Often, bowlers struggle to score in situations where they are up against “heavy oil,” but what does this designation actually mean? You may know the basics of bowling lane oil patterns and still not be exactly sure what qualifies as “heavy.”
And as it turns out, when we break this phrase down we discover that in most cases, your average league bowler isn’t usually coming into contact with an abnormally heavy application of oil; instead they are experiencing other conditions that make it feel “heavy” to them. So what does this all mean?
“Heavy oil” certainly is something that exists; however, it designates a portion of the lane that is basically impenetrable; that is, your ball just won’t turn no matter how many revs you throw.
This is something you might encounter in tournament play, but usually not on your usual house or league pattern at the local alley.
Is it Truly Heavy Oil?
Instead, many bowlers might think they are coming up against a heavier volume of oil when in reality they are just finding oil in places where they aren’t used to encountering it.
This might be that the oil pattern has more length than what they are accustomed to, so they are seeing their ball react later. It might be that there’s more oil applied on the outer boards so missing outside penalizes them more. Or it might be oil carrydown on the medium line (source)
In order to better understand oil and lane conditions, it’s a useful exercise to review the PBA oil patterns in order to see how they differ and the different lane conditions that they represent, both heavy and light.
Of course, you won’t need to adjust your game so significantly on a regular basis unless you’re joining the tour yourself, but it’s still educational: https://www.pba.com/OilPatterns/
Adjustments to Make for Heavy Oil
If you do find the need to make adjustments due to heavy oil or related conditions that are making it harder to find the pocket, good things to do include moving a few boards over, altering your target, or adjusting your ball speed.
All of these help you find a more appropriate line to the pocket. You can also check to make sure your bowling ball corresponds well to the lane conditions you are typically facing.
So next time you’re worried about hitting your target in “heavy oil,” make sure that you aren’t instead just coming up against a regular volume of oil in a challenging pattern for your shot.
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