JBT LANE CONDITIONS

It is the general policy of the JBT to not pre-announce lane conditions for our tournaments; thus, our motto, "be prepared for any lane condition at any time".  There are both philosophical and necessary strategic reasons for this, which we will detail below.

This is a chart of the conditions used at JBT events this season:  (visit www.kegel.net for Kegel shots, and www.pba.com for PBA shot information)

*= different format from the standard 5-game qualifier

The JBT's policy of not pre-announcing lane conditions has both necessary and philosophical underlying reasons. First, the down and dirty necessities:

  If we were a scratch-only tournament club, we'd consider pre-announcing the conditions.  But we have a handicap division.   Let's say we did pre-announce our lane conditions.  I'm not saying anyone would-- but, someone could look at that schedule and bowl all the hard-shot tournaments, trying as hard as they could, and going -200 or so every time.  They've then established an unreasonably low average, without 'sandbagging' at all.  They then bowl the next easy shot tournament, go +600, and win easily.  This is obviously not something we want to have happen.  That would mess with individual tournaments, the points systems that are so important to our Tour, etc.  This is a major reason why we don't pre-announce conditions. 

  It should also be noted that laying out difficult patterns has had less of an adverse affect on the handicap division results than I had worried about before lane conditions became such an overwhelming issue a few years ago.  On an individual tournament basis, any lane pattern that is laid out will, by default, favor one style, one average level, one arm, or all of the above, over another- it's a fact of bowling life.  There is occasionally a mild panic at individual events, where people fret that because the shot is very hard, the low average bowlers will "automatically" win (since they generally throw the ball straight and are thus theoretically affected less by tough conditions).  I had worried about this as well.  But while there is some basis for this, the results have consistently shown that there's always been a bunch of higher-average bowlers at each event that don't get fazed by the challenge and bowl very well on the "tough" conditions (just scan through the results on the website for proof).   Moreover, I implore folks who may have felt this way to consider the reverse situation: on very easy lanes, it is extremely hard for the straight ball bowlers to keep up with the big hook bowlers who take advantage of the "easy" lanes.  However, there are always low-average bowlers at our "easy" events who do great as well;  it really is you bowling YOURSELF, after all, in a handicapped event.  Lastly, over the course of a season, our points lists have bared out for decades that the most dedicated, most improved bowlers end up reaping the most rewards at the end of the season, and that single-event aberrations such as bowlers on either extreme of the average spectrum being shut out, in truth or perception, get "ironed out" over the course of a full season.  Again, there's a hard truth about bowling, especially youth bowling: there is no such thing as a completely 'fair' handicap tournament, average and lane condition wise, and there never will be- some variable will favor one person over another.  BUT--- we feel a full season of our events irons out those one-day variables and provides the fairest competition out there anywhere.

  Philosophically, I also feel that it's the right thing to do.  One of our main goals at JBT is to prepare our bowlers as best as possible for the many different things they'll experience in the adult bowling world.  In adult bowling, you'll experience plenty of lane conditions, from house to sport, and you won't always know in advance what is being laid out.  Even worse is the people I'll jokingly call "condition junkies" that seem to be developing as a side-result of all the information about lane patterns swirling out there.  Anybody who's bowled a few times on the PBA patterns, for example, knows that just because you have a preconceived notion of how the Shark pattern, for example, should play, that might have nothing to do with how the lanes play that particular day.  Thus, announcing it in advance can adversely affect a) the player that expects a pattern to play a certain way, and b) the tournament and center staff, who then have to field questions all day as to why a pattern that's "supposed to play this way" isn't... ugh! The type of oil used, surface topography, lane machine used, humidity, temperature, who else is on your pair and where they are playing with what ball, etc. all can play a HUGE part in how a pattern plays.  Check out the results for our house patterns, especially, for that... "house" shots do NOT necessarily mean score-fests.  Thus, even if we HAD pre-announced these patterns, there still would have to have been a nearly start-from-scratch set of adjustments by the bowlers to adjust to what's out there. 

  This is, as usual with these complicated subjects, just the tip of the iceberg.  I'd love to discuss this fascinating issue more in depth with you, in person or over the computer.  Hopefully, though, this has given some insight as to why we do things the way we do regarding lane conditions at JBT. 

  Thanks for reading!

2010-11 patterns: