Seems that no one wants to tell me the pattern at this new house I am at. I asked the League Secretary, nothing. I asked the front desk, nothing. I asked the Pro Shop operator, nothing, and finally I asked the Lane Man as he was doing our lanes before league and all I got was "I do not know". I said, well lemons knows because they must program the Kegel machine. He tells m that the morning person does that.

Is it wrong t ask wat the pattern is? I am trying t learn how to pay different shots and it would be nice apply the 31 rule based on some info and study the pattern online.

Thoughts?

I don't think it should be a secret but I understand why they wouldn't want to tell you or anyone.  When you work in a bowling center, you get enough "constructive criticism" about the "shot."  Give some people additional information and it will only provide for additional fuel for complaint.

As a bowler, I hear enough complaints when I bowl sport leagues.  This doesn't play like [insert pattern name here].  I usually mumble these same kinds of things to myself right before I fry.

And in some cases, Milo is right.  The laneman just pushes the buttons and has no idea what he's putting down.

If its anything like ours, it changes week to week.....i.e., a jet is clogged on the lane machine, it runs out of stripper soln/oil by thy time it makes it to the end of the house, or there has been two hours of open bowling on the lanes prior to league. 
You may be bettter off not knowing in this case, and just playing what the lane gives that particular evening...

Some good info and things to take into consideration.

I am mainly after the length to start working with the 31 rule. The first three weeks it seemed very short compared to the house I came from. Of course my baseline ball did not work well and I had to adjust. I was really after the pattern to look at a better match up ball wise and how to drill it and to learn the exit point. Rumor was it was a 35 foot Kegel Winding Road which is a Sport Pattern it seems, yet we were not a Port League. All the new teams that came over averages dropped 10-30 pins and the league average was about 171 for the first three weeks. Was told it was not a Sport shot, but a harder THS. Of course our team suffered big time till the 4 week when the new averages were set. Now they changed the pattern to a much easier shot which I was told that they added length and walled it up some.

I am just trying to learn more about Patterns and see if I can put two and two together by seeing them on paper, using the 31 rule, Reverse Oil rule that I just learned about in my other thread, and taking those to the lanes.

It would be nice to have a starting reference even though it all changes quickly or varies from lane to lane, week to week.

I did, sorry if it came across that I did not. My question to them was simple, "what is the length of the pattern and what type of pattern is it" I understand it is two fold.

Yes, I learned about range finders at a IAB boot camp, Probelm is no range finders at this house, but thanks!

If bowling a league, then it shouldn't matter as long as the shot stays somewhat consistent (discounting normal seasonal changes such as humidity levels). Within a couple of league sessions you should be able to find the shot as if you had the pattern in front of you. If your ability isn't at the level to find the shot within 6 games, then knowing the pattern/length isn't going to help you anyway.

Personally, IMHO, USBC had a good thing when they announced the Red, White and Blue Patterns, designing certain patterns for all alleys to try and see which will work best.  USBC decided for some reason to make the house shot the Red pattern, and that took out the Blue and White out of play. 

Because of this, league bowling has become a joke and only the employees (mainly mechanic and manager) have the edge over all bowlers (assuming there are no pro bowlers in your league).  If USBC would come up a pattern for the Red,  and told all alleys they must use one of the three in order to comply with USBC, bowling leagues in my mind would be fair again. 

The sport has gotten so technical, I firmly believe the bowler has the right to know what pattern is out there so they can decided what their next purchase of equipment is. 

So to answer the question, the league shot should NOT be a secret.