I see alot of people talking about balls/surfaces that do well on oily or dry heads and how they switch balls once the heads dry up, etc.

How do you determine the condition of the heads?  Since you are probably looking at the arrows, or some other mark that would make watching the roll of the ball difficult for the first several feet, do you watch others bowl to figure it out?  Or can you tell by seeing how your ball hits the pocket?  Can you just tell by looking at the lanes?  Thanks,

Jeromie

Usually you can tell by how many boards you're standing away from your mark/where you're looking.

If you can stand 25 and look 15, then you know the front is not hooking. If you have to stand 35 and look 20, then you know the front is hooking.

When you lay the ball short/shorter and the ball hooks high, that usually means the heads are hooking. Or, when it feels like you have to force the ball to get it down the lane and/or out to your mark. =:^D