Former member of the Professional Bowlers Association, Mike Aulby is one of the well-recognized left-handers. He owns 29 PBA career titles for his outstanding bowling performance. Besides a bowling alley of his own, there is an oil pattern that is named after him, the PBA Mike Aulby oil pattern. Have you played on this before? Whether your answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’, let me give you a heads up— the pattern is not going to be merciful. You have to understand this pattern in every way possible. So let’s dive deep into the details, shall we?
What is the PBA Mike Aulby oil pattern?
If you’re in for a treat, I’ve got bad news. The PBA Mike Aulby is not going to be as forgiving as a house shot. You gotta put on your big boy pants to face this 39 feet sports oil pattern. Shorter does not mean easy, and that’s what you learn from playing this oil pattern. This mid-length pattern has a heavier concentration of oil on most parts of the lane. On top of that, the oil ratio is 2.63:1 so the pattern is gonna play pretty flat.
On each board, you will see 50 uL of oil. The Total Volume Oil on the PBA Mike Aulby pattern is 29.95 mL where the Forward Oil total is 17.75 mL and the Reverse Oil Total is 11.5 mL. The Total Boards Crossed in this bowling oil pattern are 585 Boards, where the Forward Boards Crossed are 355 boards and Reverse Boards Crossed are 230 boards.
How to attack on the PBA Mike Aulby oil pattern?
The PBA Mile Aulby oil pattern is not only hard to play because of its flatness, but also because of how the oil is applied to the lanes. If you look at the pattern sheet, you will see that the oil is highly saturated on the front part of the lane. Unlike other PBA Experience patterns, it widens a bit on the outside of the front part of the lane. So throwing your ball will get a bit tricky. I want you to think of a typical house pattern. The Mike Aulby pattern is a tougher and heavier version of the THS. So where this difficulty comes from and how do you overcome that?
The first thing I have noticed is that you may not able to hook your ball with a giant arc or a sharp angle as you usually can do on a THS. Your angles will be very tight and you will be forced to play straighter. So yes, ‘Straighter is greater’ is applicable for this oil pattern. Moreover, you are gonna face less miss room. So you will strictly have to be on the board you set as your target. Speaking of that, let’s have an idea of where the ideal exit point is going to be.
So, using the ‘Rule of 31’, we get 8 (because, 39-31=8). Therefore, your bowling ball’s exit point should be around the 8 board with a lot of room for error. On a THS, you might miss your shot by 8 board and still score a strike. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with the PBA Mike Aulby oil pattern.
If you miss left on this pattern, your ball will react on the lane the same as it does in general. But your ball is gonna go high and hit the wrong pocket. Oppositely, if you miss a bit to the right, your ball will again react the same (of course) but this time, it’s not going to go straight enough to hit the pockets on the right and you will end up with a lot of remaining pins on the right side of the deck or worst-case scenario, some ugly splits.
Which bowling ball is best for this pattern?
So why missing the inside is worse? Well, if you miss inside your ball is more likely to hook past the headpin which I’ve just mentioned above. There isn’t enough oil in the middle part of the lane to hold the ball, hence, the crazy moves. So keep your shots straight at all costs. Learn how to master the art of controlling a straight rolling bowling ball. Doing this will also open up your chances to pick up those critical spares. So try to knock down those 1 or 2 pins and keep yourself in the mix even if you’re a strike freak!
To see yourself perform miracles, first, you have to pick the right piece of bowling equipment. To play the PBA Mike Aulby pattern, I’d recommend using something solid and quite smooth off the spot. When you begin your game, you should start with a ball that has a 1000 or 1500 grit surface. Based on how your ball is reading the pattern, switch to a 200 grit bowling ball, especially if you want it to go longer. Another important factor to check is to keep an eye on how you roll the ball. You should use a ball that is gonna read early but slow down on the right spot.
The kind of balls you should pack on your tournament or league game days are— Storm Proton Physix, 900 Global Reality, Storm Phaze II, 900 Global Altered Reality, Storm Rubicon, 900 Global Zen, Motiv Trident Horizon, and Motiv Jackal Ghost. Some of my other recommendations for the PBA Mike Aulby oil pattern would be the Motiv Supra Enzo (bring the surface down to 2000 Grit if possible), Motiv Venom Shock, Roto Grip Haywire, and Storm Crux Prime are also some great bowling balls to play on the PBA Mike Aulby oil pattern.
Conclusion
So there you have it! Beyond all that, try to stay positive when you play on the Mike Aulby oil pattern and use this as a learning experience. I repeat, the experience will be completely different. But it will be fun, I promise. This sports pattern will truly boost your confidence and prepare you for your upcoming battles. Good luck, fellas!
