Southern Lanes
Ft Walton Beach
This week we used pattern E3. The surface was old Wood, with the heads resurfaced a year ago and the rest of the lane re-coated. Pattern E measures 35 feet in length and is the shortest of the five patterns. Typically used on lane surfaces that are well worn, it tries to maximize the area on the lane with less wear, which is usually extremely close to the gutter. Because of this, players tend to migrate toward those spots to take advantage of the more pristine surface areas.Note: All of the PBA Patterns can be seen and downloaded at pba.com under the heading "Lane Conditions".
A squad was the stronger of the 2 squads and got more players into the finals. The biggest difference that the graphs indicate is, the players on A squad were a little more consistent in the early part of the lane giving them a more consistent breakdown. This makes it easier to guess a few frames ahead.
Getting the ball to the gutter (outside 5) is the key to scoring on this pattern. Both right handers and left handers that made it to Sunday were successful in doing this. Norm Titus is very good at attacking the gutter from all angles and was able to do it better than anybody in this tournament.
The right handers were a little straight early but were swinging it 10 to 15 boards by the end of the block. The left handers were able to play it straight most of the day.
Norman Simard
Laneman for the Southern Region
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A Squad after qualifying
B Squad after qualifying
Pattern 3 on old wood