I went to bowl a game today and they had (supposedly) the USBC shot out on 8 lanes.  I shot 235 on it.  What a joke.  Mind you, it's my 4th game in 13 months, after knee replacement - timing is off, nothing feels right, and 235?  Hitting the pocket was simple:  weak ball (Track 300) straight up 6, moderate to slow speed.  I've heard that there have been several 800+ scores at the tournament so far.  Did someone decide to make up for what I've heard were very difficult shots the last several tournaments?  All I can say is, that if this is the real USBC shot, you better have on your scoring shoes when you go.

And yes, I realize that topography plays a big part in difficulty, but this just struck me as way too simple.  I'm hoping the my house got the shot wrong.

Your house got it wrong and/or it's the lane surface.  My brother took a lesson with Jasnau before we bowled, it was the team pattern, he pretty much struck at will.  When it came time to bowl, he didn't shoot 500.  Shot played VERY different

It was probably a good match up with your slower speed due to the knee issues.  Getting the ball to read and slow down on flatter patterns is important.  I'm pretty sure that for the majority of bowlers the patterns will be a good test.  Nice job, and good luck as you continue your return to the lanes.

While putting down the shots is easy to do (with a kegel machine) there's too many other variables ie: the oil (new this year), the cleaner ratio, lane surface, etc.

Typically there's already way too much lane memory of the house pattern to get the condition close to the actual pattern.  Yes they may end up playing somewhat the same at some centers, but totally different at others.  I expect the scoring pace to be similar to years past.  If you read one of Rigg's blogs about the patterns, he does an interview with the guy from Kegel talking about the new Oil being used this year, it's a pretty good read.

I went to bowl a game today and they had (supposedly) the USBC shot out on 8 lanes.  I shot 235 on it.  What a joke.  Mind you, it's my 4th game in 13 months, after knee replacement - timing is off, nothing feels right, and 235?  Hitting the pocket was simple:  weak ball (Track 300) straight up 6, moderate to slow speed.  I've heard that there have been several 800+ scores at the tournament so far.  Did someone decide to make up for what I've heard were very difficult shots the last several tournaments?  All I can say is, that if this is the real USBC shot, you better have on your scoring shoes when you go.

And yes, I realize that topography plays a big part in difficulty, but this just struck me as way too simple.  I'm hoping the my house got the shot wrong.

Also take into consideration that your lane surface and oil used are also pretty different.  When you bowled on the lanes, had there already been some bowling done on them or did you bowl on them fresh?  We had the USBC shot down also over the weekend during a demo and someone was playing 4th-5th arrow with a First Blood and swinging out to about 10-12 and looked like he had the world.  HOWEVER....the oil used broke down pretty fast and most other people were playing right.  So whose to say they had not tracked out the area around 8-10 and he was playing their bump? 

This is why the pros can make a hard pattern look easy on tv.  They get 30 minutes to warm up and manipulate the pattern.  So by the time the show starts, that harder pattern looks like a house shot for them.

You bowled one game....shot 235...and the shot is easy?  Maybe you just got lucky and threw a handful of good shots....that or you're ready for the tour.

This guys started the US Open off with a 222...guess that shot is easy too?

http://www.pba.com/LiveScoring/Qual_Ind_Results.aspx?ContactId=14526&tournamentId=1720

I saw this one movie where a 12 year old kid broke his arm and when it healed he ended up pitching for the Chicago Cubs. Maybe something similar is going on with your knee?

All the shots at Ragnar seem a little baseless to me . . some of the responses are quite accurate and informative, but some of the other responses could have been similar in nature without the juvenile-ish taunts and challenges.