synthetic vs wood lanes

[jnv32185]

Is there a big difference between wood and synthetic? My house where I bowl is about to change from wood to synthetic right before the start of fall league. I personally never bowled on synthetic lanes and am nervous about what it will do to my game because I have been told that my average will drop by about 50 pins!!!

What kind of differences can I look forward to on the synthetic lanes?? Will it really make my average drop??

[tccstudent]

Short awnser yes there is a big difference
When I went from wood to synthetics my avg jumped 20 pins

[Amyers]

It depends on your house and your style. I've been in well maintained wood houses where the differences were slight. I've been in poorly maintained wood houses where it's daylight and dark.

Synthetics tend to play more evenly. Less variation from lane to lane. The oil seems to last a little longer on synthetic. Some people have thought that synthetics hook less than wood but I haven't really seen that. If your going from light oiled wood to heavy oil synthetics you will most likely see a big difference. I like playing on both.

[bowl1820]

In general, on synthetics the ball tends to skid more in the oil and hook more in the dry. (when they are wet, they are wet. And when they get dry, they are dry. Dry they can hook more than wood)

With synthetic approaches the humidity has more of a affect, the moisture sometimes makes them feel tackier than wood till it clears up.

Depending on the lanemans experience, it might take them a little bit to get the pattern tweaked right. So your shot might vary at first.

[Aslan]

Short awnser yes there is a big difference
When I went from wood to synthetics my avg jumped 20 pins

And to counter that, mine went from about 175 to 170.

And the difference is more noticeable going from very dry/older wood and very heavy oil synthetics where the difference was more in the range of 165 (wood) and 150 (heavy oil synthetics).

[Big Merl]

I find my scores are way more consistent on synthetic.

[got_a_300]

As the others have said yes there is some difference between
wood lanes and synthetic lanes. If you have never bowled on
synthetic lanes before then it will take some getting used too
so you may drop a few pins in average at first.

Then again you may gain some pins in average if they can get
the lane oil pattern set up right the first time and your bowling
equipment and style of bowling will match up to the new surface.

I still remember back when I had to quit bowling back in 1999
because of a back injury just about everywhere still had wood
lanes and I had a 200-208 average on wood. Well fast forward
to 2011 when I made my comeback to bowling and just about
everywhere had synthetic lanes it took me a while to get back
into the swing of things and learn all about how synthetic lanes
played.

At first my average was around 170 then as I learned how to
play the synthetics I climbed in average back up into the 210+
average range again.

So best advise is don't go in expecting to do really bad or really
good on the new lanes just learn how to play them and all should
be well.

[manke]

It depends on what type of bowler you are, if you throw a big hook it wont affect you as much. If you throw more down and in it will take a while to adjust.

[rv driver]

It depends on what type of bowler you are, if you throw a big hook it wont affect you as much. If you throw more down and in it will take a while to adjust.
Yup. I'm adjusting...

[jnv32185]

It depends on what type of bowler you are, if you throw a big hook it wont affect you as much. If you throw more down and in it will take a while to adjust.

Ok so I after a couple weeks of being nervous and excited about the new lanes I finally got a chance to bowl on the new synthetic lanes last night. The alley had 6 lanes that were open for bowling and I was able to get one.

I noticed I was over hooking big time and I noticed the sound of the lane was different. I know the sound has nothing to do with performance I was just noting everything I noticed. It seamed to amplify my hook a lot. So I immediately started to make adjustments.

I moved about 10 boards to the left and arced my ball down the lane instead of throwing straight down and in. I had to make minor adjustments after that for the first two games which I bowled a 179 and a 166. I found my spot by the third game and bowled a 190.

Even with all the adjustments I am happy to say my average for last night seamed on par for what I have normally been bowling since I got back into bowling this past 8 months after over a 10 year hiatus.

[jnv32185]

I also noticed that on the wood lanes I was able to pick up at least 90% of my 10 pin spares and 7 pin spares but because my hook has been amplified on the synthetic lanes it was much harder to pick them up.

I am sure once I have enough practice with them I will find lines that work to pick them up but until then it looks like my views on using a spare ball may have just changed!

[mike_thomas93]

My home alley is wood, but I've felt preferring bowling on synthetic more. I think I like that better

[got_a_300]

I also noticed that on the wood lanes I was able to pick up at least 90% of my 10 pin spares and 7 pin spares but because my hook has been amplified on the synthetic lanes it was much harder to pick them up.

I am sure once I have enough practice with them I will find lines that work to pick them up but until then it looks like my views on using a spare ball may have just changed!

They may have to adjust the oil volume / pattern on the
new lanes if they haven't done so already. I know on our
synthetic lanes they can lay down the old wood oil pattern
on them and you can not hardly keep the ball on the right
side of the headpin and out of the left side gutter.

They had to increase the amount of oil that is being applied
to the synthetic lanes when they were installed several years
ago. They tried using the same amount / pattern as the wood
lanes and it was a major no-go at 35 foot and something like
16 to 18 mil of oil, now it is 41 foot and 28 / 29 mil of oil.

[CaptainXeroid]

Back in 1987 when I bowled on synthetics for the first time, my average dropped 15 pins/game! It took me half a season to adjust to the extreme skid on oil and extreme hook on the dry boards. The fact the shot was walled with ZERO oil outside the 10 boards screwed me up most of all. Of course, the rules have changed, so they aren't supposed to do this any more. Of course, there are different types of synthetics, and some are more skid flip than others.

Until you get a feel for what type of lanes & how they're oiled, you might try a less aggressive ball and a tighter line to control the pocket. Speed control is always important, and on synthetics it's crucial.

[jnv32185]

Until you get a feel for what type of lanes & how they're oiled, you might try a less aggressive ball and a tighter line to control the pocket. Speed control is always important, and on synthetics it's crucial.

I wish I could try a less aggressive ball but I only have one. I was looking into buying a second less aggressive ball around mid season but hoping to get one sooner.