USBC Dead Man's Curve Oil Pattern

By: bowlingball.com
Publish Date: 10/21/15

Knowing a few facts about a very difficult scoring oil pattern will help you in competition next time you face a challenging condition. In this article we will cover the USBC Dead Man’s Curve Oil Pattern.

"The Dead Man’s Curve" Pattern presents challenges in getting a consistent ball reaction due to the distance of the pattern and the distribution of oil applied by computerized lane machines onto the lane surface.

Here is a little information courtesy of USBC from publicly provided content:

Dead Man’s Curve oil pattern - This 43 foot pattern has more out of bounds than most patterns because of the increased application of conditioner on the forward pass.

With a slight increase slope of oil from the tenth board to the fourteenth board on the return pass, the goal of the player is to target along those boards of extra conditioner without swinging the ball too much towards the outside part of the lane.

Players who try to excessively curve the ball with too much speed will find DEAD MAN’S CURVE hazardous to their score."

This simply means that swinging the ball too much will extend the skid beyond the breakpoint which will not allow sufficient time for the ball to hook back to the pocket.

Speed control and ball direction to the breakpoint are critical on this pattern.

Here are a few facts about the Dead Man’s Curve Pattern:

*Latitude Ratio Coordinates -

22’ 3.0 to 1
41’ 2.4 to 1
*Longitude Ratio Coordinates -

Outside Taper 4.2 to 1
Inside Taper 3.5 to 1
*Pattern Distance:

43 Feet
*Pattern Volume:

Forward 13.85 mL
Reverse 10.40 mL
*Total 24.25 mL