1914 Oil

Friday, July 18, 2008

[Public service message on]

There have been some questions about the "oil patterns" on the lanes that I mentioned in the previous post. I can't talk about it in detail, because I'm just learning, and it's all Greek to me. But I'll explain what I can.

The last time I bowled was in probably 1975, in a mixed league, in St. Louis. Public balls, rental shoes, all that. As far as we knew back then, except for the weight, all the balls were the same - round. And we didn't know anything about oil. As far as we knew, they waxed the lanes every week or something. And maybe what we thought then was true then. I don't know.

Since the old days, things have changed drastically. I guess if you're bowling for fun on a Friday evening, the balls are still just round, and the lanes are "waxed or something", who cares, and that's good enough. But not when you're bowling in tournaments for money. At that level, it gets real complicated right quick.

The different balls have different shaped and positioned weights inside that affect the way they roll, and where the finger holes are drilled affect the action further. A bowler has to know his or her own style well to choose the right balls. Here are some examples of ball specs. Click on "Full ball specs" to see the cross-section of the ball, and the expected path.

The exterior material, what the ball is made of, affects how it acts, too.

The lanes are oiled. If you've seen that flat machine crawling down a lane, that's what it's doing. It's laying oil. But the oil is not laid evenly the whole length of the lane. It's laid in patterns. Where the oil is heavy, the ball slides. Where the lane is dry, the ball encounters friction, and if it's spinning it can hook. As the tournament progresses, oil gets "carried down" the lane, and the bowler has to be aware of the changed conditions and compensate, either by changing where the ball is set down, or by using a different ball.

The Man carries six to eight 16-lb balls with him to tournaments.

This is a general description of a few common oil patterns, used on public lanes, and for amateur leagues.

The PBA tournaments use five special, and more challenging, patterns, Chameleon, Cheetah, Shark, Scorpion, and Viper. They're tough. (I'm not positive, but I get the impression that a particular tournament will use one particular pattern, advertised up front.) The five are described here. The first one up at the link is the Shark. Click on the logos to see the others.

Most people don't know all that, and like I said, I'm just learning. There's a LOT more science to it that I'm not aware of yet. The Man is frustrated because pro bowling doesn't get an audience or respect, partly because people don't understand how exacting it is, and partly because there's a low class image. Because of the image problem, PBA bowlers are not allowed to drink, smoke, or swear while in the building or on the grounds, even when practicing. There's a whole set of rules, breaking of which can get you suspended.

Another problem is that Joe Blow has a 220 average in his Tuesday night league, so he thinks he's as good as the pros. No respect for them. He doesn't know about the oil patterns in tournament bowling. They make a BIG difference. You have to think and compensate constantly.

[Public service message off]
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