I bowl in a weekend travel league and one of the houses that we visit only oils during the week.  everybody who participates knows up front that the lanes (synthetic heads, wood back ends) will be extremely dry.  The results are predictable, the bowlers that normally bowl there with no hand bowl reasonably well and everybody else struggles.  We are considering dropping this house from the rotation.  The question is, should we just suck it up and try to bowl better on a very tough condition or should we not bowl there at all?

The issue of dry lanes would not be the significant factor but rather the lack of respect to the league or property being displayed by the proprietor.  I cannot fathom having a league coming in with four or five-member teams bowling six games without putting down the protectant (which is what the lane conditioner is for as much as anything else).

That said, when you hit such a condition, you know it is going to be a grind-out and generally those can stay plus with do better.  You learn to adapt to an end-over-end roll.  The little pub centers in the midwest are great for that.  Just plan on doing a resurface pretty quick...I hit one of those centers on my way back from Michigan and it didn't even take 5 games to have a visible track on the Clear Grenade.

warning Harsh reality coming!


do you shoot tournaments? 2 or 3 squads, semi-finals and finals all on one oil run is common for us armatures. so you need to go on fresh heavy oils and bone dry all in the same day.

learn, grow, get better, stop crying or quit. Why make yourself miserable if you don't want to get any better. That’s no fun go get on an easy wall and avg 220. Tell every one how good you are, but don't look in the mirror and say it. Either you see it as a game or a sport. If it’s a game to you, then drop the house. If you’re in it for sport then adapt, overcome, improvise.

I read a lot posts on here about this and that house yada, yada, yada!
if you all are shooting on it, you all have the same chances or misfortune.

the only single case I can see in league bowling is when you’re in the  pots and your on the lanes that have been used and abused by a smaller league and the other end of the league is on a fresh shot with a better lane conditions. Even then, just win your games, don't get in the pots and stop complaining.

The sound of bowlers complaining is deafening.

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"deserves got nothing to do with it."
-- William Munny

I like heavy oil so I can feel your pain.  That being said as long as the conditions are the same for everyone you have to deal with it.  Now if they are dressing one set of lanes and the rest of the house is dry from the entire weeks worth of bowling then i would say that is a problem to talk to the center about.  If they are all within the same realm.  Then unfortunately play the hand you are dealt.
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I don't really play cards and I am not 79, but it fits together somehow.

I say bowl....if not you are missing the most fun part of bowling. The object is not to shoot 300 every game. The object is to score higher than everyone else on any given condition. Of course for most people that would require learning something new and that is way too much trouble. It's much easier to say "That shot is only for this type of person or that type of person". If you have too much hand then take the nand out. your car has a gas peddle but you don't keep in wide open all the time do you?

I agree with Michelle about the proprietor neglecting the center. The proprietor not putting down oil is the reason the center has had to install synthetic heads in the first place. Remember there is ONLY ONE reason we oil the lanes. It is to protect the lanes, not so anyone can throw any type of ball or shot.
Bowl great and be happy!!!
Ron Clifton

Are you kidding?  I can't get AWAY from dry lanes!  Good luck, though!
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9~

I hope your league will continue to bowl aat the house
and that those who don't have an advantage on dry won't begrudge
those who do.  Remember you may have the advantage in other houses.
Personally I hate dry lanes but am willing to concede that, if the
condition across the house/league is the same for everyone, its about
as fair as bowling gets.  But then I'm not much of a bowler, so what do I know?

I don't have a choice.  Not only is Australia dry from a precipitation standpoint, but also from a lane oil standpoint.  The condition shouldn't be that difficult, how much backend can you expect from wood backends?  I've had to completely change my game to be competitive on dry synthetics.  Why can't anyone else?  Because you get people out of their comfort zone and guess what?  They just turn into a bunch of crybabies instead of working on a solution to the problem and attacking it.  Seems more people would rather just give up than improve their games.  By looking at the previous responses, it seems that a significant proportion take the easy way out.  Good on ya for making the game as pitifully easy as it already is.

Dropping houses that don't allow you to score as easily is a childish solution.  If you're good enough to want to bowl in a travelling league, then you shoul be good enough to handle any condition, period.
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It's not Ez bein' Cheezy