Irritating Thing About my Bowling Center

[Paralipsis]

Every league in the house be it seniors or our merchants league (best of the best) gets fresh oil before they bowl. I bowl on the youth league and we get the best lanes in the house (17-24)...in regards to machine maintenance. As for lane conditions, 17-20 are dry as a bone, and 21-24 are some what oily (oiled the night before). You'd think that us, being the rising stars at the alley, we'd get treated with at least a little bit of respect and have them listen to us. But no. Every request for atleast a little bit of oil on our lanes gets ignored. The asst. manager is by no means a help, even though he deals with league standings and setting up the league.

About half of us bowl with some sort of hooking motion. Including me, I think it's three of us, we have rev rates with 350-450RPM's. Bowling on dry lanes with the equipment we have, we bowl below average week after week. It doesn't have that much to do with learning, anyone on the league that bowls with a hook knows how to bowl on oiled and dry lanes. Two out of three weekends I'm lofting the gutter cap to just hope and pray for some sort of break into the pocket. The fact that we get half dry and half oiled lanes isn't what sucks, it's the fact that every other league we have gets special treatment. Oil, mechanic on duty (since I work at the bowling center, I'm running stops and ball returns while bowling), etc. You'd think they could spread the love. Sometimes, it'll be 3-4 days since 17-20 had been oiled. 21-24 are almost always covered in a good dose of oil.

Oh, need I mention our oiling machine is a POS. Spews oil everywhere, is slow, heavy, a pain in the *** to program, and difficult to fill and maintain.

Being a new bowler to the league (but not to bowling), what would you recommend I do? Our league secretary doesn't do much except try to give pointers (especially to us high rev bowlers) which throws us off of our game..."You don't need that many rev's on your ball. Try rolling it off of your fingers."...walks around...and eats food.

[onefrombills]

well I first will ask the center manager as to why they do not oil for the youth leagues? Is this a corp center like Brunswick or AMF or is it an inderpendent ?

[Paralipsis]

well I first will ask the center manager as to why they do not oil for the youth leagues? Is this a corp center like Brunswick or AMF or is it an inderpendent ?

We run Brunswick equipment but it's a privately owned center. I've talked to the owner, league secretary, both assistant managers, the mechanics who deal with lane maintenance, etc. All I ever get is, you need to lean how to adjust. I know how to adjust, I haven't received coaching for nothing. It's the fact that every other league gets special treatment.

There aren't any other centers in the area so it's all I've got. Considering my equipment is designed for at least SOME oil on the lane, doesn't have to be much, but most definitely not bone dry conditions like we get more often than not.

If I'm not getting told to adjust, I get told to get used to and live with it, or they wave me off.

[J Anderson]

Its hard to believe that they would put down fresh oil for every league but one. It almost seems like they are deliberately trying to keep your scores down. The last time I bowled in a center that cut way back on the oil ( I think they might have dropped to once every two weeks ) the alley closed within two years.

[Paralipsis]

Leagues are what keep the lights on at the center. And Youth league is the rising generation to bowl on the adult leagues. I hate getting used to dry lanes, getting thrown on oiled lanes and watching my average drop, get used to oil, moved back to dry and it drops even further. It's so stupid. I mean, if you want to get better, practice on your own time. Don't half *** the league so that we'll "get better." It screws us up.

With over a million dollars in renovations having been put into the place, you'd think they could drop 20 bucks of oil on four pairs of lanes. But no. Hell, there's a 8 lane (I think) center not to far away, that oils more than our 32 lane center does. Hell, I have to bowl with my straight drilled spare ball from the far outside with my same release to come even close to hitting the pocket. That's how back it is. If I throw my No Mercy, I have to loft the gutter cap and then I get yelled at by them saying I'm damaging the lanes. Right...

[Beech]

there is the posiblity it is oiled but very lightly? to be honest i dont like bowling on dry lanes but being able to move left and learn to swing the ball is awesome pratice. When i bowled juniors a while back i would get oiled lanes but now bowling in adult leauges (first year into them) i get a house shot with a puddle in the middle. most leauges in houses only use the THS (typical house shot) which break down very easy and you have to move left.

think of this trying to be a learning lesson and if you know your going to be bowling on oiled lanes take a ball to the proshop and get a ball polished not all of them just 1 and have it for that league i have 1 just for one center in my city :p

[Paralipsis]

there is the posiblity it is oiled but very lightly? to be honest i dont like bowling on dry lanes but being able to move left and learn to swing the ball is awesome pratice. When i bowled juniors a while back i would get oiled lanes but now bowling in adult leauges (first year into them) i get a house shot with a puddle in the middle. most leauges in houses only use the THS (typical house shot) which break down very easy and you have to move left.

think of this trying to be a learning lesson and if you know your going to be bowling on oiled lanes take a ball to the proshop and get a ball polished not all of them just 1 and have it for that league i have 1 just for one center in my city :p

For 17-20, the last time the lanes were oiled was on Thursday morning. We bowl saturday mornings. For 21-24, it's friday evening. And like I said, I know how to bowl on both dry and oiled. With my most aggressive ball on 17-20, I'm lofting the gutter cap or heaving it as hard as I can down the lane. Hell, even my weaker strike ball breaks as much as my most aggressive one does on oiled lanes. You'd think they'd spread the love a little bit in regards to oil and league treatment.

[glen290]

I find this unbelievable.
Im a coach for our youth bowling club and we expect out lanes to be oiled on the morning we are due to train and play the league games, whats the point of teaching or training on a condition that dry ?

[Paralipsis]

I find this unbelievable.
Im a coach for our youth bowling club and we expect out lanes to be oiled on the morning we are due to train and play the league games, whats the point of teaching or training on a condition that dry ?

They've listened to our begging and whining and they've moved us to lanes with oil on them. Oiled around 530/6pm the night before. League bowls from 7pm to 9/930pm...open bowling on them from the end of league to midnight. Then we come in and get whatever remains...which IMO...is still bs.

[SRG SK9]

We actually have the same issue on our league's. We have two Youth leagues on Saturdays, one at 9AM and one at 11:30AM. Our center has 24 lanes. Before any league, the house shot is layed down on ALL the lanes. The 9AM league uses 1-14 for all the teams, so we get a fresh shot. The rest of the lanes are open to anyone who wishes to bowl. Some lanes get pounded by straight bowlers. Some lanes are still fresh. The 11:30 league is set up so that all the little kids (>12) use 1-16. The rest of the bowlers (the 13-18 league) uses the rest of the lanes. 90% of the time, we aren't bowling on a fresh shot. I generally don't care because I bowl both leagues, but my average in the 11:30 league is significantly lower, and the shot is partly to blame. I feel you, it's tough bowling on bone dry lanes. One of our high school matches was bowled on lanes that were last oiled 3 days before we had arrived. It's frustrating, but I'm glad to see that your doing something, and making at least a bit of progress. Good Luck.