I'll agree with everybody else. Sometimes having the numbers don't really help, sometimes they can actually confuse you, but all I get from them is a general idea where to start and with what ball. The lane surface, age of that lane surface, and the lane machine can all affect it. For example, certain shots put down with our machine at our local center feel different than that same shot may feel at a different house, and those variables are impossible to create any kind of consistent model with. What it boils down to is throwing some shots and learning what those shots are telling you. You may also attack them differently if you're on the same pair for a 3 game set vs moving a pair every game in modified leagues or tournaments. If you're on them for several games, playing for transition will be important, if you're moving every game, you should line up in the best spot possible.
Determining the pattern isn't as important as a lot of people say it is. You'll hear it a lot in the college community, but more often than not, people ask it as a way to sound like they're asking an educated question to impress someone. Hearing something is 40 feet long with a 1.5-1 ratio really just tells you it's a flatter pattern that's going to be fairly tough, but even seeing a graph breaking down exactly where the oil is at may not tell you much. You might start out where you think you should, but find out you have more recovery to the right than you thought, or less hold in the middle, or that you have more push through the heads, etc.
Some lane guys don't even know what they put down, they just push a button on the machine for a pattern that's been in there for years. Naming the patterns like Montreal is basically just a way to communicate the difficulty of what they were bowling on. If you have experience on Montreal, it provides you with information or insight into what they're talking about without them having to describe it to you.
As far as figuring out what you're bowling on without being told, it's really hard to lock down specifics due to the variables. A pattern with a heavy volume of oil in the heads can feel like a house shot sometimes due to the amount of oil in the middle, even though it's going to be heavy on the outside also. A longer pattern with lighter volume can feel shorter than a short pattern with a heavy volume, if you get what I'm saying. And as far as communicating that to other people, you will be able to more accurately describe what you're talking about by where you had to play, how you were throwing the ball, and what ball you were throwing rather than trying to estimate specifics.
