Should USBC Release Oil Patterns for Open Championships? - Opinion - Down Lane Podcast

[@fibercouggocougs8656]

I agree the pattern should be released ahead of the tournament. One change that was made after you created the video is there is now limited practice and BJ on Saturday. I am taking 70 bowlers and I had many conversations with Greg Moore, Senior Tournament Director, about how this went against the USBC wanting to make a fair tournament for everyone. Thankfully, he agreed. The issue is SouthPoint didn't want to give up their open bowling.

[@DownLaneBowling]

It was as ok for them to add those 9pm squads, but 9pm on a Saturday in Vegas is a little tough 🤣. The schedule should remain fairly consistent year to year.

[@irishpogi]

I totally concur. For us guys flying in from the north east, we need to get information about how long the patterns are and their respective volumes. Based on this information, we can make educated guesses as to which pieces we believe matches up to the condition. I am 61 years of age and I refuse to carry more than 4-5 bowling balls. They're a pain in the butt to transport.

[@MatthewWatches]

I can't even imagine needing more than three balls to bowl on anything, I carry 3 and a spare ball. If you utilize proper adjustments, I find it hard to justify as many balls as some people think they need. I bowl league with a guy that brings a 9-ball carrier every week, over the course of the night he'll use like 6 of them and still bowl lower than me with 1 or 2, and still blame it on bringing the wrong balls somehow. No idea how many he has, but it's more than he can use effectively.

[@irishpogi]

@@MatthewWatches what type of equipment do you typically use? Assyms? Symmetric pieces? Pearls and solids?

[@MatthewWatches]

I feel like it should stay like it is, we don't need to know. Your reason for it is the same reason against it, it won't actually help the average bowler prepare, so why release it? You're second point indicates they should release it if it doesn't help pro players score more, but that sounds like a reason against it too. The third point is unfortunate but again it doesn't seem like anyone is really helped by knowing it ahead of time, and it doesn't fix the practice timing issue at the open so that doesn't really win me over either. I think knowing the pattern ahead of time will only help a tiny subset of high end bowlers who have access to replicate the conditions in their home lanes, I can only see it as an unfair advantage. A good bowler has to learn to adapt in practice, if that has to be on the day of, I think you do what it takes or you don't, but it's on you.

[@jonathan10pin]

Last year my average in the USBC Open Championships was in the 190s If I am not mistaken.

[@TonysMusic1974]

Ok. And?

[@zedsodead]

I would just like to add that one time I farted and my lungs blew out my butthole, if I'm not mistaken.

[@zedsodead]

How can you live with yourself, sir?

[@LaneQuenemoen]

Doesn't matter. You can put the Open pattern on any lane surface in any house and it will do you no good to practice on it because topography is never the same. Plus when in Vegas, weather has alot to say about how the lanes play at Southpoint or any other venue. When it rains, sticky approaches, windy slick approaches. Footing has a say on how you bowl.

[@roednerbowling5363]

Easy compromise that USBC could initiate TOMORROW: release just the pattern length and volume without any oil pattern graph. Bowlers would have the relevant information to make informed decisions about which balls to bring and no one has enough info to put the actual pattern down. Bowling the tournament is already so expensive for many, the last thing we should be doing is making it even harder for everyday bowlers to sign up and prepare confidently. Instead we introduce a level of luck into arsenal building for the event, who in your group guessed the best this year? Referring to your video though, IMO reasons 1 and 3 kind of contradict each other. In reason 1 you lay out the very true fact that the same pattern put down in two different centers will play drastically different and therefore doesn’t offer an advantage to players that have ties to centers willing to put the pattern down for them to practice on compared to players with no such access. But then in reason 3 you reference the limits to available Team Practice and Bowlers Journal shifts this year as an inequity because some groups won’t have the same opportunities to bowl on the patterns. Whenever the OC is in Vegas like this year, the Team Practice sessions and Bowlers Journal are bowled in the recreational bowling center at South Point on a much higher friction lane surface compared to the Bowling Plaza at South Point where Team event and Doubles/Singles is actually bowled. The practice session in the recreational center has NEVER played anything like the actual team event in the plaza so in my opinion the limit in practice session shifts is a non issue per your reason 1. If it plays nothing like the real team event then how can lack of access to the practice session be an inequity? With all of that said though USBC has long been on the wrong side of this issue. They reacted to a perception of unfairness from bowlers that didn’t know what they were talking about and we’re still paying for it now. Release the damn patterns or at least the basic info that can help pro shops meaningfully help their customers to prepare and have a good time out there.

[@DownLaneBowling]

Great comment. While I see how it could be seen as a contradiction, we used the practice session as our length and volume meter. We completely understood the difference between the centers. Thats why we’re disappointed about the scheduling. Thanks for tuning in!! -KH

[@roednerbowling5363]

@@DownLaneBowling I see what you’re saying. I’ve never used the practice session that way because I estimate length/volume for our group through the many highlight clips available before our shifts in May. Come on USBC, just release the length and volume so we don’t have to play these games!

[@DownLaneBowling]

100%. We watch the videos to. Still like to get the feel. Also loosen up the team. Agreed though, at this point, no reason to hide the patterns anymore.

[@douglasbuck8986]

USBC doesn't care................

[@markm4273]

Absolutely not.

[@garvin9939]

Imagine having that opinion lmao