Keep in mind that people may have bowled on the lanes before you which will drastically change the shot as well. Sometimes in the summer certain houses won't oil the lanes often causing you to get super dry lanes which might be why your bowl is swinging into the left gutter. Another thing to note is that the oil on the lanes isn't the only thing that impacts the way the shot plays, things like temperature and humidity will change that as well. Even if you know you're playing on the same shot every week you still have to keep an open mind and be ready for anything the shot will always be slightly different.

House shots share one characteristic. Slide in the middle, and friction to the outside. Everything else can be different from center to center, and lane from lane. You have topography, oil volume, oil length, lane surface, oil ratio, heat and humidity etc... to keep in mind as well.

​

If all you're doing is open bowling though, then there are likely only two pattern characteristics you will find - broken in house shot (right after a league), and scorched earth (after league and several rounds of open bowling).

Not necessarily; however, the difficult of house shots in most league play are pretty universal in the level of difficulty in comparison to sport shot. Open bowling has a lot more variables in comparison to league play. And sport shot is a lot harder than house shot for sure. Recently, I've tried bowling on the WBTA patterns which they use for World Bowling International competition and on the Los Angeles pattern for the first 15 minutes of practicing I couldn't hit the pocket at all.

I always have a starting point, it’s the same on any house or sport pattern. Right foot middle dot, throw at second arrow. I see where that lands me, from there I adjust if I’m going to move left or right and where I’m throwing. That’s just me though

Each pattern is slightly different, but they are all very dry on the outside and heavy in the middle. The length affects you most, but moving left or right will allow you to adjust for length.

You had your first lesson with lane conditions. No two lanes will ever be the same, and it's up to you to adjust and make moves to get the reaction you want.

You're probably running into fresh oil with backend, versus broken pattern with carry down.

Video would be better.

Need video

It looks like It needs a good cleaning and maybe a touch up on the surface. I'd probably clean it real good and hit it with a quick sanding pad with whatever grit it came out of the box with.

The tracks of oil on the ball ( these are NOT referred to as an oil pattern; that's on the lane) are perfectly normal. See the other answers for the other part of your question

Different machine(and maintenance on it), different lane surface, different topography, different oil type. Bowling is a game of too many variables that make sport shots especially challenging. You have to rely on what your eyes tell you on each lane.

Looks like that pattern has an intentional 'out of bounds' on 2 and 3

4 and 5 are dry-er than the inside but not remotely as much as a THS.

It's hard on purpose. :)

I just bowled on that pattern for league. Anything outside 6 or 7 would slide out. The only shot I found was lay down around 12, arrows at 10, and breakpoint at 8.

The whole “pattern length - 31 = target breakpoint board” doesn’t really work when it’s a 1:1.27 ratio. That’s just a really flat and oily pattern.

The oil distribution changes during a match as balls take different paths across it, creating crisscrossing streaks of less (or more) oil in the path of a ball. So the exact shot that is a strike now might not be a strike 15 rolls from now, the bowler has to notice what is changing and adjust. So they are ‘chasing’ their strike shot as it slightly meanders throughout a match due to the changing oil pattern.

This is a well known thing among bowlers. You have to chase the oil.

I never knew they oiled the very start of the bowling lane. Makes sense though.

Based on the apparent importance of this you would think they would have to maintain this throughout the day based on use. Sort of like a bowling alley Zamboni.

Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.

Do you have an academic degree? We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. Click here to apply.

User: u/3HolesMeansBowling
Permalink: https://www.bowlinglife.eu/bowling-strike-physics-model

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

“Scientists learn how bowling works”

No, and this is a MAJOR problem I have with the USBC. They do virtually ZERO governing of the sport. Ball specifications is about it, and those are stupid and unnecessary. What we really need to help this sport is to have the conditions managed and standardized. If you bowl in a league, you should know exactly what you are bowling on and it should remain consistent. The USBC should designate maybe 2-4 patterns that qualify as "League" patterns, and all sanctioned competition should be REQUIRED to be bowled on one of those patterns. Instead, we get a "whatever-the-fuck" pattern that every house decides on individually, and they RARELY communicate the pattern information to bowlers.
This is basic sports governance, and the USBC does none of it.

I wouldn't say a hard and fast definition......more a generalization. Under 20ml would be light, 20-30 medium, and over 30 heavy.

You'll also want to know the length of the pattern. Again generalizing, under 36 feet is short, 36-40 feet is medium, and over 40 is long.

If your PSO is in-house, he/she will know the pattern and can definitely advise you on ball choices after watching you roll. I'd start there. If asking someone at the center, ask the mechanic or a manager. I'd say often the front desk people won't know the pattern.

And as #orrico24 said, without knowing, you just need to throw a benchmark ball and see how it reacts. This will give you an idea what you are rolling on.

I’ve considered asking every bowling alley I go to for their house shot specs since some of them differ so much. To answer your question, though, I stand super far right and throw it straight - if it hooks too much I keep moving left until I find a nice spot. Some places playing up the 10 board is where I gotta be and at other places I have to stand left and play through the 15 board. Just gotta figure it out and maybe think of one as a bench mark and try to think “ok I have to stand 2 boards left of my spot at the other alley” to try to gauge oil and maybe which ball should be thrown

Standard No? Recommended Balls, Yes! Opinions Plenty

> but I feel like knowing the actual volume and pattern would really help the next time I’m ball shopping

I can appreciate the looking for actual numbers; I approach a lot of things similarly rather analytically. However, I think that you want to think about your equipment relative to one another. I.e. Ball X has a stronger cover than ball Y, so it tends to read the lane earlier. Ball Z has a smoother surface so it tends to carry more energy through that fronts and react stronger to friction. And so on.

Because, yes, a ball can be designed for 'medium oil' per its webpage. However, there just such a ton of other relative factors that are relevant. Medium on wood lanes plays different than medium oil on synthetics. Medium on fresh synthetics plays different than medium on decade-old synthetics. Medium on the lanes in the middle of the center likely plays different than medium on 1-2 and the highest pair on the outside of the building.

Then you've got your throw. If you are high rev, a 'medium' ball may be strongest piece you need and that high rev player only uses it on heaviest oiled lanes. On the other end, if you are speed dominant, a 'medium' ball may be the weakest ball in your bag, and you only use it on very transitioned lanes.

How you are throwing the ball on a given day matters. How and what the others on your lane are throwing also matters. Oil density and viscosity and surface tension are strong functions of temperature. Air humidity matters.

And so on and so on and so on.

Many, many of those variables are going to be somewhat unknowable.

Much, much better, I would suggest, would be to be analytical about your shot as well as analytical about understanding what a ball is doing on the lane and why. Because watching the ball on the lane and through the pins will tell you what adjustments you need to be making, be it changes in speed, line, release, or yes, ball choice. And then as I wrote above, understanding your equipment relative to one another helps you form that opinion on adjusting to another ball. I truly kind of never think about where a ball lies on the manufacturer's chart or section, but how it is supposed to be different than the other pieces I brought on that day.

Pretty much you need a stock ball for heavy oil, then a pearl ball for lighter oil.
Asym or Sym just depends on what you want

Just get some pads to change surface at the lane and a spare ball, see what they do and go from there

Something like this is very standard for a house pattern: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20190112_Typical_house_shot_oil_pattern_on_bowling_lane.png

About 42', very heavy inside and very dry outside of 5. That being said, lane topography is incredibly important to how any ball rolls, and that can be vastly different house to house, and even lane to lane. I always bring my strongest ball, my weakest ball, and a couple in between to every league night just because I don't know how the lanes will play and how the oil will break down that night

The rule of 31 would be where I’d start which is take the pattern length (say 44’) and subtract 31 from it (13) and that’s where your ball should exit the pattern. It’s not a hard set rule but that’s where I’d start out. There’s a ton of variables as to where/how you should play the lane and what equipment you should use but it all just comes down to trusting each shot, watching each shot, and learning from each shot.

That's a little bit of a gap between your slide foot and lay down spot. You want to be a little closer, maybe around 5 boards if possible. I'm no expert either, but when I have that big of gap, I'm not bowling good at all.

Mate, there are so many variables that no one can give you board to board advice.

You ball speed and rev rate matter. Tilt matters. What ball you are throwing matters. What surfaces the oil is put down upon matters. Heck, we're all human, and you may not feel super loose to start, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Just adjust during practice like normal. Start on your preferred line and watch the ball the whole way down the lane and through the pins. That tells you everything you need to know.

This could just be your first introduction to patterns that aren't house shots, and I'm sure it's quite an eye-opener.

With oil patterns, without trying to get into the forward/reverse pass and the loads and yada yada, I tell people to look at 4 things, in order of importance:

1. House topography - this is BY FAR the most important factor in how a pattern plays. House-to-house and lane-to-lane in the same center are going to play differently. Some houses have more variance between lanes than others, but how the house "plays" is going to be the most important factor. For example, there's a house not far from me where 5 board and out are always in play. The pattern could be 33' or 50' feet and the gutter still looks decent

2. Ratio - This pattern is 6.32:1, meaning there is 6x more oil in the middle than the outside. Compared with a house shot, which is usually anywhere from 12:1 to 16:1, it's a large jump. So you're cutting your "miss room" down quite a bit

3. Volume - This pattern is 27.6 mL, which is a decent amount, especially for people who don't have a lot of hand. When you see volumes around that, it should tell you to bring some stuff with surface on it, for sure.

4. Length - I gave this the least importance because based on the first 3 factors, you can get a general idea of where to play. The rule of 31 will give you a good starting point. You take the pattern distance minus 31 to get your general breakpoint. So on this pattern, somewhere around 11 at the breakpoint is a good place to start.

With all of these factors in mind, you can get a general sense of what to bring, what surfaces to use, and where to start in practice. For you, definitely the strongest ball you have with some surface would make the bag first. Then a stronger symmetrical piece with some surface. Then as the pattern breaks down, a shinier asym and then depending on the number of games, you can work into some shinier syms.

What wasn't working? Ball hooking too much, not enough? Leaving corner pins?

Without knowing what your ball reaction looks like, its hard to give advice.

Your best bet is to start with the rule of 31 for the ballpark breakpoint and adjust.

However, there are tons of other factors. Lane surface, lane topology, who is on your pair, and who was on the pair before you. All of that can factor into the line you need to play.

I was there. This one felt really unforgiving for a 6:1. Seemed if you could rev it or get your ball to slow down, you were okay. I found a line playing 5 at the arrows to 10 downlane. Unfortunately, I just didn't execute.

The ease of past City Tournaments stung me, and I was unprepared. After this one, I will make an effort to practice the pattern when available.

Ironically I just heard last night that this tournament was playing harder than usual. It doesn’t look that bad on paper but maybe topography is making it tighter.

I think it’s a good thing but on the other hand if the tournament has historically been easy than making it harder out of nowhere kinda sucks and may turn people off next year.

Straight down the middle. No spin, no hook, no fuss. Anything more and this becomes figure skating.

• Ron Swanson

Don't even look at that, particularly if you're a newer bowler. Find your shot during warm up. To me it means nothing.

I read them by waiting for someone else to comment on it on Reddit, then nod my head in agreement to myself.

It’s pretty easy. Act like you know how to read it, throw a shit game, blame it on the employee running the machine that they don’t know how to use it.

Damn I’m here to early

"oil pattern length" - this tells you how many feet down lane the oil ends. The longer the pattern the more inside your breakpoint should be since there are less feet of dry boards to use for friction (rule of 31 gives you an idea of where to aim)

"Outside Track:Middle ratio" - this tells you how much oil is on the outside of the lane compared to the middle. The higher the ratio the more friction you have on the outside and therefore more miss room (lower ratio = harder pattern). low single digits are considered sport patterns, high single digits are "challenge" patterns, and anything above that is considered a house shot.

"volume oil total" - how much oil there is total on the lane. The higher the amount the less hook you will have in the midlane and therefore the stronger ball you will want all else equal.