Sometimes you can have too much information.  I've spent the last several weeks really digging and getting super technical in an attempt to figure out some new ways to explain certain concepts to a customer who is having a lot of trouble understanding bowling in general.  To his credit, he really wants a full understanding of what's going on, but he's so new to all of this that the advanced stuff is really throwing him for a loop, mostly because he's trying to go too fast, and hops on one train really quickly and runs with it.  In the process however, my findings have been rather disappointing.  There are so many variables to bowling, the physics of it are such that regardless of what control you think you have over the outcome of a game, lane transition, layout, etc., you're relying on an astronomical number of things to work together in your favor every time you let go of the ball. 



Ball design has nowhere to go, no different than tire technology.  They may find ways to alter and adjust things, but durability is about the only thing they can hope to improve on.  You can reshuffle the deck as much as you'd like, but the cards will never change.  You can't overcome physics. 



Jayhawk's ball surface scanner has shown and proven that ball surface changes so significantly over the course of just one league set that what you think you're doing to the surface of your ball and what grit you think you're keeping it at are uncontrollably inconsistent. 



Now what you think I might be saying here is actually opposite of the point I'm making.  There are so many variables in the numbers and the science, that you the bowler are really the only thing that makes a difference.  The amount of variables make it IMPOSSIBLE to control anything mathematically, what really matters is a bowler's intuition, vision, and ability to read ball reaction.  It's literally an every single shot adjustment, even if that means not making one.  Humans are simply not accurate enough to be able to realistically apply the required consistency to take advantage of the applied mathematics.  All the layouts, ball design, surfaces, lane surfaces, lane oils, ball motion studies, what have you, that all doesn't really amount to anything.  The person throwing the ball is literally all that matters, we might as well go back to throwing plastic balls.  All this technology just adds a bunch of extra steps and confusion to something so complicated that it's reduced to simplicity due to factors that are outside reasonable control.  Or in other words, there are so few things that we as humans can actually control or affect that it's literally impossible to take advantage of the endlessly complex mathematics that there are to work with.  There is no spoon. 

The "science" of bowling can be staggering if you become so immersed in it.  What really matters, is can a bowler read ball reaction (since it changes quickly), and can he adjust to the changing environment? 

Assuming body mechanics allow one to repeat shots with some reliability, an educated set of eyes will tell you all you need to know.  What we need to be able to answer for ourselves several times during a league session is "did I throw that one different, or did the lane change?"  Once you decide the answer, then you should commit to it 100% so you don't start changing everything when perhaps changing one thing will suit you better.

The "numbers" actually mean very little once you get to that point.  Remember that we all have nights when we are seeing things more clearly than others too.  The game is challenging enough without us making it harder by having too much information swirling through the brain in any given moment.

You have no idea how perfectly that applies to my current situation with said customer . .

It can be summed up in my line to the kids looking for the magic layout-

At some point you need to bowl.

All the information a bowler can gather is good.  It's no good if you can't apply that information correctly make good choices and execute shots.  Repeatable shots are what any sport is about.

This is probably the most true and educational post on this page

The ball must be legal sitting on the shelf or it doesn't get the USBC stamp.  The key is AFTER they are drilled, because the only devices used to test a drilled ball are a dodo scale and a durometer. 

Ball technology is at a point of diminishing returns.  There are guys averaging over 250 for a season and at least one guy did it in 2 different leagues.  How much better do you need to make the ball?

You can say the same thing about golf equipment.  If we gained 17 yards as TMAG advertises for every driver they come out with every 4 months we'd all be hitting it 300+ by now.   

If you can hit miraculous recovery shots like TW or Phil no issues but most of us hackers hit two in the bushes or top one into a bunker.  lol

Exactly.  But the problem that more distance solves creates another one.  If you slice or draw the ball off the tee, you're in a lot more trouble than you'd have been with a shorter drive. 

Quote from: scotts33 on November 18, 2013, 02:43:11 PM

You can say the same thing about golf equipment.  If we gained 17 yards as TMAG advertises for every driver they come out with every 4 months we'd all be hitting it 300+ by now.