Author Topic: Oiled lanes in the summer (Read 1543 times)

charlee323 · « **on:** June 26, 2003, 05:24:29 PM »

I have only one bowling alley(out of about 15) with in a one hour drive of my house that oils there lanes for open bowlers in the summer. Is this how it is everywhere? I have to admit that the one alley an hour away is where I go to practice and I also bowl in a league there. It's not my favorite place to bowl. I feel that they are making an attempt to give me a place to practice when I need to practice and they maintain there lanes fairly well. People think I am crazy when I pass 5 alley's before I get where I am going. Even the owner has asked me, why I drive all the way over there just to practice. I guess in this day an age I like to deal with people that are going out of there way for there customers, I see very little of this anymore.

Pat Kruschel · « **Reply #1 on:** June 27, 2003, 10:15:50 AM »

I have 3 houses in town to choose from.

My home house only oils on Friday nights for leagues, in the summer.
It is an old house and they don't put much money into it.
They cater to league bowlers mostly, no cosmic.
The new owner is getting better though, we did get a new lane conditioner last year.

The 2nd one was bought by a restaurant owner.

Doesn't know much about bowling at all.

They have repaved the parking lot, recovered the walls, are putting in new monitors next week, and changing the lanes to synthetic over the summer but there is no air conditioning.

They oil more consistently than house #1.
They cater more to teens and cosmic bowling.

#3 is a small 16 lane house that doesn't have air either, or at least it doesn't feel like it. Plus the neighborhood isn't that great. I hardly go there.
They oil consistently also.

This summer I am driving a 1/2 hour away to practice. Nice house, updated, air conditioned, and only $1 a game, anytime!

They mostly cater to league bowlers, no cosmic bowling whatsoever! They oil every day, it seems.

It does get busy, so it's nice to work on concentrating amongst distractions(i.e. kids screaming, walking up when you are on the approach, the overhead speaker, ....)
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PK
Sub 500 Teamster
"Student Bowler"
"Results are not Typical"

CRSmith · « **Reply #2 on:** June 27, 2003, 02:55:55 PM »

My house is a 16 lane house. They oil every day. Usually twice if there is an evening league. The shot is fair, but there is oil and you have an out of bounds outside 5. Since they've kept records, there have only been seven 800 series. This past season, we had a total of 8 or 9 300 games. Gotta make good shots and carry. But for a small house, they keep it maintained and you can actually eat the food in the snack bar.

mumzie · « **Reply #3 on:** June 27, 2003, 03:54:43 PM »

The biggest house around here, that charges a premium for any lineage or open play, and even charges a fair amount for employees to bowl, has gone from twice a day in the winter to once a day in the summer. AND - they now only strip twice a week instead of daily like they do in the winter. I had a tournament there last month, and got into a "discussion" with one of the employees, after the two highest women bowlers (myself and another lady) commented about how the shot had changed. Not a complaint, mind you, just a comment. We were told very emphatically that they were still using the same oil pattern. When I brought up that yes, they probably were, but that they weren't stripping as often, or oiling as often, the employee grudgingly agreed that was the case. :-)

But - the smaller house that I bowl summer league in still keeps up the same oiling schedule. But, they're wood lanes, with a lot of open play, and newly resurfaced, so that may be more for the lane's protection than the advantage of the bowler.

I don't know about all the other houses around here.
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Bowling? Of course it's a sport.

10 In The Pit · « **Reply #4 on:** June 28, 2003, 01:39:03 AM »

Pin Krusher, around my neck of the woods, if the air conditioning went out in the bowling centers during the summer, they might as well close the doors to the place and lock it up. It gets up over 105 degrees here at times, but the humidity is an absolute killer on top of the heat! I've seen many days when the heat index value exceeded 115 degrees here.....talk about a pressure cooker, that's what you've got when you run the temp up into the high 90's with a dew point near 80 degrees!

And yes, it is very wise for a wood house with freshly resurfaced lanes to keep a good supply of lane oil out on the lanes. Without oil to protect the fresh finish (that may still be curing out), the resurfacing work was done for nothing. The lane oil is designed to protect the surface, more than to create a shot.....creating a shot is the secondary function of lane oil, and not the primary function.

the pooh · « **Reply #5 on:** June 28, 2003, 01:47:23 AM »

Two houses where I bowl.They both wall them up for high scores so bowler's will be happy and come back in the fall!This happens every Summer!
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THE POOH

Author Topic: Oiled lanes in the summer (Read 1543 times)

charlee323

Oiled lanes in the summer

Pat Kruschel

Re: Oiled lanes in the summer

CRSmith

Re: Oiled lanes in the summer

mumzie

Re: Oiled lanes in the summer

10 In The Pit

Re: Oiled lanes in the summer

the pooh

Re: Oiled lanes in the summer