its in ohio, its alot of fun. Basically its 60 units of oil in the middle (this varies, many types of sport shots), and 20-30 units outside. dwon to 40-45 feet, then stripped backends. The shot can be attacked from any angle, and none give you any advantage. I am in league a gutter to gutter guy basically, 20 out to 10, and that shot, wont work. Crankers need to learn to play a tighter line if they wanna swing, or play straight up like i did. Strokers are best suited for the shot. The best way to hit is using the the Straighter is Greater policy, keep around the pocket, make some spares, catch a double or two. Kinda like the way bowling used to be.

 A 200 average really means something, 190 means your good and solid. 210 means you are basically above everything else in the area and should go compete proffessionally. Again kinda like how its supposed to be, using 200 as the benchmark average.

Its alot of fun, i never once said, i don't know how to hit the pocket, you always have a line, the question is, can you hit it? Be accurate at the arrows, breakpoint with consistant release, speed, and rotation, you will score well. If any are off you will not carry or you will leave a split or not hit the pocket. I enjoy it and wish scratch leagues and tournaments would go to it. The accurate guys will score if they hit their target, and the crankers have a bit more area at the breakpoint (1-2 boards). How it should be. It really is a different game, and a better game.
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am i still considered a lefty, i never get to play the left side of the lane

Brian you are right. I bowled on a sport pattern in a tournament in PA today and it seemed like I could line up with any ball, but the one I got out of the cleanest was the one that was easiest to repeat shots and score with. The shot was not too tough, it was a very fair shot. You couldn't swing the whole lane which I saw many try to do. That was an excellent point Brian, one that I hadn't thought of before today.

They should outlaw walls. If we all bowled on the same conditions then saying I average 200 might mean something. I have always wanted to bowl on a pro shot just to see how I could do. If we all bowled on the same shot then we would all know where we stand and stop fooling ourselves.

Edited on 5/4/2003 7:27 PM

Having bowled on most of the Sport patterns last year, I can imagine that most of those housebowlers who didn't know the meaning of "Sport Compliant" were in for a very rude awakening!  I'm curious on which of the patterns that the house used for the tournament....with 4 basic patterns to choose from, the house can make things really "interesting" to say the least.  I'd bet those housebowlers would really freak out if they hit the reverse block pattern.....they'd be amazed at how deep inside they had to move to keep the ball in the pocket, yet the ditch gets awfully big (about 10 boards wider) if they sail the ball outside too far.

Yep, I can imagine that there were numerous housebowlers who received a big lesson in a hurry.  It goes back to what I've always said.....the laneman can giveth, and the laneman can taketh away.  In the case of the Sport patterns, the taketh away part gets really big really quick.  And from what I've seen, the Sport pattern doesn't break down fast enough for a shot window to really open up on the lanes, so you've pretty much got to play what the lanes give 'ya.  Isn't it amazing at how a little bit of oil redistribution can change the scoring environment so much?

I can't say that I'm a Sport pattern lover.  I prefer not to bowl on it, especially considering the lengths that I have to go to in order to bowl in a decent house.  If my house was much closer and wasn't any hassle to get to, then I might be interested in bowling in one Sport league...but, my house is far enough away that I wouldn't waste the money on bowling a Sport league there.

Lol, my lane guy has 9 different sport patterns for the league I'm in this summer.  We'll barely have enough weeks to bowl on each of them, let alone figure out of them out for the next time we see it.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!

Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret?  New names still being pondered . . .

Hamster, what the laneman has done is to vary the basic parameters of the 4 different major layouts.  The laneman can change the number of units used and the length used, as long as the oil ratios stay basically the same.  I seem to recall that the maximum ratio between wet and dry is 2:1, or the dryest zone has to be at least half of the units of the wet zone, or even closer than half.  So, if there are 5 units in the dry zone, the wet zone is limited to 10 units.  Or, if the wet zone is 50 units, then the dry zone has to be at least 25 units or more.  As you can quickly see, you don't have the common large ratio numbers that most house shots run today....on a house shot you might have 3 units outside, and 50 units inside, which puts the oil ratio at some 17:1, where the Sport limit is 2:1.  The bowlers who haven't experienced the Sport condition before had better leave their egos at the door, as they are going to be in for a rude awakening on the Sport setup.

Last summer, my league house ran an 8 week test of the Sport Condition, where they bowled 2 weeks on each of the 4 major patterns.  My initial speculation was that there would be 3 bowlers who would barely break 200, and the bottom would fall out for most of the other bowlers there (the three that I was betting would barely break the 200 mark are typically 240+ averagers).  Sure enough, those 3 bowlers came in between 200 and 205, while the rest of the pack fell far behind them.  However, one bowler (who plays a fairly simple down and in game, but is very accurate) actually shot a sanctioned 300 game on one of the Sport patterns!   In real world bowling conditions, the 300 shooter normally averages around 215-220, and has several honor scores to his credit.  Even with his 300 game, he came in around a 190 average for the 8 weeks of the test run.  After the test run of the league, the interest died off pretty quickly, as very few of the bowlers wanted to face the Sport condition on a regular basis.