In a recent post by And1_headach titled "Ball tracks" (which I have brought back near the top for easy reference), I stated that the initial track on a flaring ball was the oil ring nearest the thumb and finger holes.  Stormin_1 corrected me, saying that it was actually the oil ring nearest the thumb and farthest from the fingers, and I agreed.  I now want to exercise my constitutional right to disagree with myself.  Neither stormin_1 nor I was completely correct - the right answer is "It depends on the location of the bowtie".  Let me explain.

When determining PAP location using an armadillo, I have observed that the initial oil ring usually is the one closest to both the thumb hole and the finger holes.  That prompted my original answer, but I have also been told that what stormin_1 said is right, so I agreed.  Now, let's look at the affect of the bowtie.  The bowtie is the point on the track where all the oil rings caused by flare converge.  Actually, there are two bowties, one on each side of the track (easily observed on the track of a spinner), but the one nearest the finger holes is the one we normally are concerned with.  The location of the bowtie can be approximated by drawing a line from the PAP through the pin to the track.  For many layouts, this puts the bowtie above the finger holes.  In these cases, my original statement was correct.  As the ball flares, it moves away from the thumb hole, but in order to intersect at the bowtie, past the finger holes, it also has to move slightly away from the finger holes.  However, some layouts locate the bowtie between the thumb hole and finger holes.  For these layouts, stormin_1 was correct.  As the track flares away from the thumb hole, to pass through the bowtie which is between the thumb hole and the finger holes, it has to flare toward the finger holes.  That's why we only use these layouts for low track players, so the flare doesn't hit the finger holes.  For high trackers, we put the pin in the safe zone which is above a line from the PAP to the finger holes, thus locating the bowtie safely above the fingers.

I think I'm right on this, but please correct me if not.  And thanks to stormin_1 for making me think about this, I understand why layouts are designed as they are much better now.  --  JohnP

OmegaBowler -- Inverted tracks are closer to the finger holes than the thumb hole, but that makes no difference regarding the flare or bowtie.  As long as the bowtie is above the fingers the track will not flare into the finger holes.  But since an inverted track passes so close to the finger holes, it is extremely important to keep the pin in the "safe" zone, because if the bowtie is even a little below the finger holes the track will flare into the fingers.  With a track that is further from the fingers, you can get away with a bowtie that is a little below the finger holes.

Now, full roller tracks are different.  Since they pass between the thumb and finger holes, if we lay the ball out the same as a semi roller, the track will flare into both the thumb and finger holes.  So we put the pin in the negative thumb quadrant, which causes the flare to reverse directions, moving away from both the thumb and finger holes.  No thump, thump, thump.  --  JohnP