USBC Open

In the USBC Open I got a chance to practice on the Showcase lanes for an hour. There were differing opinions on how useful this practice was, but in my opinion this practice was INVALUABLE and probably made a 100 pin difference in my all-events total. Our team has 3 left-handers and 7 right-handers. We tried specifically breaking down the right lane by taking the ball up the boards from 5-6-7 to about 6-7-8 at the break point, and letting everyone do whatever they wanted to do on the left lane. The right lane broke down better, but the “hang spot” down the lane does not go away. The best description I’ve heard of the pattern is that it plays like a short version of chameleon.

The characteristics of the pattern are that the mid-lane hooks, the end of the pattern is pretty tight due to the amount of buff at the end of the pattern, and the back ends are really hooking on the fresh. This is exaggerated on the Showcase lanes, since these lanes have far less play than the lanes that are in play. New lanes have a LOT of friction where the oil is light or non-existent and smooth out as you get more and more play.

So, why is the pattern so different this year? Yes, the USBC did shorten and flatten the pattern a little this year in an attempt to slow down teams from just burning a spot and opening up the lane. However, most of the difference is that these lanes are NEW. The lanes in the stadium (where it seems like we have been bowling for an eternity) have a LOT of play. You could put last year’s pattern down in the lanes in Baton Rouge and they would play tougher (although not as tough as this year’s pattern).

My recommendations for this pattern are to start with a medium solid with surface to smooth out the pattern until the pattern blends out. If your team gets left of 15 before the first game is over, you’re dead because the hang spot comes into play too much and you can’t control the pocket with anything. If your team stays right of 12 (right side) for the first game and migrates more slowly by bumping to slightly weaker equipment you have a good change of minimizing the effects of the hang at the end of the pattern.

On the left you can stay with some surface and stay between 5 and 10 for most of team event. Again moving in too quickly will cause the hang spot to get too much in play and make it difficult to control the pocket. In my case I used a Roto Grip Dagger (weaker symmetric hybrid) with a 1000 surface to control the pocket and smooth out the lane.

In doubles and singles it really, really depends on who you follow. In most cases you will need to move inside quickly on the right as the medium volume pattern dissipates quickly. This will call for smoothly sanded to polished weaker equipment). On the left you will want to go to weaker equipment with a lightly sanded surface and try to stay left if at all possible.