Shark Pattern...

[Hammerhead1987]

The house I bowl at laid down the shark pattern for my lesson on Sunday. Did I do crappy. Put up 2 140's and then shot a 163. My coach said that I did a good job for my first time on that pattern. I would hit the pocket and leave a lot of 10 pins and missed all but 2 single pin spares. He let me play the pattern the way I thought it should be played and we will go over it next week. What are some tips to play on the shark pattern?

[BubbaRay]

The Shark Pattern usually forces player to play the deep inside line between the 3rd and 4th arrows out to about the 12th board. usually it eliminates playing outside the 2nd arrow. You can start deep inside and m,oove deeper as the night and pattern wears. Use a ball that will roll early and is a good heavy oil ball such as the BWB or the Raw Anger

[idlehourlegend]

The Shark Pattern usually forces player to play the deep inside line between the 3rd and 4th arrows out to about the 12th board. usually it eliminates playing outside the 2nd arrow. You can start deep inside and m,oove deeper as the night and pattern wears. Use a ball that will roll early and is a good heavy oil ball such as the BWB or the Raw Anger

Agreed on that one, definately deeper is better unless your a higher rev player and can create yourself a straighter down and in line, out there no one will be able to touch you unless they are also a higher rev player.

[bluerrpilot]

The Shark Pattern usually forces player to play the deep inside line between the 3rd and 4th arrows out to about the 12th board. usually it eliminates playing outside the 2nd arrow. You can start deep inside and m,oove deeper as the night and pattern wears. Use a ball that will roll early and is a good heavy oil ball such as the BWB or the Raw Anger

I would agree as well, BUT.....You really dont have a ball in your lineup thats very good for that pattern. You need something with plenty of surface and that responds to friction very quickly. Something with a strong cover and with the pin very high.

This is the reason for all the 10 pins. The shark pattern is very long. And since you have to play deep, you cannot create enough angle to carry the corner.

[Rowdy]

And now for the opposing point of view. Notice the phrase "usually eliminates playing outside the second arrow". Guess where I play the pattern from? I'm not a high rev player,so all that inside line stuff doesn't apply to me. Like you,my ball ain't got the gas to turn the corner. So if I don't want to shoot at the ten pin all night,(And who does?) I have to bring the ball in from the outside. I try to keep the ball around the seven board and match the speed to what the lane is giving for some hook. I don't bring the house down with my score,but I'm not killing my average either. I consider anything around 180 to 200 to be a moral victory for the night.

[Thepainscoming]

I am not a high-rev player, and i suck playing inside on that pattern. I bowled in a tourney with that down and averaged 190 first 4 playing slow like 12 mph angled in from like 8-10 and did amazing.

[Young300]

Key thing: Don't give the pocket away. Try to play as little swing as possible and keeping the ball straighter on the lane anywhere around 15 will do you wonders. If you can get that down, then you are going to want to use a ball that has a good amount of surface and enough angle on the backend to where you don't leave those 10 pins all night. You hear at a lot of the qualifying rounds for the pros that people mainly start around 10 with very aggressive bowling balls. That works well for them, because they all work together to break the pattern down accordingly. Playing down 10 will give them a "bumper" with enough friction so they can start to move deeper with the oil line. Since there are very few times when that is a possibility, then you are going to have to keep your ball closer to the pocket, thus being more accurate in the middle part of the lane.

[Hammerhead1987]

Thanks for the help guys. I will try all of these next time we practice on this pattern, find out which one works best for me.

[HCSBowler267643]

What to do: play very deep, with polished equipt
why? the shark forces you to play the really deep part of the lanes....(enough said):D
What not to do: Robert Smith at the CLR Windy City Classic
Why? You will be in traction for months

[Rowdy]

What to do: play very deep, with polished equipt
why? the shark forces you to play the really deep part of the lanes....(enough said):D
What not to do: Robert Smith at the CLR Windy City Classic
Why? You will be in traction for months

Who says???
No,it doesn't.
Worked,didn't it???
Not if you know what you're doing,it won't.

No guts.
No glory.
:)

[idlehourlegend]

Who says???
No,it doesn't.
Worked,didn't it???
Not if you know what you're doing,it won't.

No guts.
No glory.
:)

I agree with that much more than the previous post surprisingly.:D

[HCSBowler267643]

I was basically quoting Randy Peterson, you are correct, it did work and you wouldn't end up in traction if you are physically prepared to do that. I know I wouldn't be able to:D I only do it for trick shots(have not got a strike yet, Robert Smith is an excellent Bowler and he DEFFINETLY added some flare to the sport that day.

[agroves]

If I'm bowling on the Shark fresh, I start up 12 and try to shell down as the heads go. If there is significant carrydown, I move deeper. However, during our PBA X league last year, we ganged up around 9/10 and created a spectacular look.

You can break those patterns down however you want if you can get everybody in the same spot.

[Rowdy]

If I'm bowling on the Shark fresh, I start up 12 and try to shell down as the heads go. If there is significant carrydown, I move deeper. However, during our PBA X league last year, we ganged up around 9/10 and created a spectacular look.

You can break those patterns down however you want if you can get everybody in the same spot.

Now you guys see why we agonize over who to put on a team sometimes. In some cases,it ain't WHAT you shoot,it's WHERE you shoot it.

[agroves]

Now you guys see why we agonize over who to put on a team sometimes. In some cases,it ain't WHAT you shoot,it's WHERE you shoot it.

Exactly. The Viper and Cheetah are the only two that really force everyone into a specific area. I've never seen anybody score on those patterns playing "in". I've seen the remaining patterns breakdown all over the place, in/out and get completely messed up.

Our PBA X league last summer only had 10 or so good bowlers, the rest were there to learn. Some of the patterns got trashed and nobody could score. I think we had 40 people and the highest avg was 205 by a lefty former touring pro. I was 6th or 7th at 191.