Here is the most misunderstood thing about high powered balls.  They don't help you hit the pocket more, they only carry better IF you hit the pocket.  It is the lane pattern that gives the comfort zone allowing multiple styles of players to easily get to the pocket on house shots.  It is the steroid balls that get the strikes, when you hit the pocket.

Want proof.  Look at the increase in award scores at nationals after resin balls were introduced.  That increase was in no way associated with higher overall scoring averages in nationals

Dear avabob:

You make valid points, in my opinion.

Bottom line: Lane conditions have much more impact than balls do with regard to the fact that so many bowlers struggle significantly in the USBC Open Championships.

Jimmy, are you saying that the shot should be made easier in the USBC tournament?

The lane man dictates scoring pace, always has, and probably always will.

Quote from: Maine Man on July 29, 2013, 01:22:05 PM

The lane man dictates scoring pace, always has, and probably always will.

Dear Maine Man:

Agreed, but there are a number of posters on the PBA forum who insist that steroid balls are far more of a problem than lane conditions (with regard to today's ultra-high scoring levels).

However, year after year, the scores at the USBC Open continue to prove that lane conditions can keep the scoring levels down, regardless of how much high-powered equipment is brought to the tournament site.

Once again i will say this to you Mighty Fish the average male bowler averages between 150 and 160. Female bowlers are between 135 and 145. So your basis of comparing all USBC bowlers to PBA bowlers is pointless.  Why don't you look up people who bowled the tournament who bowl on the PBA tour and see what they averaged for the tournament?

For the balls vs lane it really depends what question you are asking.  Lane conditions control scoring levels.  Balls control carrying if you have the ability to hit the pocket.  Thus good bowlers are going to score higher on tough conditions with high powered balls than they would without them.  Poorer bowlers are not going to score significantly higher because the combination of a tougher pattern, plus quicker lane transitions will negate a lot of the carrying advantage they would get from the more powerful balls. 

You could limit the balls to polyester ( don't care what you do with the weight blocks ), and cut the oil volume at least in half ( maybe more because of the all solids ). Scoring would still be high on house shots, but lower on tougher patterns, even for the best players. 

I am an old codger, and I would love to play on a 42 foot buff with maybe a 4-1 ratio, and less than 12ml of oil using plastic.  It would put some finesse back in the game when it comes to carry, rather than just reving it up and trying to open up the lane.   

The Open Championships to me represent everything that is right with bowling.  No I don't like high powered balls that make it super easy to turn any shot into a house shot, I wish it was just plastic that would keep people honest, but sports progress.  Only thing I don't like is that with a higher scoring pace, luck factors in much more.  When the difference between a win and a loss is picking up a spare or making a good shot in a lower scoring match, I like that.  When it's losing 21 pins simply because you stoned an 8 or drove by a 9, I don't like that.  Yeah, that stuff occasionally happens in lower scoring games, but it doesn't cost you so much.  In a lower scoring match its easier to overcome by picking up your spares and continuing to make shots.  In a higher scoring environment, a couple screw jobs on carry and you're done.  A lower scoring environment also makes the big scores mean more.  It also more accurately represents how you threw the ball.  On house shots, yeah, the better you throw the ball, the better you'll generally score, however, I feel it's MUCH closer on tougher shots.  I don't know how many huge sets I've had on a house shot when I couldn't hit the same ARROW twice in a row.  Then sometimes I can split boards and end up with 650. 

Lane conditions are most important, balls are a distant second. 

Quote from: Gizmo823 on August 13, 2013, 10:04:37 AM

The Open Championships to me represent everything that is right with bowling.  No I don't like high powered balls that make it super easy to turn any shot into a house shot, I wish it was just plastic that would keep people honest, but sports progress. 

Dear Gizmo823:

It should be obvious, based on the scoring data, that high-powered balls DON'T turn ANY shot into a house shot.

And I agree with virtually everything you stated in your previous post.

If you have 5-10 people working together that know how to break it down, yes they can.  No your average player either won't know how to do it or they won't work together, but that statement was just in general, not specifically about the tournament.  The PBA pros get a half hour of practice before each squad to "warm up" and by the time they actually start scoring, those shots are completely different from how they were put down.  With plastic balls that's not possible, and that's the only point I was trying to make there in support of my opinion that lane conditions by far and away dominate scoring pace, but given the time and knowledge, the conditions can be altered by today's equipment.  But as technology goes on and more and more money gets involved in innovative equipment, the more impossible it becomes to return the human element to the game. 

Mark Roth had quite possibly the ugliest form and execution on the tour at the time he was destroying everyone.  Why was he successful?  Because the guy just knew how to bowl.  Now it's all about numbers.  Units of oil, paps, board moves, dual angle layout specs, core specs, etc.  I like the idea of picking up a ball with some holes in it, putting your shoes on, not knowing anything about the house you're bowling in, nothing about the lane condition, and just figuring it out yourself.  The knowledge is nice, but it all makes it too robotic for me.  The challenge boils down to simply repeating shots which definitely is the most difficult part, but the instinct and intuition has kind of faded from it all.