The randomly changing lane(s) of courtesy

[Tony]

I have bowled for years in a league where 1 lane is the standard although a select group of guys will wait for 2lanes, that has been no big problem as we generally will keep moving along and they can stand for an extra couple of minutes and wait.
I started bowling in another league and was told by one team and it seemed to hold true over the past 6 weeks that 2 lanes was the standard in the league. Last week as I paused waiting for a guy 2 lanes over one of the guys on the other team urged me to go a couple of times. When I asked about it, they insisted one lane was the league rule.
What is generally expected in your leagues ?

[SAbowler]

One lane courtesy in the leagues I am in. IMO, someone asking for two lanes is just being a prima donna. LOL

[J Anderson]

I have bowled for years in a league where 1 lane is the standard although a select group of guys will wait for 2lanes, that has been no big problem as we generally will keep moving along and they can stand for an extra couple of minutes and wait.
I started bowling in another league and was told by one team and it seemed to hold true over the past 6 weeks that 2 lanes was the standard in the league. Last week as I paused waiting for a guy 2 lanes over one of the guys on the other team urged me to go a couple of times. When I asked about it, they insisted one lane was the league rule.
What is generally expected in your leagues ?

First of all, the standard USBC rule is one lane courtesy, anything else, like two lane or PBA style courtesy, must be written into the league rules and at the very least all team captains should have a written copy of the league rules.

All three leagues that I am a member of use one lane courtesy. In one of them there was even big to do resulting in a number of e-mails back and forth with USBC over how farback one had to be from the approach while awaiting ones turn. The sport league explicitly states one lane, yet 25% insist on giving two lanes.

[JasonNJ]

The leagues in my center do 2 lane courtesy. Took me a while to get used to.

[bowl1820]

Technically there is no USBC lane courtesy "Rule" in the rule book, It's just in the "Etiquette" part at the back of the book after the index.

So if a league or tournament doesn't actually have it wrote into a "rule" in the rules. Theoretically you would not have give any lane courtesy.

But the standard practice in most all leagues & tournaments is one lane courtesy . But mainly you just have to see what the standard practice is for your house or league and go with that be it one lane or two lane courtesy.

[RobLV1]

Most of the senior leagues here follow a two lane courtesy. It drives me nuts, particularly when there are so many prima donnas who will slam their balls down on the return if someone steps up too soon. Early on, I used to purposely go to practice on Saturday afternoons next to families, kids, and bumpers. A few weeks of that and the idea of needing two lanes on either side becomes totally absurd.

[dnhoffman]

I'm all about two-lane courtesy... I don't like people stepping into my peripheral when I'm focusing on a point target, and give the same respect to everyone else.

Practicing next to kids is one thing, and I see your point Rob, and I also think that it's ok to wait an extra 5 seconds to give your fellow league bowlers some respect given that it's a more committed situation.

That being said - if someone walks up on me two-lanes over, I just step off and smile. Sometimes they realize I stepped off and act all flustered like "oh i'm sorry do you want to go?" and I'll just say "no it's fine, go ahead ) - people can call me a prima donna all they like, but the peripheral vision messes with my approach and I'm happy to wait until that person is done.

I don't slam balls down on the rack, and if someone slammed a ball down as a result of something like that, especially if they were on my team, I'd tell them to calm the **** down...

[fortheloveofbowling]

I'm all about two-lane courtesy... I don't like people stepping into my peripheral when I'm focusing on a point target, and give the same respect to everyone else.

Practicing next to kids is one thing, and I see your point Rob, and I also think that it's ok to wait an extra 5 seconds to give your fellow league bowlers some respect given that it's a more committed situation.

That being said - if someone walks up on me two-lanes over, I just step off and smile. Sometimes they realize I stepped off and act all flustered like "oh i'm sorry do you want to go?" and I'll just say "no it's fine, go ahead ) - people can call me a prima donna all they like, but the peripheral vision messes with my approach and I'm happy to wait until that person is done.

I don't slam balls down on the rack, and if someone slammed a ball down as a result of something like that, especially if they were on my team, I'd tell them to calm the **** down...

All good points. Personally in a league situation i can deal with 1 lane but competition above that it is always 2 lane or pba courtesy. Any better leagues i have bowled over the years will have some doing 1 and 2 lane courtesy. It just takes a little observing to find out what courtesy others around you want.

[foreverincamo]

I agree with Robb. I swear one lane is enough, but I just bowled against a team that gave so much courtesy that we were the last ones done by 20 minutes. Glad we beat them

[Tony]

Trying to determine what the expected courtesy was in this league was my original question, based on the conversation and the observation during play, it appears quite a few players are expecting 2 lanes and others are fine with 1 lane, I guess it will just be something to play by whatever the players on adjacent lanes are expecting.
I'm not exactly sure it's as easy as just observing, in some instances yes it's pretty easy to tell what a guy is looking for but in other circumstances my pausing and looking over 2 lanes sometimes gives the other guy the impression that I am looking for 2 lanes of courtesy.