USBC leagues and house patterns

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mechanic78AF
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USBC leagues and house patterns

Post by mechanic78AF »

Im a mechanic at our bowling facilty that also oil the lanes. Lately one of our league bowlers has been telling me that they voted on changing our house pattern from Mainstreet V2 to Stonestreet. My response was Im sorry, I wasnt aware of this. Only thing Im aware of is Stonestreet is the pattern that was voted on and what I put down just during the leagues not as a everyday house pattern. I understand Stonestreet is a different type of a house pattern that can be used however as of now our house pattern is Mainstreet v2 except during leagues. I have breifly read through the USBC league 2022 rule book but nothing mentions about my situation under chpt 5 lane conditions except they determine one lane condition. To me this indicates one lane condition during league play. Thoughts on this subject? Am i missing something. Im only 3 years into the bowling world

I will be talking to our league officers monday to clear this up.
Glenn
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Re: USBC leagues and house patterns

Post by Glenn »

Hi, Mechanic,
I am just going to offer an opinion and observation.
First off, the league bowler is not your boss, and doesn't dictate how management runs the center operation.
This issue seems to have two separate components that may not directly relate.
You don't say why this league chose one oil pattern over the other. Stone Street is a little longer with a little less oil than Main Street and buff lengths are different - how much of a difference does that make? Main Street seems to be in wide use for THS in the bowling industry for the social bowler (IDK), and Stone Street fits into the USBC's Red pattern category.
If a league selects a particular oil pattern (and only one) for a given league, certifies this standard oil pattern as such with the USBC, and the center agrees to apply that pattern for that particular league, then life is good for that league and what they want to accomplish.
I don't see the relevance to what the center chooses to lay down as the house pattern for the general bowling population. It would appear that the league wants to dictate that their preferred oil pattern should be the "standard" for all open/league bowling in that center. What if other leagues want something else?
The house pattern is simply that pattern laid down by the center that promotes high scores and averages (greater oil in the middle and lighter oil outside). I assume the center makes its selection for house pattern based on a number of factors related to cost, protecting the lane surfaces (syn, wood, or hybrid), and making the bowlers "look good" (LOL).
Good luck!
Bowling Is More Art Than Science
"Glenn is not an expert..."
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MegaMav
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Re: USBC leagues and house patterns

Post by MegaMav »

I would take this up with the bowling center manager.
I'd think he/she would have to approve this.
TomaHawk
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Re: USBC leagues and house patterns

Post by TomaHawk »

It seems like the center you work at utilizes various lane conditions for different time slots. Every house around here does the same thing, they use one pattern for open bowling and another type of pattern for league play. There appears to be nothing unusual about the situation you are describing.

USBC should not have any issues with your conditioning procedure.
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ICURNVS
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Re: USBC leagues and house patterns

Post by ICURNVS »

you cater to your leagues? wow.. thats refreshing...

Not around here, you get whatever they put out.. period...

and oil for open play? wow... again.. here you get left over from what ever they oiled for leagues.
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Glenn
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Re: USBC leagues and house patterns

Post by Glenn »

Hey, ICU....,
I apologize up front for the long-winded response.
Sounds like your bowling environment is a lot like mine!
We have a "don't ask, because I won't tell you" policy on "house" oil patterns around here, too.
Everybody just seems to roll over and accept it.
All of the centers in a 30-mile radius operate the same way.
Going out on a limb, I believe that centers in smaller population areas (<100K ?) tend to be "secretive" about the nature of their "house" oil pattern.
I don't experience the phenomenon when I travel to larger metro-areas and big cities (more competition for customers?).

My closest center usually reserves lanes 1 - 14 for open/social bowling, and they are oiled periodically.
Lanes 15 - 36 are for league bowling, and are oiled with the "house" pattern before each league.
For the daytime leagues that are usually more senior bowlers, the lanes are oiled with an older machine (maintenance?).
The evening leagues that are younger, higher rev/speed bowlers have the lanes oiled with a new machine.
It appears the oil pattern for day leagues is different than the one for night leagues.
All tournaments are played on the "house" pattern, and out-of-town players recognize it at "high friction".

After many confrontations with the mechanic, I conclude that the oil pattern for the day leagues is 41-42 ft, 19mL total oil, and buff length of 5 ft.
The night mechanics is virtually "invisible".

I always thought the better center strategy would be to lay down 2 or 3 different patterns during the week.
Maybe a flatter social play pattern of around 15 mL buffed out to about 30 ft where the house-ball bowlers would be better able to enjoy the game (score better because they could convert their spares?), be return customers, and not be frustrated by "ball calls".
Leagues could probably benefit from bowling on a variety of patterns depending on skill level with ratios less than 10:1 to allow bowlers to improve their skills. (However, these lanes are older and the repetitive pattern have been used so long (burned in), I doubt that other patterns could be put down successfully.)
Tournaments should never be bowled on high-ratio patterns (ours are in the 12:1 range), and the pattern should be announced/displayed - IMHO.

Whew! It's time for my nap. LOL!
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