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Thread: What is going on with these lanes?

  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by RobLV1 View Post
    It's a crap shoot, the ball may go high, or it may start to go light or fail to carry (weak tens). The biggest thing is that with modern lane conditions, you NEVER move right, and you had better pay attention to bowlers to the left of you. Two and one moves don't usually work on modern house shots unless nobody is just to the left of you... otherwise move an arrow rather than two boards. Also, in terms of a stronger ball, if you are using a ball that has more than a hundred games on it, it is no longer a strong ball.
    Rob - I always respect & am interested in your thoughts, and evolving thoughts, after the old BTM articles & Bowling Intel days. Could you expand on the “more than a hundred games” comment? Thanks

  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Benji88 View Post
    Rob - I always respect & am interested in your thoughts, and evolving thoughts, after the old BTM articles & Bowling Intel days. Could you expand on the “more than a hundred games” comment? Thanks
    Yes, I'd like to hear more about this as well. Since most standard Fall leagues are around 90-110 games, this would mean your ball will no longer contain the same strong reaction after just one season? I feel proper maintenance on a ball will keep it going for a lot longer than that.
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  3. #13

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    One of the primary factors that make modern reactive resin balls hook is the cover materials ability to soak up oil. As the ball is going down the lane, the oil is absorbed into the ball which results in more friction, faster. Unfortunately, like a sponge, a ball reaches a point where it can no longer absorb more oil. At this point, many bowlers have the ball put into an oven to get some of the absorbency back. From everything that I've seen, this helps once, or maybe twice. Once you reach that point, a new ball is really the only alternative, if total hook is important to you. If you can become a more effective and divergent bowler, one who accepts that energy knocks down pins, not total hook, then you can get off the more hook train and save a whole bunch of money. Does that make sense to you?

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by RobLV1 View Post
    One of the primary factors that make modern reactive resin balls hook is the cover materials ability to soak up oil. As the ball is going down the lane, the oil is absorbed into the ball which results in more friction, faster. Unfortunately, like a sponge, a ball reaches a point where it can no longer absorb more oil. At this point, many bowlers have the ball put into an oven to get some of the absorbency back. From everything that I've seen, this helps once, or maybe twice. Once you reach that point, a new ball is really the only alternative, if total hook is important to you. If you can become a more effective and divergent bowler, one who accepts that energy knocks down pins, not total hook, then you can get off the more hook train and save a whole bunch of money. Does that make sense to you?
    I think that would explain why you see guys go out and buy a new ball every month. There are several people in my league that have amassed 30 to 40 bowling balls but have not been bowling as long as I have. Instead of learning how to adjust to the lanes, it seems that the blame is put on everything but themselves (i.e. the ball, the lane conditions etc). I am guilty of this also, however my first reaction is not to buy a new ball, but to try and figure out what I'm doing (or not doing) to effectively play the lanes. I've been using the same 3-4 ball arsenal for a few seasons now and yes they don't hook like they did out of the box, but with proper maintenance (ball oven/coverstock management), they hook more than enough to get me to the pocket and hit hard. It's just up to me to adjust to the lanes when the ball isn't hitting correctly anymore and that's the part I struggle with the most at the moment. Otherwise, you're in that endless cycle of buying a new ball, using it until it stops hitting and then buying a new ball- rinse and repeat. It gets expensive quickly and I'd rather spend that money on practicing.

  5. #15
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    For the sake of having a conversation...while also risking poking the bear...I will play devil's advocate and point out one major flaw in Rob's theory in that there are also quite a few bowlers that have amassed a large number of honor scores...mostly 300-games, 10/11 in a rows, 700+ games...who simply throw up 2nd arrow and use bowling balls that are 2-10 years old. These guys don't know anything about 'modern bowling techniques', they don't care about 'specs', and even if they have a bad night and beg for advice...they would never take any advice you gave them.

    So, if throwing up 2nd arrow on a THS is soooooo wrong. If a ball burns up after 2 weeks of ownership and you need to develop some new-fangled strategy of adjusting 6:9 left while lowering your speed to 7mph...but only on Wednesdays through Mondays if the humidity is between 31% and 71% and you have less than a 0.05% topographical shift to the left or right. On Tuesdays it's a a 4:7 with an increased hand rotation, in < 31% humidity you adjust everything by a factor of 10% and ball down one ball, and if there is more than a 0.05% topographical shift...you have to completely change everything; back to the drawing board....etc...

    ...then why is the guy with 19 300-games still getting 3 300-games every year doing what he's always done? The only "new-age" bowlers that are surging ahead of the pack...are doing so because they're bowling 2-handed and creating so much entry angle and power that a one-handed bowler would have to bowl perfectly to even compete. They aren't using some magical new chaos theory or system which allows their balls to move left and stay out of the burn, etc... They are throwing 21mph with 450rpms. If you can do that...you can beat topography, humidity, anything!

    But on a THS? Which is what 98% of us bowl on...

    (No CDolceJr...you aren't bowling on a reverse block)

    ...if bowling up 2nd arrow is bad...why are so many bowlers who know less about bowling balls and moden bowling concepts than me (and I know relatively little) able to continue to accrue honor score after honor score after honor score to the point that they can't even remember how many they have?
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  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cdolcejr View Post
    I think that would explain why you see guys go out and buy a new ball every month. There are several people in my league that have amassed 30 to 40 bowling balls but have not been bowling as long as I have. Instead of learning how to adjust to the lanes, it seems that the blame is put on everything but themselves (i.e. the ball, the lane conditions etc). I am guilty of this also, however my first reaction is not to buy a new ball, but to try and figure out what I'm doing (or not doing) to effectively play the lanes. I've been using the same 3-4 ball arsenal for a few seasons now and yes they don't hook like they did out of the box, but with proper maintenance (ball oven/coverstock management), they hook more than enough to get me to the pocket and hit hard. It's just up to me to adjust to the lanes when the ball isn't hitting correctly anymore and that's the part I struggle with the most at the moment. Otherwise, you're in that endless cycle of buying a new ball, using it until it stops hitting and then buying a new ball- rinse and repeat. It gets expensive quickly and I'd rather spend that money on practicing.
    My PSO had a very good suggestion to my son regarding ball replacement. His favorite ball is his Venom shock. He bowls 60+ games every week practicing. (Ah to be young) That ball IS a sponge too. Well obviously the common complaint is that it's not hooking like it did. At his pace I've had to bake it several times but it only does so much.

    Each time I bake it the oil just pours out of it. Once it cools I got it with some sanding pads. It come back and lasts for a while. Even when the ball needs to be baked, it still hooks a ton but just not as much. With his revs and axis tilt it still hit plenty hard. He gets all kinds of ridiculous carry and throws really big games. I'm certain it has 1k+ games on it by now and it's still just fine. He can use it until it cracks.

    My PSO suggested getting him a second one that he ONLY uses for official play which I did. It's drilled identically to the first one. This way when he wants to go to his Venom Shock he has a fresh one for the important stuff. My son doesn't know it but I also got him a third one already drilled up and ready to go so in the box just in case.

    So, he has thrown the new one a couple of times to compare to the old and and new and honestly the difference is not dramatic. Pretty minor really. A couple boards different and it drives a teensy bit harder through the pins. It could be the way he throws it or that I'm diligent about the surface? Or it could be that the balls really don't die to the point of being useless like people think, they just like having that scapegoat. I don't know really. Either way, they'll still knock down pins.

    Like anything else, everything works it's best when it's brand new. The better you maintain it, the longer it will be useful. The same holds true to our own bodies. Well... except they start out useless. Once they aren't, keeping up with them is obviously important. Since our bowling balls are merely an extension of our bodies logic dictates to take care of them.

  7. #17
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    I don't think bowling balls absorb all that much oil. If a ball absorbed oil to the point of saturation, one would think it would get noticeably heavier after having all of that oil soaked in to it. Like a wet sponge saturated with water. I believe the oil might go slightly below the surface, but not deep down.

    As others have said, ball maintenance is key. I clean my stuff immediately after bowling before putting it back in my bag. My bowling balls never sweat on a hot day after sitting in the car for hours. However others I bowl with will pull their bowling balls out of their bags and they will be sweating. They wipe it off and it doesn't come back even though the ball is still warm.

    There have also been reports of people heating up brand new balls and having them get a sheen on the surface. This has lead some to believe it isn't lane oil coming out, but actually plasticizers and resin coming out of the cover...which isn't good.

  8. #18

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    'I don't think bowling balls absorb all that much oil.'

    I don't think the sun will rise tomorrow morning, but I think that planning my life around that belief is a really bad idea!

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by RobLV1 View Post
    'I don't think bowling balls absorb all that much oil.'

    I don't think the sun will rise tomorrow morning, but I think that planning my life around that belief is a really bad idea!
    lol

    I clean mine after every use before leaving the center. And I can't confirm this but have read somewhere where someone put a brand new ball in a ball oven and it came out dry. I baked mine a few times after several uses and they were soaked. In fact I ran them through 3 or 4 times in about 15 minute cylcles with cool down in between and every time came out soaked. Not saying I'm an expert on ball maintenance but sharing my experience
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  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by boatman37 View Post
    lol

    I clean mine after every use before leaving the center. And I can't confirm this but have read somewhere where someone put a brand new ball in a ball oven and it came out dry. I baked mine a few times after several uses and they were soaked. In fact I ran them through 3 or 4 times in about 15 minute cylcles with cool down in between and every time came out soaked. Not saying I'm an expert on ball maintenance but sharing my experience
    I have the opposite happen. The ball I've been using all summer used to absorb and sweat a ton of oil, but I've tried the ball oven a couple times recently with this ball and not a drop came out. And I don't clean my equipment before leaving the center. I guess I'm playing in the dry too much!

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