Hi Matt,
I have the luck to have 2 houses around here which take bowling seriously - and apply a difficult/demanding sports pattern (40-42' medium/heavy oil, NO walls; and a 40'crown pattern). But this is rare, I guess.
I like playing on this turf. It is really demanding, and sometimes frustrating. But you learn to be exact, because there are no walls to cover release flaws and mistakes, nor light oil which makes any dude's reactive ball hook like crazy.
Yes, my average on a THS is 30 pins higher than on this sports turf, but I like it. When I play well on sports patterns, it is very rewarding because I can directly see and "feel" what I made wrong, even though the results are not convincing at the firts glance. But whenever I get back to the THS house I see how good and controlled I really am. Play well on sport, be better anywhere else. It's like an investment in skill and patience.
Changing patterns can be a challenge, too, but I think only experienced players who know their equipment, their ability to adopt and the knowkledge to read the lanes can cope with this. For a hobby player frequently changing oil patterns can result in an equipment lottery - whoever is lucky to have the right ball at hand will play well, while the rest struggles. O.K., can be a challenge, too, but absolotely NOT knowing what to expect before a tournament does not make for good sport, IMHO. I guess putting on a new an demanding pattern is enough for "normal" bowlers for the next 3-6 months?
Be lucky if you have the opportunity to play on such a pattern. See it as a challenge, because it takes some time to get used to reduced ball recation and the fact that YOUR mistakes are more obvious than on a THS. Enjoy it! And do not get fed up by low results...
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DizzyFugu --- Reporting from Germany
Team "X" league website: http://homepage.mac.com/timlinked/
"All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream..." - Edgar Allen Poe
