1. Why do you almost never see the described drilling Mika used that day on Cheetah used on the pro tour on the majority of other conditions?
To be blunt....it's because the guys are averaging 250 with other stuff. I guess in a more detailed sense because he happened to have a matchup that day with that ball. Keep in mind that they used to get 30 minutes to break down the pair for TV, Mika may have come up with a strategy to try and play towards a ball with a weaker core.
With all of the knowledge on the tour between the reps, if that was the best way to attack that pattern....guys would be doing it more often.
From my experience that pattern gets very over/under very fast if you use a ball with a core that mild. It can get you a good matchup for a short period of time, but when it goes you're going to give away a lot of pins in a hurry with some 2/10s and big 4s because the ball is going to be more sensitive to oil. Keep in mind that short patterns generally have high volumes of oil...and weak balls can tend to hydroplane a little too much.
2. If you were going to compete in a tournament would you used the above referenced Mika drilling on a Strong symmetric to play deep on a late league shot inside the 4th area? or on Shark pattern? Or a slight variation if you need it to make it realistic, move the pin up but leave the CG on the grip center would you choose this drilling to win while executing on this this angle of play? Or if you wouldn't use a symmetric would you put your mass bias on your track?
Again the cg has no bearing on the motion, it is about adding a hole to change the core dynamics....so I'll be as specific as I can when answering this....
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Would I throw a ball playing deep inside with a strong pin and no hole (something close to label leverage)? Probably not....when you keep the flare potential that high and don't have a hole, the ball will take longer to lose its axis and find a roll. If you're giving the head pin away this can lead to a lot of corner pins as the ball can have a hard time picking up a roll before getting to the pins. On top of that it will have almost maximum flare, so it will be using energy up very early.....this is a recipe for a carry nightmare (in many cases).
I would tend to use a weaker (longer) pin to reduce the flare. Now whether I would have a hole or not would depend on the individual ball and shape desired. I have a Lucid with no hole and a 5" pin (5" mass bias), and a Crossroad with at 5" pin and a p3 hole. Both work well playing deep inside angles, it just depends on the situation.
Would I use this drilling on a long pattern? Most likely not ever....with rare exception. On a long pattern it is imperative to get the ball to lose its axis quickly. As stated above strong pins and no holes (mass bias near track) drillings make the ball early and a little lazy downlane, which in my experience is the exact opposite of what you want. To me medium or long pins with large holes usually are what you want to start with, and then switching to less flare and roll as the track breaks down.
I hope that answers your questions....you just have to keep in mind that what you see on TV is nowhere close to what they bowled on during the week. It has been groomed for a few minutes to suit each bowler's strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes they have a gameplan to create a certain look that they know will give them an advantage over the competitors, that may have been Mika's strategy that day.
