I hate when that happens, for lefties or righties. Often it is unintended, and simply the result of more or less play on one side or the other, or a machine malfunction, or a change in the lane maintenance routine, etc. In my PBAX league, it was most evident on the Chameleon pattern. The righties took over the season high score list. All I could do as a lefty was use the lefty general manager's scores as a benchmark. He finished last winter's PBAX league with an admirable 204 average. Besides being general manager, he also runs the Pro Shop, and is an experienced bowler, one of the first to roll a 300 game on sport conditions in this area. I often see him practicing on the weekend. Still, this summer his average is currently at 166, nearly a 40-pin drop! I am only about 10 pins ahead of him at 179. I have not been able to use Blueprint for simulation purposes since the first night on Viper because I am not getting anywhere near the anticipated amount of hook. Hmm...besides my own inconsistencies, it makes me think something is off with the lanes, at least on the left side.

when that happens, i find an easy house with an easy house shot to make sure i get my timing and feel back. there are advantages to practicing on THS. Walter Ray practices in a center near me on a THS and I think this is the reason why. you can reset your game in a manner of speaking by making sure your Execution is what it is supposed to be. then when you are on a different or what could be confusing pattern, you are more likely to find a way to score because you are not fighting consistency issues along with trying to read lane patterns.

So here is an update after two weeks of bowling on the Badger pattern for our PBA experiecne league. First week I started out playing 12>9 and pointing it in at the pocket. Didn't have too much sucsess with two 130ish games. My opponent was having good luck playing the center part of the lanes so I moved there for the last two games and had two 160ish games for a 599 4 game set.

This last week I took a 500 grit aberlon pad to my Taboo B/S before the night. In warmups I found a really good look with my 12>9 that I started out with the week before. Shot 209-211 for the first two. After that the heads started to burn up and I couldn't find a good adjustment to string any strikes and started leaving some more difficult spares and missing some easy ones. Last two games ended up 171-138 I think for a 730 4 game set. This was enough for my average category to win a free ball from the Pro Shop.

Now on to next week when we switch to the Wolf pattern. Losing 20ft of oil one week to the next is going to be interesting. I think I may need to find some polish for my equipment.

Last night was my first week on Badger. It was my first time bowling in a couple weeks after returning from vacation. I missed the chance to practice on the pattern over the weekend. I was anxious to try the carpal tunnel wrist brace to see if that helped with accuracy and consistency on the PBAX patterns.

The 52-foot oil pattern played pretty much as expected. I was standing 16, pointing the ball over 10.5 board at the arrows and 13 at the downlane markers. Frankly, it did not matter which ball I used. I had about 2 boards hook with each. There was just no traction through the pin deck. A lot of good shots bounced off the pocket leaving weak 7-pins, buckets, or worse.

It took a little getting used to, but I was happy with the wrist support as I could totally relax my grip and wrist and just focus on the direction of my arm swing and hitting my mark. My first two games were in the 180's. I was hitting the pocket consistently, just not carrying. My spare ball skid past a couple easy spares, too. It appeared to be backing up instead of going straight, so I had to adjust all my targets 2 boards tighter. The third game, I was curious and started aiming for the Brooklyn side since the ball was deflecting so much. Hah, it seems that Brooklyns only carry when you are not trying to roll them, and I chalked up a game in the 170's. The fourth game I got serious again. By this point, I was feeling like I could split a board, so I started aiming high pocket, and carried enough strikes for a game in the 210's. I did not have any big scores for the night, finishing in the 750's for 4 games, but was happy to win 3 of 4 points against the other team's anchor bowler.

Btw, I asked the general manager what was up with the lanes on the left side, comparing his and other lefties averages from the past winter league with the current summer league. He said not only are the Badger, Bear, and Wolf new patterns, but the other patterns have been updated to be flatter with less hold in the middle. Next winter league, he expects bowler's averages to drop 10-20 pins.

I haven't had the "pleasure" of bowling on a 52 foot pattern but from what I've seen that's pretty good. Watching the telecasts, I was baffled how the guys were getting very good pin carry from a deep inside line, with almost no visible hook

I'd love a shot at it, preferably a practice session so the scores wouldn't go in the books

Are they trying to make it more challenging or just saving money on units of oil?

I think the bowling center is just trying to keep up with the current versions of the PBA patterns. It does seem the PBA is trying to make the patterns more challenging, including introducing the new extremely short Wolf, long Badger, and flat Bear patterns. However, there is not much more than a description of each pattern on PBA's website. I keep hoping to see updated pattern graphs, but have not found any at http://www.pba.com/OilPatterns/. The following USBC page has some additional links and graphs, but nothing that defines specific units of oil. http://bowl.com/Sport_Bowling/Sport_Bowling_Home/PBA_Experience/

Although I am not bowling this Summer, I am coaching the HS level PBA League. Tonight, one of the better bowlers who averages 190 on a Sport shot, shot a 300 on the Cheetah.

It was quite exciting to see one of the kids you try to help be successful.

Sounds good. Should keep you on your toes for the 2014 USBC Masters if you're still going.

That's a great accomplishment.


I didn't bowl either. I'm now starting to practice to get in shape for September.