Phil has downloaded the patterns for the Hoosier, and they are brutal. Nick had some fun.
First day pattern is close to the one we saw at McKendree, 37 ft with 34 ml. Two differences I see is the last blend is closer to the gutter (5th board) and it's flater (ratio 1.6). You can play out there, but the pattern won't give you a lot of help, you have to make shots. Scores will be low early and then open up (if you get a good cross), but it won't be as deep with the shim so far right. The other thing to watch for is this Pro Anillane is in better shape than st. clair. It won't burn up as much, which isn't necessarily a good thing, but it is a high scoring house. We still have an idea how to play this.
For the girls, Nick ran the machine on 30ul setting instead of the 50ul, which puts the oil at 27ml. That distance and amount is close to the Viper in my machine. The blend is flater and farther right, but you will see my viper a lot this week.
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The Sunday morning is 46ft, 40ml. For those of you who didn't like my tour shark, this is 20% more oil What makes it even more interesting is how the last blend is 5th board. Throws the distance minus 31 theory out the window. Plus, another interesting little tidbit, the radio is offically 1.52 to 1, but there almost no oil on the last three boards. Let me explain.
When the PBA came to the USBC to sanction their conditions as sport, they had a problem with the cheetah. The cheetah was designed for terrible surfaces (not unlike the Blue and Gold). That way you could put a very playable shot outside away from the burn up area of the lane, have good scores, and not have the bowlers lofting the ball cap by the second game. Well, as anyone who bowled on my cheetah can tell you, there is no oil outside of first arrow and no way it makes the 3-1 sport radio.
The USBC and the PBA came up with an idea. They decide to use the average of the oil amount from 7-3 boards. By including 5,6 and 7th boards, the cheetah passed even though there was hardly any oil outside of 5.
This pattern Nick has put together has less oil on the last three boards than my cheetah!!!! If you use the USBC standard of sport condition it reads a 1.52 to 1 ratio, even if you use board 5-2 average its still a 2.67 to 1; the ratio from the 5th board to the 3rd is 7 to 1!!!!!
The problem is I don't think it will play well. All that oil and none outside will be a giant over-under. 46 ft of oil won't let the ball recover from 1st arrow. I talk more on this later (for those willing to listen), but this pattern will be effing hard, yet some small percentage will whack it.
For the Ladies, the smaller oil amounts mean the patterns is down 30ml for you. Gee, 46ft and 30ml doesn't sound any better than the men. It will be tough.
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The last pattern for matchplay is the 2011 US Open. 42ft and 29ml, flat as hell. I'm glad I got a graph. This baby is going into the computer and my lane machine. Can't put it out as much as the old one, more oil screws up the house shot, but it will replace the pattern I have in the machine just as fast as I can get my guys to down load it..
Phil or I will have printouts of the patterns this afternoon.
-- Edited by footpba on Monday 13th of February 2012 01:42:30 PM
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"It's not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us."
Okay, I got to add my Bob Gudinas story I put in Insidebowling as a reference to the Sunday morning pattern.
"Back in the 80s, Bob was put in charge of lane conditions for a Regional I believe at Super Bowl Lanes in Chicago. I guess he want to put out a shot that he thought he would have an advantage on, so he took a lane dust mop and cut the last 5 inches off each side and drenched it oil and ran it 50 ft.
Needless to say, it didnt work out too well. The ball return belts quickly got soaked, we had a ball call on every pair and the mechanic quit before practice was over. The tournament stopped for awhile until the B squad bowlers started to filter in. Luckily, many of those bowlers knew their way around the back of bowling alley. The B squad guys ran ball calls and our squad started up again. We ended up running about 3 hours late.
In the end; the shot was extremely low scoring, Neil Burton won the tournament..."
Now, the point of telling this story is the last line, Burton winning. For those of you seen Neil bowl on Monday nights know how straight he throws it. Trust me, he didn't lose any revs with age, only speed. I'm not bashing Neil at all. He's a former Master winning and made 12 PBA telecasts, along with winning 10+ regionals. However, he could throw as straight as WRWjr and harder. He averaged over 220 that weekend and made that pattern of Bob's look pretty easy. I never seen another condition like ol' Bobs, until I saw Nick's long pattern at the Hoosier. Maybe, just maybe urethane or plastic pointed up the one board can score. Any hook will cause over/under. Not saying will work for everyone, but I've seen it done.
On a personal note; I bowled so bad that week I got a warning from tournament coordinator Dick for burning my score recap in the bar. For me, hitting 3 was a washout, hitting 1 was Greek church; and I was pretty darn good play the one board back then, but not near good enough.
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"It's not who we are underneath, but what we do that defines us."
What makes it even more interesting is how the last blend is 5th board. Throws the distance minus 31 theory out the window. Plus, another interesting little tidbit, the radio is offically 1.52 to 1, but there almost no oil on the last three boards. Let me explain.
