Dry Lanes.. Whats your worst story?

[JaxBowlingGuy]

So, what's the worst lanes you have bowled on with respect to dry conditions?

The worst I have ever had was when I was really getting into bowling about 12-15 years ago. I bowled at a wood house center and they were known for not oiling the lanes. Went in for league one night and apparently they hadn't oiled that week.. yes week lol... first indication of this was the ball making the turn left shortly after the heads. Finished the night going back to true beginner style and just going straight down the middle.

My worst in recent times was this past weekend at a tournament in Orlando area. It was a multi day tournament with 2.5 days of qualifying and the finals being sunday evening. They had 4 qualifying blocks Sunday morning with 5 bowlers per set of lanes. By the time the finals started, they were running behind and didn't have time to reoil. At the start of the finals there set of lanes had 60 games on them (5 bowlers, 3 games each, and 4 squads). Needless to say there wasn't much of a shot left. It started as the PBA Chameleon pattern.

[bowl1820]

Years ago I was over at Orange bowl in Lakeland for a tournament, old wood lanes with old guardian overlay. Those lanes were toast, I was using my plastic ball after the first few frames.

[ytlas]

In the mid 70's I bowled a Junior College tournament at The Bowling Center of Riverside. They were dry, if there was oil there was no evidence on the balls when they came back. I actually won the singles by "suitcasing" the ball and pushing it down the lane. One of the guys on the opposing team was my teammate the next year at CSUF. We got to talking about that tournament one day and he mentioned that his one teammate asked "How is he doing that?" referring to me. :)

Funniest dry lane bowling I ever saw was at the Pro Tour Qualifier (Rabbit) at the Gable House in the early 80's. They were dry and the late Jeff Mattingly threw his first ball and it immediately hooked left and rolled out. He kind of had a wry laugh at it. He was a fairly large guy and he used to shovel the ball on the lane and got a lot of revs and a lot of hook and did well when there was a lot of oil on the lanes. By the second game he was doing so poorly he plugged in a pinball machine and started playing that between shots. He said he didn't care if they fined him or not.

[NewToBowling]

I'm in vacation in San Antonio and visited a Bowlero. My first tip that it wasn't going to have oiled lanes was the fact that when I called they said they don't have leagues but just open bowling. My guess is they probably oil once a week if even that. So went there and brought my Cyclone with me. Basicallly stood at left gutter and threw towards right gutter to even have a chance at the pocket. Otherwise if your ball was anywhere towards the center of the lane it was going to slide into the left gutter. After three games I didn't see a single oil streak on my ball

[stargell1]

Place where I bowl at here in NW Ohio, they only oil the lanes once a week. So I never see oil on the ball. I usually either have to go hard and straight or back-up bowl to hit the pocket.

[LyalC52]

one night for mixed league with a THS
the teens oiling the lanes weren't paying attention with the machine and didn't set the drum in correctly
so the machine went down, cleaned and striped correctly, but dumped all the oil on the outside 8 board
the right lane they oiled correctly

ball hooked as soon as it hit the lane inside 8, 8 and out it skidded to 38' then snapped hard left if it didn't skid off the lane first

[fordman1]

I wasn't there but saw on TV a tournament in Reno it was outside and the had a sand storm. It should have been canceled but it wasn't. You could actually see the track of the ball where it picked up the sand. It was crazy.

[JaxBowlingGuy]

one night for mixed league with a THS
the teens oiling the lanes weren't paying attention with the machine and didn't set the drum in correctly
so the machine went down, cleaned and striped correctly, but dumped all the oil on the outside 8 board
the right lane they oiled correctly

ball hooked as soon as it hit the lane inside 8, 8 and out it skidded to 38' then snapped hard left if it didn't skid off the lane first

That reminded me of another time where the center got a new oil machine and put oil in the cleaner, and cleaner in the oil tanks.

[ep1977]

Bowled at one of the local AMF's today and midway through the first game was standing left of 20 and throwing my plastic spare ball. It's disgraceful!

[foreverincamo]

Had a league night after the ownership changed at the center. Lane machine had a malfunction and stripped the lanes but never put down a drop of oil. New owner never noticed, but when practice started, it was obvious.
Well, he said he didn't have time to figure out what happened and get the lanes oiled for the night. So everyone bowled on wood lanes with no oil. Funny thing was the high game was a 280, bowled by my teammate, with mostly Brooklyn strikes.

[Hot_pocket]

I went on a trip to a monastery when I was in H.S. The priest had their own 2 lane alley that we could bowl in. They told us in advance so i took a spare ball and another ball, that I can't remember the name of. The first time i threw the ball, it hit the lane and turned left. I could barely keep the ball on the lane, even with the spare ball. They were old wooden lanes that probably hadn't been oiled in years.

[LOUVIT]

I went on a trip to a monastery when I was in H.S. The priest had their own 2 lane alley that we could bowl in. They told us in advance so i took a spare ball and another ball, that I can't remember the name of. The first time i threw the ball, it hit the lane and turned left. I could barely keep the ball on the lane, even with the spare ball. They were old wooden lanes that probably hadn't been oiled in years.


now that story wins...lol.. Makes me wonder what other people that have their own lanes do. like the white house had before Obama turned them into a basketball court. (if that's true)

[ep1977]

now that story wins...lol.. Makes me wonder what other people that have their own lanes do. like the white house had before Obama turned them into a basketball court. (if that's true)

The White House still has a pair of lanes. Gary Faulkner played on them a few months ago.

[LOUVIT]

The White House still has a pair of lanes. Gary Faulkner played on them a few months ago.


I guess there's room for both...lol, who's Gary Faulkner

[Amyers]

I guess there's room for both...lol, who's Gary Faulkner

Motiv staffer

[LOUVIT]

found him and the white house bowling.. Pretty cool

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/pba-champ-gary-faulkner-to-bowl-at-white-house-2d3aba12-6924-4683-e053-0100007f4797-371050591.html

[JaxBowlingGuy]

Gary bowls like every tournament down this way. He was in the one last weekend in Orlando. He's a really nice guy

[bigbaby987]

My last outting in league, the lanes were EXTREMELY DRY, and I just couldn't get anything to over hook. I pulled out 4 balls and I kept crossing the headpin, even after moving extreme left. I left there so deflated. I scored somewhere in the 440's for 3 games. I lost 8 points off my average!?!?!? I haven't been that frustrated since I got a new coach that totally disassembled my game. I had to walk out of there thinking, "I really need a low performance ball." I almost pulled out a plastic ball off the shelf. LOL... We return tonight and I'm hoping things are better.

[Aslan]

I went in once to a AMF Center after a holiday weekend with a buddy of mine.

I was throwing the ball up the track about 19mph at the pins (fairly high speed)...the ball never made 3/4 down the lane before hooking into the left gutter.

To add insult to injury, after 3/4 game...my buddies brand new (that's why we were going to practice...so he could try out his new ball) got chewed up in the ball return.