Every week whether a league or tournament is a learning experience.  The main thing is to gather what you have learned so you dont make the same mistake twice.  If you have an arsenal of equipment, always take something for all conditions just to make sure you are prepared for something unexpected.  Alot of times, ball reaction can be dictated by who is in front of you providing that is the format.  Thats the lesson I learned at State last weekend.  I heard the shot was 33 feet.  However, we were the second squad and think there were people using plastic or urethane because the shot in the middle of the lane played really tight.  I started with a Ebonite Black Ice playing around 15 out to 7-8.  Thing is if I missed in and hit closer to 17, I barely hit the headpin and left the 2-4-5 due to some carrydown.  Thankfully I had something a little more aggressive where I could play in there and ended up shooting 692 in Singles.  I expected alot of hook from the start but it wasnt there.  Standing left and playing 5th arrow did not occur for me until about the 5th game which was game 2 of doubles.

I admit I made a mistake in not taking my Slingshot along to the tournament, but when I shot the week before I shot the bulk of the games minors and team using my 503C and the team was on the second shift following doubles and singles. 

I ended up throwing my 300C during most of the night shift last Saturday for the 700 tournament.  I could not generate enough ball speed last Saturday due to shoulder issues to compensate the way I normally would due to issues with my shoulder.

Not all bowlers buy the HOOK in a Box, there are several of us out there that are content to throw entry or mid level equipment.  I agree I am no where as talented as Norm Duke and he can play lines that most of us and most pros just are not capable of playing the twig on conditions like Norm (it is an area that I am working on but have not become comfortable with).

Enjoy bowling and work on not being quite so critical of those of us who you don't know and have never seen bowl.

Have a good day!

Mark 

I am going to throw something back at cha. You being one of the biggest advocates of people using the right equipment on the right condition; not to mention that scoring is condusive to the right "match up"; you are going to say that if the PBA guys were bowling on a short, low volume pattern, that they can still score just because of change of release?  As you know, I am up there in rev rate somewhere between Rash and Belmo and I have a hard time getting a entry level ball to push at times.  Granted I am slightly rev dominate now as compared to 10 years ago, but I did say entry level ball.  When I watch Sean Rash with his borderline 500 rpm rev rate struggle to get the ball to read the lane (I can tell the difference between a ball burning up and a ball not getting started/reading the pattern), that there isnt a decent volume of oil; not to mention he was using Brunswicks high end balls?  Rash doesnt throw the ball all that fast; would say he is fairly matched with rev rate to ball speed, and yet he struggled with his look on tv once he moved inside.  I would be willing to bet that what I encountered on Thursday Nights this year was less volume than what the PBA was using this year, depending on which pattern was laid out.  Nobody is saying that the PBA lays out a heavy volume 45 foot pattern.  But needless to say there is plenty out there when even Belmo and Osku are using high end stuff. 

My biggest argument, is that local centers put out dead easy shots and have half their bowlers averaging "scratch" and then when it comes tournament time, and handicap tournaments no less, they lessen the volume and/or shorten the pattern, in most cases.  If this is the case, then why do the "scratch" bowlers even bother showing up knowing they have to shoot almost 800 each set to win on a pattern that is not condusive to those scores?  What the USBC should do, is tell centers that until they use a named pattern, whether it be one of the USBC patterns or Kegel patterns, then the centers dont get certified for sanctioned play.  What I hate in the sport, is that centers put patterns out where guys can average 230-240 so they think they really are that good and then when they bowl something like the USBC Tournament and shoot 1600-1700, it is the tournaments fault.

When I bowled the tournament in Dacula a couple months ago, they used the Kegel Middle of the Road pattern.  Scores were fair and competitive.  It did not take a 250 average to win nor did it take even to win.  They guy that won the tournament was a tweener, second place was a high rev rate player and third place was another tweener.  Everyone agreed it was a well run tournament and a fair shot because everyone could play on it; not just crankers and not just low rev players. 

What I would like to see on the PBA, is one week they put down a 45 foot pattern and another week they put down a 32-34 foot pattern with low volume and see how they fare and I am not talking about the Plastic Ball Championship either.  Since you say that we should learn how to make a ball push, then what is the secret when the patterns are shorter and volumes are less?

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble but the PBA isn't putting out a flood....they just know how to bowl better.  They don't throw it into the floor....It's like the guys that try to say professional golfers hit it further because they use different balls.  No they are just better athletes and can hit the ball harder....

From my experience bowling on the patterns over the years there is actually LESS volume in the middle on a PBA pattern than on the house walls.

The reality is that we're incredibly spoiled....with the integration of combo strip/oil machines there is no need to learn how to get the ball down the lane anymore.  Now with every league you're given a puddle to dump the ball into.  Walk around your local competitive league and pay attention to how the bowlers get the ball onto the lane.  The majority dump it and spin it to the right, which is fantastic on house china, but absolutely horrible when the heads begin to go at all.  Now when we go to a tournament that requires projection and shotmaking....everyone is totally screwed and whining.

Notice them not using weak stuff...bleeding energy is vital when the backends are strong.

One thing folks forget about Sean Rash, and even he himself said multiple times on tv this year, when he gets fast he throws the ball through his breakpoint. So to sit here and say that his ball wasnt hooking just because it was burning up, we arent 100% sure of that.

Add to that, I trust Sean's ball rep-Chuck Gardner, to put the best ball for that situation in Sean's hands, trust me when I tell you from experience that Chuck knows way more about ball motion, surfaces etc. at the pro level than most on here.

Not saying Sean's ball wasn't burning up, but when you take a step back from it, only Chuck and Sean really have a valid opinion on wether it truly was the ball burning up, or wether Sean was throwing it through his breakpoint with poor shots....

Thats why I dont think his ball was burning up.  He did not look fast at all.  When he tried to play 18ish out to 10-12, his ball read the midlane too quickly and when he moved into 22ish, the ball never got started.  Not sure which patterns they were but it was a couple different shows where this happened.  Another reason I dont think his ball was burning up was because Belmo was just as deep and getting 10s slapped out and throwing messengers all while using higher end stuff as well.

Russell.....I understand surfaces and what they are for.  I am just saying that what I saw at State; if I threw anything higher end I would have been shooting alot of 3 counts.  I had one shot where I was playing around 25 at S/D house and I did not project the ball at all.  The result was hitting the 4-7 in the face and getting a 5 count.  The ball never got right of 27-28.  On the spare ball, I used the same ball and projected it better, hit my spot, and hit the 1-3 in the face and made the spare. 

BTW......Thanks to all of you for the intelligent discussion.  Kind of nice to be able to have one without the flaming attitudes. 

One thing folks forget about Sean Rash, and even he himself said multiple times on tv this year, when he gets fast he throws the ball through his breakpoint. So to sit here and say that his ball wasnt hooking just because it was burning up, we arent 100% sure of that.

Add to that, I trust Sean's ball rep-Chuck Gardner, to put the best ball for that situation in Sean's hands, trust me when I tell you from experience that Chuck knows way more about ball motion, surfaces etc. at the pro level than most on here.

Not saying Sean's ball wasn't burning up, but when you take a step back from it, only Chuck and Sean really have a valid opinion on wether it truly was the ball burning up, or wether Sean was throwing it through his breakpoint with poor shots....

Yeah Steven I know the state tourneys are lacking in head oil.  I don't think there is much to do other then fling it with something shiny and hope.  I guess I was just referring more to the issues raised by some others on shorter patterns.  You're right Cheetah does have some volume up front, but there is so much backend that when it burns up you just slowly ball down, or just chase it left.

I want to be clear and say that I am not questioning Chuck's judgment.  I know Chuck and you're right his knowledge of ball motion is off the charts.  It appeared to me that the ball was using too much energy in the midlane (but Sean could have been throwing it through the break).  I can see a scenario where Sean had a look all week with a certain ball and wanted to try and make it fit even though the TV pairs were nothing like the lanes at South Pointe.

I again wouldn't question Chuck's judgment....if there was one call I could make for a ball motion question he would be it.

As for state and local tournaments, the last few years our state association has put out Usbc white two years ago, and blue this year, and the last two years we have seen a steady decline each year for not just the scratch side but the handicap side as well. Most who have went that I talked too have said that each year so far has played worse and worse...

 But it doesnt stop there, even at my home center, there have been several scratch and handicap tournaments just in the past few months where the tournament directors have put out numerous shots, PBA, Kegel what have you, and the laneman(who happend to be bowling on a league with me) tell me later that week that the TD and manager cut the volumes....and to add to that at other centers, td's have been taking existing pba patterns and modifying them as well smh...all the while they wonder why entries are declining, they post a shot as cheetah, yet it plays nothing like Cheetah, and that goes for other patterns as well.

AS for Cheetah, I have seen several different approaches to Cheetah, from what you said Russell-using aggressive gear, but I have found in the past balls like an AMF smoke worked well for me before I joined Seismic staff.

I echo TwoHand, its great to have a discussion and not have attitudes even though our opinions differ, as I have alot of respect for others that get on here and are willing to share what they see and know. What I find is most intriguing is how lanes differ from say my area, as opposed to other areas, as well as what I term dry may be oily in some areas-even though thats hard to imagine for me!