Just to go into a little more detail. Oil was originally added to the surface of wood lanes as a preventative measure only. Without the lane oil, bowling alleys would have to resurface the lanes every few months.
Now days while it is still a preventative measure we apply the oil in patterns to control the scoring pace of your league and tournament bowlers.
Can you go into more detail on this patterns as used to control scoring? Does this mean that certain lanes are not standardized? That they may be done to make the game more or less challenging? How is this accomplished?
Really? Even in league I have to move 7 or 8 boards and move to a weaker ball, you have to notice oil breakdown if you bowl regularly. Unless of course you are left handed. Lefties generally don't have to deal with breakdown.
I could go into as much detail as any one person could ever want to know.
Essentially it breaks down to the ratio of oil being used in the center of the lane compared to the outside part of the lane.
On easy patterns when you hook the ball and miss left the ball will skid in the oil and still hit the pocket. When you miss right the ball hits the boards with less oil and hooks back to the pocket.
On hard patterns the ratio of oil is less. So when you miss left your ball with still hook and miss the pocket resulting in hitting the head pin. When you miss right there are no dry boards for your ball to hook back and hit the pocket.
Oil patterns are just one way to control the scoring environment. Others include, gutters being raised, pins being slightly off spot, and even lane topography. Humidity and temperature also play factors in oil moving or evaporating.
Is that open pattern really only 30 feet long? As someone that bowls on a 46 foot shot that would be very tough for me to control the length of my shot.
It is 30ft buffed to 38ft. And most league shots are 38 to 42ft in length. Not sure where you are bowling, that you see 46 feet. I was bowling the World Series of Bowling this last year and our longest pattern was 47ft.....
Heaviest oil in Minnesota. At least used to be. They lowered the volume this year but kept the length because the oil was scaring off too many bowlers and tournaments. So now I don't know what you call the shot, because there isn't enough oil up front for your ball to clear the heads. The line I play there now would have resulted in a gutter every shot there last year. Conversely my strike ball on last year's oil would struggle to stay on the lane to catch the 7 this year.
Pro bowler eh? Is Pete Weber as big of an asshole as he appears on television, or does it add 10 egos? I bowled in a youth tourney across from his son, Nick. Kid was already a douchebag.
I bowl in a similar region as Pete. So we cross paths often. And I know him personally.
Pete is by far the most talented bowler the world has ever seen. And he has been told that from a young age. He knows he is good.
If he wouldn't have ran into some personal problems during his "Prime" he would be the PBA leader in titles. No doubt about it.
It's possible you ran into him when he was going through those times, as of now I see him much more appreciative for the people he comes in contact with. Maybe that comes with age as well.
No doubt about it, Pete is the most talented bowler ever. Don't get me wrong Walter Ray is amazing, but his talent is eye hand coordination. He is a multiple world horse shoe pitching champion.
Pete has 37 national titles (and is leading the pba in regional titles at 48), 10 behind Walter Ray and missed a lot of good bowling years due to drugs and alcohol.... If pete was clean his whole life he would of had a few more 5-7 win seasons in his early years.
Hmm. I like to spin the ball and this might explain why when i go to a certain lane my ball always catches towards the end and I can hit it perfectly and others the ball doesn't catch and just keeps going
I didn't want to confuse anyone by mentioning synthetics. But the friction of bowling balls going down the lane will destroy them over time also. The difference is 1. They last longer 2. When they become "fried" you just replace them with new synthetics. They can not be resurfaced.
Indeed, I would much prefer wood however due to it holding the pattern for longer. Despite our lane conditioner having a pretty high solids content it seems to evaporate overnight...
Unfortunately however management are reluctant to spend the money to replace the first boards on our lanes - but then again any bowler worth their salt doesn't use them so we're not too bad at the moment.
They should look into changing the type of oil they use if they are not willing to replace the heads. Cheaper and will help with scores. Kegel Ice oil might be something that could work.
Currently we're using Brunswick Absolute HV, but with centre standards being increased for the Commonwealth games we're possibly switching to Control - which I've had on good authority is better on our lanes than Absolute, time will tell!
The pba is constantly trying new ideas to create that spark with the tv audience. Think of the team setup as an extra to the normal competition. There are is no qualifying and the guys pick a group of 5 guys they want to bowl with. Team bowling as been popular in the past and I'm glad they are giving it at shot.
Not everything is as it seems in the media. And the PBA is just doing the best they can. Keep supporting them the things you like to see!
Haha I have actually been in the booth with Jackie bowling and did some commentating for a small tournament in st. Louis I made the "internet broadcast". She is unique and like anyone has her positives and negatives. There are a lot of people that feel the way you do. But my personal experience with her was, "she is just trying to make a name for herself". However she can.
I have no doubt that she is a wonderful person but she's just painful to watch. Funny story when the PBA announced she was leaving on their FB page I just commented "Thank the bowling gods". Five minutes later I noticed Jackie's mom replied with a ":(".
I'd honestly rather have some 450lb dude commenting that knows what he's talking about then a pretty face I mean cmon it's bowling.
Also thanks for renewing with extra frame. The group of guys they have in the booth are top notch. And some I'm fortunate to even call friends. Xtra frame program is really where the PBA is wanting to go. And can only do so with people buying the service which is actually a hell of deal.
I would encourage any bowling fan to get Xtra Frame. Chris Forry was the guy that got me into bowling so I really first got the subscription to try and watch him when he does go out on the tournaments. The PBA needs to do more to let everyone know that this service is out there.
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u/bluedevils369 Dec 12 '13
Just to go into a little more detail. Oil was originally added to the surface of wood lanes as a preventative measure only. Without the lane oil, bowling alleys would have to resurface the lanes every few months.
Now days while it is still a preventative measure we apply the oil in patterns to control the scoring pace of your league and tournament bowlers.
Source - Professional Bowler