Here is the link to the oil pattern for the Nationals this year:

http://www.bowl.com/tournaments/usbcopen/National/laneconditions.aspx

It looks to have about 20 units more oil than the 70 they had last year which was 20 units more than the 50 they had the year before that. This year they have 90 units oiled to 35ft and buffed to 40ft in the middle and 30 units outside of 10 oiled to 15ft and buffed to 40 ft.

How to play this shot:

Use a dull aggressive ball in practice and have others on your team play the same line to open up a dry spot to get the ball to hook from, then change to a shiny aggressive ball to get some hold from the oil in the middle and take advantage of the dry on the outside. With this much oil, low speed players will have an advantage where high speed players will tend to throw the ball through the break point which should be between the 5 and 8 board depending on how you break the shot down.

Let me know if you have any equipment questions.

And as a left hander, do what you almost always have to do on a flatter shot: Play up the boards somewhere around 5.

Question: I always here pro's creating something for themselves by using dull balls to create a friction point (like the shark pattern, where a couple weeks ago some pro's were using the outside line). What happens when you have to move to another pair? All that lane-grooming on that previous pair doesn't help on your new pair does it? Or is everyone in some kind of agreement to burn out something in the outside?

Unlike most years, the lanes should play the same on the right and left side, the right side will break down quicker because of the ball traffic. Usually right handers will be deep inside and the lefties would be out on the gutter, but both sides should start off playing straight up the outside and moving in when the pattern breaks down.

At the Nationals you don't move after every game, so you can groove a shot in if you know what you are doing and your team works with you. In the singles and doubles you are at the mercy of who you rotate with from doubles to singles, one year we had to follow a team of old timers who had old rubber and urethane equipment and carried the whole pattern down into the pits when that happens you will most likely struggle.

Looks like I will be hitting my Special Agent with the 500 abralon pad again this year.

Unfortunately I am not going to be able to go, I will lucky to be back enough to practice by then, but I will not be up to speed by then so I got someone to bowl for me this year.

If I was going to bowl I wouldn't leave home without a Cell to blow a hole in the pattern, and a black widow to move in and take advantage of the dry boards that open up to the outside.

Thanks Coach Jim, Sounds like the new Columbia Resurgence and Columbia Rival I'm taking (as well as my Blue Dot spare ball and my Columbia Fear - which it seems I won't likely need!) should work. What do you think?

You might need a less aggressive ball for the Roto-Grip challenge.
That pattern is shorter around 37ft I believe, your rival should work, but you might need something a little less aggressive, or maybe a shiny surface on the rival.

Wish I would have tried to get going on the Nationals sooner.... I've got family down there, so it would be a cheap trip lol. Oh well I guess... you snooze, you lose.

I have my Special Agent that I will hit with a 500 abralon pad and my Paradigm and X-Factor to bounce off of the dry for Singles and Doubles.

I think I'm going to pick up a Resurgence and a Cell about a month before we head out there, to give me some time to get used to them.

Probably only bring those two, and possibly my Paradigm along with my spare ball.

Slimmy:

What else do you have? They use a lot of oil but you would be surprised how quickly you can used polished equipment.

CoachJim, I'll probably only bowl the Bowlers Journal event, any advice on that pattern?

Here is a link to the lane graph for the Journal:
http://www.bowl.com/Downloads/pdf/tournaments/OpenChamps/08bjoil.pdf

It is 43ft long but looks to be less oil by close to 1/2 the volume from the national shot. You will blow holes in this patten quickly if you use a strong ball, you will then need to switch to a shiny aggressive pearl to take advantage of the dry boards. A ball like the Total NV or NVS or twisted Fury might be a good all around ball for this shot. The break point should be in around 12, but as light as the oil is you might be able to open up something from the outside.

Right now my arsenal is a Storm Paradigm and a Storm Pyro, and my White Dot for spares.

The Paradigm is dulled up and typically grabs very early on my THS. The Pyro is drilled weak and doesn't do very well in any oil.

Plus with my speed fluctuating between 17-18.5 I don't seem to do too well with polished stuff.

However, based on last night, I need a ball that will go long and come back hard. My teammate recommended I pick up a Black Widow pearl.

Last year in Reno I struggled to get any real hook out of my balls, so that's why I'm leaning towards some very aggressive balls this year.

Granted, I'm a much better bowler now than I was then, however I still have issues with controlling my speed.

Slimmy:

Where were you aiming at and what was your break point? I know that a lot of people had problems getting the ball to hook during team. During Doubles then Singles, the lanes opened up a lot.

Well, to be honest I really wasn't hooking the ball much back then to begin with.

I believe I mostly played straight up the right side, probably about 8-10 trying to reach a breakpoint at the dark board on 10 that's 40 feet down. That seemed to be where everyone was crossing that was striking and where my teammates recommended we try to cross.

However, I am probably generating a lot more revs now and likely not going to be able to play that line this year.

In the rare occasions that I do encounter fresh oil, I generally can play up the right side for a game or so, bu then I tend to struggle as I have to move inside, as my speed and lack of revs tends to make my ball just skid to the right.

So I guess I'm looking for something that will either allow me to continue playing up the right side, or a ball that will carry through the front ends but come back hard on the dry boards to allow me to move deeper inside.

That is what I have struggled with the past 3 league nights where I've gone downhill after the first game.

I have good buddy of mine who is at Nationals right now bowling. He is going to give me a full report when he gets back to town. He will give me his line and then the line that everyone else is playing. He is a VERY high rev bowler. He gets a lot on the ball due to his span (around 6"). He normally has to play a lot deeper than most people.

Slimmy, you will need a more aggressive ball than what you have, if you want to stay with Storm I would recommend the Passion, or the Special Agent, keep them dull.

I don't really have any preference for Storm. I'm probably going to pick up a pair of balls a month or so before we head to Nationals.

The Cell will be one, but I'm still trying to figure out the other.

So far I'm considering:

Black Widow Pearl
Resurgence
Momentum

Just not sure which one will be best suited to my game.

I don't know your game, but if the Cell is a given I would drop the resurgence from your list since it is pretty close to the Cell and you don't need two of the same ball. I would go with the Momentum or the BW pearl.

Alright, I'll probably go with the Black Widow pearl then.

I got my first report from Nationals last night. One of the female coaches I bowl with on Tues. bowled there last weekend. She currently holds a 206 on our house sport shot, and is a very deliberate and controlled bowler. She rarely plays inside, but rather strokes starting at 25, between 2-3 arrow out to 5 on our shot.

Her report to me was her high game was 245 and her low was 145. She had a 200 in each set with consistent series in each set. She had to play starting left toe on 18 and rolled straight up 12. If she was 1 board outside of 12, she left buckets. She normally has a good finish but said that her ball slid half way and had trouble recovering the last 15 feet. She rolls a normal 16-16.5 mph ball and said she had to slow down quite a bit from that.

People who played inside lines were light all day with many washouts. There was nothing to bounce off of. Her right side spares gave her trouble as the ball just slid and kept sliding to the right, and she is a deadly 10 pin shooter. She said her spare ball didn't help since her normal balls slid the same.

Don't remember what balls she uses, and I should have checked. But, she had them sanded at the Pro Shop before she left.

Here is a cool video of last year's Nationals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkTDswBVcTA&feature=related

See how easy it is to miss and why.

Is that really the caliber of bowler that goes? I guess it's a good excuse to take a vacation... I saw about 1 bowler with some semblance of balance, and 1 bowler that actually came anywhere near repeating a shot.

Yep that is a good cross section of who goes. When we go there are about 4 to 8 teams that are worth a darn and the rest are like you see, this is why you hear of people tossing a grand into the brackets. I always get beat out by someone shooting their high game of a low 500 set.

My first Nationals. I shot a 150+ game followed by a 126. I made it through 2 brackets.

Last year, in Reno, I would have made out putting a grand in brackets rather across the black jack table.