After watching the PBA Badger Open, I am wondering why with 52 feet of oil, the bowlers were not using their strongest ball?  What is the reason for this?  It seems like you would want something to give you better entry angle....any thoughts?

The pattern is so long that you don't want to chew up the fronts. Just because the pattern is long doesn't mean there is a lot of volume either.

The stronger ball will dig earlier while a slightly weaker ball will conserve energy and get a better entry angle since you only have 8 feet of dry lane

Ding ding ding! You don't want the earlier motion practically all of the strongest balls have. Well, unless it's actually working for you of course but most usually need something that conserves energy to do well on something like that.

Storm staffer Derek Eoff mentioned this idea to me a few years back. He said that he generally used his "stronger" pieces on the shorter patterns because with his speed and rev rate, he wanted the ball to bleed a little bit of energy so that he could have smooth, consistent motion. On the flip side, he'd often use his "weaker" stuff on the longer patterns because that would allow him to create some angle once the ball reached the end of the pattern.

As house hacks, we've been conditioned to think long and/or heavy oil = strongest balls, but that's not generally what we should be looking for. When you pull out your 360-grit hook monster, you're going to blow the front part of the lane apart, and your ball is going to be DOA at the other end.

For some reason, I feel there is a misconception amongst some bowlers of long oil equals heavy oil and short patterns equal lighter volume.

Longer patterns with lighter volume and shorter patterns with heavier oil, DO, in fact, exist.

+1

I've been bowling on a Sport Shot league all 3 seasons for the past 3 years. We use all of the PBA Animal patterns and will throw on a WTBA city or a US Open pattern in from time to time. We bowl on each pattern 2 consecutive weeks.

Myself and my teammates were under the impression that on the Badger pattern, we needed to use our strongest equipment with the most surface (typically 500-1000 abralon). All we accomplished by doing this is that we tore up the middle of the pattern, got frustrated and scored like crap.

Earlier this year, I attended a clinic where I was able to talk to a PBA player. My league was set to bowl on Badger the next week and I asked him for some friendly advice.

He told me to use a "Benchmark" style ball. Symmetrical or low PSA differential Assymetrical. Don't go crazy with the surface. Have one ball with a "strong" layout, have one ball with a "control" layout.

We went through my bag and chose a Smack Down as my "strong" ball and a Optimus Solid as my "Control" ball. Both are finished at 2000 abralon. We also picked a Haywire as a stronger "strong" option. This ball is at 1000 abralon, polished.

The other nuggets of advice I got are:

Keep the target in front of you.
Speed Control is key.
High axis rotation is not your friend.

I now enjoy and look forward to the challenge of bowling on the Badger pattern.

So when would be a good time to use surface? 

By the time the tv show actually starts the lanes aren't exactly fresh.  Slim chance they used the same balls on the show that they were using at the start of practice.