lets see this will be my 4th or 5th trip to the stadium now, and Ive always played the team event with a small swing (of course I never score well out there) typically playing 12-9 or so, but being as inconsistent as I am i leave a lot of washouts and splits making for a long day)  Anyway long story short, we have been putting the shot out at my home house, we use a different oil so I know the stadium will play a bit slicker, but not a lot, we have the same lane surface and same machine, just different oil.  anyway the 12-9 shot is there, like I figured it would be, last night tho I experimented with a pearl ball  up 7 to see what was there, I liked the reaction and carry I got,

 

Has anyone thats been there played this area or watched others play this area, I know the curretn AE leader was up 5 ive been told, but anyone here have any real experience out there.  My pearl cherry bomb looked really good out there, and after we had the lane pretty well chewed up I switched to a quantum helix and liked it just as much

 

Input?

I wholeheartedly agree, I am using ours as practice for hitting my mark and controling speed and my break point, understanding what each ball will do on this pattern (our shot) will allow me some level of confidence in my stuff, if the lane conditions are slicker then I see at home I will welcome that, ours is still slick but I could use the extra 2 feet of push to be honest, this is my 8-9th trip so the softer hand not grabbing it at the bottom is becoming old hat at this point, but I hate to practice and then be completely off base when I get there, let alone I dont want to lug 8-10 balls to reno

 

got this week and part of next week to throw on the pattern, plus we are shooting on some pba patterns this week as well, learning to stay within my game will be the biggest lesson

Some good suggestions and advice out there.  I put the shot down again on a different pair this time, and didn't have quite the "easiness" as I had the first time playing out.  It was still very playable, but it was tighter than the other pair I practiced on. 

 

The interesting part this time that was the same was playing in further, around 18 - 20 to about 12 at the breakpoint.  I had to get to that point, but had nothing as I started move in from my original 10 - 7.  It was washout and 2 - 10 city until I got to about 18 - 20 and then I got consistent reaction off the back of the pattern.  It was as if the track(anywhere from 12 to 16 at the arrows), was a "no-no" place to play.  I was using a 2.5, 4.5, Damage, and Ransom while practicing.  I did use my Alpha Max, but that gave me the worst reads no matter where I tried to throw it. 

 

So far, I am getting my best results from the 2.5, 4.5, and Damage.  They look like the ball to take so far.  I have a few others I am going to try next week.  We will see.  I don't go until June 20 and 21, so I have some time to play around with angles and lines before I go. 

I cant bring myself to play the twig, just not that good lol, gonna be throwing another 10-12 games tomorrow and some on thursday, later this week I am going to try and put a whole team on a pair and see what it breaks down like

 

thankful for the info guys, this helps not only me but a score of others out there.  Im trying to go in a bit more prepared then in years past, short of Billings and Vegas I've never shot good, hoping to right that ship this year
 

Visit the 123 or BJ tournaments before you bowl if you want a tune up.  I bowled the 123 and the nationals and the 123 is not the same but if you miss outside it will still hang and leave you something ugly.  

 

It's not practice in a sense because you paid $50 and you could win $$...oh and you keep score! 

 

If this helps, in singles, I threw my natural up 9 on the left side and I stuck on a light hit.   Keep in mind that since I am on the left virutally everytime I bowl it's on the fresh.  This year was no exception.  My minors squad did not have anyone on the pairs before I bowled on them.  On the singles squad, there was a lone lefty senior rolling a pearlized ball of some sort.

 

 

I just returned from bowling last weeked.  We had the "luck" of getting fresh oil for singles/doubles on the 7 am squad (or is that "luck" of getting the 7 am squad???)  From the beginning, I had in my mind that I was playing outside.  Started team event up 7-8 and had what appeared to be a reasonable shot... but had absolutely no miss room (either speed, revs, or boards on the lane).  I would throw a couple nice shots that struck, then throw another seemingly very good shot and it would absolutely sail.  Played out as far as 5 and in as deep at 12-13 with a little swing.  Thinking it was me, or the equipment, or whatever, I beat myself up playing that area for 8 games.  I don't think I threw more than a double the entire time.  The last game of singles, I decided to move inside.  Played 20 at the arrows out to the dark strip on 10.  Went from zero area to 5-6 boards area (which is typically more than I have on a house shot).  Outside of two real bad tugs, I didn't miss that game.  Shot 252...  which was about 75+ better than any previous game. 

 

Good luck!

 

S^2