PAGE 48 MARCH 2011BOWLING THIS MONTH

The PBA Tour’s Cheetah pattern has often been called the ‘house shot’ of profes-sional bowling. While it is defi nitely

more diffi cult than your average house shot, it does allow for some very high scoring from the world’s best bowlers. Why is this? First, it provides a little more forgiveness to the right than most professional patterns and second, its breakpoint is the farthest outside.

This outside breakpoint is a key aspect of all short oil patterns and is what gives them the potential to be very high scoring. Bringing the ball in from outside the 5th board is usually conducive to optimum entry angle and therefore good carry. So, why is short oil so hard for so many league bowlers?

There’s no single answer to that question. I’ll go through not only attacking a shorter oil pattern but staying on top of it as it breaks down. What it boils down to is axis rotation, rev rate, head belly, and equipment selection.

Axis rotation and rev rate

I remember my fi rst international experience on short oil and describing to my coach how frustrated I was that the only ones scoring on the short were “old” men and women. I was young and there’s not much to cripple the ego of a young power player like getting beaten by people who can’t rip it like you can. My coach responded with a description based on rev rate and suggested I

Tyrel Rose is a member of Team Canada’s coaching staff, a director of Montreal’s local as-sociation board, an NCCP Level 2 and USBC Bronze certifi ed coach, and former Canadian National Champion. He owns and operates Gold Medal Bowling Boutique and lives in Montreal, Canada. Start or/join a discussion at www.bowlingthismonth.com/btmBB/

tyrel rose

Staying lined up, Part 3

Navigating short oil

the coaching canuck

PAGE 49MARCH 2011 BOWLING THIS MONTH

try to straighten out and soften up with my hand. It was one of my first lessons in the world of short oil. My release was simply not good on short oil and I needed to adapt it in order to score.

What I learned during that event and have been teaching ever since, is that a high rev game built on a lot of axis rotation is not good on most shorter oil patterns. Let me put it this way: a typi-cal short oil pattern is around 35 feet long. That leaves 25 feet of dry (friction) in which your ball will have traction. A lower degree of axis rota-tion will limit the change of direction and allow a more controlled breakpoint. Of course, lowering axis rotation is a coach’s way of saying, “stay up the back of the ball.” (See Canuck Coach’s Corner tip).

Getting back to my story, it stands to reason that those with lower rev rates will have less change of direction, more stable ball reaction, and often better results on short oil. I had to learn to break my wrist to cut back on my revs and axis rotation in order to truly master short oil. Being able to manipulate ball reaction through hand position is a key element in being versatile enough to bowl well on short, medium, or long oil patterns. Depending

on your degree of success in manipulating your ball roll, the selection of your equipment becomes vital to success on short oil.

Equipment selection

It’s really not a coincidence that shortly after the WTBA mandated short oil at their events, there was a surge in the popularity of old urethane equipment. Of course, ball companies responded by producing ‘new’ urethane. The reaction char-acteristics of urethane (less hook and an arcing shape) are a perfect match for shorter oil patterns, particularly for higher rev players who struggle for control with reactive resin.

I have to say I don’t consider urethane an indispensable part of a bowler’s arsenal for short oil like most of my peers do but it is a very good idea. Lower rev players probably don’t need it as badly as bowlers with lower speeds or lots of revs. In setting up an arsenal for short oil, it’s more important to consider a bowler’s particular characteristics to specifically match equipment. That said, I’ve made two basic arsenals (see tables above), one based on a lower rev game and the

the coaching canuck

AXIS ROTATION

CANUCK COACH’S CORNER

Keeping track of your axis rotation:

It’s as easy as placing tape on your axis point. If you don’t know your PAP, have your local pro shop operator find it and place a piece of tape on it. Watching that tape for the first 20 feet will tell you how much axis rotation you are creating. The more the tape faces you, the more axis rotation you are

imparting to the ball.To attack short oil, work to have the tape face more to the side (0 axis rotation) which will reduce hook and create a smoother ball reaction!

ARSENALLower RPM arsenal

Higher RPM arsenal

Lower RG, medium aggressive, arcing, sandedi.e. Pin up Virtual Gravity, pin down Mission

Urethanei.e. Wine U-dot, Natural

Higher RG, medium solid, polishedi.e. Short pin Avalanche solid

High or low RG, weaker pearl – not high glossi.e. Pin up Vibe, Pin down Playmaker, V2 Dry

High or low RG, weaker pearl i.e. Pin down Sharp Noize

Med-high RG, medium solidi.e. Avalanche Solid, XS Power

PAGE 50 MARCH 2011BOWLING THIS MONTH

other based on what a power player might need. I have included balls I’ve used as examples.

An important thing to consider when looking at your equipment is its effect on the lane condi-tions. Urethane balls do not deplete the oil at the same rate as reactive resin. When bowling with several people using urethane, the adjustments on short oil will not necessarily be the same as the adjustments needed with bowlers using resin exclusively. We’ll get to that right after a quick note on head belly.

Head belly

Head belly refers to how many boards a ball crosses from left to right (for a righty) in the heads or front of the lane. The most common mistake I see on a short pattern is trying to swing the ball out to the breakpoint. By now, most bowlers understand that shorter oil requires a breakpoint closer to the ditch. The issue is that rather than play a line that goes directly to that breakpoint, many bowlers will swing the ball out to it.

Most often, I’ll see a bowler who is used to playing 16 to 5 on a house shot move right and play 10 to 4 on a short oil pattern. This is the right idea but hasn’t been taken far enough. By their percep-tion, they’re playing ‘straight.’ This isn’t straight enough. When they are forced to move their feet farther right and truly play ‘up’ (right to left) the boards, the reaction improves significantly.

A good way to force yourself closer to the ditch is to simply place an obstacle on the ap-proach beside you in your start position. For a righty, I’ve placed a bowling ball directly to the left of the left foot. Progressively moving the ball to the right each shot, the bowler obviously had to move to the right each shot, until at last they had broken free of their ‘comfort zone’ and were playing the correct path. In the end, they’d moved from 17 to 10 with their feet. By placing a physical barrier on the lane, it allowed them to break the habit of placing their feet toward the

middle of the lane and truly get to the outside. That physical barrier will help break old habits and create new ones. Combine this with square shoulders and a straight swing, and short oil becomes a simple matter of finding the correct path and ball and watching the strikes happen.

Attacking a short pattern

Now that we’ve got our equipment set up (give or take a surface adjustment), it’s time to figure out how to get strikes. Fresh short patterns can offer the biggest challenge, as the back ends are at their strongest, and can be a challenge to control-ling ball reaction. As the lane breaks down and if the pattern is played properly, short patterns can evolve into what is essentially a house shot.

My theory on short oil is simple: When in doubt, move farther outside. I usually ask my bowler to exhaust all options moving outside and playing more direct before trying to jump left to use more of a left-to-right trajectory. The only exception to this rule is when you see everyone left of you scoring better than you.

Using the “Minus 31” theory (pattern length minus 31) to get the exit board and a starting point, short patterns usually end up having a breakpoint somewhere around the 3rd to 5th board or even farther outside. Armed with the most even roll-ing ball, play as direct as possible to that point and adjust from there. Remember that on short oil, the idea is to have your ball make its move as far away from the pocket as possible. So, if you go high you need to move farther right. Many bowlers make the mistake of moving left here and crossing more boards to the breakpoint which, on fresh short oil, can be a recipe for disaster.

Using the decision making process I’ve dis-cussed the last two months, let’s talk about how the lanes can breakdown and how to take best advantage of what’s happening. We’ll talk about two different scenarios and apply the decision making model to each.

the coaching canuck

PAGE 51MARCH 2011 BOWLING THIS MONTH

Scenario 1Six bowlers on the pair, a mix of high and low

rev players. Half the players are using reactive resin and half are using urethane. A couple of younger players are swinging the ball out to 5, two players are playing around 10, and two players are playing ‘correctly’ on the ditch. Scores are low on this pair. You’ve been playing the 5th board out to the 2nd or 3rd board at the breakpoint. You haven’t missed the pocket and reaction has been mediocre. Your last shot was a good one but left a flat 10 pin.

This is what I like to call the “soup mix” sce-nario because the pattern is turning into soup. It’s not being broken down consistently thanks to the multiple angles and lines being played. Now we need to see what adjustment to make off that 10 pin leave by applying the decision model.1) Did I throw it well? Yes2) What happened in terms of ball reaction? The ball rolled early, coming in without

enough angle, resulting in a flat 103) What adjustments can correct this?

Ball change to something with more angle• Move more outside to start the ball farther • from the pocket and create better angleMove inside to see if there is more oil to • delay hook/rollMake a hand position change to create • more angle

4) Which adjustment matches my preferred move?

Moving my feet. In this case, I’m going outside

5) Implement adjustment.

As you can see, there is a lot to sort through in this kind of scenario. There are actually two moves that could work, but as has always been said when dealing with tough conditions,

“Straighter is greater.” Getting back to the best way to attack short patterns in general, you want

to minimize head belly (don’t move inside) and well as minimizing the possibility of the ball over-reacting at the back of the pattern (don’t get too angular with your ball or hand position).

For me, the best move would be to move farther outside with my feet and target, most likely a 1&1 move. For lower rev players where ball reaction is typically smoother in general, a ball change or hand change might be more suitable. Like any adjustment, it comes down to the bowler’s strengths and knowledge of their own game.

Scenario 2Six bowlers on the pair, a mix of high and

low rev players, using mostly reactive resin balls playing the pattern ‘correctly’ from the outside. You’ve been all over the pocket playing the 6th board at the arrows out to the 3rd or 4th board at the breakpoint. The last few shots have started going high, with the ball hooking early and laying off on the back end. Your last shot was well-executed but went high for a 4-6-10.

This is what I’d refer to as the “wall-building” scenario. It’s important to understand that the oil is being removed from the outside by reactive balls, effectively creating a wall. This can allow for a little more flexibility in your decision mak-ing and will usually yield higher scores.1) Did I throw it well enough? Yes2) What happened in terms of ball reaction? The ball hooked early and went high for a split3) What adjustments can correct this?

Higher ball speed to create more skid• Weaker/more polished ball will skid • fartherFind more oil; in this case, to the inside• Change hand positions – create more axis ro-• tation to create skid and stronger back end

the coaching canuck

PAGE 52 MARCH 2011BOWLING THIS MONTH

4) Which adjustment matches my preferred move? Moving inside

5) Implement adjustment.

There are two elements that result in my deci-sion to move inside. The fi rst is based on how the lanes are being played and the second is my preference to start with line and angle changes over ball and speed changes. Some bowlers might prefer to simply go to a polished ball. As I said above, I prefer to keep from having too strong a back end motion on shorter oil so I would usually save those adjustments for last. For lower rev players, the chances of having an overly violent reaction are low so it might be a less risky move.

It’s very important to note here that even though I’ve decided to move inside, it’s not going to be a big move. Most importantly, I don’t want to create too much angle through the heads, so

the coaching canuck

it probably wouldn’t be more than two or three boards inside with my feet and one board with my target.

In this kind of scenario, it’s very probable that the wall will continue to be built and eventually everyone will be balling down (choosing less reactive equipment) or bouncing it off the ditch. The higher the rev rate, the more likely we will see a move inside. That’s exactly what we see on the PBA’s Cheetah pattern. The pros are almost exclusively higher rev players breaking the pat-tern down correctly and building themselves as much of a wall as they’ll ever need.

Next month we’ll cover long oil. With an even more clearly defi ned strategy, this pattern can be most diffi cult because of the quick transition and extreme angles that make it hard to carry. When played correctly, it breaks down to give a fair amount of margin for error. All that remains is creating the right angle for carry.

PAGE 17APRIL 2011 BOWLING THIS MONTH

In August 2004, I had my � rst international bowling experience at the World Youth Championships in Guam. It will probably

be remembered as Jason Belmonte’s coming out party as the leader of Team Australia’s dominating performance. For me, it was a learning experience on many levels, not the least of which was dealing with long oil.

After several squads of feeling like I was always a step behind, I came up with a game plan for bowling on the long oil portion of the team event. The plan was this: Get lined up in practice and then move a board left every frame. My basic goal was to leave a 2 pin and by then I’d be ahead of the breakdown and stay still for a frame. I never left one. By the end of

practice I’d already started my progression left and in the � rst game I shot 280.

Fast forward to 2011. I’ve got a better un-derstanding of why my strategy worked and now I spend more time explaining it than I do applying it. This month, we’ll discuss stay-ing lined up on long oil, the types of balls you need, and applying the decision making model to the pattern type with possibly the fastest transition.

Balls for long oil patterns

Selecting balls for long oil is generally con-sidered to be fairly straight forward: dull, solid, and strong. This, however, is not always the case. Long oil patterns often dry out quickly which forces bowlers farther left or to weaker equipment. A bowler armed only with the

Tyrel Rose is a member of Team Canada’s coaching staff, a director of Montreal’s local association board, an NCCP Level 2 and USBC Bronze certi� ed coach, and former Canadian National Champion. He owns and operates Gold Medal Bowling Boutique and lives in Montreal, Canada. Start or/join a discussion at www.bowlingthismonth.com/btmBB/

tyrel rose

Staying lined up, Part 4

Conquering long oil

the coaching canuck

PAGE 18 APRIL 2011BOWLING THIS MONTH

the coaching canuck

strongest equipment will not fare well in these circumstances.

Bowlers with less hand don’t have the op-tion of moving to the extreme inside of the lane. With lanes drying up and only a limited ability to get left, you want to set up equipment for more length to handle dry heads as well as staying near the track area. Bowlers with more hand will migrate even farther left. The need to create carry angle from such extreme lines requires your equipment to be set up quite dif-ferently. See the Arsenal Table.

When setting up my own equipment for long oil, I would stick to a pretty standard formula: a sanded pin down asymmetrical ball, a polished pearl pin down symmetrical, and a polished pearl pin up asymmetrical. Eventually, the need to go to a weaker ball would simply include my “regular” equipment. The goal is simple: create an even-arcing shape for the fresh, and progressively get more an-gular with my ball choices for when the lanes break down. I know full well that I’ll be going over the left gutter and, from such a deep inside line, I would need a fairly strong, fast responding ball in my hand in order to carry.

For bowlers who aren’t able to move as far left as I, or who are limited by their rev rate,

the ball choice is a little different. More concerned with conserving energy than changing direction down lane, straighter players need to get through burnt up heads after the lanes have broken down. As with any pattern, the shape of the hook is more important than the total amount of hook and getting a ball to save its energy longer will usually provide better results. It’s for this reason that sometimes relatively weak balls can be more effective than stronger pearls on long oil.

Burning up – long oil transition

What is it about long oil patterns that make them so volatile? Volume and ball surface. Most longer oil patterns are really not very high volume, as the conditioner is spread more thinly over a larger surface than a shorter pat-tern. This means that the lack of hook is due more to the lack of friction at the back of the lane than the total volume of oil of the pattern. Combine this with the fact that most bowlers attack a fresh long pattern with aggressive equipment that is sanded and you’ve got the recipe for a lot of oil removal in the heads in a very short period of time. This doesn’t neces-sarily mean it’s a recipe for disaster.

As in my example from bowling in Guam, it’s possible to stay with the transition if you are prepared for it. It’s also pretty common to see bowlers migrating left very quickly. Very rarely do you see someone �nish a long oil competition block in almost the same spot as they started. That can happen on short oil, and even on medium oil, but not on long oil. All this transition means you’ve got to be on top of your adjustments, particularly those that relate to creating more angle at the back end and/or more length. The angle of attack will generally dictate the types of adjustments you’ll need to make.

ARSENAL Straighter is Greater Extreme Inside

Low-Med RGHigh DiffSanded solid or pearli.e. Pure Physics, Mission

Low RGHigh DiffSanded solid or pearlPin downi.e. Siege, Marvel

Med-High RGMedium pearl/hybridPin upi.e. Reign Supreme

Low-Med RGHigh Diff Polished Pearli.e. Mission 2.0 (+polish), 718A

High RGMedium-low diffPearlPin upi.e . C System 4.5, Damage

Low-High RGMed Diff Polished pearli.e. Burst, Grind

PAGE 19APRIL 2011 BOWLING THIS MONTH

Adjusting to transition – inside angles, higher rev players

It’s pretty common to see power players dominate longer oil patterns. That’s really not a surprise because of their ability to create back end reaction which is necessary to score from a breakpoint that is farther down lane and farther inside. Typically, a high rev player will start somewhere near the track area, or inside of it, and simply keep moving left to �nd more oil. Here’s an example using the decision-making model I introduced in part one of this series.

Six bowlers on the pair, a mix of high and lower rev players. Practice is just finishing and everyone has been playing near the track area, with a breakpoint around 11. Some of the higher rev guys are already a little bit left. The last couple of shots in practice have been a little flat, but you’re sure that you’ve been throwing it well. The arrows come up and you throw a ball which you think is good off your hand, but goes high for a 4 pin.

In my experience this is pretty typical of a long pattern, particularly with a fair amount of traf�c on the lane. After 15 minutes of practice, the lanes have already started to break down. As a higher rev bowler, you can already see the ball hooking a little early, judging by the �at-ter entry angles toward the end of practice and now the arrows are up and you’ve gone high for a 4 pin in the �rst frame. Now what?

Did I throw it well? Yes.

What happened in terms of ball reaction?The ball hooked early, did not get out to the desired breakpoint, and went high for a 4 pin.

What adjustments can correct this?1. Ball change to something with more

length and angle

2. Move left to �nd more oil, trying to keep the same breakpoint

3. Move right to �nd more oil, moving the breakpoint

4. Increase loft5. Increase ball speed.

Which adjustment matches my preferred move? Moving left.

There are always multiple options when looking for a solution. It’s a key element in the decision-making process that you go with what you do best rather than choose something out of your comfort zone. For most higher rev players, moving left is a very logical option since power players are always standing left. My solution here would be move left to �nd more oil, keeping approximately the same breakpoint. Eventually the lanes will break down to the point that a ball change will be required in combination with these inside moves, but at the beginning of the day, going to a ball with too much angle can be disastrous.

Adjusting to transition – straighter angles, lower rev players

Let’s look at the same scenario through the eyes of a lower rev player. These players are typically more speed dominant, have less change of direction at the back of a long pattern, and are often more accurate. They’ll need to be on long patterns because they have less margin for error than their heavy-handed counterparts.

Six bowlers on the pair, a mix of high and lower rev players. Practice is just �nishing and everyone has been playing near the track area, with a breakpoint around 11. Some of the higher rev guys are already a little bit left. The last couple of shots in practice have been a little �at, but you’re sure that you’ve been throwing it well. The arrows come up and you throw a ball which you think is good off your hand, but goes high for a 4 pin.

the coaching canuck

PAGE 20 APRIL 2011BOWLING THIS MONTH

Being a lower rev player on this pair might be a challenge due to all the traf� c. It will be important to create good angles as the lanes break down and allow the ball to retain as much energy as possible. Now that the scoring has started, and the lanes are already starting to break down, what is the best solution for this situation?

Did I throw it well? Yes.

What happened in terms of ball reaction? The ball hooked early, did not get out to the desired breakpoint, and went high for a 4 pin.

What adjustments correct this?1. Ball change to something with more

length2. Speed adjustment3. Loft adjustment4. Move left to � nd oil, keeping the same

breakpoint5. Move right to � nd oil, moving the

breakpoint right as well6. Change hand position for more length.

Which adjustment matches my preferred move? 2, 3, or 6

Again, there are lots of options. For most straighter players, ball speed, loft, and hand position changes will be most effective in this scenario. The lanes have not dried up to a point that is absolutely forcing them out of the current zone, but they are starting to hook earlier. A small physical change to counteract the earlier hook would allow better carry.

I bowled on a pair of lanes with four bowl-ers a few weeks ago with two straighter players, a tweener, and myself. Because there wasn’t a lot of traf� c and because it was not a pair � lled with 400+ rpm bowlers, the transition was not too bad. I moved a total of about seven boards throughout the night and had the high series on the pair. The straight player who made good adjustments scored very well also and was second high. By adjusting his speed

� rst, then hand position, and then moving a little left, he was able to control his breakpoint, without going to an inside angle that ruined his carry.

In my opinion, straighter players do have to work harder on long oil and are generally at a disadvantage compared to higher rev players. As I mentioned last month, short oil is the op-posite. Medium length oil is a whole different animal, and one that any style can dominate, or look foolish. Next month, we’ll cover these kinds of patterns and why they can be the hardest of all.

the coaching canuck