For those of you that are good at reading and adjusting to a ever changing shot should do pretty good. Team event started drier than I have seen in the seventeen years that I have participated. In my mind at least I thought I had a chance, I'm just not very good at making minute adjustments being a once a week house hack. For instance I had a 199 in the second game of team event and followed it up with a 159.    In doubles and singles there was for me a lot more oil, not complaining just giving my feel of it. Doubles 193-188-169 another fall off in game due to poor adjusting. Singles started with a 245 followed by 149-158 dam to start it off I thought I had something. Outside for me was out of bounds like it always is for me. Like always, I had a great time at Nationals with the friends I go with. I just need to learn to adjust faster and bowl better. Next year they tell us that tournament will not start until the first week of April which is not the best time for us as we have a couple of participants that farm for a living and they would be in the field by then.

For those of you that are good at reading and adjusting to a ever changing shot should do pretty good. Team event started drier than I have seen in the seventeen years that I have participated. In my mind at least I thought I had a chance, I'm just not very good at making minute adjustments being a once a week house hack. For instance I had a 199 in the second game of team event and followed it up with a 159.    In doubles and singles there was for me a lot more oil, not complaining just giving my feel of it. Doubles 193-188-169 another fall off in game due to poor adjusting. Singles started with a 245 followed by 149-158 dam to start it off I thought I had something. Outside for me was out of bounds like it always is for me. Like always, I had a great time at Nationals with the friends I go with. I just need to learn to adjust faster and bowl better. Next year they tell us that tournament will not start until the first week of April which is not the best time for us as we have a couple of participants that farm for a living and they would be in the field by then.

Did you Bowl Reno last year? If so how close was it?

It sounds to me like the team pattern may be shorter than in some past years assuming they are still using ice oil.  A flat pattern with strong back ends always makes it seem like the middles are drier.  The shorter the pattern the more noticeable this becomes.  I cant imagine them going less than 37-38 feet, but who knows.  Did anyone have any luck squaring up outside around 5-6 board.  About 10 years ago at Corpus Christi the shot played super good out there in team event, but not in doubles singles.

I've seen / heard in several places to play outside with surface... 

Im a bit confused with this (not coneptually, but in actual implementation)...  Seems like you would need speed and soft revs to keep the ball from absolutely taking off?  Even if I'm playing down the middle of a house shot with surface, I can't get anything to push..  assume there is less push on a shorter flat shot.  No?

^^fair enough...  Lots of factors at play

I think that the problem a lot of people are having is that 5 and out feels like OB to many people at the start. As such, they move in further, and things get very tricky from there. The key is working together to break that extreme outside down during practice and during Game 1. I'm not sure you'll need the super-aggressive balls and surfaces to do it like you have in some years past. The key is to break the far outside down and then keep balling down to try to stay there so that you're never forced way inside.

Are the Showcase lanes available for practice this year?  I would assume they put down the team shot again?

I just got back from Vegas, and although I didn't light it up, I thought the lanes were fair and very playable. I had a double or turkey going into the 10th frame 4 times (3 times was in the team event, ugh), and split all 4 times, costing me lots of pins (of course).

To me, and the other OC experienced bowlers in our group, the S & D shot was pretty much the same as past years. The team shot is indeed demanding...I used my Track legion Solid all 3 games and was migrating left on the approach as more frames were bowled. So basically, from what I read on here and elsewhere is correct....use a solid with medium surface (the legion is 2000). The main deal is to repeat your good shots, something I failed to do.