Seems strange to me to hear someone struggle on wood, and think synthetics are easier. Having grown up on wood lanes, that at times were not well maintained and other times maintained very well. I have always been able to adjust quicker on wood. I am guessing one of the keys may be ball speed. I had always had fairly high ball speed and maybe the wood lanes is why. This tendency to over power lanes too often resulted in missing the breakpoint on synthetics. In recent years I have worked on being able to control ball speed better and began to improve on synthetics.
Maybe that is one tip I would provide for dealing with wood. You may need to generate more speed, not knowing your game I have to make at some assumptions. If you look at your arsenal, make sure also that you have a variety of drillings to go along with ball surface. If you happen to be like I used to be, all of your equipment may be drilled close to the same. Add some really long pins into the mix if not there now. Have maybe a couple with one from a weaker core and one stronger. Variety can make things confusing at times, but may provide a stronger option than old urethane or plastic. The new oils, while dry to a reactive or proactive drilled strong, may result in a straight ball with the old stuff. I pulled out my old Pirahnna last summer for kicks, a ball I used to hook the house with, and on burned up modern oils I did good to get 10 boards. Could be a good thing, but it was real easy to leave 5 pins. Now to finish the tale, the second game I bowled that day (practicing) was a 300, so never hurts to pull the old ball out, just don't assume it will work like it did in the old days.
I think one of the best bits of advice, is don't walk in thinking you are going to bowl bad because the lanes are wood. Too much of this game is mental.
