I get asked this alot when I bowl during the day on open play bowling. The Girlfriend wanted to go bowling on Labor day. So I said what the heck lets do it. I normally don't like to bowl when there are tons of open play bowlers who have food and drinks out by the approaches and who don't know about bowling courtesy. But heck I was gonna have a few beers so why not.
I'm bowling on the great wall of china so I have tons of room. Take a few frames to warm up then I find the "area". I shoot a decent game. I spare a few frames and string 6 and shoot another good game. Third game I string the first 8 strikes before leaving a solid 10. I was in disbelief that I didn't strike on the great wall of china shot that I missed the 10 pin spare. Then struck out in the 10th. There is a group of 15-20 people bowling on the lanes next to me and 4 of them approach me and ask me if I am a professional bowler. Having had a few beers already I was a bit talkative. They asked how I made my ball hook and other question. So I went into more detail than I normally ever would with open play bowlers. Drilling, weight block, cover stock... By this time I had pounded down 2 1/2 22 ounce beers and bowling became more challenging. Good thing the G.F. was driving me home.
Anyway, people just don't understand the difference in regular lanes and the more challenging lanes professional have to bowl on.
YES.... 20 years ago, if you shot great on house conditions, you could be compared to professional bowlers because they too bowled on similar conditions.
I guess I really have no point... just bored at work and decided to post.