Wildly differing lanes on a pair...

[swingset]

I've noticed over the years some variation from one lane to the next on freshly dressed pairs, but I've never seen anything like last night's league. We've been on this pair several times this year, and it's been consistent so something went very haywire when dressing this pair.

One lane, from mid-lane all the way to the pins was flooded with oil....an absolute slick. Once your ball hit this area, it became a missile with no movement at all...even the big crankers on the pair could not get the ball to move through it. No exaggeration, even with a ton of revs, guys were getting less than a full board from the mid lane to the deck.

The other lane, the entire back end was dry as a bone. I usually have a gentle arc but at the breakpoint it grabbed and violently turned my ball like an invisible foot kicked it. I normally throw a medium heavy ball (Hellraiser Revenge) but could not keep it on this lane. Once it grabbed, no matter where, it was going to the wrong side of the rack.

I had to throw my heaviest oil ball on the flooded lane, from the 5 board and hope it gained enough arc before mid-lane to track into the pocket. It looked like a backwards video - hoooked a bit getting down the lane, then straight on from there...so if your mid-lane read wasn't perfect, good night.

On the other lane, I was throwing a polished Slingshot (my weakest ball) from the 35 over to the 10th and it was still whipping back into the pocket.

A 30 board difference in stance from left to right, with a heavy/light ball difference too! Yikes.

If this wasn't a screw-off league, we would have complained and had it re-dressed but the maintenance guy was working on a broken pair and we decided the challenge would be fun since we were all subject to the same awful conditions. It ended up being a real challenge, too, made spares very difficult with the backends so wildly different. I ended up with a 171/202/191 which was the highest score of 8 people on the lane, some of them 220 average bowlers. Crazy!

Anyone else ever run into a night like that and bowl through it?

[dnhoffman]

Sounds like somebody hit the wrong button on the kegel machine to me....

[billf]

We've done it on purpose. We dressed on lane for the US Open pattern and the other for the shortest THS we could find. Another time the Brunswick on one lane and didn't dress the other at all. It hadn't been oiled in four days. And we didn't allow plastic balls for anything other than corner pins.

Then we once and only once did one with Brunswick the other US Open and could only use plastic. That really sucked but sucked for all four of us. Leagues won't let us do it so three friends and I do it. Two are co-
GMs of the alley and the other is an asst mgr. We bowl A LOT so need to do dumb stuff at times to keep it fun.

[Hampe]

Have had lane pairs differ by about 3-5 boards, but never anything that extreme.

[dnhoffman]

Have had lane pairs differ by about 3-5 boards, but never anything that extreme.

aye - we have one specific pair at my local house that I know plays 4-5 boards different. I hate playing on that pair... =/

[got_a_300]

Oh yeah I've bowled tournaments that had wildly varying lane conditions
like that. One tournament I had to play 5th arrow on the left lane and on
the right lane I'd have to play straight up the 1st or 2nd board to get to the
pocket.

It made for an interesting tournament that is for sure only the ones that had
the right adjustments made it to the top 5 and I qualified in the 2nd spot and
finished 1st but that was many years ago not sure if I could even make the right
adjustments now days.

I've seen almost the same thing here in the summer league lately during the
experimental faze they go through toward the end of the league trying to get
the fall shot worked out and set as they try different shots on each lane.

Week before last they were so slick I couldn't get my ball to move over 4 or 5
boards on the left lane and then on the right lane I couldn't keep it on the right
side of the headpin so no telling what will be out there this week. LOL!!!! :confused:

[e-tank]

We've done it on purpose. We dressed on lane for the US Open pattern and the other for the shortest THS we could find. Another time the Brunswick on one lane and didn't dress the other at all. It hadn't been oiled in four days. And we didn't allow plastic balls for anything other than corner pins.

Then we once and only once did one with Brunswick the other US Open and could only use plastic. That really sucked but sucked for all four of us. Leagues won't let us do it so three friends and I do it. Two are co-
GMs of the alley and the other is an asst mgr. We bowl A LOT so need to do dumb stuff at times to keep it fun.

lol my alley did this the first week of my current league. They had a tournament early that day on a short sport shot and instead of stripping and re dressing they laid a short ths over it. All of the thumbless high rev guys were so mad that they couldnt keep their ball on the lane

[TCJ]

I've bowled on lanes that have fairly significant differences, but nothing like you mentioned. The most I've seen is maybe about five boards difference, or just switching balls each frame. I do think that attempting to bowl on what you described would be interesting at least. It couldn't be worse than bowling a sport shot, right?

[swingset]

I've bowled on lanes that have fairly significant differences, but nothing like you mentioned. The most I've seen is maybe about five boards difference, or just switching balls each frame. I do think that attempting to bowl on what you described would be interesting at least. It couldn't be worse than bowling a sport shot, right?

It was like a steroids sport shot on one side...and an old dry wooden lane on the other. One side had no margin for error at all, the other was twitchy and difficult with any aggressive cover or hand.

It was fun, in a way, just trying to figure it out and watching how everyone attempted to cope.

[Stormed1]

One of our local king of the hills one week has a 52 foot shot on the right lane and a 29 foot shot on the left.........on wood

[JDHamm85]

I'd probably start bowling between my legs if I had to bowl on a 52 foot pattern on one lane and a 26 foot pattern on the other

[dnhoffman]

One of our local king of the hills one week has a 52 foot shot on the right lane and a 29 foot shot on the left.........on wood

That sounds fun though

[TCJ]

I've found that I do best on the medium patterns so far. Scorpion, Viper, Chameleon and the US Open are all manageable for me, with Scorpion and the US Open giving me some nice lines to the pocket. I struggle mightily on Cheetah and Shark, so I imagine a 29-footer and a 52-footer would be extremely difficult for me. But it would still be fun!

[MICHAEL]

I think Bill had a good point. It can get boring each week, maybe 3 or four leagues a week, the same pattern, with the same Top guns bowling the same blocked easy house pattern getting the same results, and keeping their 220/230 averages and feeling like king of the mountain!

I have seen many of these 220/230 bowlers totally,, TOTALLY lost when the lanes are not dressed for high scores with the same old same old house pattern, or even picking up a 10 pin, because they have that house pattern down!

To me if you were to compare it to golf, it would be like a 450 year par 5, that you play over, and over, and over, 18 times!! ()
Why ??? What thrill is there in that??

O, I know,,,, I have heard that if bowlers don’t get high scores then they cry, and complain to the staff,,,, but,,,,, like Bill said, to me it would be a lot more fun and challenging if they tweaked the lanes different each week. I know it would be a PAIN to do each lane different in a pair, but at least make it a challenge for the EGO high, Top guns like myself!! LOL

I have always liked a challenge, I have no Ego, I have been married too long for that, but I do LOVE a challenge, and trying to figure out a pattern, to me,,,, is just part of the fun!


I know many of you are going to say get on a sports league pattern, but they can be hard to find unfortunately, and what I am talking about here is something I think would be good for the game!

As I mentioned above, I find it interesting when the lanes are not just perfect, (house pattern), how many Top Guns, are lost in regards to ADJUSTING TO LANE CONDITIONS, and as a result bowl much lower then on the 450 yard par 5!! Just some thoughts from Iceman, who lives for challenges!!!

Life is not easy and blocked, why should the Fantastic Sport of Bowling be that way!!

[vdubtx]

I have had variation on lanes in a pair before but nothing over 10 boards. I even threw a 300 game on a pair like this with 5 boards variance from left to right. Right side used a heavier oil ball, left lane used a medium oil ball.

[dnhoffman]

I think Bill had a good point. It can get boring each week, maybe 3 or four leagues a week, the same pattern, with the same Top guns bowling the same blocked easy house pattern getting the same results, and keeping their 220/230 averages and feeling like king of the mountain!

I have seen many of these 220/230 bowlers totally,, TOTALLY lost when the lanes are not dressed for high scores with the same old same old house pattern, or even picking up a 10 pin, because they have that house pattern down!

To me if you were to compare it to golf, it would be like a 450 year par 5, that you play over, and over, and over, 18 times!! ()
Why ??? What thrill is there in that??

O, I know,,,, I have heard that if bowlers don’t get high scores then they cry, and complain to the staff,,,, but,,,,, like Bill said, to me it would be a lot more fun and challenging if they tweaked the lanes different each week. I know it would be a PAIN to do each lane different in a pair, but at least make it a challenge for the EGO high, Top guns like myself!! LOL

I have always liked a challenge, I have no Ego, I have been married too long for that, but I do LOVE a challenge, and trying to figure out a pattern, to me,,,, is just part of the fun!


I know many of you are going to say get on a sports league pattern, but they can be hard to find unfortunately, and what I am talking about here is something I think would be good for the game!

As I mentioned above, I find it interesting when the lanes are not just perfect, (house pattern), how many Top Guns, are lost in regards to ADJUSTING TO LANE CONDITIONS, and as a result bowl much lower then on the 450 yard par 5!! Just some thoughts from Iceman, who lives for challenges!!!

Life is not easy and blocked, why should the Fantastic Sport of Bowling be that way!!

Doing my first sport shot league for just this reason!

[MICHAEL]

Doing my first sport shot league for just this reason!

Good for YOU!! I have only been bowling short time, but want to bowl a sports pattern league myself. I think, personally, that's the true sport of bowling! That's what separates the MEN/WOMEN from the boys/girls!! I have bowled a few sports patters, and they are a breed all to their own!! Loved it!!

The ability to adapt to varying lane conditions makes it much more challenging, and at the same time MORE REWARDING when you achieve success!!!

[Tihomir]

I bowl occasionaly in a center that every pair in it has topographical differences, however one of the pairs is a completely nerve-wrecking animal. A 37ft pattern is usually what they oil, one of the lane is relatively dry - it has to be played outside 1st arrow, the other one is slick as hell and you should play it like a 45ft pattern - if you give away from the pocket, the ball will never come back. And even if you hit the pocket, the ball might go flat on you, leaving 5-7s, 8-10s and so on.