There is no true way to see the difference, you have to learn how to identify it using common sense (don't mean to sound condescending....just the only way I can describe it).  Meaning if you're on a condition where there isn't a large amount of volume in the midlane, and the ball you're throwing suddenly starts to 2-pin, it's probably burning up, as the heads and midlane are starting to burn up.  However if you're on a shot where the oil volume is heavier, then a 2-pin can be a sign of carrydown, and the proper move is to get your feet to the right and square up your angles.

 

In my experience a good example of this in the past was Cheetah vs. Shark...

 

Shark although long had a medium volume of oil.  Usually balls would start to "wiggle" a little bit towards the end of the 2nd game or so, and if you moved right most times your problems would get worse.  This is because the oil was going away, and the ball was spending it's energy before the end of the pattern.  The move in that case would be to go left and find "clean air" for the ball to slide through.  This is why you see the pros move so far left on that pattern.

 

Cheetah is short but has very little taper and a higher volume of head oil.  Similar to Shark where after a couple of games you would often see the ball start to wiggle, however this was usually a sign of the oil beginning to push down past the end of the pattern, so the move was to close your angles down slightly.  Now you would have to move back away from the gutter shortly after that, but initially you would move right for a little time.

 

This isn't always true...but watching what other people's balls are doing, and what other people are throwing can help you diagnose the issue.  If you're in a tournament and everyone you're following is throwing aggressive balls with surface, you'll probably have to move inside of them...if they are throwing weaker, shiny balls you might have to move further to the outside.

 

Hope that helps.... 

 

It is a mix of symptoms for me.

One sign when burnout alarm bells start ringing is when a relatively strong ball does not hook or recover well on the back end - esp. matte balls, but also strong polished pearls. Another symptom are frequent washouts and wide splits like a 1-2-4-6-10. I tend to check the oil track the ball brings back - if it is narrow or just few rings, I know I have either to move much deeper, try to overcome the lack of oil with release tricks or switch to a milder ball.

Lack of roll, or better the lack of completion of the desired skid/hook/roll pattern, is mostly caused by carrydown - I hardly face true long or heavy oil these days, so I rather expect burnout trouble. Too much speed can be an issue, too, with a ball that lacks a proper setup (both in specs, layout and surface).

But when you have a ball with lots of an fat oil rings, and you can see that the core actually migrates towards its PSA (read: goes through hooking phase) as the ball goes down the lane but hardly changes direction at all, then you face a true lack of traction -it really looks as if it is sliding all the way, different from burnout, which looks like a normal shot. the results may look similar, though. Keeping the hand behind the ball can be one solution (promoting earlier roll), but sometimes you need a stronger ball, e. g. with a more open surface, a lower RG core and/or a more rolly layout.

 

IMHO, a look at the freshly returned ball should indicate what the sourece of trouble actually is.

 

And: watching what other people's balls are doing will also tell you a lot about what's fishy, what to avoid or in which direction to adjust.

DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany
2010/11 Benrather BC Club Champion
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Edited by dizzyfugu on 05.01.2012 at 10:01 AM

I listen to the sound of the pins as the ball hits them.

Even on an off pocket hit,if they make that nice,sharp

cracking noise, the ball is good.If I start to hear a kinda dull

thud kind of noise,along with strange leaves,i.e. pocket 8-10,

5-7 or 5-10,the ball in all probability is burning up.