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In the first article of this series, we discussed the various elements that make up a lane pattern and how each variable can affect ball motion. While length is not necessarily the most important factor, it’s what most people look at first when deciding on strategy and ball selection. Speaking from experience, in the case of national teams, sometimes the pattern choice can affect roster selection as well, particularly when it comes to shorter and longer patterns which generally demand specific and sometimes opposite skills.
Even though we also need to consider the volume, ratio, taper, and type of oil being used, shorter patterns usually offer the most specific and obvious strategy choices, so they’re the best place to start as we dive headlong into this series. We’ll start by getting a few definitions and general pieces of information out of the way.
Defining short patterns
First, as mentioned in the opening article, higher ratio patterns like house shots don’t generally need to be classified by length. As a result, with short patterns, and for the rest of this series, the assumption is that the pattern is more challenging than a typical house shot, with a maximum ratio of 5:1. Remember that most professional patterns are at a 3:1 ratio or less, but 5:1 can still be quite challenging for competitive league bowlers, and this ratio is where the strategic principles to follow really start to apply.
Short patterns are generally classified as 37 feet or less. We very rarely see anything shorter than 32 feet, such as the PBA Wolf pattern when it was first introduced. Slightly longer patterns can sometimes feel shorter because of the other variables we’ve mentioned, but the vast majority fall in the range of 34 to 37 feet. All of them are designed with an outside breakpoint in mind, which is where we begin from a strategy point of view.
Short pattern strategy tips
Before we dive into the variables that will affect your strategy, let’s discuss some general tips related to short patterns. Once the general game plan is established, we can then tweak it based on the additional information we can get about a pattern and the environment.
Lane play
Given the common range of short pattern lengths and using the “Rule of 31” as a guide for where the ball should exit the pattern, we know that our breakpoint on shorter patterns will almost always be outside of the five board. We usually want to achieve this breakpoint with a much straighter angle through the front of the lane.
There are certain exceptions that we’ll discuss, but relative to house shots, you almost always want to play straighter on short patterns. Naturally straighter bowlers will generally need to move a bit farther outside with their feet and target, using their natural straighter launch angle.
Bowlers who hook it more on house shots will need to move significantly farther outside and square their angles to an often uncomfortable degree. The best way to try to create the right angle through the front for these bowlers is to get them to feel like they are pulling the ball over their big toe. This will likely still result in a small belly to the outside, but it will be straight enough to be effective.
Physical
From a physical execution point of view, aside from using a straighter alignment, you’ll generally want to use physical skills to create smoother shapes and less overall hook. Because of these attributes, speed-dominant bowlers often match up naturally to shorter patterns, at least for the fresh portion.
As you might guess, the release adjustments you might want to make are to increase your ball speed and reduce your axis rotation angle. Both will reduce the overall hook and have the effect of creating a smoother response to friction, which is extremely important when there is upwards of 25 feet of dry back end friction. Even with these skills in place, equipment selection is especially important on shorter patterns, and the specifics vary quite a bit based on bowler style.
Equipment
Forget about lateral hook for a moment. Fresh short patterns tend to require a specific reaction shape: smooth transitions from the skid to the roll phase. Flippy balls over-respond to the friction and create havoc trying to keep the ball in the pocket. Depending on a bowler’s style, this could take several forms.
Urethane is often useful for everyone, but especially higher rev rate players, and most often on the fresh. The challenge for many modern bowlers adapting to the urethane shape is that these kinds of balls want to hook early and set up, rather than make a big back end motion. Often, they will change directions at 20 to 25 feet (or earlier), while our eyes might be looking for hook at 35 or 40 feet. When practicing with urethane, training your eyes on what to look for is as important as mastering the straighter angles for short.
Reactive resin balls are also in play, particularly for more speed-dominant players, and they are almost always sanded solids. Despite the fact that rougher surfaces often increase overall hook, we’re really looking for the smoother motion that it gives, and we’ll generally see a few different kinds of layouts on these balls:
- Longer pins, with very weak/later core angles and very high VAL angles/pin buffers, to delay the ball revving up and to keep a smoother motion downlane. This would be for bowlers who are a little softer with their speed, or those who want to belly the ball a little more.
- Longer pins, with every strong/early core angles and very high VAL angles/pin buffers, to let the ball rev up and have a longer transition into the skid phase. These are more useful on asymmetrical balls now that weight holes aren’t allowed, and are used by bowlers with a higher speed to rev ratio.
- Shorter pin distances to encourage the ball to stabilize early. This can be for more rev-dominant players who need a bit more help on fresh.
One of the challenges with using an asymmetrical ball is that they are often paired with extremely aggressive covers, and therefore can take themselves out of play on shorter patterns. That said, they can still be quite handy for medium to lower rev rate players on higher volume short patterns.
Mental
We can’t forget the mental side of bowling on a shorter pattern. Bowlers are often standing much closer to the gutter than they do on a house shot, even if the breakpoint downlane isn’t that much farther outside. This changes perception and often gets bowlers to drift toward the center of the lane and back to their comfort zone. Fear of the gutter can also cause more pulled shots than usual. Even on house shots, bowlers can practice standing closer to the gutter and playing these lines to help prepare for this visual challenge.
Due to the nature of the pattern, bowlers generally need patience on a short pattern. While some environments allow for high scores right away, short patterns are the ones most likely to give bowlers fits in the first game, before the pattern blends out and becomes more scoreable with some transition. The goal on the fresh is generally to control the pocket and leave makeable spares, so if you can achieve that mindset, you’ll be one step ahead of the competition.
Adjusting for other variables
With these general strategies in mind, we can now look at how they will differ based on the pattern variables discussed in the first article: ratio, volume, taper, and oil type. For the purposes of this discussion, the “all other things equal” maxim applies. If we tried to combine all the possible combinations of these variables, the article would go on forever, so we’ll need to simplify and leave it up to you to put these things into practice and learn to combine them.
Ratio
For the purpose of this series, we’re assuming a maximum ratio of 5:1, but there is still a big difference between competing on 5:1 and 2:1 short patterns. Generally speaking, high ratios on shorter patterns mean an increased volume inside, which provides more hold. In most league conditions, bowlers are looking for friction to help their ball hook, but on shorter patterns, any hold you can take advantage of can help your scoring pace.
With a 5:1 ratio, you can assume a higher scoring pace and more open angles through the front being in play compared to lower ratio short patterns. You probably still shouldn’t be trying to swing the ball from the third arrow to the gutter right away, but you generally don’t need to be as straight on higher ratio short patterns. That said, the outside breakpoint generally holds true.
The closer we get to a completely flat condition, the more important topography becomes when deciding the appropriate area to play. Unfortunately, sometimes there’s a conflict between topography and the pattern length/shape. If the outside boards are sloped toward the gutter, but the short pattern wants you to play there, the field is likely in for a long day, and the straightest possible angles are usually best.
Even if more open angles are in play, it’s important to consider transition. The straighter you can play on the fresh, the easier transition is to follow. This is true for just about any sport pattern, and it is why you can have “good transition” and “bad transition” on the same pattern with different bowlers using different strategies.
Volume
We rarely see lower volume short patterns. Most are in the mid to high volume range, but this really only affects your equipment choices. More oil volume doesn’t change the 25 or more feet of dry back ends, so rather than allowing you to open up your angles or use deeper lines and later breakpoints, higher volumes mostly affect your ball selection and/or surface preparation within the same outside-line options.
On higher volumes, lower rev rate or speed-dominant players will probably opt for a stronger ball than they would use on lower volumes. This will help maintain a good reaction shape compared to, say, a benchmark ball. As mentioned in the equipment section, you might even see a high-end asymmetrical ball used on these conditions.
Higher rev rate players are generally already using urethane and doing what they can to control the hook, so balling-up to a reactive is more than likely to be too much ball, even on higher volumes. They are more likely to rely on adding surface to their urethane ball, or even using another urethane ball with a different layout.
That said, all bowlers should likely consider surface changes on higher volume short patterns. 500 grit is not too much surface on shorter patterns, particularly with a high oil volume. This will help blend out the transition from the oil to the dry, creating a smoother ball roll. Whether you are throwing urethane or reactive, a short pattern with 28 mL will require more surface than one with 24 mL.
Something to be aware of when it comes to transition: higher volume patterns of any length get chewed up and tend to break down faster, due to the use of more sanded bowling balls. With short patterns, this can vary considerably.
If the field is using a lot of urethane, expect the heads to break down a little and the back ends to tighten up quite a bit. This will create hold and make the pattern feel longer, allowing stronger reactives to be in play later on. If the field is using mostly reactive resin balls, the fronts will start to go but the back ends won’t tighten up as much, requiring different adjustments. You’ll probably need loft and weaker equipment to adapt as things break down.
Taper
On short patterns, taper is closely tied to volume. With only so many feet to place oil and buff, higher volume patterns tend to be more abrupt at the end, while medium to lower volume patterns will generally be more tapered. That said, you can still see short patterns with some significant buff area, particularly as they get closer to the 37-foot range.
Less taper prioritizes speed control and ball surface, so the advice of using more surface on higher volume patterns stands true. Where bowler styles usually determine the best layouts in general, patterns with less taper skew even more toward earlier-revving layouts with smoother motions, once again to help blend out the pattern that doesn’t have much blend built into it.
Patterns that start out with less taper will be harder on the fresh, but you’ll see the scoring pace go up in transition, at least most of the time. Patterns with more taper, especially with even a slightly higher ratio, will generally have a higher scoring pace from the start, like we often see on the PBA Cheetah pattern. Be ready to strike when bowling in a talented field.
Oil
Because the angles and attack areas tend to be so defined on short patterns, we don’t see too many strategic differences based on the oil itself. Overall, higher viscosity oils would require weaker equipment or less surface, all other things being equal. Lower viscosity oils would be the opposite.
Notice that oil viscosity and oil volume are opposites. Higher volumes require more surface or stronger equipment, but higher viscosities usually require less. Experience will dictate what’s best for you, but as a general strategy, you can assume they offset each other when building your lane play strategy. As always, be ready to adjust that strategy once you throw the ball and see what’s really in front of you.
The importance of the lane
While this series is attempting to focus on the oil pattern, one simply can’t discuss a competitive environment without including some mention of the lane itself. The oil is there to prevent/control friction between the ball and the lane, so you can only do so much when talking about the oil in a vacuum. As mentioned before, the flatter a pattern is, the more important the lanes are to the environment.
As Josh Blanchard’s article, The Face of a Center, discussed at length, the age, type, and wear of the lanes play a role in how the ball reacts in a bowling center. Larger centers can have very distinct ball reactions in different areas based on how the lanes are used. Here are a few key points as they relate to the surface itself, and to its topography.
Lane surface wear
The lane surface and its wear and tear are directly related to the friction of the environment. Older lanes tend to be higher friction than newer ones, and there are manufacturing differences as well. High traffic open play can actually be better for short pattern competitions, because the surface wear is generally in the middle of the lane, and nowhere near where you are playing on a short pattern.
On the other hand, most league shots burn a track inside of where you are aiming on short patterns. If you are playing with more open angles, you’re also more likely to be laying the ball down in a higher friction zone, sending it to a lower friction zone, and waiting for it to hook back. If our goal is a smooth and controlled reduction of speed to allow the ball to hook, even this minor change in friction can make it quite tough. This is yet another reason to stay outside the track as much as possible on fresh short patterns.
Topography
As mentioned briefly above, the lane’s topography near the gutter is one of the most important, if not the single most important, determining factor when bowling on a short pattern. If the lane has topography that angles toward the gutter, short patterns become very hard. It’s literally an uphill battle getting the ball to hook, even with all that friction.
On the other hand, if the outside boards are sloped slightly to the inside of the lane, it creates a bit of gravitational help on shots that get outside a bit quickly, helping to correct the course of any shot sent a bit too close to the edge. It’s not a lot, but every fraction of an inch helps when the target area is only a couple of inches from an automatic zero.
Conclusion
Short patterns are easily the most defined of the different lengths as far as the strategies and equipment choices. Because of this, the pattern variables that make each short pattern unique have a bit less impact compared to medium or longer patterns. Remember that you almost always want smoother motions and sanded covers when short patterns are fresh. Ball selection in transition will depend on how much urethane is being thrown, with more carrydown often requiring stronger equipment as the oil moves downlane. In a field throwing mostly reactive resin, you’re more likely to need to ball-down rather than ball-up, and use your skills to delay hook as the lanes transition.
Next up, we’ll discuss long patterns. They are not quite as defined as far as the area to play, and they have a lot more variability based on the differences in the environment.
