a couple of thoughts on pattern bowling, and only bowling if you think the pattern fits you...
first of all, let's think about "modified house pattern"... Forest Hill's THS plays entirely too friendly on the left to run a tournament on it, unless you don't want a 2nd anniversary tournament... so, a MODIFIED shot is needed... you look at all the kegel patterns, and they are all symmetrical... this is fine if you're only going to have 10 games / bed, but after an hour the shot tilts to favoring lefties again...
I ran tournaments for 15 years and was in charge of the shot for FairLanes in Houston, and Annandale and Alexandria in fairfax county VA in the late 70's and early 80's... I learned lane maintenance from hall of famers and PBA lanemen... hell, I even worked on a resurfacing crew for a summer... (rotten job, but you learn things ;-))
you CANNOT put out a symetrical shot and have a fair run for the win, unless it's a brickyard, equally tough on both sides, and usually that favors righties near the end of the day...
the best way to put a MILDLY scorable shot is to have the left hook more than the right, and after an hour or 2, both sides will hook equally... there is no symetrical pattern that gives a fair shake for the duration of the day... some are more exploitable than others, but none stay equal and fair...
as for only showing up when you know what's there and only if that is in your wheel house, you will never become a truly good player with that mentality..
