What does it mean to open up a lane

[Albundy]

I don't understand. Can someone explain and is this done intentionally I think I can see when my house shot path is so called tight sometimes where there is barely enough oil outside of10 for me to play there

[djp1080]

Opening up the lane essentially means to be able to cross more boards of the lane. For a right-handed bowler it would be to roll the ball from left to right.
Just a few years ago I'd play in the dry boards almost all the way down the lane with my target at the first arrow (board 5) while standing right of center. Now I'm lining up quite a bit left of center rolling the ball over about board 20 and targeting the third arrow (board 15). I'd say I start with opening up the lane right from the beginning unless I find that there's a flood in the center and my ball doesn't make it back; however, there's always that friction from about board 10 out to get me back at least some. :)
Hope this helps...

[Albundy]

Thought it meant you are intentionally moving the oil over for yourself or others for later if that makes any sense

[bowl1820]

As John Jowdy put it, "Opening up the lanes" refers to the widening of the track or area, that the ball covers on it's path to the pocket.

So if someone says he or they are trying to "open the lanes up", then they're saying they are trying to widen thier ball path To create a area of friction and hold so they have more margin of error.

Now if someone say's the "Lanes have opened up" that would be saying that the track has widened and you can now take advantage of areas of friction and hold that have been created by you or other bowler's ball paths. The Tight lanes have become looser.

And yes you can do this intentionaly, like when you hear talk of someone using a heavily sanded ball to carve a path to the pocket. Thier trying to make a dry area they can bump the ball off of.

[Florida Bowler]

Back in the day, I bowled in a league where they called that "building a wall." Some teams got angry if we took too long during practice. They needed to get as many balls thrown as possible.

[Albundy]

I guess you would do this during warm up. A little too advanced for me. I think I do the opposite. I stop if I found a spot and I'm loose. As a lefty I want to preserve it

[ALazySavage]

@Albundy - As a lefty once you find your spot you will want to then build your wall outside of that spot. For example, if you were playing straight up 8 and you found this to be the perfect spot for you the next step would to be to take a sanded bowling ball (something at a low grit) and then throw it up 5 so that if you were to miss there would be more friction outside of your mark creating recovery. Jakob Butturff would do this during the PBA experience league I bowled in years ago (back in AZ) - he would find his shot and then take a piece of chalk (some heavily sanded equipment) and play outside the line to create recovery.

[RobLV1]

I think you're getting ahead of yourselves guys. PBA pros "open up the lane" because they are playing on a pattern the is virtually flat with no built in friction. If you are bowling on a house pattern, the lane starts out already opened up by definition.