Sport Compliance

According to a new Lane Condition Classification chart going around on social media, there will be changes to the sport compliancy.

Based on this chart, the change is rather drastic, moving the compliancy from 3:1 to 4:1. Before I dive anymore into this, understand that this, to my knowledge, has not been formally confirmed or denied. I am simply giving my opinion on a rumored change that may or may not be taken into effect.

For those that don’t know what this means, a typical sport shot, for years now, has been 3:1 or less, meaning that, at most, there could only be three times the amount of oil on the inside of the pattern than there is on the outside.

Many sport conditions, though, were even flatter than that, to be honest. But that was the specification.

Now, though, what this means is that there can now be four times the amount of oil on the inside of the pattern than there is on the outside of the pattern. In other words, they are allowing more of a “wall” to be built into the pattern from the beginning.

What this does is pretty obvious, but if you aren’t yet sure, essentially, this makes the patterns even softer. Which, in my opinion, is the wrong way to go.

Personally, I was hoping for a change to the sport compliancy. The change I was hoping for, however, was moving in the opposite direction.

With today’s balls and today’s rev rates, I was hoping to see the compliancy become even flatter, to be honest, moving the ratio to 2.5:1 or even 2:1. Because with the power of today’s players and equipment, these patterns do not stay very flat for very long.

Even at 3:1, the upper echelon players are able to open them up rather quickly and score with relative ease; these guys are really, really good and they don’t need much margin for error to put up big numbers.

So now you’re talking about making the compliancy 4:1. Making them even more playable. Creating even more shim for guys that don’t need it. Making them even more open.

The good thing about all of this, though, is that it is totally up to the tournament directors as to what they put out. Just because the compliancy has changed to 4:1 doesn’t mean they have to put out patterns that are 4:1. In fact, in my opinion, many of the more challenging tournaments around the country will remain business-as-usual.

In other words, I don’t foresee any competitive sweepers, big money amateur events, or regionals adopting too many patterns that are 4:1.

In fact, I discussed this change with a prominent tournament director in the Florida area, and he was in no way a fan of this change either. And knowing him the way that I know him, I HIGHLY doubt that he would ever consider making his tournaments softer.

If this is true, like the chart shows, I am interested in hearing the USBC’s reasoning behind this. I am certain they have sound, logical reasoning for making this change, but, as of now, I am personally perplexed.

What do you think about these changes? Are you for or against making competitive bowling higher scoring? Are you indifferent? Comment below and let us know what you have to think!