This is long and pretty dense, but I REALLY think I'm onto something here.
There's a kid in town that throws the ball 20 mph and has an 80 degree angle of rotation, and his dad just doesn't understand why his ball doesn't make the hockey stick move on the backend that other kids throwing the same ball get. He's trying to understand everything, but he's got a lot of misconceptions that are hurting him. For example, if a ball doesn't have enough backend, he's been trying to make the surface more aggressive to make the ball hook more, so if it's too smooth at 3000, he's been taking balls to 1000, thinking that will make them stronger on the backend. It's a long story to explain the whole situation, but last year the kid threw the ball 14 mph, and in a year he's gone up to 20. Last year his problem was getting a ball down the lane, this year he can't get anything to hook. He's recently tried to start understanding the dual angle, and is still holding onto the idea that there's a magic ball and drilling that will make it do the same thing that he sees it doing for other kids.
I've tried explaining that his kid's speed is too high and his angle of rotation is too steep to get really any ball to do much (his rev rate is only in the 325-350 range also). Speed wasn't getting me too far, so I went with trying to explain it from an angle point of view. I was telling him that for the ball to actually get to a point where it rolls in the direction he's rotating it, which would be nearly parallel to the foul line, it takes a lot longer for the ball to turn that direction than it does for other people who maybe have a 45 degree angle of rotation, regardless of considering speed. People with a 45 degree angle of rotation are going to get a lot earlier reaction than people with an 80 degree is basically what I was trying to tell him, and between that and his speed, a hockey stick reaction just isn't going to happen period.
So why not adjust? Well he says they've tried but his timing and everything else gets off . . and with tournaments and things they don't want to mess him up, so maybe when summer comes around I can work with them, but for right now he's all about layouts and balls and surfaces. Anyway, I was thinking about it more last night, and something just hit me. Everyone has a normal angle of rotation, but they also have a preferred area of the lane they play, whether it be 2nd arrow, 3rd arrow, etc. What angle is that? And could that angle be added to their angle of rotation and factored into their dual angle layout? Ball, speed, revs, etc., all of that is irrelevant for the time being. For this, it doesn't matter if you're using a Vibe or a Sync, what is a layout you normally go with for your A game on a house shot?
The mean or middle of the recommended dual angle range is 95 (halfway between a min of 30 and max of 160). The further right you are on a house shot with anything, the less aggressive the drill is most likely going to be, the deeper you are, the more aggressive, correct? What dual angle sum do most people hover around for playing their A game? I called several people's layouts to mind, and I came up with an average of 90-100 (mine specifically being a Brutal Nightmare that's 60x5x40 for a dual angle sum of 100, 5 above the mean). So I started thinking. My angle of rotation is 45 degrees, and I estimated that my favorite line to play was a 20ish-7ish line, or a Release Angle of about 45 degrees, for a total of 90, so my ball has a 90 degree angle to overcome to travel in the direction I'm rotating it. If I were to play a deeper angle, such as 50 or 55, I would need something drilled more aggressive, regardless of the ball, correct? Even if I had to ball up to an Endless Nightmare or something, I'd still have to drill it more aggressive no matter what just because of the angle I'm playing.
So again I wondered if a bigger angle of rotation plus Release Angle would correlate to a lower dual angle sum, and surprisingly I think it does. My favorite angle of rotation plus Release Angle is 90, and my dual angle sum for the ball I use is 100. The mean of the dual angle sum is 95, so mathematically it works out. Say I increased my Release Angle to 55 and added that to my angle of rotation to get 100, the ball would have to be more aggressively drilled to get back from that angle. 100 is 5 more than the mean of 95, so with that angle being larger, I'd want to go with a smaller dual angle sum. (Yes that's confusing, the next paragraph should clear it up)
For my correlation here, this is the critical calculation, for every degree your angle of rotation and Release Angle is over the mean of the 95 degree dual angle, you would subtract that number of degrees from 95 to get your ideal dual angle sum for playing that angle. So if my angle of rotation is 45 and my Release Angle is 55, that's a total of 100, which is 5 more than the dual angle mean of 95, so I would SUBTRACT 5 from 95 to get an ideal dual angle sum of 90.
Practically applying that, if my dual angle sum is 100 (60x40) for my Brutal Nightmare, and I want to have something to play a 55 degree Release Angle with, giving me an ideal dual angle sum of 90, does that sound reasonable? Whatever ratio I decided to go with, whether I would go 60x30, or 50x40, is that where I would end up anyway? Most likely yes, I'd be extremely close. Let's apply this elsewhere.
If I were to play a 20 degree Release Angle at this same house with ANY BALL, I'd definitely want it drilled weaker to go longer no matter if I drilled a Vibe or a Sync (ball choice is obviously dependent on your speed and revs). I personally would have to use a Vibe, so how would I drill it? If I add 20 (my intended Release Angle)to 45 (my normal angle of rotation), I arrive at 65, which is 30 less than the dual angle range mean of 95, so I would ADD that to 95 to give me an estimated ideal dual angle sum of 125. If I were to drill a Vibe to play what would amount to 12-8 or something at this house, if I didn't consider those angles or do that calculation, if I was just deciding what layout to go with to play that area, what layout would I have gone with? Definitely something over 70 for the drilling angle, and most likely something over 40 for the val angle. So would an ideal sum of 125 be reasonable? Yes actually, 85x40, or 80x45 would be right on top of how I would want to drill it to begin with. Your pin length and angle ratio would still obviously be another consideration, but that's apart from this, that just depends on what kind of shape you want.
So say I'm playing a sport pattern like Boardwalk, where it's pretty straight up on the fresh, and I'm using that example because this kid had a tournament and a league on the shot last week. He was playing a small swing from 5-3, which amounts to maybe 10 degrees. With an angle of rotation of 80, his total angle is 90, giving him an ideal dual angle sum of 100. The ball he was using was a Mutant Cell drilled 60x55 for a sum of 115, and it was on the weaker side for him, but he didn't have anything else that worked any better. If that same ball was drilled 55x45 or 60x40, would it have acted better? I think I'd have to say yes.
Now say I were to play the same angle on the same shot. I'd definitely have to ball down, and even then I'd still go with a weaker layout even if I bumped my speed up and cut my revs down, to make it a more comfortable adjustment or something that wasn't extreme. Say I used a Hyroad. (My speed is about 17 and rev rate is 400-425 normally, fyi). If I played that same 10 degree angle with my 45 degree angle of rotation for a 55 degree total, that would figure to a 135 degree ideal dual angle sum. High, yes, but it allows me to play closer to my A physical game from an uncomfortable Release Angle, but of course that's where Boardwalk likes to play on the fresh. So 80x55? Or even go the other way for 60x70. Either of those sounds exactly like what I'd want to do depending on what reaction shape I was going for.
Well what if I decide I don't want to play a 10 degree Release Angle and I want to increase my angle of rotation to help get the ball down the lane further? Maybe up it to 55 degree angle of rotation at a 20 degree Release Angle on that pattern. Total of 75, gives me a ideal dual angle sum of 115 (95-75=20, 95+20=115). Still drilling a Hyroad, how would I drill it to play 10-6 with a 55 degree angle of rotation on Boardwalk? Something like 65x45, 60x50. Would an angle sum of 115 be reasonable or maybe even better? 65x50? 80x35? 45x70 if we're getting crazy? Sure, that actually sounds pretty good.
Obviously ball choice will still be separate, pin length will still be a decision, and the angle ratio will still be up to whatever shape you want, but would this calcuation be honestly applicable to you? It definitely is for me, and I can think of some other people it would be for too, but that doesn't mean it's for everybody. What would the issues be with trying to universally apply that? Yes I realize that dual angle sum can and has been dependent on factoring in ball speed, rev rate, tilt, etc, but honestly I base ball choice more than angle sum on all that info. This kid has an 80 degree angle of rotation and throws it 20 mph, I'm not going to drill him a Vibe at 40x20 and think it's actually going to work. He's going to get Sync's, Cold Blood's, etc, not drilled quite that nuts, but still aggressive. So if his preferred line on a house shot is 25 degrees, and he keeps the 80 degree angle of rotation, for a total of 105, which would be a calculated ideal dual angle sum of 85, would that put me in a place I want to be? 55x30? 60x25? 45x40? Yeah, that's exactly what I'd do. He's getting a Byte next week and wants a house shot killer, and 60x3.5x25 is actually the layout we're going to use. He also likes playing a little 12-7 swing on the house shot which is about 25 degrees.
I swear this calculation works out in every situation I've come up with. Yeah obviously there's limitations with extremes if people can't adjust their speed and rev rate at all, but the calcuation would still apply and get them as close as they're gonna get. Am I right or just crazy? Or lol is this all just confusing as hell? I'm not even sure how to write the formula . .
A+B=C where A is the Release Angle, and B is your angle of rotation. You would then calculate the difference of this number from 95, whether plus or minus. If C is LESS than 95, you ADD the difference to 95 to get your ideal dual angle sum, and if C is MORE than 95, you SUBTRACT the difference. For example, 35+45=80. 80 is 15 LESS than 95, so you ADD 15 and 95 to get 110. Another example, 35+75=110. 110 is 15 MORE than 95 so you SUBTRACT 15 from 95 to get an ideal dual angle sum of 80. I don't know how to write the second half of that formula . . maybe 95+D=E, where D represents the difference between 95 and C which is always a positive number, E being the ideal dual angle sum. Help . . brain is on tilt.
