Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

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vicsmyth
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Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by vicsmyth »

Last year I averaged 219 on a senior mixed league THS in the Chicago NW suburbs. Top dog was at 222. This year the top dog is at 200, I'm at 204 and dropping. Another house where a top dog averaged 230 a few years ago, is at 217 this year. The guy who averaged 222 on my league bowls on a traveling league and he said that everyone's averages have dropped 15 pins this year.

What I am noticing is that there is more carry down oil and it doesn't seem to go away. You leave flat 10s, shoot cross alley at them with plastic, depositing more oil at the break point.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Does anyone know whether they have come out with a new oil that doesn't get absorbed by the balls as much that can be causing the problem? That's about the only reason I can think of.

I know that my 219 THS average on a sports shot is worth about 185. We old guys like to have fun and score on walled up lanes. Why take this away from us?
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by markkuhn »

Could it be the resurgence of urethane bowling balls?
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by Meteobowler »

I live on the east coast where it was a persistently hot, humid summer. As a result, the house I bowl at saw significant lane topography changes; specifically the development of “bird wing” topography. This occurs when the underline swells and causes the track area to bow relative to the gutter and center of the lane where the synthetic panels are screwed down.

A frequent result of bird wing topography is that ball reaction from outside of 10 will look lazy in the backend like there is carrydown because the ball is literally using its energy to climb a hill. Conversely, balls inside of 10 will have less hold. These changes are microscopic. However, gravity sees them and they cause balls outside of 10 to burn more energy before getting to the pocket.

I’m not sure how the weather was in Chicago over the summer, but if it was hot and humid and the bowling centers either don’t have great cooling systems or closed for the summer like a few in my area; you all could be seeing the effects of lane topography changes. The way to test this is to set your. Reakpoint at 10 and watch what happens when you hit 11 and hit 9. If you are facing birdwing, this small miss will potentially cause you to hit really light at 9 and likely through the face at 11...despite the fact that the THS shim is likely at 10.
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by vicsmyth »

Meteobowler wrote:...If you are facing birdwing, this small miss will potentially cause you to hit really light at 9 and likely through the face at 11...despite the fact that the THS shim is likely at 10.
Wow, thanks for your reply, this is exactly what is happening! How do I combat this? I generally use polished pearls, hybrids have always burned out. This year my pearls don't finish, I'm using hybrids with surface, 2000-3000 abralon. I've tried slow rolling 11 at the arrows to 7 at break point to get a little more angle and carry the corners, but any miss can leave a designer split. The only guy who seems to have adjusted to this uses a 500 grit solid right up 7-8. I tried that with a solid but am not consistent enough to repeat the shot.

I know the manager of the house and might be able to persuade him to adjust the shot. Is there any adjustment of the lane machine that you know of that can correct this?

I used to go to league and hope for a 700 series, now 600 is a challenge.

BTW, none of us old timers have enough revs to throw urethane, but in a senior mixed league there are ladies who throw plastic up the middle. We are used to compensating for their carry down oil which normally burns away by middle of the second game. But this "carry-down-like" effect never seems to burns away.
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by djp1080 »

Perhaps a Storm Nano ball may work for you.
I've been noticing this kind of things for years at two or three places. One was Fox Bowl...
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by kajmk »

This has a link to an article on the Kegel site by Ted Thompson.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13471&p=104365&hilit=Bird#p104365" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by JohnP »

Have you asked someone that would know if the oil pattern has been changed? I don't dispute the effect of lane topography, but would that have changed since previous years? -- JohnP
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by JoeF »

Not sure what house you bowl on but I'm in a senior travel scratch league in the Northwest suburbs and we bowl in 7 different houses, BZ's and independents. Our averages for the most part are down also. I have heard they are using different conditioner but can't swear to that. I have found that a little adjustment to the balls surface lets me bowl the part of the lane I like. Yes the lanes seem to burn up but a lot of that seems to be older bowlers without much speed and /or revs using the strongest ball they can buy sucking up the oil. the balls have no energy left by the time they get to the pins. I mostly use balls designed for medium to light oil . my average is now back on the way up.
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by kajmk »

JohnP wrote:Have you asked someone that would know if the oil pattern has been changed? I don't dispute the effect of lane topography, but would that have changed since previous years? -- JohnP
I agree with your well taken point John.
Question , how if at all are patterns verified?
Last year I noticed scoring was down in a league I view from time to time, but that was not by any means a scientific study. The obvious things were less honor scores and averaged down.

Variables that would be peculiar to a particular house.
Climate control, topography, maintenance regimen, machines in use and state of same.
Shelf life of the oil in use at that house, storage of same. Others?

The bowler might speak to the league officers, have them also interface with admins in other houses see if the phenomena is local or more widespread ...

Just wondering???
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by vicsmyth »

JoeF wrote:...I'm in a senior travel scratch league in the Northwest suburbs...
Yes, this is the league I'm referring to. A friend of mine bowls on that league and also with me at Brunswick Mt Prospect. He's the one who told me about the drop in scores on the travel league. Beverly Lanes has also had a drop in scores, and I probably don't have to tell you the they are the best-maintained house in the area.

I understand the role that topography plays in why some pairs of lanes score higher than others. I understand seasonal differences. But I don't understand how averages can drop for everyone at a number of different houses by 15-20 pins. Did some lane oil rep in the NW suburbs come out with a buy-one-get-one-free sale on oil that makes the lanes wonky?

I am considering getting another ball as suggested. There's nothing like throwing money at a problem. :)
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by vicsmyth »

Follow up: I shot league yesterday at Brunswick Mount Prospect. I slow rolled a Hyroad to the break point with lots of side roll giving it plenty of time to tip over and go into a roll at a steep angle into the pocket. I got lots of lucky hits and scored well.

Here's the odd part. It's a senior mixed league. Yesterday we had 5 guys, all playing around 2nd arrow, one of them throwing a snow tire. I had expected the lanes to break down quickly. At first the back ends were really crisp, leaking a board right would come back to the pocket. Then I flat tenned. I figure that my ball burned out so I made a one and one move left. I left a 2,4,10. I went back right to playing 10 at the arrows to 8 at the break point and just slowed the ball down a little more. After that I did not have to adjust my line at all, maybe increased the speed at little towards the end of the 3rd game. I could miss inside a board, but leaking it right left me a washout.

Bottom line: They must be using a new oil that doesn't get soaked up by the balls, once it carries down, it doesn't go away. I can see that this would be a benefit to the house as the lanes seem to stay oily longer. But it's murder on carrying the corner pins.
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by MegaMav »

vicsmyth wrote:Follow up: I shot league yesterday at Brunswick Mount Prospect. I slow rolled a Hyroad to the break point with lots of side roll giving it plenty of time to tip over and go into a roll at a steep angle into the pocket. I got lots of lucky hits and scored well.

Here's the odd part. It's a senior mixed league. Yesterday we had 5 guys, all playing around 2nd arrow, one of them throwing a snow tire. I had expected the lanes to break down quickly. At first the back ends were really crisp, leaking a board right would come back to the pocket. Then I flat tenned. I figure that my ball burned out so I made a one and one move left. I left a 2,4,10. I went back right to playing 10 at the arrows to 8 at the break point and just slowed the ball down a little more. After that I did not have to adjust my line at all, maybe increased the speed at little towards the end of the 3rd game. I could miss inside a board, but leaking it right left me a washout.

Bottom line: They must be using a new oil that doesn't get soaked up by the balls, once it carries down, it doesn't go away. I can see that this would be a benefit to the house as the lanes seem to stay oily longer. But it's murder on carrying the corner pins.
You read it right.

Self proclaimed experts will tell you the difference in ball motion is due to what is going on in the middle of the lane and carrydown doesnt exist or modern balls dont read it at all.

Every single time the bowling ball tracks over one of the two bowties on the ball it deposits lane oil further down the lane, either from the front to the middle or the back, as you can imagine, the more revolutions there are on the ball, the fatter the footprint of the bowtie gets down the lane.

Non-flaring, non-absorptive balls create lines on clean backend.
Flaring balls, deposit dots, 1 for each bow tie crossed.

IMO, any lubricant in any amount will affect ball motion compared to a clean lane.
More lubricant means less friction, which means less hook. Carrydown isnt binary there are degrees.
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by Dax »

MegaMav wrote:
You read it right.

Self proclaimed experts will tell you the difference in ball motion is due to what is going on in the middle of the lane and carrydown doesnt exist or modern balls dont read it at all.

Every single time the bowling ball tracks over one of the two bowties on the ball it deposits lane oil further down the lane, either from the front to the middle or the back, as you can imagine, the more revolutions there are on the ball, the fatter the footprint of the bowtie gets down the lane.

Non-flaring, non-absorptive balls create lines on clean backend.
Flaring balls, deposit dots, 1 for each bow tie crossed.

IMO, any lubricant in any amount will affect ball motion compared to a clean lane.
More lubricant means less friction, which means less hook. Carrydown isnt binary there are degrees.
Ditto
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by boatman37 »

I can't add to the technical aspects here but averages are down in my league by about 10 pins pretty consistently this year.
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by vicsmyth »

What I am finding out is that once the shot goes away it looks like the ball is burning out, so the standard adjustment is to move left (for a righty) or ball down. But it's actually carry down, so that adjustment has the opposite effect.

Example: Last Friday I started out with the front 8 for a 269, then started the 2nd game with a double, spare, double. I had 4 boards, everything hit the pocket and everything carried. Then the shot disappeared for myself and my teammates. Figuring it was the ball burning out, I made a 1 and 1 move left and barely hit the pocket, then I moved back to my original line and balled down from a hybrid with 2000 abralon surface to a polished pearl with no success. After fishing for 4 frames I finally balled up to a stronger core, asymmetric hybrid. I started striking again but the 4 board wall was gone and I had to repeat shots (which is not my strength); I ended up with 675 series, not bad, but after 1-1/2 games I was expecting 750+.

I am curious for those of you who have also reported scores going down, have you found that the old adjustments that you were making no longer worked? Have you tried anything that has worked?
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by vicsmyth »

The lanes are back to "normal" for the past 5-6 weeks. I'm averaging over 235 for that period. No carry down oil, crisp back ends. I'm back to using polished pearl balls, the hybrids with surface quickly hit a dead zone and burn out. Not sure if they changed to a different oil, made sure that the lane machine is stripping the back ends, or what. But I am happy to be bowling on walled up lanes again.

Anybody else in the NW Chicago burbs see improved scores?
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Re: Why are the lanes so wonky this year?

Post by JoeF »

vicsmyth wrote:The lanes are back to "normal" for the past 5-6 weeks. I'm averaging over 235 for that period. No carry down oil, crisp back ends. I'm back to using polished pearl balls, the hybrids with surface quickly hit a dead zone and burn out. Not sure if they changed to a different oil, made sure that the lane machine is stripping the back ends, or what. But I am happy to be bowling on walled up lanes again.

Anybody else in the NW Chicago burbs see improved scores?
I finished with the same average I ended last year. I did have to make some adjustment in my game to try to stay ahead of the pattern changes. Actually moving back to the right somewhere in the second game.
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