2018 PBA Oil Patterns Part I
bowlingball.com 11/02/2017
Ladies and gentlemen of bowlingball.com, it is your favorite millennial staff writer, back today to bring you more news from the world of the great sport we all know and love, bowling. Now, a few weeks back, I had spoke about the PBA unveiling its newest animal pattern of the PBA, the Dragon, and basically modifying every other animal pattern. Today, we are going to get away from the animals and talk about the G.O.A.T.’s of our game. The Greatest of All Time to ever lace them up, put 2 fingers and a thumb in a ball, and knock 10 big bad pins over.
Firstly, the late and great Earl Anthony. Not only does he have a center named after him in California, but the PBA Earl Anthony pattern is one that requires you to be absolutely precise and accurate, just like he was. At 42 feet in length, this pattern has a 2.15:1 ratio and at 28.56 mL of oil, Earl’s pattern is most certainly covered in oil. We can consider this a long pattern with it’s length and volume. More than likely, you will be using a ball with surface and trying to keep your angles as tight as possible to begin. But as the pattern breaks down, you can move inside and begin to create some room for yourself and ball down as you go. That is from a one-handed bowlers perspective. For a two-handed bowler like myself, I will still want to use a ball with surface, not scuffed at 500 or 360 grit, but an asymmetrical ball at factory, start more inside than my traditional one-handed bowlers and bounce right on top of them.
The great Carmen Salvino, who I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting and bowling with a couple times, was one of the first bowlers to ever hit the PBA Tour way back in the day. His pattern is 44 feet in length and has 26.56 mL of oil. With a 2.32:1 ratio. This pattern will give you a little bit of extra room, but not by much due to the extra two feet in length of oil. I personally recommend for both one and two-handed bowlers that their strategies remain the same to begin, but this pattern will break down faster due to the amount of surface being used, and will force you inside quicker than anticipated.
The late Dick Weber was truly one of the most recognizable and famous iconic figures in the bowling industry, doing commercials and winning many tournaments. His pattern, at 45 feet in length, has 23.78 mL of oil and a 2.94:1 ratio. Strategically I would be going same game plan as the previous two patterns spoken of for the one-handed bowlers. Two-handed bowlers I would start with an upper mid-performance or mid-performance ball with some surface. Knowing the amount of oil on the lane and if our one-handed bowlers will use surface on their bowling balls like I know they will, you will want to be ahead of the curve and keep yourself in the game instead of swimming with the fishes.
Finally is the PBA CP3 pattern. Yes this pattern is named after the great NBA player Chris Paul, who has not only partnered to do events with the PBA for Celebrity Invitationals on SuperBowl Sunday, but more importantly raising money for the CP3 Foundation. His pattern is 42 feet in length with 24.49 mL of oil and a 10:1 ratio. You know what I like to call this pattern? The “score-fest ego builder pattern.” I don’t say it in a bad way. I say it in a positive way. Basically it’s a house shot. So…do what you do on a house shot, and if you can’t figure that out, then it’ll feel like having your ankles broken by CP3 himself when you're trying to guard him on defense. Best of luck!
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