QuestionQUESTION: I have been having trouble bowling on block lanes. If I aim at 12 board my ball goes straight (maybe a 2 or 3 board break) and if I aim at the 9 board the ball hooks (out to the 5 board back to the pocket). How does one play such a lane condition and hat is the best ball set-up for such lane conditions. Neither line allows much margin for error. Presently I have a Freeze with pin above the fingers and with the CG is straight in line with the thumb. It has a high polished but it has been down to 1000 at times.
ANSWER: Art,
Your layout reflects your Positive Axis Point (PAP), your axis tilt, ball speed and rotation. Knowing the pin is stacked above the CG and pin is above your fingers doesn't tell me enough about how you roll the ball. The stacked layout is fairly volatile for most though.
If I can get more info I can be more helpful. Without info, I'd be guessing. How hard do you throw the ball? Where is the track (oil lines) on your ball? If I could get a video of you rolling the ball with a piece of tape on your PAP for a few shots that would be spectacular. Thanks, I look forward to hearing back from you.
It sounds like this is pretty involved stuff (it is and every ball driller should do it), and it gets more complicated when I can't see you throw a ball. Sorry.
Did your driller watch you bowl? What does he/she know about your game/skills? What do you average? How long have you been bowling? Thanks for your interest in improving your game.
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QUESTION: The Freeze I use has a PAP that is 5.5 inches from the pin and 3/4 inch up from a line to the center of the grip. The pin is 1/2 inch above the fingers. My ball speed varies between 12.5 (waist high push away) to 15 mph (shoulder high push away). These are wood lanes that have seen better days. Maybe one more cut before they have to be replaced, and they need to be refinished. I have good leverage on the release with finger lift at about 40 degree and slight wrist turn at release. When I miss wide I tend to over rotate the wrist taking the release and arm to make to 90 degree release to make the ball the ball hook more. I get away with it but sometimes it ends up leaving a 7 pin coming in behind the head pin. If I could roll the ball as I just did in the city tournament it would not make any difference if they were blocked or not. I hit the same line and same release for the hole game. My average is 177 and I just bowled a 684 series with a 278 last game. I was throwing close to 15 mph with strong finger lift. I had just refinished the ball for the tournament and bowled 9 games on it before the tournament. I did this since my best sets have been at 12 to 15 games a refinished ball. The last time it was a 639 series. I started off bowling in the oil part of the block in the first game with very little lift on the ball. In the second game my timing became just right so that I got full lift on the ball and change the line to just go to the edge of the block (out to the 8 board where the block ended on the 9 to 10 board). The ball did not flip it was still arcing when it reached the pins. In the second game went wide like the 5 boards the ball will came back high and I had not over turned the release.
Thanks
Art
I am 72 years old and bowl left-handed. I had quit bowling for 25 years and started back last year. I started with 140 average and ended up with 172. This year I am averaging 177. My best average with the old plastic balls (mag 10) was 193 when I quit.
As for the pro shop guys I am not sure how good they are. The first ball I had drilled after starting back I could hit the pocket 9 out of ten time and get maybe get three X抯 a set (It was drilled like that shown at Bowling-Info.com Mario's Secrets 315 Layouts which shows the 105 layout with weak reaction with flip and that is what I got on wood lanes.) So I choose the freeze and decided to go for strong finish set-up. I had to get the thumb changes since the pro shop had drilled it 1/4 away from the palm with 1/4 reverse which did not work for me. I had it changed to 1/8 reverse and 1/8 to the palm. The fingers are 1/2 inch to the plan side (left) and 1/8 to the palm (forward) which was I had in my old balls form the 70's. These are what I asked for since the pro shop guys do not even check to see what they should be. Now back in the mid to late 70's I ran the pro shop in a small town so I have some experience measuring and drilling balls but these new balls are a different subject as to set-up. The motor inside the ball changes everything and I have been reading everything I can on-line as to how all this new stuff works. So far all my balls have light bulb or pencil heavy center.
<Off the subject but may help understand the poor lane conditions>
They have a free practice section on Friday but they do not oil the lanes. The lanes are sometimes very dry and I use an old MH pro maker (Green). The reason is the lanes wear out the balls real fast. I also have a natural and when I use it in practice the track look like I sanded it after one game. In fact I refinished my mag 10 to a high polish and used it one day and the track looked like I just sanded it after three games (it looked like I used 400 grit sand paper on the track). So when the ball comes off the oil or to a lower amount of oil there is really high friction which really changes the reaction. I have missed my mark bad enough that the ball went 7 boards wide and came back to the pocket and struck.
Art
Answer
Art's Layout
Art,
Your PAP is 5.5 over and 3/4 up? Or the pin is 5.5 from your PAP (making your horizontal axis co-ordinates less than 5.5)?
Slower speed on a dry/blocked lane I'd go with a big Pin to PAP distance (5 1/2 sounds good). If you place the pin under your fingers, bump the CG out just a little, you should see an effective move at the pins. I looked at the Bowling-Info.com site, kind of a rehashing of ideas from awhile back. The attached image is of a 75 degree by 5 1/2 inch by 75 degree Dual Angle layout (concept of which was developed by a guy who owns the MoRich bowling ball company -Mo Pinnel. The image should help explain.
What I know is you have some hand, slow speed, black and white lane conditions and probably more up the back of the ball with a PAP out pretty far and up a little (suggesting less axis rotation and some tilt). Without seeing you roll a ball, suggesting something is more of a GUESS. Before you drill something else, let yourself get some more games under your belt, it sounds like your getting more consistent. There are a LOT of things going on that are effecting your bowling. Try to get a few under control (ball speed and consistent delivery) and drop me a note back.
