I was just wondering if anyone has been to Baton Rouge this year already for Nationals....

This will be my first Nationals ever. I just wanted to know what the shot conditions were and if anyone had any helpful tips on ANYTHING...

I am a 191 average bowler and I hear that for the most part bowlers seem to have trouble finding sucess with the pattern at Nationals.

Hey, Kevin. My driller went to Nationals and said that you will need equipment for extremely oily lanes. Prepare to slow your speed down quite a bit, too. He normally throws around 16-17 mph, he said he dropped to about 12 mph. He is a southpaw, but said it was universal....He also said he watched Rules, Vertigos, Bullys ,etc...take out the 6 pin, maybe 3 pin alot for right handers....Same on the other side. Hope this helps, good luck at Nationals, man...

Thanks Jason, I really have trouble with wet lanes and have a tendency to get frustrated and lose concentration.

I'll be sure to slow my speed down and watch other people's balls reactions.

I'm so excited to go to Nationals!!!

That is a great idea. Try and find some bowlers that throw similar to your style and see where they are playing. Maybe straight up or deep. From what I heard, probably straight up...You should be alright.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">Originally posted by SDBowler:
I was just wondering if anyone has been to Baton Rouge this year already for Nationals....

This will be my first Nationals ever. I just wanted to know what the shot conditions were and if anyone had any helpful tips on ANYTHING...

I am a 191 average bowler and I hear that for the most part bowlers seem to have trouble finding sucess with the pattern at Nationals. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">I bowled in my first nationals, and I found Moderate success playing deep, 18 at the arrows to 13 at my breakpoint. if I missed wide, the ball sailed, if I missed in, the ball went left.

I made my best shots in the singles, and should get a good check

Sorry I couldn't help you before you left, but I just joined this forum.

I bowled this year. It was my 5th year bowling now. I found this years nationals to be the easiest of all so far. There is a little more friction down lane than in past years. There is still of course an OB, but more hook overall.

I shot 580 - 659 - 693 =1932

Palumbo

To continue from what I said in SDBowlers "I'm Back" topic, here's a link to the ABC Pattern.

http://www.bowl.com/downloads/pdf/tournaments_abc_2005pattern.pdf

Now I'm not going to try and explain this, but suffice it to say, 72 units of oil in the heads and about 18 units of oil at the end of the pattern is not a flooded pattern. Is is considerable more oil than most centers put out, but I wouldn't consider it to be a flood.

What the graph tells you is the the oil is basically a Christmats Tree pattern that is buffed out to 38 feet, with a very well defined out of bounds the complete length of the pattern. While you can play a variety of lines, the most scorable line will be inside where there is the most oil in the heads. This will allow you to get the ball down lane to the break point which should be about 40-42 down the lane and somewhere around the 10-12 board.

In other words, anything outside of 5 will probably not make it back to the pocket.

The shot may or not play exactly like this, but reading the graph will give you and idea of how to play the lanes based on where the oil is.

All:

I looked at the .pdf graphic of the pattern. Where is the out of bounds on the pattern based on the graph? How do can you tell where the OB is on a pattern by looking at the graph?

This would be GREAT information beforehand when dealiing with one of the graphed patterns.

I have bowled in the Nationals and didn't find the lanes that wet. I average between 17 and 18mph and kept my speed. I just played it tight, but that's the way I have been bowling. I know it was the first weekend, when I bowled, but, I was in first place when I left on the Monday morning at 2AM. I have dropped down to the 60s, but for my first ABC Tournament, I did better than I had expected to do. I really liked the lanes, but as I said, I played it tight.

Anna. there was a defined out of bounds, and I just rolled the ball from 18-13 and had a good look in the singles. When I made bad shots, I missed the headpin, nevermind the pocket