the 8 to 10 board and much less outside of those boards to the gutter,” explains USBC Gold Coach Bill Spigner. “So the first thing a bowler needs to do is find the part of the lane that hooks most and work inward from there to find a place on the lane that the oil pattern allows the ball to hook enough to hit the pocket. You never want to start out trying to make the ball do something the lane will not allow.” Laying more oil in the middle of the
lane helps the bowler have a nice-sized area to play in. In other words, when a right- handed bowler delivers the ball and misses the target to the right, the ball will find less oil. That means there will be more friction, and the ball will hook more. If a right-handed player delivers the
ball and misses the target to the inside, the ball will find more oil, which means less
first moves you will want to make are par- allel moves in the direction of the miss. “You will move your target and feet
friction, and the ball will hook less. Either way, the ball will find it’s way to the pocket unless you miss badly. But when the lanes start to break down,
that comfort zone area can gradually dis- appear and you need to make a move.
PARALLEL AND ANGULAR ADJUSTMENTS “Once you have found your comfort zone, which from week to week and lane to lane is never exactly the same, you now have to start preparing to make adjustments as the oil changes,” says Spigner. “The first transi- tion you will see is the back end start to hook less. When that starts happening, the
A B Turn Away
Angular Moves Angular adjustments, shown
here, are the most common moves bowlers use to adapt to changing lane conditions. For example, you may start your league session standing on board No. 20 and aiming at the second arrow (which is on board No. 10). As the lanes start to hook more, you might move your starting position one board inside but keep your target the same, on the second arrow (or board 10). This is a slight angular adjustment. The 2-to-1 guideline for making angular adjustments means that for every two boards you move with your feet, you move your target one board in the same direction. Using the starting point example above, a 2-to-1 adjustment would have you stand on board 22 and aim at board No. 11.
28 USBOWLER FALL 2010
equal amounts to get outside of where the ball isn’t finishing from. You will be mov- ing further into the dry area of the lane, which means the next transition will be that the front end of the lane will start to dry up. That’ll happen fast because you are now playing the part of the lane that has much less oil.” The goal is to move back into the edge
of the oil line to help hold the desired ball path to the pocket and straighten out the shot to the pocket. That type of move is a simple parallel move, which means that you will be moving your feet and eyes an equal number of boards. For example, if you are looking at the arrows and decide you need to make a parallel move, you might move two boards to the right with your feet and two boards to the right with your eyes. When you make this move, the angle at which you deliver the ball, does not change. After the heads start hooking early you
can start moving back inside again using parallel moves. If that move works, that’s great; but many times it won’t workbecause of the oil carry down. By moving in you are moving into heavier oil in the heads and mid lane, that coupled with the carry down can make pin carry tough. “Now you will have to think about
angle and ball rotation changes,” says Spigner. “This is where you might want to move your feet let’s say three boards and one board in with your target. That type of move will now send the ball further outside sooner hitting the dry area earlier, which will make the ball start hooking back sooner.” An angle move means that you will be
moving your feet and/or eyes a different number of boards, like in Spigner’s exam- ple. When you make a move like that, the angle at which you deliver the ball changes. In this case, you’re rolling the ball at a greater angle away from the pocket. But Spigner cautions that with such
an angle move, you will also need a ball rotation change. “You will need more axis rotation so the ball will hook at a sharper angle so the ball can hook through the carry down.” Alternately, Spigner adds, if you have
trouble changing your ball rotation but are good at picking up your speed and adding some loft, you can still stay in the dry part of the lane. How much and whether your adjust- ments qualify as parallel moves or angle
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