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Author Topic: What causes this lane condition?  (Read 984 times)

IHFN

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What causes this lane condition?
« on: July 27, 2007, 02:22:26 AM »
Hello all.  I'm pretty new to bowling.  Started this year, been bowling 3 fingers for about 3 months.  My average is up to 170 now.  Anyway, I'm still figuring out lane conditions.  The last two nights have been interesting to me, and it confused many other better players as well.


Both nights, the lanes were completely slick, but my ball would come back with no oil rings on it.  It was amazing to me, because I had a incredibly hard time getting the ball to bite, as did everyone else.  I ended up standing with my right toe one board to the right of the 2nd dot from the right.  I then was throwing the ball as if I was standing far left and trying to hook it as hard as I could.  

So after all that jargon, my question is...  What would cause the lanes to be that slick, but not show any oil on the ball?  I clean my ball after every time I play, but could it still have so much oil in it, that it doesn't show up?

Thanks
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jd1319

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Re: What causes this lane condition?
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2007, 04:23:34 PM »
I am by no means an expert on lane conditions, but I believe there could be a couple of reasons.  One, for whatever reason, your on a longer oil pattern.  It could be a light oil pattern, but if they oil further down the lane, there could be oil at your normal break point, causing the ball to slide further down the lane.  I've bowled some 45 foot patterns, and the ball simply doesn't have enough lane to create the hook you expect.

Another possibility could be your bowling on a dry lane with heavy oil equipment.  Many heavy oil balls don't respond on dry lanes.  

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themagician

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Re: What causes this lane condition?
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2007, 04:35:56 PM »
By the sound of it there was little/no oil on the lanes. And because of that your equipment was burning up all its energy and had nothing left to use for the hooking action.

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Danes07

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Re: What causes this lane condition?
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2007, 04:45:41 PM »
Yeah, I agree with MagicMike...sounds like the lanes were so dry that you and everyone else was experiencing their equipment burning up.  That would explain the lack of any track rings and the fact that the ball wouldn't do anything for you.

Remember, reactive bowling balls will only work when there is some oil.  Otherwise, they find friction very early and any energy that the ball has, is expended very early in the shot...thus there is no energy to make the ball hook and it hits very weakly.

If you run into this again, try something weaker than you are throwing...and if it gets bad enough, there is always plastic.
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JessN16

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Re: What causes this lane condition?
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2007, 05:22:42 PM »
Also, if the ball lifts and returns have a very efficient cleaning system (some places I've seen have hung towels in the return path to wipe excess oil off balls before sending them  back up front) then you won't see rings.

As an aside, I seem to notice more clearly defined rings with AMF machines than Brunswick's A2 series, because of the construction of the lifts.

Jess
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vagabond

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Re: What causes this lane condition?
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2007, 02:01:52 AM »
There are a couple of reasons for no oil on the ball.

At my center we use pit carpet covers that absorb oil; they prevent the pins from sliding and causing out of ranges and such.  We also use a ball wipe in the accelerator so the house balls aren't covered with oil and start spinning at the ball wheel.

Another less likely reason is that the oil that is used at the center bonds very well to the surface.  It is not very common for this to happen but at my center we did have one conditioner that we tried that was a perfect match for the lanes but it did not play the way we liked, some oils promote a more skid/snap reaction while others cause a more even reaction with the same pattern and volume of oil.
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IHFN

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Re: What causes this lane condition?
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2007, 09:25:51 AM »
Interesting information.  Thanks guys.  It is an AMF place.  Unfortunately, the ball return doesn't wipe off the balls.  If you were short on moose for your hair, you could just wipe up some oil from the house balls...  

From what I saw, and what you guys are saying, it seems like it was a light, long pattern that did burn up.  Oh, and these are wood lanes.

Last night, I got the oil rings on the ball, but got a TON of grip.  Crazy stuff.  There is a whole lot more to bowling than I ever thought.  I switched from Golf to bowling because...well, I'm still getting better in bowling...
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