I have been looking for help with my first sport pattern league but did not find the specific info I was looking for so I am going to list my experiences. My league requires us to play on Highway to Hell, Winding Road and Dead Man's Curve.
First week is Highway to Hell. Here is my experience. Don't play outside 12. The out of bounds is very pronounced. If you like to play straight I would suggest targeting 12-13. If you like to swing it you are going to have a problem because left of 15 will take off when it hits the dry of you don't have much error if you pull it. I was throwing 16mph with about 300rpm. Stood on 22-23 and targeted 12-13. Flirted with touching 11 just to get a little more revs with my Virtual Gravity. Worked well for my first time shooting on this pattern. I got a little daring in my second game. I wanted to see what my Gravity was capable but I didn't have enough hand to overcome the OB. Shot 202, 169 then changed pairs and shot 211 and 188.
Hope this helps anyone looking for advice playing the pattern? I will be shooting this pattern again tonight. I will pay more attention to the other balls, lines and types of bowlers this time and will post the results.

Forgot! My average is about 200. I averaged 192.5 and was 3rd in average that night and 4th in total points for 4 games.

Nice start Matt,
what bowling center is this, River?

Yea. 11 week league. Was going to go to join the Shore scratch but I wanted to test my skills on sport pattern. Going to try to get some practice in at Shore next week. We should meet up. I am free all day so I want to try to get there at 3 on their fresh house pattern. Let me know what day you are going to be up there.

First pair of of games on a fresh Highway to Hell pattern and I shot a 180 and a 211. I first tried to use a timid shot on the same line I used last week 23-23 to 12-13. I decide to try 21 up 11. This worked so much better. Skidded enough to really rev up and blasted the pocket. Everyone else stayed 1 or 2 left of me but their feet were right of me. No as for the second pair of games that is a different story. This old stupid F%^$ threw a 40 grit sanded epoxy ball all over the place and decided to wipe the ball after every through. There was no pattern or oil left. I resorted to throwing 40 to about 18 - 19 but it was loosing backend because the guy was even crossing the head pin. I will start a thread about him so please don't comment about him. Shot 153 and a 169. Hope I cross his path again next week.

I wish I would have saw this post first, oh well here are some more questions I have for you.

You say it was out of bounds outside of 12, did you try standing on the 10 board and aiming at the first arrow (5board) and playing a slow hook straight up the 5 board to see if there actually was an out of bounds there, or did you just swing the ball out into the oil from farther in?

I actually had another bowler ask me to move my shot because we were rolling the same line and that bowler couldn't score. Funny, my ball didn't have the same trouble.

You say you were using the Virtual Gravity. Another site has an entire thread talking about carry down issues with this ball, and other Storm balls. Consensus is that balls that slide long will be affected more than those that roll early.

I too, roll a VG, and notice carry down issues. When that happens, I generally change to my BRB to roll through the carry down.

I have noticed carry down problems with another Storm ball that I had too. This keeps me away from them, in general.

Oh, back to the complaining bowler, he also rolled a Storm.

Read this:

The Virtual Gravity is a low RG, high diff. bowling ball with a solid(very strong cover) designed for heavy oil. If you look at any other ball on the market with these kind of specs., you will see a ball that has a bit of control for heavy oil. This is where I think using a little more surface than box finish will give you that control with the asymmetrical reaction you are looking for in heavy oil. Also, a ball this strong is doing every thing it can to not skid too far down the lane, there fore, a bowler may try to push the ball to the dry, and find that the ball has now lost all it's energy trying not to skid to that spot, and has nothing left to make it back from there. Try tightening up your line, and keeping the ball in the oil, not throwing it to the dry so the ball can do what it is supposed to do.

I have taken these couple of minutes to help anyone out there who may feel that they are dissatisfied with the product they purchased. The Virtual Gravity is an excellent ball for heavy oil, that doesn't wear out like some people are claiming. the ball just needs to be used in the proper manner. With that said, I think the up coming Virtual Energy will fit for those bowlers who are bowling on slightly less volumes of oil, and are unable to get their Virtual gravity to store enough energy.

--------------------
Tommy Gollick
Storm Regional/Pro Shop staff
Red Crown Pro Shop Harrisburg, PA

First CoachJim - I only bowled a total of 8 games on this pattern. I tried to test the limits of the VG using 20 - 15 - 10 - 3. On the fresh pattern, outside of 11 is the official OB. Guys with VG and way more revs were losing it out there as well as some of the women trying to play typical house shot over 10 with Cell and Cell pearls. The high scores were all with guys able to keep the ball between 15 and 12, no matter what speed or rev rate. Letting the VG hang a little in the oil worked best for me.
Second Dennis Michael - I appreciate the article about the VG. I am very big on moving lines in as soon a the transition happens. I pride myself on it even though the house I bowl at doesn't reward me for it. The ball change I made after the 4th frame of my 1st game against Mr.40 was to a Emerald Vibe. This ball is my go to ball during dry practice sessions. I can get this ball to move like the VG. When I threw it I stayed about 14 - 15 from 22 - 23 and you could actually see it try to hook only to stop every time it crossed his path. That not working I went back to the VG and started on 40 aiming for 20. Worked well but then Mr.40 brunt his own spot and kept throwing left of the headpin. When that happened I just threw in the towel. Had a 4 bagger and that was all she wrote. It was like the guy was trying to play defense. I need to come up with a plan for the next time I cross Mr.40. When the lanes were fresh he was trying to play first arrow and skidding right. In the middle he was around the head pin. At the end he was moving his feet left and just missing all over the place. I think I might have to get a rock of my own and just stay up the back of it down and in. What a waste of a sport league.

For a lot of people bowling on a sport shot for the first time, they feel like there's an OB outside simply because they've never bowled on a condition before where there's actually oil out there. I wouldn't doubt in the slightest that you can't swing the ball out there. You have to stand out there. If you want to throw the ball straight up 8, you should be standing on and sliding on about 16. If you want to throw the ball straight up 5, you should be on about 13. On shorter sport patterns, I'll stand on 15 and swing the ball from 5-6 out to 2-3.

If you look at the pattern, you'll see that the oil actually tapers off starting at about 11, so you'll see a little bit of recovery out there. You won't see house shot boomerang recovery, but you can see a little bit. I would initially be looking for a breakpoint between 7 and 9 and then adjust my angle of getting there.

You're trying to hook the ball entirely to much on a sport pattern. Straighter is greater. You are not rewarded for the number of boards you cross. The only time you see the pros crossing that many boards is when there are a LOT of games on a lane and/or the TV lights evaporate the oil off the lane. One guy spraying the ball all over the lane for a game or two doesn't burn up the lane and require someone to move that deep. And it certainly wouldn't cause your ball NOT to hook. If anything, him throwing a sanded ball would cause your weaker vibe to grab and hook more.

Also, if you're standing on 40 and aiming at 20, you're putting the ball down at about 30 maybe? That would mean you're crossing 10 boards in 12 feet. That also means that you'd be crossing another 10 boards in the next 12 feet, which would put the ball at about 10 by the time it's 24 feet down the lane. Since there's still oil out there, it would continue to go right, and I'd imagine either end up outside 5 or in the gutter.



This to me sounds more like you beat yourself.

Lefty, thanks for the advice. I was starting this post to help others that have never bowled on this pattern get a starting point to work with. My speed is under 16, and my ball revs under 300. I am very good about watching my flair to read the oil on the lanes. My ball has 6 rings of flair in about a 4.5 to 5 inch pattern. If I have all 6 rings with oil I know I didn't get it to the right break point. I like to see 3 good rings of oil and the rest get dryer as they go out. I know it is a bow tie but I am giving you the best description I can for you to understand my method. If you have never thrown a Virtual Gravity I can not stress how much energy stays in this ball through the pin deck. I have NEVER had reaction like this before. I was a down and in bowler until 3 months ago. I needed to change my release to use this ball. I can hook the entire lane if I want but I am not happy unless I play as straight as I can with ALL TEN in the pit. Don't like messengers or swish strikes if I can avoid them. Normal line for this pattern is 21 to 11. Not 21 to 11 out to 8 or 5. When I need to move and find oil I will move little by little left, Target and arrow if 1 or 2 boards left with just the feet don't work. Please try to keep this post to the Kegel Patterns. All the help is appreciated but I intended for others to share their experiences not for a help ME out post. Again thank you so much!

You should know if you hit your breakpoint by watching which board the ball breaks on. And you're not going to see the rings get lighter if the ball gets more right because unlike a house shot, there's still a decent amount of oil out at the gutter. You pitch the ball right on a house shot, your oil rings will get lighter because there's drastically less oil out there. Not so on a sport shot. there's only marginally less so you'll see the same amount of oil on the ball until it exits the pattern, at which point you'll see the rings end. If you're seeing more or less oil rings, it's because you're releasing the ball differently and getting more or less revolutions.

As for the line, there is no "normal line". Different bowlers will need to get to the pocket in different ways. A good way to start would be to take the pattern length minus 31 to figure out where a good breakpoint might be. For this pattern, that would be 9, so that's where I'd start. Someone with more revs would need to get deeper to use 9 as their breakpoint and someone with less revs would have to move out more to use 9 as their breakpoint. You also have to keep in mind that the pattern won't play the same from house to house or even lane to lane. There could even be an issue with the oil machine that caused the pattern to be put down differently or all the lanes (or even some of them) to not be stripped properly.

If you go into it thinking you need to play a "normal line", odds are that you're not going to have success. It would be pure luck for that to work when the bowler or the equipment wasn't taken into consideration coming up with it.

What line did you play on this pattern? What ball? What rev rate and speed worked best for you?

We bowl on the PBA patterns, but even if I did bowl on this pattern, it's not going to be the same as what's in your center. I've bowled on the same PBA patterns in different centers and they never play the same. Heck, they don't even play the same from one week to the next in the same center, or even from one pair to another.

A similar PBA pattern is the Chameleon pattern. Some weeks I played that pattern standing on 20 and crossing about 10, and others I had to play outside 5. There were some weeks where I'd have to move in more because there were 4 lefties on the pattern and the lane got burned up and for whatever reason, outside 5 wouldn't hook at all. And some weeks you don't end up figuring it out at all and you walk out of the bowling center talking to yourself because you felt like you threw the ball well and every time you found something, it went away. And other times you don't throw the ball well and pay for it.

As far as equipment, it would also vary depending on how that lane or pair was reacting.

Also, I don't change my rev rate and ball speed. I throw the ball about 16MPH and my rev rate is about 350.

I bowled on Dead man's curve in a tournament a lit bit ago. I posted where I played and my analysis on it here-

http://www.bowlingcommunity.com/b/ubbthr....html#Post92958

Also, look at my post after Dennis' replies. Might be helpful

Great tips on that other thread, mikhial and Dennis. I will be bowling a shootout on Dead Man's Curve tomorrow and post the results.

Ended up getting third in the small shootout on Dead Man's Curve.

Shot 584 for first set to make the cut, then 247-226 to make the PBA-style bowloff. Ended up losing the first game as the lanes were too dry for me to handle, but I learned a lot that will be great for next time.

I found that even with a very small amount of participants, this shot dries out very quickly after starting off as an extremely wet pattern.