Correct me if I am wrong, but are you speaking of the situation where your ball is just not finishing or is laboring to get back to the pocket?

If so it could be carry down or it could be a lack of head/midlane oil.  

Most of the time if a ball is laboring to get back or if I am leaving weak corners i will either move 2/1 in or ball down and square up a little simply because the head oil is more likely to go before the oil gets down the lanes with todays agressive resin balls.  This was not the case 8-10 years ago, rather a result of the way bowling and equipment has evolved.

If it is true carrydown, for instance a 2nd shift league fowling a women's league (plastic down the middle) going to a weaker ball and moving to a straighter line or slowing down a little is a good option.  Also a ball with decent survace and a low flare drilling will work well with a straighter shot...might not carry everything, but will get to the pocket on a consistant basis (depending on the operator of course).
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"...do or do not, there is no try."


St. Louis USBC Sport Bowling
Best Bowling Pro Shops Inc., St. Louis MO.

That sounds to me like what jdball299 said -- oil depleting in the middle and front part of the lane causes the ball to roll earlier on the lane, which causes it to expend more energy before it reaches the backend, which causes it to move less aggressively off the back of the pattern. You're simply not going to see the ball jump off the backend, even with a "skid/flip" ball in that circumstance.  You need to either square up and use weaker equipment once that happens, or move left and chase the oil and change your rotation slightly.  But you won't get the same motion you were getting before no matter what.

And your friend is right when he recommends trying to roll the ball.  When my carry starts getting bad, I tend to want to grab a little extra at the bottom and try to hook it more.  All I end up doing is creating more tilt but less rotation and the ball goes longer and hits flatter!  The more I try to just feel the thumb clear quickly and feel the ball just roll off the fingertips, the better my ball reads the lanes.

Well...  one thing that does seem to help is lofting the ball somewhat farther down the lane, which would be consistent with the lane getting dryer in at the heads and mid portion of the lane.  Unfortunately, accuracy becomes a problem and I tend to abandon that practice after a couple of bad shots.

But when I have maintained the loft, it does seem that the ball retains some of it's energy at the end.  Still no flipping. But at least enough of an arc to cause a little mixing action.  Without doing that, it's like I'm thowing straight up the middle...even when I'm not.

Maybe the house doesnt strip the backends properly? Sounds alot like what I encounter at one house I bowl in here. That particular house has a problem with backend reaction, or lack thereof for the most part. When you use stronger equipment here, it reads the fronts too early, and weaker stuff tends to not make the corner without a little surface on the cover.

Just a thought...alot of centers are cutting costs these days, and usually it starts with proper lane maintenence.
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Still taking your lunch money one strike at a time, just without a Mission in my bag....

Edited on 12/2/2010 1:27 PM