My girlfriend bowled on the Women's side of the N.C. state association tournament which is going on in Raleigh/Cary, N.C. As a side note the open tournament is being held at the same time and centers as the Women's tournament, so i got to witness alot of good women and men bowlers try to tackle this pattern.
With that being said, Saturday was Team event at AMF South Hills in Cary. This center has synthetic lanes, although im not sure exactly which kind. We had heard through friends who have already been in the weeks before we went that one center was dry, and the other center was very tight. So in advance, i hit a couple of balls for my girl with 2000 abralon and no polish. Big mistake for this house and this pattern, because she ended up taking out the 7 pin on her first shot with the 2000 abralon Momentum Swing.
Long story short for team event at South Hills, no friction at the gutter, tons of friction inside. Most of the men i saw had the best look from very deep with pearlized equipment, anywhere from 20 and deeper and not getting past 10 at the breakpoint. Most women who have decent hand had a decent look from about 17 to 10 or so at the BP. It seemed like the straighter you played the less carry you got, the people who could create enough skid in the first 20-30 feet were the ones who scored best. One other thing is beware of the layout of this center, there is litte to no room for bags and things, the center has a very cramped feeling to it.
My feeling is to start with even rolling medium condition balls, the stronger the ball the harder it seemed to be to get them to the breakpointat this center.
Second day was at AMF Pleasant Valley lanes in Raleigh. I have bowled in this center before and certain patterns in the past played tighter than normal and thats exactly they way they played here. The lanes seemed to have more hold in the middle with a tad more friction to the outside. Balls that missed out had a better chance to make it back to the pocket here. The outside was playable, and just a guess but if you can play the gutter good, you could probably tear this center up based on the friction i saw at 5.
We started with the Momentum Swing at 2000 abralon, and had a good look at 15 going to about 7-8 at the breakpoint. Anything polished like her Pure Swing or the Power Machine seemed to be too uncontrolable to start with. As the pattern broke down it seemed to be better chasing it in as long as you didnt leak the ball outside of 8 on the back.
Overall i thought this pattern is very tough, it will be very hard for someone to put 3 good games together. I saw several friends who average over 230 struggle to shoot 580 for 3 games. I saw a ton of 160 games advancing in brackets. I also think it may be too tough for scratch bowlers to have a chance this year because of the difficulty in putting together a decent set, its almost like they(N.C.S.B.A.) is saying a Handicap bowler is going to win this year. All i can say is if you are a scratch bowler be prepared to be humbled!!
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Taking your lunch money, one strike at a time....
