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.

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”

> I’m a 210-220 average nowadays, but when I was bowling a lot more often I would be about 20 pins above that.

If you are capable of 230+ averages, then it's going to be hard for any of us over a text chat system to help a whole lot.

What I am getting at is that you almost surely need a coach at that point.

The other thing I would highly suggest would be to start journaling your results. Because 230, 240 average, you are missing 2, 3, at most 4 throws a game. You need to be recording the specific miss (i.e. corner pin, flat or ringing, or ball through nose, ball didn't come back) what you think the reason for those misses are.

Perhaps it is lane play and you need someone to go deeper into the theory of the game and interpreting what the ball on the lane and through the pins is trying to tell you. If there is a bias (i.e. your timing gets off and you end up yanking it), then you have a record of what physical practice to work on. Could even be a mental game issue and you just get distracted. That's why you log what's happening and review once you have a full-ish data set and then form a plan to work on the mistake(s) you're seeing most commonly.

But, again, where you are now and taking those next steps is likely beyond what can be done just over text... and you are seeking an advanced coach in your area if you want to seriously pursue the next levels.

I feel like sometimes you just have sessions like that where it just won’t work.

Someone else mentioned it in another comment, but if the oil machine isn’t stripping the lanes properly that could explain why. All the open bowling chaos carries down a ton of oil and never in the same spot creating god knows what past 40”. If the oil machine isn’t stripping the lane down properly there will be loads of oil all over the breakpoints down lane even after a fresh re-oil.

At your level, balls are good for about 200 games max, with a detox and resurface around 100. That's 2 leagues in one winter season.

I'll give you an example, 50 yo guy averaging 230 twice a week. Was averaging 215 with a 4 year old hyroad pearl. I detoxed and resurfaced his ball, he shot 700 for a straight month and the ball wouldn't carry shit after that.

He also never cleaned it so after the detox there were fuckin railroad tracks for his track. That's how much dirt and oil was covering the coverstock. And the house had a good lane surface..

Well it seems to me like the alleys machine may have a stripping issue. Old equipment definitely does die out but yeah I’d say there’s an issue with the machine.

Check out Luke Rosdahl's The Classroom series on YouTube. It starts with a deep dive into ball specs for the first few then transitions into some lane play videos that discuss what to look for in how the ball reacts on the lane. It's not exactly straight forward examples but goes into the nuances of ball reaction to teach you how to think your way through it. It takes time to digest it all and put it to good use but I swear I learn something new every time I rewatch one even after a couple years of finding it. They've definitely changed the way I see the game and attack/adjust to different conditions.

Have to learn to read ball motion, depends on your stats and what the pattern is. For THS, there’s a puddle of oil in the middle so P4 could use some surface if it over hooks straighter and goes too long in the oil.

Note: sliding on 30 and shooting at 15-17 is a pretty steep angle in the front if you have the ball close to ankle. Could be you need to tighten your line up depending what it gets to down lane

What do you mean is it high or low regarding either or both? Anyways, this video did a great job explaining it when I was curious

https://youtu.be/j7Mbm9L8xzc?si=8GmxpiKkzYbQRlsb

The most versatile and effective combination is 13-17 degrees of axis tilt and 55-60 degrees of axis rotation. IMO.

Axis tilt affects the length of the ball track, and higher tilt angles reduce traction.

Axis rotation affects entry angle, length and transition to roll. High rotation angles create sharper, later entry angles.

Layout and ball choice are compensatory for these factors.

• Bowlers with high tilt and rotation angles usually require asymm cores and smaller drilling angles, larger VAL angles, and longer pin to PAP distances, to offset the spinner track and smooth the transition to roll.
• And bowlers with low tilt and rotation angles require symm cores with larger drilling angles, smaller VAL angles, and shorter pin to PAP distances, to offset the forward roll.

This might help as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_laI-2R9Rg

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.

> 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.

Standard No? Recommended Balls, Yes! Opinions Plenty

When you get below 2:1 ratios the patterns nearly irrelevant. It's basically flat. You'll get a little more roll outside ten in the midlane but that little flat wall at the breakpoint is gonna fuck a lot of people up.

It's an open pattern, you need to be severely accurate wherever you play.

Urethane, purp hammer, pitch black, LEVEL (not really urethane but similar shape), and deep, you want to start further right, create some shape to the pattern with the thane, then work from there

URETHANE BABY!!!

Urethane or strong sanded asym, straighter angles, extra fast ball speed, lots of forward roll, breakpoint of 3-5, luck.

Avg 200 with such bad technique is going to be rly hard to correct. You will have to make so many adjustments and start from the bottom again in order to rly elevate your ceiling. Even hard grind will not help, because the sidespin will never work as intended with difficult oil patterns.

You are working too hard to throw the ball. Keep your elbow in. Your arm should be swinging st8. Slow down. Your timing is off.

Keep your hand behind the ball. You want more forward roll than side roll.

That’s a strike Wednesdays at 1.

Take some 1 step approaches and work on throwing the ball out and up. That's it. Too much wrist flip by far. You'll find more power once you get a good launch. Up and out

Move inside 2-3 boards and use his friction he created for you to eat him alive. It's a house shot pattern...

​

It's kind of a douchey move if it's a true social league but even social leagues are competitive (where I'm from) they just don't have the money tied to them the same way as my Monday/Friday leagues where pots are routinely way up. In the long run it will help you, too, to learn the different lane areas to play in effectively (but it does suck temporarily).

Is it possible he was trying a new line/ ball during warm-ups and when he couldn't get it to work he went back to his tried and true?
I use all my warm-up shots trying to find the best line. This means I don't try to pick up spares. I've heard murmuring in the crowd about how I always miss in warm-ups but almost never do in the game. Also have heard comments about how I am not very friendly. I am just not overly social and I really like to focus on bowling. I don't drink, I don't smoke and I only cuss when necessary so I come off as a prude.

Just saying, while it was possible he was doing it to mess you up, it is also possible he was just working on his game and he's just not an overly social guy.

There is not a lot one person can do in a 10 min practice to alter the lanes though. Even at 200 average would still need to warm up like the rest of us. Can burn the lane if you have enough revs and use a coarse cover but burning your teams line on purpose... highly unlikely.

I don't think a handful of warmup shots will really destroy your line. What are we talking about 6 shots per game?

I threw an entire 3 game set with a plastic ball and it didn't throw off anyone's line.

It's possible but tbh, I cant imagine he can alter the conditions enough in practice to make any meaningful difference. That doesn't mean he wasnt trying. But if he's as good as you say, I'm sure he wasnt trying to sabatoge your game. If hes trying THAT hard to win, it's easier to just sandbag in a handicap league.

With that, I highly doubt he was trying to screw you guys up, but who knows.

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

"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.

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