You for the most part are looking at the length (which tells you when the ball exits the pattern) and then the units of oil on each board. Typically the boards in the middle of the lane will be in the 1000 to 1200 range - and this is a number you want to see here. Very few patterns have less than that. The outside is where it usually varies the most. A house shot will typically be in the 100 to 150 range from 9 to the gutter. This provides a lot of hook and helps your ball recover. On challenge and sport shots you might see this number around 450. If you are soeed and rev matched your ball should slide most of the way down in 1000 units, ot should slide about halfway down at 500 units, and at 100 units it is going to hook almost right away.

Generally you want to play where you see the biggest difference in numbers on adjacent boards. Length can factor in but a lot of shots are matched so the length and the best spot to play are similar. On top of that most tournaments do not force a player onto too exotic of a line - a lot of challenge shots end up playing right around 10 just like a house shot, just with a lot less margin for error.

I'm guessing that you're either bowling during open bowling (just on your own or with friends) or in a typical league. I'll give this question a go.

​

A VAST majority of your houses are going to put down what is referred to as a Typical House Shot (THS). The purpose of a THS is to produce high scores and make everybody happy. There's lots of oil on the front and in the middle. The oil tapers off as it goes down the lane and also tapers off as you get outside. What this does is gives you lots of options and wiggle room. If you are a low rev player, you can play right up the 10 board and be alright. If you like to crank it, you can play deeper and swing it out. If you miss inside, there's more oil to prevent the ball from hooking too much. If you miss outside, there's less oil to help get your ball back to the pocket. This is what a THS oil pattern looks like. They all generally look like this.

If you're in a league, as the night goes on, everybody's ball absorbs some of the oil along the path of their shot and also pushes some of the oil beyond where it was to start the night. If you watch any of the PBA shows, you'll see a blue dye in the oil. If you watch as the match goes on, you'll start to see tracks in the oil from where the balls have burnt up that line. As this happens, you have to adjust your shot. Most people do this by moving deeper a little bit at a time.

If you're bowling during open bowling, the effects are even more drastic sometimes. Unfortunately, a lot of houses only oil their lanes for league nights, so you might run in to a lane that hasn't been oiled in 2-3 days. The oil is generally pretty burnt up and pushed down. If that is what you're faced with, you're going to have a hard time making any real improvements on those conditions. It might help you with making extreme adjustments, but that's about it.

There are some leagues that put down what they call "sport" patterns. These patterns are designed to be hard and generally only people that take bowling fairly seriously are going to participate. They don't have as much forgiveness as the THS does and that take a lot of knowledge and practice to excel on. For example, when I bowled in Florida, I carried a 213 average. I joined a sport league and ended with a 176 average. Where the lateral ratio of oil in the middle to the outside could be 10:1 on a house shot, the sport shots are much lower, sometimes being flat 1:1 across the entire lane. The lower the ration, the less help the lane is going to give you. This is what a sport shot could look like. There's tons of different kinds and they all look different.

When I'm looking at a pattern, I look for three things out of the gate. The length, the volume, and the lateral ratio. The length will help me determine where my breakpoint should be, the volume helps me determine how strong of a cover I want to go with, and the ratio helps me figure out how much wiggle room I'm going to have to play with.

Hope this helps.

​

Sounds like you're a stroker like myself, and I have a process that I do if I don't know the condition of the lane(s) before I start that may be useful (no guarantees though). I do it even when I know the lane is fresh, because every fresh lane isn't the same.

I take my 'base' ball, which for me is a Code Red, and start at my 'base' standing point, and throw my normal ball at my target (2 arrow). I then watch where the ball hits, and go from there. If I miss my mark by more than about 4 boards, I ignore what happened, and throw again.

From there I can make adjustments based on where the ball hit, and can usually figure it out in 2 or 3 throws.

Having a base, IMO, is key. I know what that ball will do on an unused, freshly oiled lane. So if you don't have a base point, I'd suggest throwing a game when the lanes are just oiled, and get to know what your 'base' ball will do on the fresh.

​

Every bowler is going to have a different opinion on the 'condition' of the lane, because we all throw different balls differently. My buddy is a tweener/cranker (more on the cranker side (220+ avg)), and he finds the lanes break down faster then I feel they do. He is constantly moving left during the night, as much as 12 boards, and usually changes balls at least 3 times. Whereas, on the same lane, I may move 1 full board (I move in fractions of boards), and on very rare occasions I'll move 2 boards, but that's usually after about 5-6 games.

​

Just remember if your ball goes left, you move left. If hitting right of the pocket, you move right. Move your target when your feet move 3 or more boards (1:3 ratio is a good starting point).

​

AND... being consistent is key.

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Also an intermediate bowler, interested to see the responses you get.

Sorry I don't have anything useful to offer.

Over time, you get used to seeing how a ball should roll.. they say a ball,, skids hooks and rolls, because it does.. you mentioned a j or L shaped shot. It means you need the ball to skid a long way before it turns, and too far outside it will hook early, too far inside it flys by. Go striat up the 10 board then strait up 11, then try shooting from 10 to 11 and vs versa. Watch the ball roll

I'm not sure this is what you're expecting but this is probably a good start.

https://youtu.be/nlfWViNuvz8

"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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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“Scientists learn how bowling works”

Get a life. Don’t play by their rules. Geek!

Basically break board/type of surface i should be using.

Volume ratio length should range

Volume tells you where on the arsenal you should look. 30+ heavy 20-25 typical house(but mostly between the 2nd arrows on a ths)

Length will give you an idea for breakpoint, longer closer to head pin, shorter gutter.

Ratio difficulty. 10:1 house, 1:1 flat.

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

So I’m 60 and I throw 14 lb equipment, in my opinion the ball should hit the 1,3,5,9 for a right hander, the 5 would take out the 8 or the ball splitting the 8-9, if an 8 pin is left, it could be a solid 8 that happens but, from how you described the shot, it sure sounds like deflection played a role and the 5 didn’t so it’s job. Ironically I also feel (based on description of shot) the bowler was lucky to just leave an 8 pin

You're right and he's just ignorant. It's the same school of thought when a lot of bowlers think hitting the pocket should result in a strike. When in reality, if you know a little bit about bowling, that's just not true. There's too many variables to it. Most bowlers are naive to this unfortunately.

Old people get crotchety when you talk about dropping weight, they'd rather throw 15 lbs 10 mph rather than throw 14 and pick up a few mph to carry shots

Surprised he didn't say " Bad rack, man."

You said it right, it’s bowling. Just because you leave an 8-pin doesn’t mean it was a perfect/pocket/flush shot. So many things can happen for better or worse with pin action and the best one can do is to look at pin AND ball reaction to properly evaluate the shot.

Since this pattern has less than 24 mls of oil, most people would call it “light” oil. This means that the pattern will dry up fairly quickly depending on what equipment is being used. Following the “rule of 31”, the breakpoint should be, as was stated above, around the 10th board, give or take a board.

Here is where I would begin with a medium piece and play in close to the second arrow. As that line dries up, change to a weaker piece, move in or up on the approach depending on your style and ball’s behavior! Good luck!

For Turnpike, you can't really afford to miss inside too much as the inside part of the lane is pretty flat. Flat patterns don't give that much room for error so if you miss inside this Turnpike pattern, your ball might take off a little.

Since this pattern is 41 feet in length with a good amount of volume, most optimal breakpoints would be the 8 - 11 boards depending on your style. As long as you don't miss too far inside/outside you should be fine

It means urethane to me.....that is all.

I’m not a pro, but I’d just go off what that description says in the top left of the pic that you posted..

Hard pattern, just hit the exact spot you are aiming for 4Head /s