The guy who's in charge of maintaining the lanes in the house I bowl in tells me that the oil pattern he uses places about 50 units of oil between 10 and 10, and about 4 units (just over the minimum requirement) outside of 10.

He uses a pyramid, or "Christmas Tree" pattern, with oil out to about 32' and buffed to about 40'.

Does the 50 units of oil in the middle qualify this as a "heavy oil" condition? Does the small amount of oil outside 10 make this a "wet/dry" condition. Is this not a "wall shot" because it's in a pyramid pattern, even though it's pretty much wet/dry?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to understand the usage of these terms, and learn how to apply them to the conditions I bowl under.

TIA!

From how you described the conditions, it sounds more like a Top Hat aka Great Wall of China.

Pyramid or "Christmas Tree" patterns are trapezoid patterns. With these patterns the heavier oil in the center of the lane gets narrower as it goes down the lane. (So it would look like a lying down Christmas tree.) In truth, these conditions can only be put out properly by very highend wickless lane conditioning machines, which most centers do not own.



When you hear the terms wet/wet, wet/dry, dry/dry, etc. They are referring to the oil as it goes down the lane, not from gutter to gutter. So a "Wet/dry" condition refers to a wet front end (usually up to 34'-36') and a freshly stripped and dry back end. These are very often misunderstood and misused terms, so don't feel bad you didn't know!

So, in your case it would be considered a heavy oil condition which is wet on the front. If there is a lot of carry down on the backend it would be a Wet/medium condition, or if the lane was just freshly stripped it would be wet/dry.



No problem at all, don't feel bad for asking. That's how you learn.

Hi Steve,

Thanks very much for the detailed reply.

So... if wet/dry refers to the front end and the back end, is there a term to describe heavy oil in the middle and very light oil to the outside (just wondering)?

On the oil pattern I described, I understand that if I wanted to play a very inside line, where the ball would be in the heavy oil until it reached the back end, I would probably need a "heavy oil" ball, like the Ebonite Pantera. But if I were to swing the ball from the heavy oil out into the very light oil, say from 15 to 10, breaking at 5, wouldn't I be better off using a medium oil ball, like the Tiger? (Sorry, I'm more familiar with the Ebonite line than the others.)

The reason I ask is that I'm currently using a sanded urethane Gyro, and I'm trying to decide what the best next ball for me is, with this oil pattern in mind. I'd probably retire the Gyro, or polish it up and use it for a spare ball, but I won't be able to afford another ball for a while, so I'd need something that I could use in different conditions.

Sorry for rambling on, and I greatly appreciate any advice you (or anyone else here) can offer.

[ 02-24-2001: Message edited by: seadrive ]

Yes, usually thats called a Top Hat condition. Its called that because if you were looking at it on a graph from gutter to gutter it would look like those old Top Hats like Abe Lincoln wore.

Other common profiles are crown, step, trapezoid, reverse, and flat conditions. As with the top hat, each is named after the shape it resembles. Crown conditions are like half ovals from gutter to gutter. Step conditions look like steps. Reverse blocks have heavier oil on the outside than in the middle. Flat conditions are flat, same amount of oil from gutter to gutter.



I prefer not to make ball recommendations when I am not familiar with a person's style. That said, I can only confirm that those characterizations are correct but they not may work for you. You should really consult a local IBPSIA member Pro Shop operator who can be made familiar with your game and is familiar with the conditions in your area for the best recommendations.

Seadrive,
Just a little more input to the amount of oil in the center of the lanes. Several years
back, when the shell-covers of these monsters
were coming into their own, Mo Pinel set up a test on lane conditions. Two pair of lanes were set up identically (oiling conditions) and the "Lane Analizer" was used to make sure they were identical. One one pair, two teams consisting of 5 members each bowled league routine using nothing but urethane balls. On the other pair, same situation, 10 bowlers using nothing but resin balls. After the 3 game sets, Mo and his crew went out on the lanes, and using the lane analizer again, took the readings after play. Lo and behold the results were something like this:
The pair where the players had used urethane, the shot had barely broken down but had some carry-down. On the pair where the resins were used, they had torn down the shot from about twenty board to the gutter. The shot was no where near what it had started out as. Mo's recommendation at that time was: In order to maintain some consistency in the shot for 3 games or more, 40+ units of oil had to be used in the center of the lane. Because of the high-flare tendencys of the resin balls, not only do they drink up the oil, carry it down but more importantly, move the oil around so much, that it would be difficult to have any consistency in the pattern unless a substancial amount of oil is used. Today, with the shell covers being even more aggressive, imagine what these balls are doing to lane conditions. A "Christmas Tre pattern is not the easiest condition to play on, but it is better than the alternative of no oil and wet dry wet dry and ??? Be thankful that your lane man has a little knowledge of conditions and what these balls do.