Visualizing Oil Patterns in 3D – Part 3

Welcome to the final installment in this series that visualizes Kegel oil patterns in three dimensions. In the previous two articles, we have looked at some standard oil patterns of varying levels of difficulty and discussed the effect that modifying certain features of the load data has on the structure of the oil when it is applied to the lane.

To conclude the series, we will take a look at some of the more interesting oil patterns that have been used recently in some very high-profile tournaments around the world.

The first one comes with a bit of a personal story, as the first time I realized I had encountered one of these non-standard patterns was during a tournament I was bowling in. When I say “non-standard,” I don’t mean a 33-foot pattern or a 48-foot pattern with the usual tapered structure we have seen throughout this series. I mean that there was something in the pattern that goes against those features that we have become accustomed to over the years.

2017 Storm San Marino Open

The Storm San Marino Open was one of my favorite tournaments on the European Bowling Tour. There was a relatively large prize fund, which helped attract some of the world’s best bowlers to enter. Additionally, San Marino is such a beautiful country to visit. Anyway, on to the bowling.

In the first two years that I bowled in this event (2015 and 2016), I had no problem making the cut for the finals. I couldn’t keep up with the elite-level bowlers in the finals, as they found a gear that I didn’t have, but I at least could make the first cut number without too much stress.

Onto the 2017 tournament, and my best six-game block was over 150 pins away from the cut number. At the time, I couldn’t figure out what I was missing. Therefore, I had no idea how to fix it. It was only afterwards, ...