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Author Topic: New league - new house - seeking advice  (Read 925 times)

Debina

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New league - new house - seeking advice
« on: February 22, 2004, 08:05:33 PM »
Hi, all!

My husband and I decided to expand our horizons and joined a short-season doubles league at a different house last night. It's a very old house with worn wood lanes, no fancy scoring computer or anything, very retro. To this point, all of our league experience has been in a shiny new house with synthetics and all the fancy bells and whistles Brunswick can provide.

We're quite out of our element on these old wood lanes. Seems none of our performance bowling balls will move. Period. Late in the third game, we both switched to our White Dots and saw some improvement. Too late to make a big difference, though. Is a low-end plastic ball the way to go on this condition: worn wood, no sign of oil, pins that thud instead of pop? Anything other than plastic we should consider?

Another question ... is it possible for old wood lanes to actually have a hump in the middle? My husband's a righty with medium speed and medium-high revs, and I'm a lefty with medium speed and low-medium revs, but we both experienced the same thing with our higher-end equipment ... Miss a board or two inside and the ball is taking out the opposite corner pin ... Miss a board or two outside and the ball goes straight as an arrow - looks like it can't climb a hill ... Hit your mark, and the ball reacts as you expect until it moves in to about 18, then it takes off and goes Brooklyn like it's running downhill. When we picked up our plastic and stood 5 shooting anywhere from 12 to 15, we were both able to get it to the pocket.

Any advice will be greatly appreciate.

Regards,
Deb
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michelle

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2004, 11:25:23 AM »
Older houses bring their own set of eccentricities to the table.  The lanes may not have been resurfaced in several years, and as such will have a well worn track.  The machine used to oil the lanes is probably an older Century unit, not one of the new metering-type machines, which means the patterns are governed by how the machine was shimmed.  Even those older machines needed some maintenance or they could get out of whack.

Dead pins means dead sideboards are probably in use as well...expect a lot of 9-counts.

Newer equipment will often burn up early on older lanes.  Hand position comes into play with manipulating the roll of older equipment.  In short, think in terms of how you remember bowling "back in the day" or what you say in the pre-urethane days where there was not a lot of movement.
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TheBowlingKid25

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2004, 11:29:48 AM »
I bowl on wooden lanes. What kind of "high end equipment" are you throwing? If they are particle, or maybe strong particle pearls, they could be burning out, try throwing a light oil ball if you have one, if not, just stick to down and in with your plastic. Wood lanes are touchy, and burn up a lot faster due to the oil sinking through cracks. And to your other question, yes, older wood lanes CAN have humps, bumps, and dips, but usually not very big.
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15 years and still going strong! 15 years old that is! The names Warrior Princess, Xena..Warrior Princess
AM not A CHICK OF BOWLING but I wanted to be in Manda's clique And why would I "saw" pins in half, THATS A WASTE OF PINS! I'd rather blow it over with my storm, and 21mph ball speed on dry shots.
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9andaWiggle

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2004, 11:32:30 AM »
http://www.ballreviews.com/Forum/Replies.asp?TopicID=46163&ForumID=16&CategoryID=5

You might check this thread for some info...

Good Luck!

--------------------
9~
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LuvThatWhiteDot

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2004, 09:15:22 AM »
quote:
Another question ... is it possible for old wood lanes to actually have a hump in the middle?


AMF Olympic Lanes in Rochester, NY (home of the Lilac City Doubles & Singles) has a pair (Lanes 19 & 20) that has a dip at the splice just past the arrows.  If you're on Lanes 22 to 24 you can literally see the ball go slightly downhill as soon as it gets past the arrows.

Hills and bumps in old wood lanes that could possibly be a little warped wouldn't surprise me.

I've yet to draw 19 & 20 for doubles and I want that pair.  I need all the ball speed help I can get
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White Dot
Ancient Chinese Proverb:  Man who stand on toilet high on pot.
http://faldo.atmos.uiuc.edu/FBL/mkting.html

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Debina

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2004, 09:50:24 AM »
Thanks for the info, everyone!

After talking with my coach last night and spending a few bucks getting the dings, gouges and scratches out of the good equipment, I think I have a game plan in place. It's only a 12-week league, and completely lost on the first night I still managed to shoot within 5 pins of my average. So, I'm going to hit up my Power Charge Pearl with a ton of polish and try it this Sunday. If that doesn't work, then it's going to be a 12-week White Dot league for me.

Tossing the spare ball for three games every week isn't a bad idea anyway. It's got to help me gain accuracy that will improve my overall spare shooting. Besides, the White Dot's cheaper to replace than anything else I have, and just one night of league chewed up an Icon, a Labrynth and a Bruiser pretty badly.

Thanks again!
Deb
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JohnP

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #6 on: February 24, 2004, 11:30:15 AM »
Deb -- Before you leave this house forever, let the manager know exactly why.  Unlikely though it is, it might help management decide to spend some money to keep their bowlers.  --  JohnP
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MSC2471

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2004, 12:41:14 AM »
Debina: I am facing this same situation in my regular league. I find that a pearl resin works well on this shot, as long as you don't hit through the ball too much and have decent back ends. I tend to keep the ball inside with moderate speed, and/or try to come off of the gutter on a frozen rope to the pocket.

Good luck in your league- it will help improve your game in other houses, I assure you.

Matt
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rec2123

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2004, 07:52:49 AM »
Before they redid WoodHaven lanes in queens ny the old wood lanes were so warped that there was a groove straight to the pocket. So if you tossed the ball over the second arrow it would fall into the groove and head straight for the pocket. So from my experience i think thats its possible for though lanes to have a hump in the middle if there old an warped.
   I bowl on similar conditions in other house. The only difference is we get tons of oil so i use a Reactive Resin ball . And if with the Reactive Resin i had to go down and in on alot of nights .
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2EZ

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Re: New league - new house - seeking advice
« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2004, 08:53:45 AM »
Deb,
Another option, and something you also may want to consider adding to your arsenal, is a pearl urethane.  Slightly more agressive, and more hit than plastic, but not nearly as agressive as any of the reactives/particles.
Ebay has several pearl hammers currently for auction in the weights you are using.
Good luck with whatever you decide to use.
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