Eliminating the "Luck" Factor
A Corner Pin's Game Of Luck - Part 1 "I just wasn't lucky today.
" "They got lucky on that one.
" "They are the luckiest bowler I have ever seen!" These statements and others like them are what I hear on a consistent basis while I am bowling my weekly leagues.
Human beings need justification for events.
When something happens that cannot be explained, an explanation is given whether it is correct or not.
Sometimes these explanations include vague ideas to give a name for the occurrence.
I tend to believe that people claim "luck" is involved when they cannot explain something that happens to another person.
This is true in many aspects of the world, but I am speaking mostly about the world of bowling and the "luck" factor.
Whenever someone leaves a corner pin or other single pin they blame bad luck.
If their opponent or even teammate scores higher or gets an unusual strike, they claim they just got lucky.
If you are an avid bowler, or even a recreational participant then you know exactly what I am talking about.
Fortunately there is not a cosmic occurrence such as luck that is to blame for the good and bad breaks someone may receive.
There is no karmic entity that wishes you to bowl good or bad.
Sorry to all of you who rub your teammate's bald head or wear the "lucky" socks, but this probably only has an effect on your mental game and not the lane play or pin action.
There is one simple explanation for everything that happens on a bowling lane.
Physics! Everything involves geometry, momentum, energy, friction and other components of physics.
The particular issue I wish to discuss today involves the pin action someone may receive.
Pin action is a combination of entry angle and transference of energy.
The most important factor I would like to cover is the angle of entry.
Angle Of Entry The strike angle is very important to consistently score high.
The ball must impact the pocket at the proper angle for consistent strikes.
A proper angle primarily assures that the pins knock each other down like dominoes.
This angle also promotes proper deflection off the 1 pin to allow the bowling ball to take out the 3, 5 and 9 pins (as long as the necessary velocity has been achieved, that is where transference of energy comes in).
This angle varies according to lane conditions, personal style and ball velocity; but it is an angle.
This is why coaches encourage a physical game that puts rotational spin on the ball, creating hook potential.
This hook in the back end enables the ball to hit the pin triangle at an angle.
As you can see in this diagram, if a bowler were to achieve this angle by bowling a straight game, he or she would have to line up two lanes away.
Conventional wisdom suggests using the second arrow strike method.
This technique involves following the second arrow track (10th board) down the lane to the back end, then hooking in 7 1/2 boards to the strike pocket.
A 1 o'clock to 10 o'clock release imparts enough hook potential under average lane conditions to realize this 7 1/2 board hook on a dry back end.
To use this method, the average athlete would lineup with their slide foot lined up on the 20th board.
Then at the release point they lay the ball down on the 14th board, and it crosses over the second arrow and begins to hook in the mid-lane where the lane has not been oiled, or has less oil.
The sideways rotation of the ball will cause it to hook towards the pins and roll into the 1, 3 pin pocket.
If all factors - physical game, lane conditions, ball speed and ball coverstock - are properly matched the results would be a strike and appear as below: Now this result does not always happen.
Just because you may think the ball connects with the pins in the perfect pocket spot, it may not have.
Sometimes the angle is off and the ball can be just an inch too far left or right, and when it hits the pocket it changes the trajectory of the pins and the result is a 10 pin.
Similar results are shown below: In this instance, the reaction of the ball was a little bit too weak and the ball connected into the pocket a fraction too much to the right.
You can see it connects to the right of the 1 pin and almost head on with the 3 pin.
When this happens the 3 pin or even the ball will connect with the 6 pin and you can witness the 6 pin lay down in the gutter (considered the "flat 10" result), or you can see it fly past the 10 pin, hit the wall and rebound back without knocking the pin down (considered the "wrap 10" result).
There are many combination of this phenomenon that people consider to be "unlucky" and all of them are explained by an issue with one of the factors of bowling.
Possibly the lane conditions are too "slick" and there is too much oil on the lane for the bowling ball to react enough, or vice versa.
Perhaps the velocity of the ball was too slow and the ball did not impart enough energy to direct the pins in the correct way to knock another one down.
This concludes part 1, in part 2 I will go into detail about the other "single pin" phenomenons!
" "They got lucky on that one.
" "They are the luckiest bowler I have ever seen!" These statements and others like them are what I hear on a consistent basis while I am bowling my weekly leagues.
Human beings need justification for events.
When something happens that cannot be explained, an explanation is given whether it is correct or not.
Sometimes these explanations include vague ideas to give a name for the occurrence.
I tend to believe that people claim "luck" is involved when they cannot explain something that happens to another person.
This is true in many aspects of the world, but I am speaking mostly about the world of bowling and the "luck" factor.
Whenever someone leaves a corner pin or other single pin they blame bad luck.
If their opponent or even teammate scores higher or gets an unusual strike, they claim they just got lucky.
If you are an avid bowler, or even a recreational participant then you know exactly what I am talking about.
Fortunately there is not a cosmic occurrence such as luck that is to blame for the good and bad breaks someone may receive.
There is no karmic entity that wishes you to bowl good or bad.
Sorry to all of you who rub your teammate's bald head or wear the "lucky" socks, but this probably only has an effect on your mental game and not the lane play or pin action.
There is one simple explanation for everything that happens on a bowling lane.
Physics! Everything involves geometry, momentum, energy, friction and other components of physics.
The particular issue I wish to discuss today involves the pin action someone may receive.
Pin action is a combination of entry angle and transference of energy.
The most important factor I would like to cover is the angle of entry.
Angle Of Entry The strike angle is very important to consistently score high.
The ball must impact the pocket at the proper angle for consistent strikes.
A proper angle primarily assures that the pins knock each other down like dominoes.
This angle also promotes proper deflection off the 1 pin to allow the bowling ball to take out the 3, 5 and 9 pins (as long as the necessary velocity has been achieved, that is where transference of energy comes in).
This angle varies according to lane conditions, personal style and ball velocity; but it is an angle.
This is why coaches encourage a physical game that puts rotational spin on the ball, creating hook potential.
This hook in the back end enables the ball to hit the pin triangle at an angle.
As you can see in this diagram, if a bowler were to achieve this angle by bowling a straight game, he or she would have to line up two lanes away.
Conventional wisdom suggests using the second arrow strike method.
This technique involves following the second arrow track (10th board) down the lane to the back end, then hooking in 7 1/2 boards to the strike pocket.
A 1 o'clock to 10 o'clock release imparts enough hook potential under average lane conditions to realize this 7 1/2 board hook on a dry back end.
To use this method, the average athlete would lineup with their slide foot lined up on the 20th board.
Then at the release point they lay the ball down on the 14th board, and it crosses over the second arrow and begins to hook in the mid-lane where the lane has not been oiled, or has less oil.
The sideways rotation of the ball will cause it to hook towards the pins and roll into the 1, 3 pin pocket.
If all factors - physical game, lane conditions, ball speed and ball coverstock - are properly matched the results would be a strike and appear as below: Now this result does not always happen.
Just because you may think the ball connects with the pins in the perfect pocket spot, it may not have.
Sometimes the angle is off and the ball can be just an inch too far left or right, and when it hits the pocket it changes the trajectory of the pins and the result is a 10 pin.
Similar results are shown below: In this instance, the reaction of the ball was a little bit too weak and the ball connected into the pocket a fraction too much to the right.
You can see it connects to the right of the 1 pin and almost head on with the 3 pin.
When this happens the 3 pin or even the ball will connect with the 6 pin and you can witness the 6 pin lay down in the gutter (considered the "flat 10" result), or you can see it fly past the 10 pin, hit the wall and rebound back without knocking the pin down (considered the "wrap 10" result).
There are many combination of this phenomenon that people consider to be "unlucky" and all of them are explained by an issue with one of the factors of bowling.
Possibly the lane conditions are too "slick" and there is too much oil on the lane for the bowling ball to react enough, or vice versa.
Perhaps the velocity of the ball was too slow and the ball did not impart enough energy to direct the pins in the correct way to knock another one down.
This concludes part 1, in part 2 I will go into detail about the other "single pin" phenomenons!
Source...