🔴 How to Read a Bowling Lane Oil Pattern Graph
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• Shannon O'Keefe is a two-time Professional Women's Bowling Association (PWBA) Player of the Year & a five-time Collegiate Coach of the Year at McKendree University. She is also a member of the Roto Grip pro staff.
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• In this learn to bowl video, Coach Shannon shows you what to look for on a bowling lane oil graph.
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Thank you for the info!!!
It was very helpful!!!
Good info.
Have a question…is the usage of all types wristers (with metal inserts) being stopped? Thank You.
Only on the PBA National Tour
Good info. Didn’t know what reverse oil meant.
Just in case this helps typically forward oil shows you the breakpoints/how to attack the lanes and reverse (as she said) shows you much long the pattern should hold. 65/35 ratio forward to reverse is typical breakdown. 50/50 would hold up a long time.
Nice video ☆☆☆☆☆
Very good. I always enjoy your programs. Question. Could you also explain how the bowling ball will react with the different patterns using the paper charts shown in this program? I am relatively new to this challenging sport having started 4 years ago. Thanks again.
Also if possible more info on what kind of stuff to use on the volume oil total.
It depends on the lane surface and lane topography, it’s not universal
Thanks for the questions Del! Will we be answering some of those equipment and volume questions in some future videos.
Thank you Shannon for the information, you always help me understand different things with becoming a better bowler. Could you do a ball drilling video. It seems that every time I get a ball drilled they act completely different from each other. I have the exact same balls and it’s like they are opposite of each other. I can’t find a good video explaining this…. Help!!
Can you give some more guidance on ball selection ideas based on the total volume number.
Very generally speaking, lighter volumes of oil may required some weaker equipment with the highest volumes of oil usually requiring stronger equipment. Lots of variable involved in this though including the individual bowler, lane surface, type of oil being used and even topography. Even with ball selection and ball surface selection, it can vary by the bowlers rev rate and ball roll as well as how that individual bowler like to see the lane.
Thanks Shannon never been good at reading these I usually just go off my ball motion in practice but this was great information
Does any of this matter if you have an arsenal full of Purple Hammers? lol
Joking aside, this was nice. Would be better if Shan talked a little more about volume tho. Even if a pattern is 1:1 but has low volume, chances are good you can get an aggressive ball with a lot of surface and carve a line at the gutter. Then you can play the gutter…even patterns that are upwards of 45′.
How does the mL of oil tell me what cover/core to use unless I have a point of reference? What’s a “lot” and what’s a “little”?
And, what does the oil ratio mean? 1 part oil to…? 1:1 is hard? Why?
less volume is going to likely require a weaker ball. More volume, stronger ball. BUT, 25ml applied to a 35 foot pattern may require a different ball compared to 25ml applied to a 45 foot pattern.
1:1 meaning ratio. a house pattern being 10 parts inside to 1 part outside. Allowing ample miss room both inside and outside. a 1.57:1 pattern is going to be fairly flat, leaving you with less mis room.
Another question please since we are talking about oil. Since the ball absorbs oil, how often should a ball be deoiled? I have been bowling for 4 years and never had this done. Didn’t know. How will this impact the accuracy?
I do it every 25-30 games
Any pro shop can do it for you – they usually call it detoxing (because oil is toxic, I guess). You can also do it at home with a bucket of warm water and a small amount of dish soap. Just make sure to keep the holes dry.
Thanks for the awesome video! Just wondering for the total oil volume, at what volumes would you consider using a heavy oil/strong ball, mid performance ball, etc
That’s a bit tough to answer specifically as it could depend on lots of variables including, type of oil, type of lane surface, as well as the individual bowlers type of ball roll and rev rate. It may sound almost backwards compared to years ago but sometimes bowlers will use strong balls on shorter patterns to create a ball motion that won’t hook as much off of the end of the pattern to help control the back end motion. Don’t be afraid to experiment and have an open mind to help find out what tends to work best for you. Thanks for watching and thanks for the question!
@InsideBowling i would not have thought of or considered the type of oil as a factor. i have considered other peoples ball roll and rev rate. i know the difference in play between wood and synthetic but i don’t really understand the differences between the different types of synthetic lanes.
Like others have commented, please expand on volume and length of pattern by giving examples of how varying styles might attack a short/medium/long oil pattern with varying degrees of volume.
Thanks for watching and thanks for your feedback. We will incorporate those topics in some of our future videos!
In my day didnt have patterns you adjusted to oil conition. Thats when bowling was bowling. Now bowlers want big scores if younput tough condition out no one wants to bowl. I was averaging in 190s in high school in early 60s using green manhattan ball very hard surface ball. You shot a fewc600s doing great in the day. Gamecgot easier as new balls came out softer shell then putting oil patterns out ruined the game by me. I guit bowling 20 yrs ended up buying a ball very little practice one night a week hit 215 average give me a break i guit after that.
Look way better with a Roto Grip tee on lol 😆. Thanks for explaining the graph it was very helpful. I also use the rule of 31 to determine my starting point. It’s the transition on the 1 to 1 that gets me lost any tips on that?
1 to 1 patterns can be tricky on the fresh as well as during and after transition lol. What to do during transition can really depend on the bowlers, how they are playing the lanes and what types of equipment they’re using, as well as the lane surface and the oil being used. Since there can be so many variables, it’s hard to give you a definitive answer. I can say that keeping notes of what the lanes did during transition at certain centers as well as what you did that may have worked or not worked, can be very helpful as it can be hard to remember all the details. What you learn will likely help you in that same scenario in the future.
That was very informative thank you what is the typical house pattern how many feet? I’ve noticed you have not responded to any of the questions on here.
Typical house lengths and volume can vary, but many house shot are in the 40-43 ft range. Thanks for the question and thanks for watching!!
Question. What’s the range of oil volume that can be applied to a lane surface? How much is considered as heavy oil and how much is considered as light oil?
Generally speaking, 26mls of oil or less would be considered light volume, 26-29mls would be considered medium and over 30mls would be considered a heavy volume. Keep in mind that the same volume may play quite differently based on the type of oil being used as well as the lane surface that oil is put on. Thanks for watching and thanks for the question, we appreciate it!!
Could someone explain how to use breakpoint ? I understand you take the oil pattern length (say 38) – 31 = 7.
So the ball should be on board 7 when the ball transitions to the pocket ? Is that right ? Thanks !
Thanks for the question Steve. Basically the breakpoint is the furthest point the to right (for a right hander) that the ball gets to on the lane before the change of direction to the left. The rule of 31 is a general guideline that can help to get the ball in the right area of the lane to be able to hit the pocket more consistently. It can be good to think of the breakpoint as a few board area rather than having to be on a certain board. Many times on flatter oil patterns when using the rule of 31, you may find that you have a bit more room (couple of boards) to miss right of what the rule of 31 told you but you may not have any room to miss left of that. Hope this helps and thanks again for the question and for watching our videos!!
Thanks for the tips. I shot 700
That’s awesome, congrats on the 700!! Thanks for watching and keep up the good bowling!!
Hi Shannon so is 25ml o a lot of oil on a lane? I have heard the on a pba some tournaments 32 ml of oil I have been told that’s a lot of oil.