nine milliliter range. Finally, make the pattern fairly flat except for a large slope from the three board to the six board without any oil applied on the first and second boards, and maybe even not on the third board.

View and download the 'Short Plastic Practice 50 mic' oil pattern.

The reason for zero oil on the outside boards is because polyester coverstock bowling balls need “dry” to react on the gutter and for practice we want the players to be fearless of playing the one-two board. If the outside hangs, the players will move more inside and that is not what we want to get them comfortable playing the outside line.

Of course if a player does use a reactive based urethane ball on this condition, it will “bounce” off the gutter and they probably could stand farther left without negative consequences. A reactive based urethane ball will also destroy the condition too quick because of its porous characteristic.

By limiting everyone to polyester or even polished urethane bowling balls, you will create a repetitious practice environment that will breed the familiarity and reassurance we are trying to achieve.

For specific lane machines, contact the manufacture’s tech support department and they should be able to send you a pattern as a good starting point. You might also ask a bowling proprietor or mechanic to apply these conditions prior to their birthday party or glow bowling sessions since those customers do not use anything but polyester/urethane house balls and in reality, this “short oil-light volume condition” is best for those activities anyways.

This practice exercise will accomplish a few things:

1. This environment will get the players used to the ball motion needed on the short pattern. The polyester ball will look like it hooks sooner and then it will seem as though it straightens out on the backend. For the short pattern this is the ball motion we should be looking for.

2. This environment will force the players to get their sliding foot more towards the gutterso the ball will read the dry boards on the first and second board before the end of the oil pattern. If the sliding foot is too far inside, the ball will be in the oil too long and then skid directly into the gutter. Remember, most polyester balls have very low differential Rg values (low track flare potential) so the first couple revolutions will provide a continuous oil ring around the track area and the ball will not have time to dissipate that oil in the front part of the lane. When lined up correctly, the 3-5 board will become hold area if the players can hit the first and second board consistently and early enough.

3. This environment will force the player to align their swings with the path of the ball. If the swing path is too much inside-out, an extreme amount of gutter balls will also follow. The best and most versatile professionals use different swing paths for playing inside or outside lines.

Once this exercise has been practice a few times, obtain some recent past Championship patterns, apply them and start experimenting with different balls and layouts to see which combinations achieve a similar ball motion. You will soon see the short patterns are not that difficult to get comfortable with and your ball choices are not even that vast. You might even find the outside line is most enjoyable and becomes one of your favorite places to play.

From: James McGinty [mailto:james@teamstorm.com.au]
To: ted.thompson@kegel.net
Subject: Short Practice Pattern

Hi Ted,
 
Just thought I would let you know how the weekend went with our camp.
 
It was the final selection camp for the Women's worlds, and we had already narrowed the group down to 11 players for a 6 person team.  The challenge was to cut it back to 6 by the end of the weekend based on Physical performances (Fitness), on lanes performance and an interview and team suitability. We had a lot of work to do.

Saturday we had a skill testing session on lanes using a short pattern with the emphasis being on sparing.  To many of the girls surprise a lot of them missed plenty of spares due to their plastic balls hooking at the end, this was even after I warned them that they need to practise sparing with no side roll on the ball.  It takes evidence I guess to make them change.  We then had a session on playing short and long conditions and focused on ball reaction and the required shape, finishing with me showing them the short plastic pattern you gave me.

Saturday night we went back to the bowl and I laid the plastic pattern, the lane surface was AMF HPL, machine was an ION set for 50 mic stream and the oil was Prodigy and Fizzion wash.

I have to say that the pattern played exactly as I thought a typical short oil pattern would play, all but 2 of the girls could easily hook the ball with a ball reaction that mimicked a Urethane or similar ball reaction on a typical short pattern.  A few of the more skilled ladies were really ripping the rack, scouts flying everywhere, a couple of stone 9's etc.  None of them believed it was possible that they could do what they were doing.

We had them practice for 15 minutes then had them score 3 games with 4 girls a pair moving across the 3 pairs as we went.  The condition held up very well and all the girls commented that only small 1/2 board adjustments were required, with no one adjusting more than 2 boards (target or feet) over the 3 games.

The top 3 girls all were the girls with the higher skill levels, and they all had over 600 for the 3 games, the highest was 648 and I must say that she really played well, making fantastic adjustments with rotation and ball speed in order to get the ball roll correct.  The majority were in the mid to high 500's with the last 2 that I mentioned not managing to make it to 450.

In my opinion this is an essential exercise for any player wanting to succeed on short oil, and the reaction is truly unbelievable. I was hoping you were right as I had not had a chance to lay it prior and had told the other 4 coaches of how it should play and it's intended purpose. All stated that they would not have believed it unless they saw it themselves. All the girls thought it was a terrific tool and thank you and Kegel for your involvement.

Mate if you need any more feed back on this please let me know and I will be happy to expand where I can.

Thanks again,
James
Team Australia

The “Long and the Short of It” is now reality…is it also the future?

Published originally on Bowling Digital

An ultramodern proprietor, Ronald Dol of Bowling Dolfijn, along with avant-garde event organizer Luc Jensen of The Netherlands, and the forward thinking European Bowling Tour (EBT) have just completed a major bowling tour event which employed lane conditions like never before, at least on purpose.

During the entire 2007 EBT Bronzen Hammer Schietspoel Open, every left lane was conditioned with a 45’ oil pattern designed to play more towards the inside part of the lane and every right lane was conditioned with a 35’ oil pattern designed to play towards the outside part of the lane. Paul Moor, the reigning three times defending European Bowling Tour Ranking Champion proved those titles are well deserved as he defeated Osku Palermaa, Peter Smits and Maarten Pittens in a final one game shootout of this ground-breaking major event.

In the year 2000, then WTBA President PS Nathan called for a World Symposium in Malaysia to address many perceived problems related to the sport of bowling. Out of the symposium the WTBA Technical Committee, which was headed by Sid Allen at the time, concluded “that a single condition format was unfair, since it favored a particular style of play regardless of how the lane was oiled.”

Until now both the EBT and the PBA Tour formats make use of a single oil pattern for all rounds of competition. With these single condition events at times come social acceptance if the outcome is perceived fair by the bowling public but far too often the opposite is true. This social unrest comes as the winner of the event is perceived to have “matched up” because of their dominant style of play instead of just plainly performing better than the rest.

During that symposium in Malaysia the WTBA Technical Committee also felt the question of “who is the best bowler?” needed to be further examined. Through discussion and digging deeper into the question, the WTBA defined what they feel the traits that make up a World Class bowling player should be. The committee created what is known as VPARK; Versatility, Power, Accuracy,Repeatability and Knowledge. There was one trait however that was at the very top of each members list, Versatility.

The members felt that “the ability to bowl over a wide range of conditions elevated a player from one of quality to that of greatness” and therefore led to the conclusion “that WTBA’s present oiling procedures were not conducive to identifying and rewarding great players, but instead only identified the specialists.” Then committee member Craig Woodhouse suggested the concept of multiple conditions and it was unanimously agreed that this is the path for all future World Championships.

An over whelming majority of single condition events employ conditions in the thirty-seven to forty-two foot range. The WTBA dual condition events however use oil patterns thirty-five feet or shorter and forty-three feet or longer. So where does that leave the bowling players of the world to prepare for these World Championship events? The answer is you either need to own or have parents that own a bowling center or have a federation that supports such training. Not many participants have either.

For the EBT Tilburg dual condition tournament to be successful and socially accepted, it was evident that during the event some educational seminars dedicated to playing the short and long patterns were needed. With the help of Hammer’s Mike Quitter and bowling ball expert Denny Torgerson, material about what bowling ball types and layouts should be used was presented. With the help of Kegel and this writer, material about the bowling lane, oil patterns and keys to play those patterns, was also presented. With almost ninety tournament participants attending the seminars, the tournament players and coaches got a head start of what to expect.

Fully realizing “baby steps” needed to be taken, the design of the patterns were on the forgiving side and such that the widest variety of bowling balls could be used. In contrast to some of the early dual condition Championship events, it was refreshing to see the players in Tilburg clearly understood how the patterns needed to be attacked.

The feedback from the players according to Ronald Dol confirmed what Sid Allen’s group had concluded in that year 2000 symposium, that “dual lane conditions are fairer than a single condition event.” Will dual conditions be a thing of the future? Ronald Dol sure believes it will and he felt “they had a tremendous event with a great deal of enthusiasm from the players and spectators.” Dol and Jensen have already confirmed the 2008 EBT event in Tilburg will be dual lane conditions again.

It’s only a matter of time before more tournament organizers follow the lead of the innovative group in The Netherlands. Dual conditions may not be the answer the sporting players are looking for at each and every event or might it? After all it does satisfy the most essential criteria of becoming a world class bowling player…VERSATILITY.