I have just recently become a student of bowling.  Having bowled for 25 years now I never really paid attention or really knew much about bowling.  I would go to a pro shop and tell them, I want my new ball to hook.  Or drill it so it arcs.  I knew nothing about breaking down a pair of lanes.  I often wondered why some of the good teams with good bowlers always did so well.  Its because they all had similar styles and worked together to break down a pair of lanes.  My old nationals team or other teams I was on for say state and city tournaments all had bowlers with different styles.  So we really never worked together to break down a pair. Actually I don't think anyone of us really knew what breaking down a pair really meant. One guy would play up 5, another was playing 10, I would play 12-13...

Boy there is a lot more to learn.  I just wish I could find a team with similar bowling styles that I could go bowl Nationals with. Someday I would like to finish in the top 100 or top 10 would be awesome.

Sunday, the house puts out the pattern we will be playing on on Monday. They oil 6-8 lanes with that pattern and let us practice on it. Me, my team mate and another guy that bowls on our league practiced on a pair.  My team mate almost has the same style as me and so does the other guy.  But we were all playing different lines. This week is the Cheetah pattern.  After they shot there first two games of 120-150 and me 180-190 I suggested we play the lanes as its suggested in the information and we work together to break the pair down. We all played 7 to about 5.  That seemed to be the best look for us. Our first game after working together was a little higher for all of us.  Then I pointed out that we had broken the lanes down somewhat.  We had more hold and more area to play with.  Next game I get lucky and string the first 10 for a 288 game, my team mate shoots in the 220 and the other guy(he is only averaging 145) shoots 200. I am finally starting to understand and I saw first hand how working together to break a lane down benefits the team.

Unfortunately our 4 man team consists of a lefty, another guy that has about 500 revs, my team mate and myself. So we don't really "fit" all that great as a team.  Although, this was my first year in this league and I just wanted the experience and the challenge.  Next year I will be looking and asking to bowl with a team of bowlers with similar styles.

I'm sure there is a ton more to learn about bowling. I'm "studying" the ball surface and different reactions part of it now along with working as a team to break a pair down.