O.k. to start with, a little background of my experience so I don't get lynched.  I'm 25 and have been bowling pretty steady since I was 7.  The only instruction I received was from junior bowler coaches. (Normal adults that volunteer to try to help the juniors)  Pretty much teaching proper walk-up and release.  Not much more than that.  Anywho, I've heard people talk about sport bowling and oil patterns, I'm just trying to find more information on that, so I can try to self teach to try to become a better bowler.  Any questions or information are greatly appreciated.

A Typical House Shot (THS) will have less oil volume toward the outside of the lanes (near the gutters) and heavy oil in the middle of the lane.  This pattern is tapered across the lane going from heavy in the middle to light on the outside, and also tapered vertically down the lane with more oil toward the foul line and lighter oil down the lane, and no oil for the last 18-22 feet.  This oil pattern will give you the most room for error when it comes to release, ball speed, entry angle, and overall ball trajectory.  Miss to the outside (drier), and the ball will grab the lane and hook back to the pocket.  Miss to the inside (oily), and the ball will skid to the pocket, and break a little in the backend (no oil) to get good carry.

A THS might be a 10-1 or as high as 20-1 oil ratio, meaning the middle will have 10-20 units for every one unit on the outside boards.  To give an example, a THS might have 45 units in the middle and then taper out to 3 units of oil on the one board.  This is a 15-1 oil ratio.

A sport shot is typically a 2-1 oil ratio, meaning if you have 30 units of oil on the inside, then the shot could be tapered to 15 units of oil on the outside.  We call this a "flatter" oil pattern than the THS.  This sport pattern will feel like it's drier inside than it is outside because most bowlers have been trained on the THS for so long.  On the sport shot, if you miss your target inside, it will hook past the pocket.  If you miss your target to the outside, the ball will not hook enough to hit the pocket.

In other words, accuracy and consistency become very important on a sport shot.  On a house shot, power and "area" are the key factors.  Power can be purchased with high tech bowling balls, and finding a large "area" to hit and still crush the pocket is usually fairly easy to do.  Beginning bowlers may still have trouble finding where the most "area" is on the lane, however.  

These concepts are why many of us feel competitive bowling is a joke today.  You can easily see how success on a THS is more measured by the high tech bowling balls than by the skill of any given player.

I hope this answer helps.
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Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

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