The oil lines can tell you 2 big things:

1.) Where your positive axis point is (a.k.a. PAP). This is the bowler's fingerprint. Virtually, no two bowlers have the same PAP. And it can be really useful information for your pro shop operator when you get better and more consistent. S/he can drill a ball that is unique to your PAP. The goal is to get the ball to perform in harmony with your individual bowling style (among other things).

2.) How much flare your ball has. The more rings (or/and the farther apart the rings are) the more your ball is flaring. More flare allows more of the ball's dry surface to touch the lanes. And thus, increase read/hook potential.

And even a 3rd thing, it can sometimes give you immediate feedback as to how much oil is on the lanes.

Mainly how you release the ball and how it rolls down the lane. I use this to adjust when the lanes start breaking down. In practice before league, it tells me how the lanes are oiled and where I stand to start. Throughout the games, I can adjust from there on how my ball is reacting. Hope this helps.

I believe that is how your ball rolls when you see the oil like that.

Not sure, my centre's lanes have not seen oil since about 2009.

The missile knows where it is at all times.

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.

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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.

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.

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

They look to be pretty similar but with more volume on the 2018 pattern so once you find a line, it should stay a little longer than on the 2016 pattern.

I'd start with a strong sanded Sym or Asym looking to play somewhere around 9-11 as a breakpoint and move my feet in to the oil as the pattern breaks down.

I would assume most people will be playing inside on these patterns so expect to keep having to move left with your feet and target at the arrows.

Oil paterns are complicated. Most audiences that search for content related to oil patterns will be advanced bowlers. You'd be better exploring specific issues than covering the broad topic. Inch wide, mile deep, not mile deep and inch wide.

While I can't speak as an expert, but this breakdown was interesting. I used to bowl league in middle and high school, and what always kept my friend a cut above the rest of us was he read his ball's reaction the lane conditions, and I didn't. I was methodical and focused with my approach and aiming but somewhat haphazard in trying to account for the oil patterns. I will definitely have to use this way of thinking next time I get friends together to bowl!

I've been bowling for eight months (160 average) and it helped me. I have read a bunch and watched a bunch on this topic and frankly gleaned more from your article than the rest. Thanks for sharing.

Honest opinion? Some semi-helpful concepts, but it was difficult to read because you skipped around between overly simplified and extremely advanced concepts while also honestly not saying very much.

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When it comes to specialty oil patterns, the only time you will see those are tournaments and some leagues. The house shot is where you want to learn how your ball reacts to how you throw it. It will give you a base line for how much your ball will curve and how early. Then, when you do bowl on a sports pattern, you will be able to see how much the change in oil affects it and can make adjustments. In some cases, you will determine that in order to get the same reaction, you will need a different ball. It really depends on your particular style.

Some alleys will oil a lane for a pattern to practice on, especially if there is a tournament coming up. Some will leave the pattern on the lanes the day after a tournament since open bowling wont really care.

Watch this video, this is what helped me the most https://youtu.be/t-osG0F2MZM

Another thing that helped me is joining a league and having good teammates that can teach you but idk reddit would probably be able to tell you better than your friends can lol

Obviously use the “Rule of 31” and an easy way to learn how much hook you have is play up the gutter.

Patterns are easy enough to learn with the amount of information out there. Multiple YouTube videos and pages explaining and breaking it down. As far what equipment to use will very from bowler to bowler. What works for some won’t work for others. That’s one of the questions only you can answer after some experience

> 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.

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

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.

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.

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All this means is they don't oil the lanes as often. Saving more on oil than the draw of wining. Probably never intended the second effect.

And in pro games the oil pattern does the opposite, you have more traction in the center so you curve harder. The pattern also changes as balls are rolled over it, so pros watch the other bowlers on their lane to keep an up to date mental map of the oil, adapting their shots to the changing conditions. You can't bowl a 300 on a pro lane by repeating the same shot 12 times.

10 to 10 wall

That's like buying a ferrari and not being able to turn traction control off.

You game plan separately for each pattern. Expect to line up and target differently on each. Ignore the forward and reverse oil for now, it's not all that important. The shape of the pattern is put out by the forward oil, the additional volume is laid out by the reverse oil. What you need to focus on is the pattern length,pattern volume, and the outside to inside pattern ratio. Sport shot strategy is a lot to take in so I recommended taking advantage of all the information you can on YouTube. Once your posting it though, relax, keep a positive mental, and don't worry too much about scores. Dual patterns are supposed to be one of the tougher challenges in bowling.

Forward, reverse, and combined are how the machine oils the Lanes. So forward is oiling toward the pins. Reverse is oiling it away from the pins. Combined is oiling both forward and reverse. Buff I'm not exactly sure but I interpret it as buffing out the lane so it's smoothed out.

The 1st pattern is more of a deep inside line and the 2nd is a closer to 2nd arrow line. You can probably use the same ball, these patterns are a lot more similar than most dual pattern tournies I see.