ball layout

Question
My teammate, and close friend, has a PAP of 4&5/8 by 1/4 up and is right handed. He is a calssic stroker who gets around the ball extremely well, but has a lower ball speed 13.2 to 13.7; he cannot play the track area so he is left of most bowlers, chasing the oil. Recent ball drillings were:
Storm Victory road, dual angle layout of 45 x 45 x 3 1/2; Storm Frantic, no dual angle, pin under the outside edge of the ring and MB (assumed at 6 3/4)2 and 3/4 inches from the thumbs center; pin distance was 3" from CG. The Victory road is great on the fresh but weak dimes on the transition; late in the set ball almost sets up. The Frantic, at box finsih and 1000 does not read the midlane and gives him no margin of error. He has been bowling for 40 years and is in excellant physicla shape.

Suggestions/advice please

Answer
Bob,
While PAP and ball speed are helpful, knowing more about his axis tilt and axis rotation would be more helpful. Does the driller know your friends game? Very strong pins (pin positions) for both ball layouts, too strong for his skills and speed on anything less than a flood and/or long pattern.

If he's bowling on the Typical House Shot (with a puddle of oil in the middle and friction to help poor helpless bowlers hook it) layouts are too early and too strong. As players age and slow down especially skilled bowlers, they need less from the ball in the front and mid-lane, and just enough to get the ball to turn at the pins. Sometimes weaker balls, weaker layouts, less aggressive coverstocks.

Making a specific layout suggestion, is almost impossible without knowing way more about the lanes you bowl on, the pattern, how he prefers to play and what equipment has worked well in the past.

Initially, bigger drill angles will help the ball get further down lane. Long pin distances also will help control and length. It sounds like your friends stuff is rolling out, so rolley layouts with less volatile back-end angles will be more usable for more of the night. Check out my website. Drop me an e-mail at [email protected] and I can get on the phone with you.

Thanks for the question. Need more info to give you more details. Look forward to hearing back from you.