Tips & Tricks
Initial glossary of Jack's bowling Terminology
Axis of Rotation :
The axis that your ball is rotating on , also will refer to this as "forward roll" vs. "side roll" vs. "spinner"...this is changeable with hand positions, motion.
Trajectory :
The line your ball will travel on its way to the breakpoint. This is affected by your armswing, shoulder position, and hand position.
Breakpoint :
The point on the lane where the ball begins its movement toward the pocket.
Play Area :
The area of the lane where you can obtain the friction necessary to cause the ball to transition from its skid into its roll. This area is ever changing and is the holy grail you will always be chasing.
Sand Trap :
The area on the lane (usually right side boards 5-15) that begin to dry in the heads as the ball absorbs the conditioner and the area becomes extremely dry. It becomes impossible to play "through" this area.
Recovery :
If the ball is started away from the pins it must recover from its skid. This transition I call recovery. A ball that must recover requires more friction to cause the ball to break to the pocket than one on a straight trajectory.
Par :
The score hypothesized to be what it will take to "make the cut". Par on a Louisville house shot is about 220-230...on a real sport condition is about 195-205. It is important to have a good feel for this number to judge our performance and what it may take to "catch" the leaders.
Lay Down Spot :
The spot where you place the ball onto the lane.
Target :
The play area at your breakpoint.
Draw the Line :
Before you begin your approach (in your head), always draw the line you intend for your ball to take, ie: laydown on board 32, trajectory straight to board 8 at 42 foot, recover your pocket by 45 foot. (This would probably describe Mike Wolfe's ball path on a typical house shot). At this time you will always pay attention to the areas of the lane you will be crossing and the current lane condition there. especially for spares.
Ball Basics
A little better explanation of the things we talked about in regards to how balls act the way they do.
Balls today are made of one of four basic cover materials:
Plastic, Urethane, Resin, and Particle.
All balls have a weight block, an inner core, and a cover. All balls hook according to the amount of surface friction obtained between the lane and the ball. The friction is a result of the contact area of the cover of the ball and the lane surface.
The amount of friction is different in each of the coverstocks. Plastic is hard and not porous and carries the least friction. Urethane is a hardened polymer, slightly porous which creates some friction and increases if heated. Resin is a polymer with resins added that in effect keep the cover from from completely hardening, therefore it can tend to be tacky and is highly affected by heat. Particle covers are resin balls with a particle added to the mixture, like fine sandpaper allowing it to create its own friction.
The placement and amount of lane oil on the lane drastically affects the friction from the lane surface. As a ball goes from the oiled portion of the lane into the dry area it encounters greater friction, and on the tackiest balls this creates heat (up to 1200 degrees) making this even stickier. This is the reason the balls of today "snap" so hard on the backends when thrown with just a reasonable amount of revolutions.
Shiny, tacky balls are easily affected to any varying amounts of friction. As carry down occurs on a fresh condition they often "see" it first. They often give over and under reactions and are hard to play on lane conditions which do not have dry areas in the mid lane area.
Duller, and particle balls are less affected by minute amounts of carry down, and often will go through the front of the lane in the earlier games to give you a better play and less carry down problems on a fresh condition.
Plastic and urethane balls are DEFENSIVE equipment. Urethane gives you a ball that will play in a pretty dry condition and will still hit the pins well enough to carry. They also can be used on very easy house shots where they often remove the over and under reactions and still hit enough to carry. Most use plastic to shoot 3-6-9-10 spares (righty) and when the lanes are too dry to play with any aggressive equipment.
Weight Blocks
The weight blocks in today's balls are engineered to maximize the amount of reaction one can get out of a ball. By moving the grip around on the ball causing it to spin on different axis', one ball can be drilled to get several different ball reactions.
In simpler terms, the weight block spins as the ball goes easily through the no friction oiled part of the lane. As the ball encounters friction, the weight begins to wobble causing the ball to no longer wish to spiral along its path but rather begin to turn towards the direction of rotation. The wobble also causes the track to flare therefore offering a fresh clean ball surface on each rotation causing again more hook.
This transition from skid to hook is "enhanced" by the proper drilling of the ball. The more aggressive the weight block, the more volatile reaction you can obtain. HOWEVER, they will be less predictable especially on tougher (sport) lane conditions. This is due to the fact that friction is what begins the block to wobble and absence of friction (slick across all lane) will prevent the ball from "flipping" until end of run. On the "long" patterns, this will give you fits determining where, when, and how much your ball will react. It also will be affected greatly by carrydown.
Last item.....Ball speed
We are no longer blessed with Kingpin's scoring that shows ball speed, and even keeps average speeds etc, at all times. There is quite a difference 12.50 is from 14.00 etc, you can use this to great advantage. During the next few practice sessions I intend to have you adjust / vary speed greatly. This will inevitably effect your timing, so please ask us when it feels funny, and how to adjust. Some will be able to do this easily while some will experience trouble doing this. Everyone is different, but to be able to adjust more ways will help make you and the team and succeed in competition.
Remember:
Ball speed comes from 3 things...
Foot speed (move back a little and get going faster)
Backswing height
Arm Strength - this is the least desirable place to get speed !!!
Thanks, Coach McCarthy
The University of Louisville Cardinal Bowling Club
