The topic of dry lanes seems to come up a lot, especially lately since a lot of houses are cutting back on oil.  The house I currently bowl in can probably be considered on the lighter side of medium, especially if you play the outside, or up the track.  Most guys with any sort of hand will play the puddle in the middle, but there are some that scream and yell every week that the lanes are dry.  One guy in particular resorts to playing up the track with plastic, and scores pretty well, but man does he b*tch about it.  From what I can tell, he'd be better off moving inside, and putting a little belly on the ball bouncing off the dry instead of playing up the dry.  I'm not sure if he can't or doesn't want to.

I thought he was crazy until last week, when I too was forced to pull out my plastic in the 3rd game and play up the track.  The puddle in the middle had dried up and I was forced much deeper than I'm comfortable playing.  

It got me thinking, do we complain of dry lanes because we can't play them correctly, or do some people actually see legitimate dry lanes in league play?  What would be your definition of dry?  Do dry lane reactive balls really work on shots like these?

On a side note, I have played on un-oiled lanes, and it was a lesson in futility.  Conventionally drilled plastic house balls hit the lane and hooked immediately.  I don't think anyone is talking about lanes that dry, they were unplayable unless you used one of those ramps.
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-Clint