PBA Bear Oil Pattern: Benefits and Challenges

Out of all the PBA Bear oil pattern, the Bear one is the most atrocious. I see so many bowlers terrified of this pattern. Little do they know, the Bear pattern is pretty easy to handle if played strategically. Because this pattern is the reflection of the legacy of the U.S. Open, you can’t just play this sports pattern without knowing anything. How do you get a good score against all odds? To find out, stay tuned, my friends. I have all the information you need to get started.

Oil Pattern Specifications

Title	PBA Animal Patterns— Bear Oil
Distance	41 feet
Total Oil Volume	30.10 mL
Forward Oil	18.60 mL
Reverse Oil	11.50 mL
Oil Ratio	2.24:1

How to attack the PBA Bear oil pattern?

This is gonna sound dramatic, but the Bear oil pattern by PBA is an ultimate determiner of a bowler’s skill. Statistically, the success rate is low. No wonder why bowers say this is the toughest of all 8 Animal Patterns. If you can manage a 200 as an advanced bowler, consider yourself lucky! So, you can pretty much guess how much you need to practice to attack the Bear oil pattern.

So how can you maximize your success rate to bowl the PBA Bear oil pattern? Whether it is a league game night or a tournament, try to break down a particular area and slowly move to the left, little by little. However, if you can’t break down the pattern, and see a lot of friction going on, make your ball motion as straight as possible. So, playing from somewhere around the second arrow will make your angles close and your shots smart.

Ideally, your bowling ball’s exit point is going to be the (41-31=10) 10 board, according to the ‘Rule of 31’. But here’s the good news! You can move a bit more inside and keep playing straighter to hit your targeted pocket. You can move a bit toward board 7 or board 12. 

The flatter part of the Bear pattern is going to constrict you from hooking your ball and force you to play straight. Based on the specification, you can tell, the pattern is flat from gutter to gutter with slight taper. In other words, some parts of the lane will have more oil than other parts. If you roll your ball close to the gutter, that will be a terrible mistake. Stay behind the bowling ball the entire time you are playing straight. Don’t try to get around it for this flat pattern. And most importantly, stay focused on controlling the backend.

Like most sports patterns, Bear gets easier when it breaks down. So your hard time will only be during the freshly applied pattern. Since the middle part of the lane has the heaviest amount of oil, it’s gonna be quite hard to play from the middle. So try to make a wider ball-rolling area next to the second arrow. 

The more you move from the second arrow, especially if you are a right-handed bowler, the more you’re gonna roll your ball into the left side of the 6 pin. Contrarily, left-handed bowlers will roll their ball into the right side of the 4 pin. When you break down the pattern around the second arrow, make sure you use a ball that can scrub off some of the oil from the lane.

Another point to remember. Try to dry out the front lane and gradually drive a bit more of the down lane. This is when you can get your bowling ball into a roll. You must know this because the back part of the Bear oil pattern is hard to handle due to how your bowling ball reacts in the front lane.

What are the challenges you will face while playing on this pattern?

As this is a Sports pattern, you can already guess how slick this pattern is. Due to being flat, you have to play this pattern very carefully. Less margin of error. So you can’t just do whatever you want or get away with off shots. 

You will probably experience a few gutter shots if this is your first time bowling. Well, no worries, nothing a bit of practice can’t fix. Remain consistent with your shots, and learn how to adjust to lane transformations. Without correct adjustments, you will not be able to cope with this hard-level oil pattern. 

Which bowling ball is best for this pattern?

So how do you protect yourself from the Bear’s attack? It’s clear that the Bear pattern is going to give you a hard time. So to defeat the problems, a symmetrical core bowling ball with a high flare and a matte/sanded coverstock. Unless you are gonna move far left, don’t use an asymmetrical bowling ball on the Bear oil pattern. However, an asymmetrical ball may come in handy when your symmetrical ball isn’t hooking a lot at the back lane as you want it to.

Avoid your urethane or other weaker balls when you play this pattern. Although when you are using an asymmetrical ball a somewhat weaker ball might be the best option. If you got something like the Hammer Black Widow make sure you sand its surface a bit more than it already has. If you are in for a stronger bowling ball, the Columbia 300 Melt Down or the Storm Alpha Crux would be great. 

If you have made up your mind about the symmetrical bowling balls, let me tell you about some of my favorites— Ebonite Game Breaker 3, Storm Axiom, Storm IQ Tour, and Storm Phaze II. 

One thing I would like to warn you is that try not to use your pearl bowling balls on this bear oil pattern. Use bowling balls with solid or hybrid coverstocks. Pearl coverstock balls are going to wiggle on this pattern as there’s a lot of oil on the front lane. As for your solids and hybrids, keep the finish of the covers between 500 and 1000 grit. 

Conclusion

That’s my thoughts on the PBA Bear oil pattern. It is not impossible to tame the Bear! If you have botched your game in this pattern before, it’s time you get things in order. To justify your bowling skills, follow the instructions I have included here and you will do just fine. As I always say, practice is the key. So if you are missing on this pattern, keep working on breaking down the pattern first. Become unstoppable with the right bowling ball. See ya and good luck with your future bowling endeavors!