2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

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2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by Meteobowler »

With my 23rd consecutive pilgrimage to the USBC Open Championships just over a month away, I’m Looking forward to the trip as I prepare in earnest for my annual test.

To anybody who has competed already, I’m curious to hear your thoughts and observations as far as the patterns, lane play, transition, ball selection, etc.

Thank you in advance and I will post my commentary when I return home.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by krava »

Is south pointe hotel still around $90-$100 a night or do you get a cheaper rate?
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by boomer »

krava wrote:Is south pointe hotel still around $90-$100 a night or do you get a cheaper rate?
I think that's about what we got. We got two nights for $125/night and then one more for $78.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by krava »

Do they still have the live cameras there? a place to click and watch. I already put my name on the sub board and people from NY contacted me for May but I am still thinking about it. I haven't shot on anything like that since 2017.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by Mongo »

krava wrote:Is south pointe hotel still around $90-$100 a night or do you get a cheaper rate?
Pretty much. I booked for 5 days, with 2 weekend days and it was right at $500. I did get a deluxe room, 'cause I'm a baller.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by kajmk »

[youtube][/youtube]


[youtube][/youtube]
Last edited by kajmk on March 31st, 2019, 8:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by MegaMav »

John, the above video was from the Masters, not National Open Championships.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by kajmk »

MegaMav wrote:John, the above video was from the Masters, not National Open Championships.

[youtube][/youtube]
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by krava »

Was 2018 any different then 2017 if so how was it different?

Another question I have been told that bowling in the Bowlers Journal which is in the same bowling alley but different part, don't play like whatever is suppose to be. If it is suppose to be the double/single pattern on it, then it doesn't play like it is in the actual bowling stadium. Is that true or not?

Also what are you doing to prepare?
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by Pinbuster »

For me the patterns for 2017 and 2018 were similar.

I thought 2018 played a little slicker in D/S than in 2017 and several of my team mates felt the same. That could have the lane conditioner they were using.

The BJ is suppose to be the D/S pattern. Most of the time I don't think they play exactly the same but it is pretty close.

The BJ is different in that you are moving a pair every game so you can't really control the breakdown of the pattern as well unless you have several team members ahead of you and with you.

At south point the BJ is in the first bowling center they built and where they have normal leagues so the lanes have some pattern memory and the lane topology is different from the tournament lanes.

Last year at Syracuse it was held at a private center and some of the same issues with how the lane surface is worn different than the new lane surface at the convention center.

At the Reno stadium the BJ is held on the high end lanes so they are a little closer.

I haven't been real successful the last decade but most I just try to adjust my attitude and ways of attacking the lanes.

A center in town used to put down the nationals shot and we would practice on it for about a month but it never played same for me. The lane memory from the house shots and lane topology would make them play a little different. That center has ceased doing that the last couple years.

I go to plastic on most spares.

I put some surface on a couple of balls to help them read the mid lane.

And mostly I don't have the hand to bring the ball up from the outside. Generally if you get the breakpoint outside 10 it will not recover. I try to keep my angles tight towards the pocket. You can project the ball right to the break point some but if you get too deep and out to a break point any miss right might go in the gutter, shots simply don't pick up and recover. You will see some gutter balls and ugly washout spares.

If you bowl on flatter sport shots your play will be similar.

We don't go till early May this year, so no experience yet.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by krava »

just watched this video:

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

3:11 into it . The guy is bowling 1st game of singles so that means that almost 4 full games have been bowled on the pair. He is throwing the ball straight up 6 board it looks like. I haven't seen this pattern or tested it, but if he is on 6 now where did he start at? He had to be where he is or right of where he is right now. That ball rolled like it would roll on a fresh shot of that type.

I know that double/single and team is oiled differently. If I am correct, double/single is a shorter pattern probably around 38 feet while team is longer more around 41.

if you look where the video starts off, there is a guy in his 2nd game on the same team. I am not sure where was trying to hit but he went straight up 5 and split, He might have been trying to go up 6. But if he is going up 6 how is the other guy going up 5 so much later?

The other person on their team somewhere in there is bowling 1:40 or so, 3rd game late he is throwing 10 out to 8 and back in (I think 10 I can't tell his body is in the way) but he has more hand in the ball then the other 2. Now this makes since but the 1st guy at 3:11 I am not sure how that is being played in that area with that many games bowled on it.

That brings up how do you play on those conditions? one theory maybe he started with a strong ball and just balled down over and over. But wouldn't you want to "open" the lane up though? keep the strong ball out there until you can move left some. From what I saw you can't even miss 1 board at the end of the pattern where the range finder is or you split. That lane wasn't opened up much at all even after the 1st game of singles for the guy in 3:11.

I am not sure how they got video out of there but I do appreciate seeing it, if I get a chance to go.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by boomer »

Here are my notes from when we went a couple of weeks ago:

Team: My impression was that it was flat and wet UNTIL you hit the rangefinders and then there was a hard edge to very dry. Most of us had a problem with that transition - no hook until radical hook. I rolled my most aggressive, sanded at 360, straight down 10 and it went STRAIGHT until it hit the rangefinders and then jumped left like it bounced and took out the 4-7. There was also strict out of bounds - outside of 8 and you either dropped in the channel or took out the 10. Heck, 10s were easy for me. LOL

We found some success bowling up the 12 board with as little rotation as possible so the ball would make a gentler turn - basically let the ball flop over on its own - with medium speed. VERY tight, though. Miss either way and . . . just hope. High end bowler on the other team (520rpm, VERY high speed, VERY high backswing) broke down 5 board (first game was lots of spares) until he created his own friction and then the rest of his team (including a VERY interesting VERY interesting two-handed bowler - completely NOT like Belmo's style) could use that friction to get into roll before the main transition. Their second and third games were very good.

D/S: My impression was that it was still flat and wet, but there was some friction outside between 8-12 but the transition was MUCH less drastic than in Team, though the OOB was still there outside 8. Let it drift a bit right and . . . nasty 2-8-10 or, if you're lucky, just take out the 6-10 and whatever slop. I was able to stand more left and swing it just a bit. A guy on our pair (very rev dominant) was able to swing it out and have it come back - but he got bit a couple of times in the first couple of games and he got VERY shy about accidentally going out too far so he went nose and Brooklyn a LOT. I constantly was telling him to relax and trust himself.

I had MUCH more fun on D/S. Didn't score great but had fun. I averaged above my Sport Avg, which I was happy with. I was having trouble with my knee so I was hitting within a two-board range of target which is just NOT what is needed. But I picked up most of my spares - most of my games had only one open; most games I had a chance at something decent but screwed it up . . . yeah, my bad. But good experience. Getting my knee replaced in December (that's the plan anyway) so we'll see how it goes next April.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by krava »

I know you know what you are doing but I have a few questions. if you were going straight up 10 and it shot left that bad. what happened if you moved 5 boards right. Wouldn't it go straight again and then take off at the end of the pattern and get closer to the head pin? I don't know how your ball is drilled, strong, control or low flare, but if you were using a strong ball, did you have a low flare ball you could throw that might not over react once it hit the range finders as bad? Or what would you have done differently if you could?

here is another video :

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I had to look him up on bowl.com to find out what game this was. This was 2nd game in Singles so that means that he had about as much lane play as the 1st guy that I showed above going straight down 5. This looks more like a broken down flat pattern. Standing far left throwing slightly inside 4th arrow out to 10 and in. If you look him up on youtube that is how he throws his house shots when testing a bowling ball.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by Pinbuster »

Krava - Doubles and Singles in the past have had longer patterns. Team is generally around 38 to 39 feet. D/S is generally around 41 to 42 feet.

You can look at past patterns here. https://www.bowl.com/Open_Championships ... onditions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As I said before bowling at the Open is a rude awakening for most bowlers on their first trip. It is hard to explain the ball reactions but they are completely contrary to what you normally see on house conditions. About the only bowlers I see do well on their first trips are collegiate bowlers who have trained and bowled on many flat patterns.

My experience is (being a slower speed rev dominate bowler) is if you get to the outside of the lane your break point angles get all wrong. If you don't execute perfectly you will leave wash outs, splits, or runaway brooklyn shots all the time leaving impossible spares. You really can't get outside the tracer boards.

I have to have a ball that rolls and reads the mid lanes. If not it will react violently as it comes out of the oil. You can't get too far away from the pocket or it causes you to leave lots of ugly spares.

In the team event I have seen good teams with companion teams use surface to blow a hole in the pattern during practice from 7 to 9. But they still try to just stay clean the first game or so until the pattern starts to open up. They have equipment specially drilled for those conditions and have the ball speed, rotation, and repeat shots well enough to take advantage of that.

We have only one team, we are generally paired with house bowlers who will not work together to do this. We are all senior bowlers and we tend to have much less hand and ball speed. So we simply try to keep the ball around the pocket and make our spares.

Plastic spare balls are in my opinion a must have. Unless you are really good at flattening your wrist and throwing hard with strike ball it will simply still over react making spares very difficult.

With the longer pattern in D/S it seems like you have some hold area and you just have to develop a burn spot to come off of, read you transitions and move when required. Again spares are a premium.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by krava »

I have went twice 2005 and 2017 so I know what it is like. I had the measurements backwards on how far the lanes are oiled.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (back in 2017 and didn't see until like a week ago, didn't know it existed. I somehow (missed tiny bit probably) got a split in the middle of a bunch of strikes. If that was a strike instead of a spare, I would have had that eagle, even missing the 8 pin. which till this day I can't get over missing that thing. i deserved to miss it because i lined up wrong and didn't fix the way I was lining up until a few months ago).


When I put down the pattern at the bowling alley we have here, it plays really similar except the backends doesn't quite hook as much as it does over there. I am still trying to find a team to go on over there and not going to turn down another one. I wanted to go late in the tournament to get as much practice as i could on a flat pattern first. I am trying to figure out as much info on this as I can, if I get to go because i won't be going next year I know that.
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

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Question, did anyone scout around ahead of time to see what people were doing?
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by boomer »

So - I did the 10-board thing first ball. I wanted to see where the transition was and how hard it was. It was at the recommendation of my PSO who hadn't bowled there yet, but had watched.

Yes, several on our pair threw a ball up 5, which was their normal shot. It never moved.

The border was 7 or 8. If you could hit 7 repeatedly and accurately, you could use that, but it was still a HARD left turn and would go through the head. If you went right to 8, as I said, you left a nasty wash or worse, 2-8-10. so, yes, closer to the head pin. . . LOL . . . but nobody wants to be THAT close!

So - move left and try to swing it? None of US could do that. For me, even using a high grit ball or a polished ball (pearl, all I had) the ball would still jump too hard. Swinging it more and that transition killed it - I don't have enough hand to overcome that.

What I did was to use a lower grit (500) solid (old Marvel S) and use the area right at 15. The lower grit seemed to give me some grip earlier and let me start transitioning earlier so the "cliff" wasn't quite so bad. I still had a VERY tight window, and since there were several of us using the same transition area, I had to try to stay ahead of myself. . .

This was my third trip in recent days. Reno (2016 - almost got caught in the blizzard around Mammoth on the 395), Southpoint (2017) and Southpoint (2019) - yeah, wasn't going to fly to upstate NY. :P
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by fufu »

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Here is a recap of my experience at this years OC.
http://www.rotogrip.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.facebook.com/Round-Holes-No ... 602077080/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by krava »

I got invited to bowl 11-12 d was told an hour ago. I haven't accepted because it is so sudden. Anyone have any experience with hotels? south point wants $205 plus resort fee plus tax for Saturday and sunday is only $65 though. harra's is $125 plus $35 resort fee plus tax plus something else. Are there any regular hotels anywhere?
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Re: 2019 USBC OC - Observations From Those Who Have Bowled

Post by elgavachon »

krava wrote:I got invited to bowl 11-12 d was told an hour ago. I haven't accepted because it is so sudden. Anyone have any experience with hotels? south point wants $205 plus resort fee plus tax for Saturday and sunday is only $65 though. harra's is $125 plus $35 resort fee plus tax plus something else. Are there any regular hotels anywhere?
did you call them and tell them you are on a group (USBC) rate? I think I got Sat and Sunday for 111.87 x 2 would be $223.74 (but for both nights).
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