.....lane mechanic isnt sure what he is doing.  In my trio league the typical oil transition is opposite what one might expect.  The start of the night is pretty normal of most house shots; plays like a 40 foot shot with decent backends.  Well last night was a test for me in that we were bowling unopposed and wanted to see how different the transition was going to be.  Same thing different night.  Only 3 of us on the pair, two of which are two handers.  Oil carried down like a Saturday morning youth league with mostly plastic balls going down the lane.  Difference is I start with an Explosion at box finish and the other two hander uses a Blue Messenger at around 3000-4000 grit.  The other teammate throws a Hustle USA with some polish on it.  Make a long story short; I start with my foot on 30 targeting 15-17 at the arrows and around 5 breakpoint.  When the night concluded, I was using a Deep Freeze playing 10 out to 5 and standing on 22.  The reason I went weaker and moved right is because the middle of the lane becomes almost unplayable.  I even have a Fate at 2000 that can get over/under even at that surface.  Last week I literally took my Fate in the 10th of game 3 and used it on a line of around 15 arrows out to 7-8 breakpoint and left a 4-8 as the ball did not make the corner but fortunate to trip out the 2-10.  I am just dumbfounded how over the course of the night and multiple two handers that I am moving the opposite direction you would normally see on a house shot.

Is anyone else having a similar experience?  I am not sure if it is junk oil to keep costs down or if maybe the oil machine is not getting maintained or maybe the lane mechanic putting out way too much volume?  Maybe a combination of those 3 things?  Wheels are spinning trying to think about what to do.  The Fate does have the 4th strongest cover (was the 3rd until the DNA came out) in the line and even it wont make the turn at times.  There was a discussion not long ago in the pro shop that they were not sure what oil they were using but it was horrible whatever it is.

I have not seen it.

I wonder if there isn't any/much taper and/or buff out of the pattern. You chew up the heads at the lay down point but the oil down the lane gets pulled down. So you get early reaction but the pattern gets pulled longer so the ball will not recover.

You might try balling down and starting right closer to the dry and possibly avoid the carry down.

Glad to see this topic... Sort of in the same boat.  Here's our situation:

Mechanic says 'Yes, we changed conditioner because we can't get the right stuff'.  I believe him, because I can FEEL the difference on my hands.  The old (right) stuff felt like oil; it was slick, and after wiping the ball, was still slick but just less oil on the ball.  The THS at our house has never been 'high volume' and has always been a wet/dry cliff on the 10 board.  There's NO loads from 2 to 2.  The new (wrong) conditioner is like friggin' GLUE.  When there's visible oil tracks on the ball, they feel slick but after you wipe the ball off it feels sort of 'tacky' or 'sticky'.  We're talking about on a urethane cover, here.

Bowling on this crap has been a complete nightmare.  It tracks out really fast, and doesn't 'heal' at all.  Once you throw a ball down a certain line, it's burned.. in ONE shot.  By the end of 3 game set, there's nuthin' out there; might as well have no oil on the lane whatsoever!  I often end up finishing with a no-core plastic ball (my gold glitter spare).

Any ideas what this crap might be?  I'm a two-handed geezer, and you can imagine how hard it is to stay off the nose or not go brooklyn after the middle of the first game.  Best strategy has been going to a plastic cover (I have a couple with assym cores) and lofting it past the arrows from fairly deep (20 to between 7 and 10 at the breakpoint).

Have asked the mechanic 'Are you guys ever going to get the right conditioner again?'... He's not sure.

If you can throw it REALLY fast, or have tons of axis tilt, you can still score at this place... If not, you're pretty well SOL.

What's going on out there?  I was intrigued to see this topic pop up... Appears we're not the only ones at our house!

Did anyone try moving further left assuming yall chewed up the laydown point pretty good with the amount of rev rate? Or if you destroyed it enough that your angles going left weren't ideal and right is the only option.


I've heard that Terrain oil is pretty tricky similar to what you mentioned. Usually cheaper oil goes dry, dry, and drier vs moving around because of lack of viscosity.

I dont think the heads are chewed up for the simple fact the Fate has one of the strongest covers and yet clears the fronts with ease even with my rev rate and the surface at 2000.  The lane mechanic literally does not move the entire night.  He basically slows hook 3rd arrow out to the gutter and plays the cliff that way.  Where I am probably 18-19 at release he is more like 16 maybe 17 at the most yet his ball never checks up.  I have actually tried to move inside as any of us normally would and bump the track but once I get into around 20 at the arrows I really have to drop my ball speed considerably to give the ball time to obtain any kind of ball motion.  To give you an idea; I was talking to someone the other night and he asked if I could move inside and change my axis rotation but I told him what typically happens when I move deeper inside.  So on the fill ball in the 10th the last game, I moved to 40 with my feet with lay down around 30 and just slow hooked it aiming around 17-18 at the arrows and actually did go flush in the 1-3.  The guy I was talking to busted out laughing.  Thing was; where my ball speed usually registers around 16-16.5 on the monitor, on that shot it registered 13.5.  So yeah.  It was kind of funny.

It is interesting you mention Terrain and I believe that is the oil they use.  In response to itsallaboutme; I am pretty sure it is a Kegel machine.