When I get to the lane and get ready to throw my first practice ball, I try hard to figure out if there is a lot of oil or if there is dry conditions. I just don't know what to look for to tell.

Is it as simple as taking the same stance and target on each lane, every night that I bowl and reading it? If the ball goes too light, then I know there is too much oil and I should switch balls?

Or can I just ask the front desk?

You could ask the front desk, however, if it is a typical league night they will most likley say it is the same pattern as always.

The only way to know is to make a shot that usually works for you and then adjust off of that. Two things to keep in mind doing this is that you have to be able to make a solid shot cold to get a good read as soon as possible. Secondly as you get warmed up most likley you will add a little bit of speed.

Also after your ball returns you can check the oil rings to see how much the ball may have picked up and this can be a clue as well.

Yeah the bowl america front desk usually is not helpful at all, with anything. They aren't even friendly in offering discounts to league members if they bowl open lanes with their family!!

Yes, throwing a perfect ball the first time is probably too much to ask for haha. This is the first league I have played where a person throws a 1st and 2nd ball during practice. Usually you throw 1 ball and get off, and the next person throws a ball whether the rack is full or not.

Instead of going for the spares, I will work on finding a strike mark during my 2 opportunities on each lane. Depending on how many people show up to practice, and how slow they are (WHY wait for the person in the next lane during PRACTICE?! Just go!!!), sometimes I am only able to see each lane one time.

Maybe it would be worth my time to bowl a game before the leagues begin...but would that be against USBC rules? In golf, you aren't allowed to play the course the same day as a practice round before you tee off.

Here's what I do. YRMV.

I always throw the exact same shot every time at the bowling center - straight up the 10 board. That is, if I were not putting any hook on it, the ball would fall off the back of the deck on the 10 board after rolling over the second arrow. But of course I'm putting hook on it - a gentle low rev hook with no axis tilt - so at some point down-lane it starts to hook left.

I use the same ball every week for this first shot. It's a reactive, and I know how it travels down the lane.

Based on that first shot, I try a couple others - one inside and one outside that first shot. The idea is to find out not just how much oil, but how far it goes down the lane.

Based on those three shots, I'm ready to choose a ball, choose a release, and hit the pocket. I don't analyze beyond that or after that (as the games progress), as others do.

The ball I use for these shots happens to be my spare ball, because I use a reactive for my spares - an old Ebonite Stinger. It hooks pretty well for me on dry lanes.

If I were on a really wet pattern, I'd have to break out my C System 3.5, which would be heaven, frankly, because I haven't seen that kind of oil since I bowled at Harley's and Brunswick Zone in Simi Valley. Apparently oil is cheap in SoCal....

[edit]

I forgot to mention - observe other bowlers, especially the ones on your lanes, to see how their shots go.

Also, if in warmup you simply throw the same strike shot over and over, you won't be learning anything about the oil pattern other than "light" or "wet".

Why wait, I can think of several reasons. The first is safety reasons. If playing deep enough some bowlers' trail leg would be sticking over into the next lane. Or if someone falls off balance and stumbles into another lane. Also in warm ups you are trying to make good shots to get a read on the lane, the original topic of this thread, and in order to do so you don't want distractions. As for only seeing each lane once, either you have a short practice time or something is really wrong. I bowl in a 5 person league with 15 minutes of warm up time and even with all 10 warming up and often taking two shots a frame get to see each lane at least 4 times.



Technically USBC has no jurisdiction outside of league and tournament sessions. They can't stop a center from making money outside of league times. Now that being said, sometimes leagues will make a deal with the center that nobody can bowl on their league lanes once they are oiled. Sometimes it's a deal that a bowler can't bowl on the same lane that they bowl on that night, others it might be a bowler can only bowl on their pair. AMF, at least in my area, is known for not allowing anyone to bowl on the lanes once they are dressed for the league, even if it's at noon.

This is virtually it. Other than this, I check to see how long the pattern is by walking down the side of the lanes and seeing where the oil ends.

Most leagues have a league rule that says you cannot practice open play on the lanes you are assigned to bowl league on for that night. You can bowl/practice on other lanes. Some centers will not allow open play on lanes that have been oiled prior to league.

These are not concrete rules but common things you will find. For some people it helps to bowl a game prior to league; it warms them up. However, I would hesitate to use this practice as a way to read the lanes for that evening's league play. Reason being is that you should not be dependent on 10 frames of bowling to figure out lane play. You will not always have that benefit and when the time comes and you cannot get a lane prior to league or a tournament you will be lost.

Erin