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Bitten By The Scorpion

Staff photo by DAVE CASEY

John May of Stanley, N.C., a 23-time PBA champion, breathes into the finger holes of his ball for a better grip during Friday’s Pro-Amateur tournament at Spring Hill Lanes.

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: July 20, 2008

SPRING HILL - As I plugged away, posting strike after strike en route to a lofty first-game total of 241, a thought occurred to me: why is this so easy?

I was taking part in the pro-am tournament at Spring Hill Lanes Friday night, a precursor to the 20th annual Spring Hill Open, a PBA South Region event this weekend at the local bowling center off U.S Highway 19.

This tournament took place on the same PBA oil pattern - in this case, the scorpion - the pros would tackle during the next two days.

Of course, there was one great equalizer. The tournament was 9-pin no-tap, meaning nine pins knocked down on the first ball counted as a strike.

And yes, I benefited greatly from this rule during my 241.

But it wasn't that easy, and I came to realize that quickly when I shot 154 and 184 the next two games, putting together a 579 series well below my league average of 202.

So I learned what I already knew, that I'm no professional. What people may not understand is what separates the pros from the average Joes.

It's the ability to handle the shot - aka the oil pattern.

All about the oil

To Ken Simard, a two-time South Region Player of the Year now ranked 38th in his second year on the national tour, it comes down to education, or lack thereof.

"A lot of these bowlers, they throw it too fast for their rev (ball revolutions) rate or two slow for their rev rate," Simard said. "So when they get on a breakdown, they don't know what to do. They're not taught that."

In other words, house (or amateur) bowlers don't know how to adjust to a PBA oil pattern because they never see anything like it during league play.

What's the difference between what a bowler might see somewhere such as Spring Hill Lanes or Mariner Lanes on a given day, versus what the pros must compete on? It comes down to the pattern in which the oil is placed on the lane.

The more oil, the less the ball hooks, but the location of that oil and the length of the oil on the lane all effect how the ball will roll and work in tandem with how the bowler throws the ball.

The degree of difficulty varies from bowling center to bowling center, and also depends on the style and capabilities of the individual bowler, but most bowling centers have neither the equipment nor the desire to put out a legitimate PBA shot consistently.

A "house shot" is easier to master and accounts for higher scores and averages, just as a local golf course would allow for better scores than say, Pebble Beach.

When a house bowler decides to enter an event or a league that features a PBA-style pattern, it can often result in a humbling experience. Or be extremely rewarding if that bowler succeeds.

"It's a very difficult shot," said Clint Bullock, a local bowler who participated in the pro-am. "It's not a shot us house bowlers ever see.

"But it's challenging. I enjoyed it. We can always bowl on a house shot, but this is something different."

"We're used to a house shot," said April Trezise, a recent Nature Coast Technical graduate who anchored the girls bowling team the past two seasons. "To have something different, everyone thinks it's a little bit harder but you've just got to be able to adjust.

"I like bowling on different patterns. It makes you a better bowler and gives you more experience."

Truthfully, these events are far too small a sample size to determine how a house bowler would handle the rigors of the PBA Tour.

A house bowler doesn't generally have enough experience dealing with the conditions or the necessary equipment, and also different patterns simply suit different bowlers.

Fortunately I had interviewed Mariner Lanes pro shop owner Jason Mahr, the defending Spring Hill Open champion, for a story about the tournament and he gave me an idea of what to expect from the scorpion.

I came in knowing I had to put the ball in the middle of the lanes, as the heavy oil on the outside would not allow the ball to hook.

That's easier said than done as my second and third game scores would indicate.

Still, I was happy that I found something that worked, even if I didn't execute it nearly well enough. Like many people I spoke with, it was fun to test myself on the same conditions the best bowlers in the world see.

Now starts the process of pretending the last two games never happened ...

Sports writer Chris Bernhardt Jr. can be reached at (352) 544-5288 or cbernhardt@hernandotoday.com.

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