I went into my house's PBA Regional shot league really excited about the experience and I'm still loving it. My average was 198 two years ago, fell to 180 this year due to injury but I expect to average 190+ again in the fall. I was hoping I could average 170 on this PBA shot league but was hoping for anything over 160.
We just finished our third week of Regional Pattern 4, and start three weeks of Pattern 5 next week. Here's my update so far on what the patterns have been. The averages listed for each pattern are ballpark estimates, since I haven't broken down my average yet precisely:
Pattern 1, avg. 161: Big-time OOB right of about the 8 board. Left of 8 were flying, touchy backends. I made the mistake of bringing overly aggressive equipment with me the first couple of weeks. My best look came with a LaneMasters Yeah Baby taken up to 4000 Abralon and then polished to a mirror finish, and then going basically straight up 12. Backends were just plain violent.
Pattern 2, avg. 130: This was supposed to be the easiest of the bunch; it's basically the current Cheetah pattern. Cheetah averages "free hook" near the gutter, but they fail to mention you have to either have mega hand or below-average ball speed to take advantage of it. Not only did I average 130 for three weeks, my highest single game was 155. Nothing ever truly worked for me other than to take the Yeah Baby and play straight up 10, and pray I tripped the corner pins. This pattern was very touchy for me on pulled shots. If you look at the oil graph on PBA.com, the pattern looks flat. It behaved like a flat pattern, too. The only upside for me was by the time I made it to BR2006 and had to bowl on it again, I had purchased a Storm X-Factor Deuce, polished it and shot 167 in the only game I bowled on it. Hate this pattern.
Pattern 3, avg. 173: The easiest by far to me so far. This plays like a really tough house shot. The transition is much smoother than Pattern 1 and there was a little more room outside. Anything outside of 5 was gone but that's to be expected. My best look was with a Track Machine, because the pattern let me send the ball out and take advantage of its massive backend. I would love to bowl on this for a regular league shot.
Pattern 4, avg. 168: This is supposed to be the hardest pattern of the five according to PBA.com, but it wasn't for me. The key here is to forget about swinging the ball unless you're playing fourth arrow out to about 15. There is no room for error outside 12. The pattern has 2-to-1s at the end with fairly abrupt transition. Oil volume makes a big difference here; a flood makes this pattern play like a heavy flat shot, while light volume forces you inside with a lot of speed. For my three weeks on this, I typically had a very good look in the first game, lost that look a bit in the second as carrydown became an issue, then found something again in the third game as we started to tear some dry through it. My best look was with a DynoThane Cure or a Track Mean Machine -- both heavy oilers -- until the heads got burnt up a little, then switch to a polished X-Factor Deuce or a Depth Charge to clear the heads.
Pattern 5: I find out next week.
Unfortunately, because of that nice 130 on Pattern 2, I'm averaging 158 at the moment. If I can average 168 on Pattern 5 then I'll make it to 160 overall, and I can at least feel good about that.
What this has done, in addition to making me concentrate more on my game and equipment, is give me an appreciation for just how good professional bowlers really are.
Jess
