Ok, a lot of bowlers have played on the PBA patterns, or house representations of them and know that if it is Cheetah you play out etc.  However, you are walking into a tournament.  You have been told it is a sport shot, but not one of the PBA shots or known Kegel patterns.  No one has bowled on this, so you could not watch anyone one else bowl.  10 minutes of practice is starting.  4 bowlers per pair.  

How do you go about figuring out where to play?  

Throw your benchmark ball up the track and start adjusting?

Edited on 11/17/2010 3:55 PM

Basically, when you have no clue, you want to use practice to get an idea of how long the pattern is and where the friction/hold area is.  

Best thing to do is on your very first couple shots, just kind of set the ball on the lane, literally at about 50% speed, and watch how far down lane it reads. This will give you an immediate idea of whether you'll more than likely need to play an inside line(for longer patterns) or outside line(for shorter patterns).  

From there you'll then want to then try to find the oil/friction line in the pattern. Easiest way is to start at 5 and play straight up it, then move in 5 board moves.

The biggest thing from the start though is just finding the right angle of attack.

Like others have said, there are some formulas you can use to help determine how you should be playing. I remember something like pattern length minus 32 as a guide for finding break point, but there are other ways. In a past edition of Bowler's Journal or BTM, Wes Malott came was involved with an article called "How to Read Any Pattern in 8 shots." At least I think that's what it was. Basically, it told you where and how to throw your practice shots so that you'd know the length and shape of the pattern. I've never tried it, but I haven't bowled a tournament in a long time. It sounded like it made pretty good sense if you're in a situation in which you aren't given any clue as to what the pattern is.
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Bowling bad since 1979 with no end in sight

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Aim to have your breakpoint at the end of the pattern... Kegal suggest you should aim to have your breakpoint at board (length of pattern -31)...

42ft pattern breakpoint should be on board 11 at the end of the pattern...

36ft pattern breakpoint should be on board 5 at the end of the pattern...

then just adjust startig position and ball to get the ball there and to the pocket..

Ryan
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Ryan Press - Seismic Staff Member
www.seismicbowling.com