tough house, low scores

[Mike White]

crappy carry!! LOL I hear ALL THE FRICKEN TIME! Is it really the carry, or could it be their entry into the pocket? One person has POOR carry on the same lanes another bowler has a 300 that same day! I have seen it.

Another line I hear a lot after a 10 pin leage, "Welcome to ___________ fill in any bowling alley. "

I had a game about a month or two ago.

I struck in the 1st frame, and again in the count ball in the 10th.

In between those was pure hell.

I don't remember the order, but in one game, I left 3 ringing 10 pins, 2 solid 9 pins, 2 solid 8 pins, a pinch high 4 pin, and one shot missed pocket leaving a 6 pin.

[Mike White]

Aslan you are referring mostly to lane conditions. I don't consider that part of how tough a house plays that may mean you need different equipment or need to change your style. When someone says tough house I think of how old the pins are, the conditions of the pin decks, heck even the pin setters can play a role if they set pins out of place. My home lane the lanes themselves are well maintained but feature older pin decks and you just get less messengers and pin action than I do other houses I bowl at.

The 1st 15 feet of the wood lanes Aslan bowled on was a junkyard from 8 to 8.

More boards were patched than original, and it didn't appear they were ever sanded flush to each other.

When I threw the ball there, I could feel the ball bump each board as it crossed to the right by the vibrations under my foot.

Aslan learned to loft 15 feet because that is what those conditions required.

There was still a heavy wall of oil on the lanes, but my plastic ball would hook in the oil because of the friction with the edge of each board.

Once I got the ball outside of the junkyard, I found the dry area of the lane, and the plastic ball hooked even more.

At that point it became clear to me that we weren't bowling, we were playing lawn darts.

[Aslan]

But Mike…it wasn't the "Center" being harder. Many people averaged high at that house…higher than they average now.

But it was harder for a bowler like YOU…and like others. Just like bowling on heavy oil at AMF Carter was HORRIBLE for my game of lofting the ball 15ft. It was a disaster. Now, is Carter a hard place to play? I don't know. It was for ME!

And thats why I think the whole "center thing" is overblown. Anyone can play a center well if they adapt their game to that houses patterns and lane conditions. In my opinion.

[Amyers]

But Mike…it wasn't the "Center" being harder. Many people averaged high at that house…higher than they average now.

But it was harder for a bowler like YOU…and like others. Just like bowling on heavy oil at AMF Carter was HORRIBLE for my game of lofting the ball 15ft. It was a disaster. Now, is Carter a hard place to play? I don't know. It was for ME!

And thats why I think the whole "center thing" is overblown. Anyone can play a center well if they adapt their game to that houses patterns and lane conditions. In my opinion.

Well I'm pretty sure your old lanes are an extreme example and yes you can change your game to adapt to the conditions but adaptions aren't going to fix poor carry. I have seen houses where on a pocket hit pins fly across the lanes from both directions on a solid hit in other houses that pin never makes it back off the sidewall to do anything.

There are heavy oil centers where higher rev bowlers have an advantage. I've seen high friction houses where lower rev bowlers can throw more aggressive equipment that the higher rev guys just can't but all of that has more to do with lane conditions than how tough a house is to score in. There is a difference between a house that doesn't match up well with your game and a lower scoring house. In a house where you don't match up there will be bowlers still with that high average just not you in a truly lower scoring house everyone's averages are lower. My home house in all of the leagues we have the highest average is 225 right now 2 people are that high about 4 others at 210+ by the end of the season I doubt more than one if any are over 220.

[Mike White]

Well I'm pretty sure your old lanes are an extreme example and yes you can change your game to adapt to the conditions but adaptions aren't going to fix poor carry. I have seen houses where on a pocket hit pins fly across the lanes from both directions on a solid hit in other houses that pin never makes it back off the sidewall to do anything.

Actually adaptations can fix poor carry.

The house I grew up in was well known as a lower scoring house.

Outside of midnight pot games, the oil pattern was 1 to 1, slight crown.

In the ~15 years I bowled there ('75 - '90) they had a total of 3 league 300 games.

Since the side boards didn't hurl pins back across the lane, I learned to hit the pocket a little high flush.

I'll leave many more solid 9 pins, than throw messengers, even to this day.