In the house that I bowl leagues at, I have been having a problem with my ball getting chewed up on a particular set of lanes.  The last time I bowled there, my Columbia Jekyll got 2 pretty deep gashes.  Narrow in diameter, but about 1 inch long and deep.  This is NOT track gashes, so I just informed the manager what happened and left it at that.

Last week, my ball again comes back with some damage and this time it is in the track.  These are not gashes, but almost look like spots where part of the ball was sanded off.  Its from the outermost shell, and two spots in particular about 1/4 inch wide and 1 inch long.  You can see that the nice smooth shell is gone and underneath is a rougher looking surface

I again informed the manager and he offered to have it fixed, but I know this involves drilling and plugging which will take time plus is risky.  I need advice on what to do, and what is the normal procedure for when something like this is occuring.
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"Here we go folks, he is working off the first 8, and looking good.  Looks good on the approach.... OH NO, its off his ankle and down the gutter!!  OHH THE HUMANITY!"

Darrell Guzman
guzmand19 - Yahoo IM and MSN screen names
This week's series:  
Thursday League: 667 (225, 185, 257)
Sunday League:   600 (164, 203, 233)

The last damage sounds like the ball got caught in the lift rods.

Our policy depends on how many of these occurred and a little on how new the ball is.

If there are a lot of them on the ball, say 5+, then the ball should be replaced whether they are in the track or not.

If you only have one or two then we would plug the ball. These areas are generally pretty small in relation the total area of the track and an effective fix can be made.

This kind of damage gets into some gray area as the damage is deep enough you cannot simply resurface the ball and get them out.

Since it is on the same pair, it would seem to be a pattern that should be fixed. I assume on the last damage that the ball got stuck in the back at sometime. You might not have known it but generally someone makes a ball call and your ball was stuck with theirs.

The ball is legal and I'm sure it just uncovered some of the deeper part of the coverstock just like resurfacing would do.

I doubt you are doing any damage to the lane if the ball is not thumping or bouncing.

The house should fix the ball or replace it.

Hey Rick, thanks for the words and just wanted to give a quick update. I talked to the house manager and let him see the damage and he was pretty sympathetic, but they basically said there is nothing that can be done. Their pro shop offered to drill the holes and fill them but I said no.

I took the ball to my trusted pro shop guy, and he confirmed that the gashes were more than likely caused by the lane, due to location and also consistency.  He said the house has known old equipment, and that if he were me he would close out the season and then find a new house with well maintained lanes.  They said they could drill the holes out, but that the result may be worse than the current damage, and resurfacing wouldn't do to much other than lessen some of the gashes.  I've decided to take the guys advice, sanded my ball some with a green scotch brite to make sure I have no sharp edges and will finish out the year and find a new house.  

Its a shame, cuz they are pretty good people there but I won't tolerate paying good money for equipment and bowling only to watch neglect tear it up.  Things happen, but a bad rep is a bad rep and apparently Im not the only one to have problems.
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"Here we go folks, he is working off the first 8, and looking good.  Looks good on the approach.... OH NO, its off his ankle and down the gutter!!  OHH THE HUMANITY!"

Darrell Guzman
guzmand19 - Yahoo IM and MSN screen names
This week's series:  
Thursday League: 667 (225, 185, 257)
Sunday League:   600 (164, 203, 233)

Our center repairs or replaces IF the damage affects the track.
If it's just cosmetic, they may hit it with a light resurface, but that's it.
The pro shop guy is VERY good, so usually they don't have to replace anything.